You know.... all of the Rat-Rodders I know are fine, friendly folks who like to build, ride, and enjoy their bikes. Reading the posts, and talking to my friends in here, I find that Rat-Rodders are into COOL BIKES no matter what their wheel-size, configuration, and heritage. I myself own a 1959 Tornado Rat..... and a '53 Schwinn Rat..... and a 1980's TREK semi-Rat.... and I'm not unique. Most of my buddies also have a variety of cool bikes ranging from Raleigh 3 speeds to Krates to tricked-out Cruisers.
Unfortunately I just yesterday discovered that we Rat-rodders are not always well recieved by the upper-crust of Road Bikers. Some of them actually look down at our creativity and ingenuity.
In an effort to expand my biking circle of friends, which is always expanding, I went for a ride with a local Road Bike Club that had advertised for new members. When I showed up with my Semi-Rat Trek, you would have thought I'd showed up for a wedding in a lime-green Speedo! Without going into details, suffice it to say that they considered my customized set of wheels to be inferior both technically and socially to their $2500 carbon-fiber Jetson bikes. THEN when I kept up with their elite little pack for the entire 30 miles, some of them grew downright rude.
All last night, my feelings were hurt because of it.... (Hey, I'm a sensitive sort of guy! LOL) and then an epiphany hit me: MY Bike is not inferior to theirs just because it's 25 years old.... in fact, it's a far better bike because not only is it almost as fast as their Jetson Rockets, it is ALSO uniquely MINE. We Rat-Rodders ride to a different drummer than they do! We ride according to our own dictates... according to our own inner guidelines as to what is cool and what is not. THEY on the other hand do not. WE are FREE Riders! They are Spandex-clad sheep who just don't understand what COOL is all about!
Needless to say, I won't be inviting any of THOSE guys to our local Rat-rod rides! HA! That'll show 'em!
(disclaimer: The above rant is JUST about that one particular group of Roadies. Most of the other ones I know are fine people.... even though the do wear those silly-looking shorts.)
Unfortunately I just yesterday discovered that we Rat-rodders are not always well recieved by the upper-crust of Road Bikers. Some of them actually look down at our creativity and ingenuity.
In an effort to expand my biking circle of friends, which is always expanding, I went for a ride with a local Road Bike Club that had advertised for new members. When I showed up with my Semi-Rat Trek, you would have thought I'd showed up for a wedding in a lime-green Speedo! Without going into details, suffice it to say that they considered my customized set of wheels to be inferior both technically and socially to their $2500 carbon-fiber Jetson bikes. THEN when I kept up with their elite little pack for the entire 30 miles, some of them grew downright rude.
All last night, my feelings were hurt because of it.... (Hey, I'm a sensitive sort of guy! LOL) and then an epiphany hit me: MY Bike is not inferior to theirs just because it's 25 years old.... in fact, it's a far better bike because not only is it almost as fast as their Jetson Rockets, it is ALSO uniquely MINE. We Rat-Rodders ride to a different drummer than they do! We ride according to our own dictates... according to our own inner guidelines as to what is cool and what is not. THEY on the other hand do not. WE are FREE Riders! They are Spandex-clad sheep who just don't understand what COOL is all about!
Needless to say, I won't be inviting any of THOSE guys to our local Rat-rod rides! HA! That'll show 'em!
(disclaimer: The above rant is JUST about that one particular group of Roadies. Most of the other ones I know are fine people.... even though the do wear those silly-looking shorts.)