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tomatojoe

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Hello All - Love the site! I'm an engineer in Charlotte, NC. I traded some tomato plants for what I'm told is a 1939 Roadmaster. I'd love to rat it out, maybe stretch it a little. I'm not sure if it's worth anything as is...

When I figure out how to post a pic I'll do so.

Thanks!!
 
I tell you what: I'll trade you all the fruits and vegetables in my fridge right now for that bike! I think there's some carrots, potatoes, a green pepper... You're gonna come out WAY ahead on this deal, promise.
 
Ok, lets see if this works...

39roadmaster.JPG
 
WELCOME & HELLO!That is a sweet ride! Do'nt cut it. Add new tires,grips,turn the seatpost around and RIDE! :wink: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
L8 EM
 
oh man, you can't cut that. leave it alone. its awsome. welcome

outlaw :mrgreen:
 
Yesss!!!!!!! Another engineer!!!!!!!! Finally!!!!!!!!!

Hehehe, I'm fixing up a Roadmaster myself, but mine's a '57. Everything seems to be pretty straightforward with it so far but the seat post is frightfully thin, I guess they didn't have The Whopper or super-sized fries during that time. Plus the bike frames tend to be smaller because the people were too, I'm giving the '57 to a family member who's rather petite.

As far as your Roadmaster, I'd say it's your bike, do with it what you want, but it's rare to find a bike as old as that in such good condition. Normally the tank is the first to go, it gets dented as soon as the bike falls down. Then the fenders get dented and removed. The chain guard gets destroyed and taken off. So if you have an old bike with everything on it you can also probably assume it has been well taken care of. You might be able to trade it to someone willing to restore it for all the other goodies that you're looking for in a stretched out bike like a cool frame, springer forks, and a wicked pair of apehangers, etc.

Once again, it's your bike and I don't want to stand in the way of your vision or ability. If you want to cut it up to make it fit, more power to you, that's part of what rat rodding is all about, but you might be able to get more than what you expect by trading it or parting it out on the classified section of this site. A lot of the folks here have a pretty impressive inventory which is always in flux.

Welcome to RRB!!
 
Well, that's what I was wondering, maybe I should get another bike to chop and stretch and leave this one alone. Does anybody nkow if this bike has much value as is?

About the engineering gig, I program CNC machines and do various other engineering duties so making parts for "government projects" is an added beneft of the job...
 
wow, awesome bike! If this is your first bike, I'd wait to cut it up. Get a newer bike to tear apart, and after you get good at it and you still feel the need to cut this one up, do it then. Personally, I would just update it a little, it's too nice a find to tear up. But, like everyone says, your bike, your vision, your decision.

jeff
 
I definitely agree... My first rat-style bike is a '49 Roadmaster that was way more shot than yours is (you can see pictures on my intro thing), and I came really close to cutting up the frame... I'm really glad that I resisted temptation and left the frame stock. I ended up bobbing the fender, because it was already dented and rusty, and it came out pretty cool. Your bike is in such great shape, I'd just clean it up a bit and ride it until the wheels fall off! If you do want to do something a little radical, go to Walmart, buy one of their Schwinn cruisers, and hack that up. No need to mess with something with as much appeal and history as your Roadmaster! Like everyone else says though, it's your bike, so its your choice.
 
I'm guessing as-is you could pull $150 off of craigslist, add another $50-$100 if you clean it up & market it well (cool picks, good description). That's going to vary from city to city, and I honestly don't know if the price of gas would also drive up the price of a bike because people are looking for more local methods of entertainment now, or if high gas costs would drive down the price of the bike because everyone is pouring extra money into their gas tank. And you could probably add another $100 if you were willing to go through the trouble of putting it on ebay, answer everyone's questions, and if you're willing to take it apart and ship it.

I can tell you that cool vintage bikes tend to bring out the best in people. The older generations remember the best parts of their childhood when they see one and the younger generation can be inspired by an old bike's character. And if you take your Roadmaster for a spin on a nice sunny day this weekend you'll see it can be quite a conversation piece as well. And for that matter, a wicked stretched out rat rod can do all that too.

Aww crap. I was going to make the point that you can make any bike into a rat rod but you should keep the Roadmaster vintage since it had so many original parts in good condition, but then I remembered the RR Build Off 2 bike "The Transformer", which took total rat material and turned it into a sweet vintage bike! Man, I would chop my own legs off just to ride that around the field and scare the goats.....that was a great build, carolina rat.

Anyway tomoatojoe, you can't really go wrong here. Have fun and keep us posted on what you decide to do.
 
Cool another CNC programer :D , but unfortunatly at my work goverment jobs are really looked down on :(. I am located in upstate SC, glad to see more people getting into it around here! :D
 

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