It's funny how you can know someone a long time and not really know them... 
I've been friends with the guys at the local Midas for years now. They do a lot of work on my companies vans. Today I stopped in just to visit and saw a 10-spd rear wheel on a shelf. I jokingly said "you guys fixing bikes now?" The boss said "you haven't seen Chuck's Bike?" So Chuck proceeds to take me around back and there is this old Schwinn tandem with a 20" rear wheel, 26" front, extended forks..(poorly LOL) dropped seat all painted flat black with red rims. Strangest of all was a can of Brake Clean suspended from the top tube with a hose going from the nozzle to the rear crank hub (which is empty save for a black piece of cloth. "What the heck is that?" I asked. Chuck proceeds to show me. He gives a squirt of the Brake clean and lights the hub off with a sparker. Then he proceeds to ride the now burning bike around the parking lot. As he rides he gives another squirt and the bike is leaving a "flaming trail" behind it as he rides around. The flame on the ground burns for about 15 seconds making for some crazy looking fire trails all over the place. I'm not sure if this is one of the funkiest tricks I've seen a bike do or the next candidate for a Darwin award but it turns out Chuck is a Rat Rod Biker from way back. He had a small album of all the bikes he's built (mostly tandems) and many blew me away. There was a white one with blue flames, whitewalls, blue rims that was incredible. Alas Chuck is in a financially tough spot in his life and lives way out in the sticks so he has no internet access. I hope someday I can get him to come by the office and visit this site. I'd like to try to scan his pics and post them too.
I guess I need to look around more, there may be more closet Rat Rodders hiding around here.
I've been friends with the guys at the local Midas for years now. They do a lot of work on my companies vans. Today I stopped in just to visit and saw a 10-spd rear wheel on a shelf. I jokingly said "you guys fixing bikes now?" The boss said "you haven't seen Chuck's Bike?" So Chuck proceeds to take me around back and there is this old Schwinn tandem with a 20" rear wheel, 26" front, extended forks..(poorly LOL) dropped seat all painted flat black with red rims. Strangest of all was a can of Brake Clean suspended from the top tube with a hose going from the nozzle to the rear crank hub (which is empty save for a black piece of cloth. "What the heck is that?" I asked. Chuck proceeds to show me. He gives a squirt of the Brake clean and lights the hub off with a sparker. Then he proceeds to ride the now burning bike around the parking lot. As he rides he gives another squirt and the bike is leaving a "flaming trail" behind it as he rides around. The flame on the ground burns for about 15 seconds making for some crazy looking fire trails all over the place. I'm not sure if this is one of the funkiest tricks I've seen a bike do or the next candidate for a Darwin award but it turns out Chuck is a Rat Rod Biker from way back. He had a small album of all the bikes he's built (mostly tandems) and many blew me away. There was a white one with blue flames, whitewalls, blue rims that was incredible. Alas Chuck is in a financially tough spot in his life and lives way out in the sticks so he has no internet access. I hope someday I can get him to come by the office and visit this site. I'd like to try to scan his pics and post them too. I guess I need to look around more, there may be more closet Rat Rodders hiding around here.
