In 2004, Electra bicycle company came out with the Rat Fink model. It was green, and stretched, and, well, very RaT-isfying!
We carried the Electra brand back then, and still do today. I worked at the shop for the first three seasons when they opened in my neighborhood, 2002- 2004. One day while putting together a Rat Fink, I was taken back to my Weird Ohs model building days.
After some searching on the internet, I found my inspiration. It was a plastic model of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's iconic character, Rat Fink! I ordered the model, put it together and painted it, and took it in to the bike shop and set it on my work bench; for comedic relief and inspiration. I left at the end of the 2004 season, and a long time bike mechanic I knew, Jim, took my place for the next 14 + years.
This winter, while I was away in Arizona, the business got bought by another locally based bike shop company. As a result, in anticipation of the regime change, Jim the mechanic took an offer from another shop. He wasn't a 'tidy' person, and for all those years pretty much piled tools, remnant parts, bolts, nuts, and general mess around the 25 sq ft area referred to as "Jim's bench".
When he left, the guys were ordered to clean house by the new owners, and keep only the necessary stuff amidst the mound of debris that was left behind. Fortunately, two things had happened over all those years. First, Jim never threw anything away. And second, the guys I worked with on my return to the shop last season, recognized a valuable piece when they saw one.
When I returned in April from the winter away, I found him, sitting tucked in between the spoke cutting machine and a couple coffee mugs on the 'lunch bench' in the back of the shop.
Rat Fink lives!
