RRBBO7: Upping the Ante

[NLCTVWguy]

Hello Rat Rod friends-

I want to let everyone know that I will be providing a prize for this year's Build Off. I was inspired by the little graphic on the Pedal Power Speedforum shirt. On the side of the shirt, there is a little skull-n-crossbones made from a clover sprocket and 2 wrenches.

I decided to do a little project to render it in steel.

The trophy will go to the winner of the BuildOff. Could be something that is passed along to each year's winner.

The wood base is solid maple block. It was a piece recycled from a school that closed, apparently they gave away a large quantity of old building blocks and my neighbor picked them up. I smoothed and beveled and stained it.

The wrenches were found in the paper mill I work in. We make new paper from recycled boxes. All sorts of stuff ends up in the boxes- items from consumers and from big stores. I think they are assembly wrenches for snowblowers or garden tractors from a store like Home Depot. They survived our pulper, a 900 HP blender!

The upright is also a piece of chrome metal rod that survived our pulper in nice shape. One of our welder mechanics TIG welded 2 pieces to it so I could mount the other hardware. Then I threaded it and assembled it to the base.

The sprocket is from a Schwinn crankset dated 12/1964. It shows a bit of use but the chrome really shines.

I hope this inspires some great builds! You guys always amaze me with your creations. Best of luck this year and keep on Rattin'!

--Rob Bareiss, New London CT.
NLCTVWguy, RRB moderator

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[Rat Rod]

Ha!...that's awesome.

 

[NLCTVWguy]

Ha!...that's awesome.

Thanks! Now it just needs a brass plaque saying "RAT ROD BIKES BUILD OFF" right on the top front of the base.

That's what I was planning for it...

--Rob

 

[Chips_Mahoy]

Great idea! A rat built trophy to boot!

Has the official start date been announced? .....just in case I missed it..

 

[Rat Rod]

May 1

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

That's mine! :mrgreen:

Great job Rob! 8)

 

[brett4christ]

Go ahead and put my name on the plaque as well...it's coming to Greenville!

 

[outskirtscustoms]

You're gonna have to build something spectacular. I'm going all in this year!

 

[kingfish254]

That is going to look perfect in my shop!!!!

Way to go man!!!!!

 

[kingfish254]

I did some bonus trophies last year for the 1st , 2nd and 3rd. Look at pages 5 + 6 of this thread.
viewtopic.php?f=55&t=39122&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=trophy&start=60

 

[yoothgeye]

Thanks for this, I started welding some cross wrenches when I first got my welder to make something similar (before bikes, so no bike parts), I still have the cross wrenches, maybe I can make another trophy, I was already welding sprockets today to make a lamp for my "new" shop. Thanks for this! I won't be winning it... unless it's the first place prize, so I'm sure someone will enjoy it.

 

[pick]

Awesome! Maybe we should also have a RRBO Trophy build off! :mrgreen:

 

[kingfish254]

I believe it is tradition for the previous year's winner is supposed to build the 1st place trophy for the following year.
I am looking forward to seeing what Petrohead comes up with.

 

[yoothgeye]

Yes, previous year winner builds first place prize.

I think if anyone else wants to build trophies they should be given their number as they are completed. Looks like we have a second place trophy!

I will see what I can get together, if it gets together soon I could have the 3rd place prize, if not maybe 4th, 5th, 6th, etc...

 

[dogdart]

That's mine! :mrgreen:

only if you come to my house in September , and STEAL it :mrgreen:

 

[kingfish254]

Is there an award for 51st place? That is what I am shooting for.

Of course there is an award!!!
It's the same award that most of us get from this build off.
The award of have a wicked bike that we created as we ride down the streets of our town!!!!

 

[NLCTVWguy]

Well I will defer to Rat Rod for the official distribution of awards.

But here are a couple more pictures- the Trophy Build Thread!

Drilling and tapping the wrenches to mount them. They are thick stamped metal, with no brand names or markings I can see. They're about a 15mm open end so they probably would make great pedal wrenches.

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My awesome welder friend at work TIG'ing together the upright. It's a chrome shelf peg with a nice finished ball end, threaded on one end (1/4"-20) and a steel coupling nut welded to it in 2 places to make the mount for wrenches and sprocket. He came up with a nice simple setup on the welding bench to keep everything in place while he tacked it.

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I can't wait to see what this year's Build Off brings! I know it'll be exciting to watch, that's a definite.

--Rob