What do you do with your extra Rats?

[Jaypem]

I'm in bike sell mode right now. My accumulation has gotten a bit out of hand
So, I've gotten it down to about 10 keepers. All but one of my Rat builds will stay, but it got me thinking...

I know that some of you must sell finished builds, maybe even have clients chomping at the bit to get their hands on one of your truly top shelf creations ( I see some very high end stuff here, customs in particular that must fetch a few bucks...)
I'm totally interested to hear from these guys on how the biz side goes down , but also all the rest of us who can't help building bikes at a pretty steady clip, but eventually wind up with too many...

I see the occasional Rat on CL or eBay.
Sometimes the asking price is dumb, sometimes it's just a fire sale, someone just trying to get out of a project as quick as possible.
Anyone have any great tales to tell about parting ways with their homemade creations ?

 

[pholTmonx]

I be found trapped buried and tangled and trapped in a mass of frames and assorted states of oxidization

 

[Duchess]

I'm curious about this myself.

 

[honestherman]

It's very difficult to pick which ones to sell! After you went thru them and ride them and Especially when you ask 100-150 for a good bike and normal joe thinks they should get it for 20.00. Then again some fellow rat lovers try to get them for 20.00 also ....

 

[pholTmonx]

Location location location.... Can sell a shiny sparkly random terds before a clean survivor in my area... Was a BFG girls tanker with amazing OG paint and metal, had wrong wheels and crank...I just couldn't make it out to grab it, sat for $100 all week on Craig's.... Was also a BFG badge with no color left listed as vintage parts for $65 gone in a day listed same week.... They were 15 miles apart....

 

[Jaypem]

Bikes are so easy to buy...!

I'm discovering that patience is a virtue when selling...

I'm sure I'll be doing some minor parting out before long, in order to not take a big loss on a few builds.
The one Rat on the block right now is the BO11 entry I put together, Deco DX.
I'm stashing all the Elgin sheet metal and putting the DX back together as a Klunker.
Just was not a favorite of mine...
I've got great plans for the tin though...

 

[LukeTheJoker]

I don't actually go out of my way to sell any of my builds, it would almost feel like betraying them after all the time we spent together during the build, that said, I can't keep them all...

Usually if I need room, I take a bike for a ride and show it off a bit, occasionally I will drop in on someone who has expressed interest in the hobby or my builds...

A couple of times I have had interested people come up while I am just checking tire pressures on the car at the service station while the bike is on the roofrack.

It never fails, someone makes an offer, usually about the price I was thinking or sometimes more. Occasionally you get lowball offers, but they seem to know you will say no and they are just trying their luck because that is all they have.

Luke.

 

[GuitarlCarl]

What is this extra rat thing you speak of?
[emoji232] [emoji232] [emoji232]
I have meddling family and friends who say to me, "You should sell some of these bikes." I ask them which ones they're interested in, and they say, "Oh no! Not me!"

Carl.

sent from a banana phone...

 

[horsefarmer]

Have not built too many bikes - usually build them for myself - comfort first !
I was given an old Huffy 10 speed turned it into a chopper style with swap meet parts for build off 10.
Could not tolerate banana seat so swapped out seat from wallyworld Huffy 29er.

Took it to a rat car swap meet - interest but no takers. priced about what I thought it was worth - $90. Ended up selling to a guy at my brother's yard sale for $50 - guy really liked it so good home anyways, and sold seat at a swap for $5. Fun build but no money maker, LOL

I have since had 2 bikes that no matter what I did I was not happy with how they fit me. These I stripped and sold the frame at a swap for cheap - $15 to $25. Buyers were happy to get them, and I free up a lot of nice parts to hang on another more suitable frame !

 

[pholTmonx]

I've purchased 2.5 complete bikes, one parts monster, 4 frames, am on way finalize on 4 more frames today... Have eyes on 2 more, have random parts box in transit....
That's October...
Sales..zip zilch Nada..
I think I'm doing this right..

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I've purchased 2.5 complete bikes, one parts monster, 4 frames, am on way finalize on 4 more frames today... Have eyes on 2 more, have random parts box in transit....
That's October...
Sales..zip zilch Nada..
I think I'm doing this right..

