First of all, let me say how happy I am to have found this forum - very cool with loads of info, ideas, and links to the stuff I need for future builds. Kind of like Rat Rod, I've been a car guy - mostly vintage VWs - until the realities of raising a family forced me into the practicality and efficiency of driving modern cars. Oh, yeah, financial issues play into it as well. 
Bikes are cool, fun, less expensive, and take up less space than cars, and I have to be tinkering with something that has wheels, so . . .
I've always been into bikes, though. My dad, a sculptor at the time, made my first few bikes. Then, I got into BMX for several years in the late 70s - early 80s. By the time I was out of high school, I had jacked my parents' car insurance rates so high that they canceled my driving privileges, bought me a road bike, and sent me to college. After college, I got my first mountain bike and still hit the trails regularly today. My VW fanaticism took off as well. At some point in the early 90s, my VW buddies started getting into Schwinn Stingrays, too, so I joined in. I asked around work if anyone had an old Stingray sitting around that they'd like to sell, and one of my co-workers brought in a weathered '64 Stingray Super Deluxe complete with 20" Springer. He just wanted to give it to me, but I insisted he take a $20 bill. I cleaned it up, painted it sky blue, and added NOS tires, rode it for a couple of years, and sold it for way too little. One of my biggest regrets!
The last three years, I've built 3 bikes. The first isn't really a rat at all. It's an '89 Specialized Rockhopper that I rebuilt as a city bike. I roll it around town on errands, primarily. It's the only one of my bikes that could be considered custom, really, as the concept and execution are completely my own. The other two (Vintage Schwinns) are closer to straight-up restorations. A couple of pics of my Schwinns (there are more in the Schwinn gallery).
'70 3-speed Fastback
'50 Red Panther
Peace!
Eric
Bikes are cool, fun, less expensive, and take up less space than cars, and I have to be tinkering with something that has wheels, so . . .I've always been into bikes, though. My dad, a sculptor at the time, made my first few bikes. Then, I got into BMX for several years in the late 70s - early 80s. By the time I was out of high school, I had jacked my parents' car insurance rates so high that they canceled my driving privileges, bought me a road bike, and sent me to college. After college, I got my first mountain bike and still hit the trails regularly today. My VW fanaticism took off as well. At some point in the early 90s, my VW buddies started getting into Schwinn Stingrays, too, so I joined in. I asked around work if anyone had an old Stingray sitting around that they'd like to sell, and one of my co-workers brought in a weathered '64 Stingray Super Deluxe complete with 20" Springer. He just wanted to give it to me, but I insisted he take a $20 bill. I cleaned it up, painted it sky blue, and added NOS tires, rode it for a couple of years, and sold it for way too little. One of my biggest regrets!
The last three years, I've built 3 bikes. The first isn't really a rat at all. It's an '89 Specialized Rockhopper that I rebuilt as a city bike. I roll it around town on errands, primarily. It's the only one of my bikes that could be considered custom, really, as the concept and execution are completely my own. The other two (Vintage Schwinns) are closer to straight-up restorations. A couple of pics of my Schwinns (there are more in the Schwinn gallery).
'70 3-speed Fastback
'50 Red Panther
Peace!
Eric
