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a fun way to deal with budgets is to have an 'award'/nod to the 'least spent'/'True2RatStyle', and/or 'most mod'ed' etc.... could also have nods for 'best paint', 'most unique nanner', etc.... little shout outs coming from those within the build make for nice attaboys....
 
well no I mean I don't think it should be a rule or inforced or anything just a general guideline ....
like dude spends 55 bucks other dude spends 700 ? not the same ball park if you ask me.
I mean spending money on custom made stickers or rechromeing certainly puts a bike in a different level than someone who uses only used parts found for cheap or free.
I think a two teared contest would just allow people who cant toss money at stuff a way too have a great time and be viewed on a even level or maybe get credit for there work.
I mean its honestly a honor system all im saying is if you look at your bike and say ok heres a bike that has $xxxx invested and heres one made from 7 Chinese crap bags that turned out pretty darn amazing then the guy who had the vision to turn junk into awesomeness deserves a credit.

as our hobby gets sillier with prices we all know that even buying a nice banana seat can cost 100$ and that's not fair to a 15 year old kid or a family guy with other priorities .. I have allways said my time is free. but you cant get chrome for free or ...... paint and stickers for free ...

im not downing spending money I was the first to say I spent a lot of money on mine and im thankful that I can but its sad that someone who has 150$ budget cant have a awesome seat or his own custom decals or killer chrome. but that's life and in the name of us all being "bike guys" im just saying open up a cheap build class so people can let there creativity shine ...
like lukes bike he ran outta time but imagine if he would have paid a buddy too finish the body work paint and powder coat it. it would have been a top contender .

again this is just a suggestion but my idea is 1-200 ish American dollars and 200 + and maybe the overall winner you know like two groups of bikes than a all together vote ...
 
Separating categories by money, because the effort between the two is different, and saying that neither get the recognition they deserve, doesn't give the rest of us very much credit. I believe most folks on the RRB forum, know what skills it takes and how much it costs to get a bike to look right. Honesty is some of it but you can't fool everybody and even if you did, so what. This is RRB. We build rats. Some here do some fantastic stretch by scratch bikes, and some do recycled rehashed rebuilt ratbombs... Bikes built from all over the world, some with big money, and some with nothing but ingenuity. Let's NOT put them all into little categories according to money. Chrome ain't patina, and the bikes that get the recognition here are the ones that balance engineering with art. Your wrong if you think the guys with less cash are underdogs or less recognized or want to be in our own little poor division. We like to mix it up with the big money.

Carl.
 
The thing about having build price categories is the cusp. That bit right at the edge of two categories. Someone might spend $199 and be in the $0-$200 category while someone else might spend $201 and have to compete against a $1000 bike.

I reckon lump them all in together. :)

But if there is to be dollar value categories, I think there would need to be more of them...
  • under $100
  • $100 - $199
  • $200 - $299
etc.

Glen.
 
How about on the next Muscle bike build-off when it is suggested, we can work out then what categories everyone wants and stick to them. We could even have a vote for what to include.

In the meantime thanks to everyone who participated and read/commented on the build-off posts, you helped make it great!

Luke
 
It's always a fight to play with the guys with the crazy sky is the limit budgets....but some of you guys more than make up for it with your imagination. If the buildoffs get overtaken by deep pockets with paid staff working on the bikes, then make a limit.. otherwise I think we do just fine. There are some incredibly wealthy collectors out there but they tend to hang out elsewhere..
 
23 entries in 23 different categories so we all get a first place...:banana:

Carl.
 
I was wanting to build my bikes for a long time. I was glad Luke put the competition together & I thought all the bikes/builders worked incredibly hard.
I feel stupid now that budget is brought up & I called my build "big budget". That is what my woman called it when she was asking what I was spending all the time & some money on. It took me almost 3 years to collect all the parts & I was doing two bikes at once. I needed a few parts that were in better shape than mine & was getting stonewalled by one of the muscle bike guys, so I had to resort to making my stuff work at any cost. So the competition cost me $ because of a deadline . Incredible the items I was wanting to buy almost all showed up on ebay about 4 days before the competition ended for higher prices than usual & have been coming down on price since. So some guys you think can help, instead try to gouge you & insult you with knowing you need something & thinking they are helping you out.
Bottom line is: you cannot put a budget on a build off..... too many people hunt items down for years. Are you going to add up every item & put a price on it? Maybe I have a buddy who owns a chrome plating shop & another who does paint for a living. Then I just so happen to stumble upon a NOS seat for $25 that retails for $250. Then buy a bike for $30 but it has perfect tires, then I switch out the tires with some I have lying around & resell the bike for $40? If you have more time to hunt items, cost less.
I don't think $ plays a huge part Votes win competitions & seems a LOT of new people joined from another website to help in the voting. Most "competitions" are a popularity contest. Don't get caught up that $ buys a winner.
 
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Thanks to all of the great builds and entertainment that you guys provided in this build off.

Interesting posts in this thread regarding budget categories. As Crash has pointed out, in many ways it is almost impossible to calculate build costs. Trades are one part of that. Yard Sale Dollars are another. I buy a lot of yard sale bike stuff and resell it which gives me "FREE MONEY" and "FREE PARTS" that I can use to get parts for my builds. I can easily create a balance sheet that shows that all of my builds have been at ZERO cost.
 

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