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TJK

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OK, so this is sort of an offshoot of the "Us" topic.
Im curious on how YOU ended up in here. What brought you to the Rat Rot Bicycle hobby.
Were you a Rockabilly before the bicycle, did that come later or are you totally not into any Kulture beyond the bicycles?
It seems a pretty specific subset of a subculture and im curious. I'll tell you my story after a few of y'all post back.(just being lazy for now.)
-Tj
 
I have never been what most people would call normal and always been into unusual things. I've been into bikes of all kinds and about five yeard ago I discovered BRNK and a light went off in my head. I moved beyond just putting apes on my beach cruisers and started to get more creative with my bikes. I personally wouldn't link my love of kustom bikes to the rockabilly scene but I do love the music and style that has come from that scene...Kelly
 
i got into it after staring at old bikes and wanting to bring them back to life again, not restore them but make them my own. as far as ratrod culture goes i'm not too sure how to answer that other than i love old machines, the curves, the chrome, the noise, the dirtiness, haha. its a bit hard to say.
I found my way to the site thanks to Sensor who found me on the schwinn bike forum, they told me i should restore my cruiser when i was going more for a rat rod with not so original parts, Sensor said i would like it here...and ever since i've been dealing with this obsession, thank you...i think :p
The idea of an old clunker cruising down the street is way more appealing than something new and shiney
 
Couple years ago, I started fooling with old ratty 20" musclebikes/banana seat bikes/Stingray-type bikes, or whatever you want to call them. I found out this is one of the 2 places on the 'Net where people talk about them. The other place, well, it's nice and I like to hang out there and read and learn and post some, but if I'm gonna spend a thousand bucks on something with wheels, it better be able to take me to work 30 miles away without pedaling and have heat and air conditioning. (Okay, a $1k beater might not have working A/C, but you get my point. I don't collect genuine Stingrays, so I don't have a whole lot to share there.)

You guys are luring me away from the 20-inchers, though. Yesterday I read ponytailmike's thread in the Gallery about his beautiful Murray Super Deluxe, and I'm suddenly obsessed with building a 26" cantilever frame rat/cruiser. I mean, to the point that just now I bought a pair of 24x3 Kendas off Fleabay, and I don't have the rest of the bike yet, just a set of bars and a seat in the junk pile...

Kulture? Nah, I'm kind of a dork as far as that's concerned... :mrgreen:

--rick
 
got bit by the scooter bug a while back, eventually decided i needed some human power'd contraption since im not the lightest guy around. so me and the wife decided to get each other bicycles and ive been obsessin bout em ever since :mrgreen: theres just somethin bout the cruiser style bikes i love !and i think this place just magnified it !!

first place i looked on the net was bikeforums.net, shortly made it here by searching i believe ??

as for lifestyle, im a pretty boring / normal guy, been married almost 5 years, i eat, sleep, work, repeat ... seems im getting comfortable being the boring guy, its a suit i wear quite well in my own opinion. just like having simple fun. i guess im growin up and tryin my hardest not to look like it :mrgreen: as far as musical influences go my 6 disc in my car has Wilco, BR5-49, Queens of the Stone Age, Roger Miller, Radiohead and Hank Williams III in it right now, the only Rockabilly stuff ive got is a local band Skinny Jim and the #9 Blacktops
 
Built my first cruiser about 5 years ago,had a Pacific that was rotting away but could never get myself to throw it away.Started surfing the web for parts and it kinda snowballed from there. I knew what I wanted it to look like, but honestly had no idea how many others were doing the same thing.
As far as the music scene I have always liked surf, rockabilly,pyscobilly,and lounge. Maybe a weird mix but I have them all connected somehow or another.Never really thought about the bike connection ,but I see how it could be made. ROCKABILLY=HOTROD=RATROD.

