rat rod bike build

While on vacation this past June, the state park we visited had mountain bike trails that connected with the campground.  There was a nice run that went about a mile across a ridge above the campground and Zachary and I rode it a few times... he on his Mongoose mountain bike wannabe and me on my '93 Giant mountain bike that now sports city tires.  Neither bike was the right bike for the job, but we had fun anyway.  So, we decided to shop CraigsList for a pair of 90's vintage mountain bikes that we could pick up for a fairly reasonable price and try out some of the MTB trails near home.

We both began scouring CraigList, and in the process, Zachary spotted and old, not-too-glorious looking beach cruiser.  The chrome was rusty, the seat was rotted, and the tires were flat, but the guy was only asking $15.  Zachary stared at the ad a few days and then asked me to look at it.  I thought he was a little nuts... after all, we are looking for mountain bikes, not a rusty, crusty beach cruiser!  But, he shared his vision to make something out of it.  He envisioned a low 70's style banana seat with a sissy bar and some ape hanger handlebars with a black paint job.  I have enough unfinished projects and I don't want more stuff in my garage, but he begged me to go look at it for him after work.  I could see his vision, and it wasn't too far out of route on my way home, so I shot the guy a text.  I had also found a mountain bike that would fit him well, so the logistics worked out good to set up two appointments after work in the same evening.

I first met the guy with the mountain bike and texted Zachary the following picture with the purchase on the bike rack...

Next, I headed to the second appointment, to assess Zachary's vision bike.  When I got there, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a pretty high quality bike that had just been neglected.  The main "bones" were solid and I felt there was much we could work with.  Of course, I didn't let on to the seller that I was a little excited about the vision bike.  I poked at the flat tires and the rotten seat with a little scowl and offered the guy $10.  He agreed, so I texted Zachary another picture with purchase number two on the rack...

Zachary was stoked and couldn't wait until I got home!

The front tire held air, but the rear would not.  The following weekend, we changed the rear tube and got the bike rolling.  We stuck a temporary seat on it, just so Zachary could try it out.  He was grinning big as he tooled around the neighborhood... but he didn't want to be seen on it in baby blue.  (It is technically a ladies bike, but we both loved the frame style and agreed that in flat black it would not look feminine).

Before

Cruising with a smile

I helped Zachary start to disassemble everything so the frame could be painted.  That week, he found another ad on CraigsList where a guy had a bunch of miscellaneous bikes for sale, some whole and some in parts.  His picture was hard to see everything, but it looked like a number of banana seats, sissy bars, and ape hangers were in the mix.  Zachary asked me to meet with the guy after work to see if I could pick up some usable parts.  Again, it wasn't too far out of route on my way home, so I texted the guy and set up an appointment.  I met him and explained what Zachary was doing.  We sifted through some parts and I found a seat and sissy bar that I thought might work.  I texted a pic to Zachary...

He loved it and texted back "buy it!".  I located a pair of ape hanger handlebars on a partial 20" bike that was minus wheels and asked the guy what he'd take for the ensemble of parts I had assembled.  He replied, "how about $10?"  Sold!  I loaded them up and headed home.

By this point, everything had been removed from the frame, but the frame was still intact.  Zachary was dying to see what it would look like, so he quickly stuck the wheels back on and temporarily fitted the newly acquired seat and handlebars on it.  He was giddy with excitement and I had to admit, we were building something pretty cool... especially with only a $20 investment, so far!

He texted a couple of his buddies a pic of his "new bike"

We took it all back apart and removed the forks and crankset.  We went to Home Depot and picked up some spray primer, flat black spray paint and some sandpaper... totalling $25... more than the cost of the bike!  I showed Zachary how to wet-sand the frame so the paint would adhere better.  Ryan, one of his best friends, was also working on getting an old bike ready to paint, so he took his parts over to Ryan's house and together they worked on sanding and painting their frames.  Once painted, he brought the pieces back home and we let them sit a week for the paint to harden.

This afternoon, we sat under a shade tree and I helped him reassemble his flat black rat rod beach cruiser.  We managed to get everything back together without scuffing his new paint job, and the finished product is way cool!

the rat rod bike build!

(he really does own other clothes...)

Proud of his creation

The chrome is still a little rough, but he said "it's a rat rod... rusty chrome adds character!"  He plans to add a matched pair of round chrome mirrors, but we can't find them in stores.  We'll have to order them from Amazon and add them.

It really did turn out pretty cool!  And, what is also cool is the quality time spent tinkering on it together and that it got Zachary out from in front of screens and using his imagination and his hands.  I'm pretty busy, but I enjoyed spending some Sunday afternoons helping Zachary build his vision.  And, seeing him slouch into his low-rider banana seat with his flat-bill backwards and roll down the street to go show it off to his buddies... well, I don't know which of us was grinning bigger!