Chris_in_Miami

In the "nice bike covered with stickers" category is this Alpinestars Cro-mega that I picked up a few years ago:

conradpdx

Not sure what you're all refering to in the way of "Rat Rods" I alway thought the Rat Rods were "pimped out" middleweights and heavy weights (ie cruisers)

I've got one I'm trying to decide if I should Rat Rod it out of restore:




1959 Murray Vanguard....Tail light works (that lens is apparently really hard to find), front light I've gotten to flicker but with no lens I feel pretty good about that, horn tank and I'm pretty sure I can it working too with some serious cleaning.

lee kenney

On a couple of bikes , I have removed paint down to bare metal , let the frame rust {vinegar is used by set painters to boost rusting** Clear coat by rattle can and ya got funk .

SteakKnifeSally

Schwinn Supersport rattlecanned black, fixed gear, halogen lawn lamp on the reflector bracket, fish finder battery in the old saddlebag, red strobe on the planet bike rear fender.

fiataccompli

to clarify, yeah...usually the term rat rod on bikes refers to cruisers, middleweights, etc....and often stuff that really wouldn't be terribly "useful" or efficient to use as a bike is intended, but look cool and are probably perfect for cruising around car shows. With cars, there's the approach of highlighting natural fade/rusting/"patina" while subtly adding new, high end running gear so you have what car guys would have referred to in the past as a "sleeper"...a rough looking car that looks like it was just pulled out of someone's back yard, but will lose you in the dust at a red light drag race. What I had in mind was the same sort of aesthetic applied to high end Italian road frame & I was curious if anyone else has done the same thing. I have lots of nice, original bikes & generally if I'm adding a bike to my collection I filter out any prospects that need paint because I'm not a big fan of putting in work/money that can't be unbolted & used on another project. My Pinarello showed up super cheap, but needing paint & decals and I figure it's still a great frame, but I'm not too keen on dumping 500 bucks or more into making it look really nice so I could have a bike that's worth a few hundred dollars less than I have invested...I try to remain right-side up in all respects, if you know what I mean.

RFC

The Haro Extreme was born rat rod. This one got some additional help from years under the AZ sun and a SS drive train.

peugeot mongrel

Maybe the OP is talking about a "classy beater" that rides great.
Pitted chrome, dents, chipped powder coat and wrong decals don't show too much in the pix. It's a favorite rider.

Bulldozer27

This thread rocks! I now know what to do with a rusted out Eddy Merckx Professional that's sitting in my garage.

okane

Plenty of frames like this around you could play with. I think it would be a shame to customize a nice original like this. I'd buy it from you if I was closer! Just me 2 pennies.

jimmuller 

As I recall from the initial posting so many words and pics ago , fiataccompli asked for road bikes set up to be functional but which might look ratty. His example as a possible was a Pinarello, hardly a cruiser or garbage bike.

I would never intentionally make a bike look ratty but this frame was abused when it came to me. It still bears its scars invisible in this old pic. I've clear-coated over some of the bare metal, touched it up with slightly mis-matching paint in places not visible. I built it up with a smattering of parts, all meant to be functional rather than aesthetically matching or period-correct. A few details are different now but none you'd likely notice.

spacemanz

That makes sense, and I agree. I'm into building with cheap used parts, which doesn't have to mean cheaply made BOTL junk. I'm a "regular" at Recycled Cycles, and I buy a lot of pretty nice stuff used. I just recently bought a really bizarre-looking handlebar, that was made for a newer-version Schwinn Stingray. It's literally v-shaped, with a mounting bar joining the 2 wings, but that mounting area is a much smaller diameter than I thought, so mounting it would be pretty "iffy", safety-wise, with the shimming it would need. But it LOOKS like something Mad Max would ride, if he were into bicycles.

spacemanz

jimmuller, is that a Raleigh Gran Sport (or Grand Sport, it was spelled both ways, LOL)? I'm thinking seriously about one locally, but it's orange & white, rather than that blue & white that's so common. I might offer some tri-color gear, that I know this guy's looking for, since that is 531.

jimmuller 

Mine is a "Gran Sport" from 1973, made by Carlton. As I understand it they made only two colors then, white w/blue and blue w/white. The blue was Lagoon Blue, Carlton's team color. According to the stickers my main tubes and fork are 531, but various catalogs and such indicate that depending on the year some were 531 stays also, and the tubes may or may not have been double-butted.

sloar 

this is my rat bike..