I used to work 7 days a week, 5 for the company and weekends doing side work. The extra money financed lots of road trips to L.A., Vegas and N.Y. Alot of the trips to S. CAL. were to aquire more TIKI stuff,another hobby or obssesion

A little over 4 years ago my wife became severely disabled (quad, brain injury ) and flipped my world upside down. I work nites and take care of her during the day,and have someone come in at nite. first year was screwed up but now we have adjusted.Finding RatRod has sure been a blessing. I can still pursue my own interests of bike building and still be home for my obligations. Anyways, i'm done ramblin,LOL :D 8) :lol:
P.S. A good local rockabilly group is Flathead, check them out on myspace. 8)
 
Was into bikes bigtime as a kid. Then got into cars. Had cars such as a 73 Mustang, 69 buick Skylark Convertable, 48 Chevy, 73 Olds Delta 88, 64 Comet, 69 Ford F-100, Then even got into the Pocket rocket scene with a 78 Fiat X-19 Bertone turbo, 93 Nissan Nx 2000, and a custom Nissan Sentra. This isnt even half of the list but my favorites. Then I started having kids, car hobbie slowed, then gas went up to 3.00 a gallon, car hobbie STOPPED. I was bored, so I started to tinker with what I had in my parents old barn, cleaned, customised a bit, painted etc. Then sold it. Then got bored again, and now it is just continuing. I think I was searching for custom Bicycles, or something like that and poof :mrgreen: Ratrodbikes came up and I was HOOKED!
 
I found this in the trash and thought it would look like one of those cars people call "rat rods" if I put some whitewalls on it. I saw the Bendix Red Band Kickback on the black and white and searched for the term "rat rod bike". Guess what came up?
I was always into bikes and trash and old stuff, grafitti, cars, Mad Max, Akira. It just fit.
SchwinnTyphoon002.jpg
 
To be honest...I only started less then a year ago :shock:

It all started with building hotrods as a kid with my father...we built many cars together. now years later Im still building :mrgreen:

what got the bikes going was my son! We were at Grandma's when the neighbour gave my son an old BMX. He turned to me and asked if we can build it like I do my HotRods?
IMG_2567.jpg


Then came my old blue low and go strech with the one off saddle bags. For thoses of you who are new here!

IMG_1200.jpg

IMG_1199.jpg


The rest is now history! We have never looked back. Its still getting bigger! with many bikes in the garage...many out back yet to build and now the bike club that I run at the local Elm School :mrgreen: an the local one I still want to get up and going!

FW
 
Empty nest syndrome, just going about everyday boredom, not getting enough exercise etc. Bought a couple of cheap cruisers. We found that we enjoyed them, and used them quite a bit. Bought, sold, or donated a number of them. GOT HOOKED. No longer buy NEW bikes, just junk or discarded ones. Started building "complete" bikes a couple of years ago. With an autobody background, from the my early days, I found that it is an inexspensive way to express yourself! Every single person on this forum will tell you, that when they finish a bike, it satisfies the creative part in their heart, that they PROBABLY didn't realize they had. It makes you "happy"! And when you're HAPPY, it makes you a better person, in every part of your life. What I noticed about THIS site is, that there doesn't seem to be any GIGANTIC egos. Every one here is very supportive and helpful. Every one appreciates the effort put into every bike, no matter what level of talent or experience some one has. OKAY, OKAY, sorry for rambling! One final note. If a person DOES have a GIGANTIC ego, they probably won't stay here very long, BUT if they do, they might find themselves less self centered and find that "giving" is sometimes better then getting! 8) :D
 
I built my first "Ratrodbike" back in the early '90's because I always liked the look of suede black with red rims and whitewalls.An early '50's Schwinn girls bike converted to a straight top tube boys bike.

Back then there was no such term as RATROD...I just built it as a young kid would have done it eminating his older brothers Hotrod back in the 1940's...and it has a foxtail hanging off the seat.
 
kota wrote

Every single person on this forum will tell you, that when they finish a bike, it satisfies the creative part in their heart, that they PROBABLY didn't realize they had. It makes you "happy"! And when you're HAPPY, it makes you a better person, in every part of your life. What I noticed about THIS site is, that there doesn't seem to be any GIGANTIC egos.
Click to expand...

well said!

that is why I have been liking this more than building Hotrods. Its takes very little money and you can have it done from a weekend to a week :mrgreen:
 
