Fat Rat Racer

[salvagebeast]

My first attempt at building a rat bike.
I plucked a Schwinn Racer out of a pile of bikes in a woods a couple yrs ago and finally decided to make a rat bike out of it. I channeled the end of the fork legs to move the wheel closer to the fork crown for a more "race" look. Then I made a truss support out of flat stock and drilled and chamfered the holes. Fabbed a speedo bracket and screwed it to the fork leg. Had teh headlight and batterry tube laying around so modified the mounting bracket and installed them.
Rear reflector is an old acorn glass reflector mounted on an old brake arm strap. Brass number plate I pulled from a pile of old brass I.D. tags from a closed power plant yrs ago. The only thing I plan on upgrading is the seat, I plan on installing an old worn leather Brooks down the road.
Now onto my Elgin moto balloon frame rat project.

 

[salvagebeast]

 

[OUTLAW]

nice job. i like what ya did.

Outlaw

 

[Rat Rod]

There is so much coolness packed into this thing...and it's coppertone to boot!

I really like what you did with this bike...the bars and grips are perfect!

 

[bob4boardwalks]

That is one beautiful racer ya got there mangs.

 

[mikesbikes36]

sweet lookin ride man ...u got any closer pics of what u did 2 the forks? mike

 

[Leo]

very nice bike! i love it man! congrats!

 

[Skipton]

You nailed it!

 

[cream corn]

The battery tube headlight is a very cool touch.

 

[stretch]

nice bike! love the look and all the bolt-ons!

 

[salvagebeast]

sweet lookin ride man ...u got any closer pics of what u did 2 the forks? mike

I don't have any pics, but what I did was drill a new hole above the axle slot and then cut the slot to meet the new hole, then cut off the ends. This moved the wheel closer to the fork crown. The tire is now about 1/4" from the crown where it was about 1 1/2" before. It's a subtle difference, but those subtle changes add up, especially on a build like this, where it's a minimalist approach.
Thanks for all the positive comments all!

 

[Joeskustoms]

very nice build! I'm using the same type of bars on my current build, but they have only a 17mm drop to them

 

[Dan Jose]

This is so nice!, gives me an idea for a vintage style track bike i wanna build.

 

[Devilmaysay]

very nice job...simple and to the point

 

[chuco61]

anyone know where i can find one of those headlamps? that is so sweet!! any tips would be much appreciated. thanks

 

[Joeskustoms]

^ebay

 

[chuco61]

any idea for keywords? i cant find any. thanks for the reply

 

[icyuod2]

what kind of tires are they? i didnt know they did that to the side walls back then.

hey big hit, based on the tires chain tread, i'm betting there uniroyal chain treads.

 

[salvagebeast]

There is no name stamped on the light for ID. I picked it up at a swap meet several years ago. The tires are U.S. Royal Chain "checker sides". Swap meets are absolutely the best place to find parts for bike builds.

 

[Lonewolf]

Nice job on this one. I especially like how you slammed the forks and the rather tall rubber.