One word...

 

[pholTmonx]

Yeah... Bad... Ended up with more... just bought 2 more completes and deposit on a third... Eeeeeek I think I may need pay mod team to ban my IP..
Last seller is threatening me with three trikes also... And I've asked to see the next lvl quality of bikes...
Bahaha
Keep pushing

 

[Jaypem]

I think you should take a little trip up north. I've got plenty of bikes for you

 

[pholTmonx]

I think you should take a little trip up north. I've got plenty of bikes for you

haha paypal has intervened... Froze a buy only account do to activity...
Word of advice don't to duplicate value buys from same seller in short time window.
PayPal is useless to helping me resolve for now.

Poo sticks. Pardon my french

 

[Joe Monstermaker]

I picked up a '67 Schwinn this summer and have intentions to build a rat custom, long and with zero ground clearance, but I haven't even touched it yet because I'm trying to figure out where I'll even put the thing!

It's even worse that I own as many bikes as I do and I pretty much never ride any of them.

 

[SILVERKINGPC]

I have 8 rats, and a 100% original 30's Shelby tanked bike left. Cleaned out the shed of most all parts, frames and bikes that weren't prewar ballooner, low-mile xtra parts. Kept 4 frames and a few springers for future builds as well as a lot of small parts(hubs/stems/bars/cranks) that are easy to store. I have (sold) two or three of my built rats to good friends, but mostly for what I had invested in them. It is hard to sell them for more or even less than you have in them. Moving them out spreads the Rat gig by getting them back on the road. It's hard to give them up when you put so much time and effort into creating them. Can't keep everything. Giving them to good friends feels great! I like to see them once a year to insure they are being taken care of. Bikes require a lot of storage space as we know, so thinning them out is a good thing in the end...besides, now that you have more space, you can always add another!! skpc

 

[honestherman]

I only have 8 rats and a 100% original 30's Shelby tanked bike left. Cleaned out the shed of all parts, frames and bikes that weren't prewar ballooner. low-mile or rare. Still have 4 frames and a few springers for future builds as well as a lot of misc. small parts(hubs/stems/bars/cranks) that are easy to store. I have "given" (sold) two or three of my beloved rats to very good friends, but only for what I had invested in them. Can't ask for more money. It is hard to sell them for more than you have in them very often. Moving them out spreads the Rat love a bit by getting em' out there and on the road. It is still difficult to give them up when you put so much time and effort into creating them. Can't keep everything, and the "gifting" of some to good friends really feels great!!! I only require that these bikes are given the once-over every year by me to insure that they are being taken care of, and I can see them often. Bikes require a lot of storage space as we know, so thinning them out is a good thing in the end...besides, now that you have more space, you can always add another!! skpc

8 rats don't take a lot if room! It's less than a garden shed.. When you hit 100 bikes then it's hard to close the two car garage door (no cars no room)

 

[Duchess]

100! Wow. I'm stopping myself after the next build off for a total of six bikes and that's over my original limit of five because my mother passed and I used her bike to build Retro Rocket. I still don't ride them all as often as I should and, though I have a lot of ideas for more customs, I like the bikes I have left too much to get rid of any and free up a spot. However, I used to have a problem with collecting things and it's something I've worked on so I like to think of holding my limit as success. I'm also at my limit on kayaks at three.

But, if I gave my nephew the Miyata I've been lending him, that would give me another opening . . .

 

[pholTmonx]

I'm a severally dyslexic dysgraphic.. Usually math is one of my stronger suites.....
That said when asked how many bikes I own.. my eyes glaze over.. I don't really try and count cause then I start debating what qualifies as a bike, do I count frame sets, what if it's missing a peddle..

 

[Onewheelsqueel]

Lol. The one time I needed cash pretty bad so I listed 3 decently big $ builds (most expensive I'd done to that point) one for $900, another for $800, and I think $800 (that one didn't sell. Sorta throwing out 3 to see which sold first. Then I get a full price offer on two at the same time. It was hard to decide to let to go, but I just went ahead with it in a quick decision. I regretted it. But I've since built a similar bike to the one and actually went beyond what it was and love that one more. Lol.