I found this site thru CBN. I don't have the money or skillz to custom fabricate like they do there. They are a little foul for me at times (my son looks at bike stuff with me alot) and I prefer cruiser style vs. chopper anyway. I do like low-brow art and kustom kulture in general although I don't "live" the lifestyle. I have big sideburns and normally sport a pompadour but it's a lot of work to "be rockabilly". I play it, listen to it, and enjoy the kulture that goes along with it, but I am not "in" it.
I have always been into bikes. It was my transportation and my way of escape for a long time. I have always loved hot-rods as well, but we never had the money to mess around with cars. I've always been "different" and identified with people who are, so being a bike nut is easy, and here at this forum, relatively cheap. The folks here are the nicest, most encouraging bunch of folks around. Even the guys with Mad Skillz have a mellow and encouraging attitude for the rest of us and that is refreshing in a world where everyone lords their abilities/skillz over everyone else It's nice that even the guys that push decency boundaries over at CBN, respect the boundaries here and keep it clean. I'm no prude and there isn't a ton that can offend me, it's just nice to be able to look at this site at ANY time and know there is never a problem with indecency or language. Not that I wouldn't like to see some Pin Up girls with some of our bikes. :D I've tried talking the wife into a Betty Page 'do, but the conservative engineer in her won't go for it :wink:
 
years ago i built i gravity bike, but at the time i didnt know what it was, i just made the necessary mods to get down a certain bike path without braking to beat my freind. started lookin round online, foung gravity sports, started building my own gravity bikes, streetluges and buttboards, got into lowrider bikes, found cruisers, found rats, and im still building and getting better at it! i also build or rebuild an occasional kids bike to donate so that someone can have a clean rideable bike for a few bucks from the thrift store. im thinkink ill keep them on hand though and just give 'em to whoever i think should have one.
fast eddie outty
 
first off i prolly found rat rods from a friend of a friend of a friend off myspace.


i've loved bikes from the first day i rode a 20" without training wheels. it all started the day i popped of the top cap on some old forks and thought .
i bet the fork ends on my bike would fit in there. POOF my first custom chopper was born. i have been "RAT" all my life. i was a poor white kid in the lower class side of town. so i scooped up every busted,rusted bike and part i could find. flat black was a way of life not because it was cool or the in thing to do but because it was the cheepest color i could get and who would steal a bike that was made up of 6 different bikes that was flat black with rusty chrome.

so when i found rat rods it was like home for me.


Upper Class White Trash
(mike)

P.S. THANKS STEVE
you'll never really know how much at home i feel here
 
Well, a couple of summers ago when aka-locojoe started riding regularly on the Coasters BC thursdaynight pub cruize, I learned of randy's website ( locojoe.com ), checked it out, lots of kool bikes (and that was even before the Coasters site exsisted). I liked his random link selections, all bike related. Thats how I found all the kool bike sites and Rat Rod Bike the only one I am active on. When I first started watching RRB was shortly after the start of RRBBO1, I had already started on my lady's rat bike the "Star Chief" so it couldn't rightfully join the buildoff. So, I lurked more and more until one day in the fall of '07 I joined RRB.
 
I grew up riding bicycles all over the place, just like most kids.
I got into motorcycles also, but kept riding bikes pretty much until I got my liscense.
Started with BMX bikes, (had a schwinn 20" kids cruiser at the time too, 60's vintage), got a mountain bike, got a high end mtb converted it to a city bike with slicks and aero bars. Later I got a roadbike... got busy with work etc.. gained weight.. got another mountain bike.. and then realized that I really wanted something with style and some more comfort. Got a Del Sol cruiser.. then my wife got hep and got hers.
I had been into rockabilly and older rock for a long time, well before the neo-swing movement... and i've wanted a hotrod for a long time. With the rising cost of fuel and lack of garage, it became apparent that wasn't gonna happen any time soon..
Recently, i got the bug for cycling and started researching recumbents. Got the Bicycle Builders Bonanza (book) and started thinking about cruisers again too.
Found this site and here I am.
-TJ
 
I'm in it for The Chicks!! :mrgreen:

Nuf said!! :wink:

Kev.
Click to expand...

theres chicks in this hobby? :wink:

i was always into bikes
not like hardcore just whatever bike i had as a small child i always tried to customize
nanner seat
paint job
high seat
somethin different
then i found this site and it really jumstarted my whole bike hobby
now its kinda an addiction
STEVE~!!
thanks for the site
otherwise i would have never really gotten into bikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

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