Italuminium

I think we have a winner.

Arrowana

Perhaps the first post needs to be edited with big bold letters saying that this is not for slow overweight cruisers...
'
I am thinking I'll try going this route with my Cannondale, remove some of the stickers, throw a bit of a clear coat on the rusty fork, and try and decide whether new or old components would work better. I suppose it probably won't have the full effect though, no matter what I do, still kinda obvious that it is a Cannondale.

Also wonder how hard it would be to get something that has a look similar to the cruisers here but actually is fast.

Italuminium

Yes, yes I know, I tend to read the OP (unlike some ). but hey, I like thread drift.

jjvw

I think there is a semantic problem with what "rat rod" really means. I don't have an answer, but I usually picture a deliberate mish-mash of beat up, rusty parts that are cobbled together into something resembling a car (or bike). The look of this contraption is based on 1950's hot rod culture that has been left out in the desert for 30-40 years before being rediscovered by the overly nostalgic punk rock/ rock-a-billy/steam punk scenesters. If you can't find the actual post-war/atomic era source material, you end up making the Disneyland version by adding artifice and faux finishing and flames and more flames and more angry frames (i'm tired of flames on everything). Dont forget the flat black, red and white color scheme to compliment the rust.

This is very different from finding a car or bike from "the era" that has been used, maybe abused, repaired, maintained and upgraded over its life. Its the difference between authentic honest wear and artifice. Its the difference between a "rat rod" and an old bike that has been reused and repurposed.

That being said, very little of what I have seen on these forums described as a rat rod is really a rat rod. I suspect that a rat rod bike is difficult to achieve because the canvas is so small compared to the rusty body panels that can be hung off of an old car. This might be why the best rat rod bikes are cantilever frames with big gas tanks (a different artifice) and fat fenders. The greater the surface area, the greater the chances of success.

Don't get me wrong, there are parts of all of the above that I really enjoy. The problem is that by now, so much of rat rodding has become a fake tough-guy posturing cartoon of itself. I'm pointing at you, Guy Fieri, and your stupid sunglasses. Gene Vincent's bones are laughing at you.

Italuminium

This. And don't even get me started on all those "French-style" randonneur builds with way oversized stems, tubes and Tiagra derailleurs with twine and shellac in places you'd never need it, like on the chainstays and under the cable clips. That just looks like a MacDonalds defiling a nice French city square.

jjvw

I have twine on my front porteur rack! It secures my headlight wires in a fashionable manner. See above.

RaleighSport

I like to think cowbike fits the bill for your idea of "ratrod" in this particular case.. although it might be a bit "hip".

fiataccompli

as the OP here, I'm fine with some thread/subject drift. This has been interesting on a lot of levels. I've gotten some perspectives. For instance, the amount of frame to provide a "canvas" is an interesting way to think about it. I will say this, when I was saying 'rat rod' I had certain flavor of car construction in mind- and i realize there are more than one. What I had in mind was the pickup truck or sedan pulled out of the "back forty" of someone's farm (complete with some dents, faded paint & probably some rust) with a hot engine dropped in, lowered a bit (maybe with a rake) and with nice wheels....it's a popular recipe I believe in the car world and it's interesting as it creates avenues for profitable flips in that world without meticulous restorations. Somehow or another (and not with the intent to flip), I was thinking of capturing the same spirit with a road bike. It's definitely something different from the preserved or correctly restored approach I usually have with bikes. I'm sure I'll do something along the lines of what I had in mind assuming I can get a decent fit out of the bike. So, ideas/thoughts/tangents are all good....just feeding some creative juices &, heck, I may use some ideas I get too!


by the way, here's my recent entry in the world of faux French bikes (I completely get the cliche someone mentioned above...hey, at least this one is actually a Peugeot and I *swear* there's no twine involved!)



I guess maybe the best or most extreme example (which isn't really what I'm gonna do) would be a beat up old frame with either fades of different colors, rust, or flaking paint a la "bum bike" sporting a set of deep carbon fiber wheels, a fairly modern component group, etc.

jjvw

This sounds weird and potentially wonderful. I would like to see something like this.

PedalTraveler

Ratty paint, ratty setting, ratty non-drive side photo....

LupinIII

bumping an old thread coz why not

assuming OP meant stuff like this?

raleigh that doesn't fit me and will probably be on the way out (still have all the original parts in a box)


my old trek 460