Balloonatic
Riding my '39 Silver King 26X
To me, a true rat rod is not something contrived... it should arise naturally, organically and spontaneously.
In the 1950s, teenagers would find an old 1930s car, or sometimes just a body or shell for cheap and would build a rod out of parts they had laying around. That's a true rat rod. Making something cool out of scavenged parts that were usually found in one's own garage, or that of a friends dad.
In the early 1990s, my friend Mike (TR6SC) also a bike collector, decided to go back to school, so he sold me his spare hex tube frame and some parts he had started to collect for it. I already had a complete hex tube bike that I had cleaned up and "restored" but couldn't resist the urge to buy another hex tube project. Mike gave me a good price on it too; how could I say no?
The frame hung upside down in my shed for at least two decades, and when I finally moved from my place after nearly 35 years there, I hung it in my new garage the same way. All during that time, I put fenders, and other parts away for it fully intending to complete and restore it some day. That day just never came.
It's always had the red seat on it, I got it that way from Mike, and the original red paint in the speedlines cut in the frame. When John came out with his red, chain tread tires recently, I bought a set just to have them, but didn't have a bike for them. I hung them in the corner of the garage, coincidentally right near the hex frame.
I'm sort of a purist with vintage bikes, I like them complete and original, and as they left the factory, but recently I built the Geezer Rod (39 Schwinn Motorbike) for riding comfort, and when I was doing it, I saw the hex frame with red seat and tires right next to it, and the light bulb went on. I have been building it in my mind for the last few weeks, and last night in about 40 minutes, I built this dirty, rusty, nasty red headed step child of a rat rod.
Meet the Red Hex Rat.
First thing I did after pulling the frame down was find a crank & chainwheel I liked, throw them on there, then the neck. Next was finding rims, and mounting the tires... suddenly, once the wheels were on, it took shape. I found the pedals in a box, and the grips I've had for probably 30 years with no bike to put them on. I built this thing strictly from parts on hand.
There are still lots of refinements to do... I may or may not put the headlight on it, I just set it on there to see how it would look.. but I plan to leave all the dirt and rust right where it is. It was so satisfying to just root through my parts bins and boxes pulling out a chain wheel & crank, or several sets of pedals to get the look I was going for. 35+ years of putting parts aside finally paid off.
The only set of bars I had handy turned out to be perfect! The aluminum neck was the only stem I had that was not too clean or shiny... it's funny how all the red matches too... pedals, grips and seat all have the same amount of dirt and wear and are the same shade of red, like they have all been on the bike forever.
I'm not a huge fan of red, but with the aluminum frame it just works for some reason. It's just obnoxious enough... sort of punk rock actually.
Thought I'd share a bit of bike fun with ya'll... it's the most fun I've had in the garage in a long time. Sorry the images are not better, I shot them at about midnight last night... and my cat kept photo bombing me!
In the 1950s, teenagers would find an old 1930s car, or sometimes just a body or shell for cheap and would build a rod out of parts they had laying around. That's a true rat rod. Making something cool out of scavenged parts that were usually found in one's own garage, or that of a friends dad.
In the early 1990s, my friend Mike (TR6SC) also a bike collector, decided to go back to school, so he sold me his spare hex tube frame and some parts he had started to collect for it. I already had a complete hex tube bike that I had cleaned up and "restored" but couldn't resist the urge to buy another hex tube project. Mike gave me a good price on it too; how could I say no?
The frame hung upside down in my shed for at least two decades, and when I finally moved from my place after nearly 35 years there, I hung it in my new garage the same way. All during that time, I put fenders, and other parts away for it fully intending to complete and restore it some day. That day just never came.
It's always had the red seat on it, I got it that way from Mike, and the original red paint in the speedlines cut in the frame. When John came out with his red, chain tread tires recently, I bought a set just to have them, but didn't have a bike for them. I hung them in the corner of the garage, coincidentally right near the hex frame.
I'm sort of a purist with vintage bikes, I like them complete and original, and as they left the factory, but recently I built the Geezer Rod (39 Schwinn Motorbike) for riding comfort, and when I was doing it, I saw the hex frame with red seat and tires right next to it, and the light bulb went on. I have been building it in my mind for the last few weeks, and last night in about 40 minutes, I built this dirty, rusty, nasty red headed step child of a rat rod.
Meet the Red Hex Rat.
First thing I did after pulling the frame down was find a crank & chainwheel I liked, throw them on there, then the neck. Next was finding rims, and mounting the tires... suddenly, once the wheels were on, it took shape. I found the pedals in a box, and the grips I've had for probably 30 years with no bike to put them on. I built this thing strictly from parts on hand.
There are still lots of refinements to do... I may or may not put the headlight on it, I just set it on there to see how it would look.. but I plan to leave all the dirt and rust right where it is. It was so satisfying to just root through my parts bins and boxes pulling out a chain wheel & crank, or several sets of pedals to get the look I was going for. 35+ years of putting parts aside finally paid off.
The only set of bars I had handy turned out to be perfect! The aluminum neck was the only stem I had that was not too clean or shiny... it's funny how all the red matches too... pedals, grips and seat all have the same amount of dirt and wear and are the same shade of red, like they have all been on the bike forever.
I'm not a huge fan of red, but with the aluminum frame it just works for some reason. It's just obnoxious enough... sort of punk rock actually.
Thought I'd share a bit of bike fun with ya'll... it's the most fun I've had in the garage in a long time. Sorry the images are not better, I shot them at about midnight last night... and my cat kept photo bombing me!
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