Ok gang here goes, I'm gonna at least get phase 1 posted 2nite, will keep posting when I can, while trying to keep them in order of the actual evolution of what I named "The Ratt Turd" ! Phase 1 is basically the very beginning. I had purchased this OCC new from Walmart just cuz I thought they were cool lookin. Definitely not the easiest thing to ride just peddalin, especially for any distance.
About 4 years later, a buddy of mine shows me this engine kit he put on his MB! Man I love him n I hate him for it, Ok I don't hate him, but I saw that kit n the 1st thing outa my mouth was...."How much n where can I get 1?".....I just knew that's what I had to have for that cool lookin bike that I never rode! Then my girlfriend bought me a kit, n for those of you who are familiar with the OCC, ya gotta have that special engine mount, bcuz of the super cool fat tire in the back, as well as a different exhaust. Well of course, I did not know this until I started trying to put it together, and I knew nothing of this super cool web site! It's a whole new world!
So I figured out that I could get the mount and the pipe from this guy who made them n sold em on ebay! Here I thought I had an original idea, thought "man I'll bet nobody has ever done this b4, this is gonna be cool!".....lol....how naive I can be sometimes! Still unaware of this super cool web site, I finally got my parts, n with some help from my buddy with the MB, that super cool bike that never got ridden, was even cooler now, and guess what, it was being ridden! It wasn't long b4 I was thinkinto myself "huh, I'm gonna hafta replace that rear tire" that I never dreamed of having to replace!
I was riding this thing all over the place, back n forth to my job (6 mile round trip) every once in a while, not necassarily instead of driving to work, but on my days off for lack of anyplace else to go that I was comfortable venturing out to on my new toy, terrorizing the neighborhood, over to another buddy's house who lives close. Then I did start actually riding it to work instead of driving occaisionally, and then I noticed something I guess I hadn't expected!
I'm 6' 225-230lbs, the OCC is originally a rigid bike, they look pretty beefy, they're a Schwinn, but little did I know that they're only rated for 175 lbs! Well, it stands true bcuz just about as I was becoming more n more confident with the closest thing to a "Hawg" I've ever owned, catastrophy strikes. Not in 1 but 2 places, the frame started to crack, right where the rear tire cage attaches to the main part of the frame!
"MAN......Now what am I gonna do?" I thought! My buddy with the MB says, "man just ditch the OCC n get yerself something that fits ya, like a BC or something, don't go trying to polish that turd, get something else n start over!" NOPE, I wasn't havin it, I was really diggin on the chopper thing it had goin on, n I refused! I was tellin this kid at work, that had become fond of my new toy, my woes n now what was I gonna do? He says to me, "well, yer just gonna hafta turn it into a softail!" ????????HMMMMMMMM was that posssible, wait a min, I'm a fabricator, of course it's possible! I just gotta find somebody who's done it before, get some ideas! That's when I finally found this super cool web site! A whole new community, n the "Orange Coast Chopper Build", actually I think that's a thread on a similar site that's pretty cool! Anyway, I found Brett Mavrik's bike, n that was it, that's the kinda theme I was gonna go for!
So much for just makin it into a softail, I mean if I just welded up the cracks it would just keep breakin right? So soft tail it is! Which led to this n that n those.....n so on, n so on....if yer not familiar with Brett's bike, it's got the rat rod theme goin on, many props to ya Brett, n since my bike was a turd, per my MB buddy, that was gonna get the same theme, The Ratt Turd was born!
The following attachments are of phase 1, pre-discovery of this super cool web site and the cracks in the frame!
About 4 years later, a buddy of mine shows me this engine kit he put on his MB! Man I love him n I hate him for it, Ok I don't hate him, but I saw that kit n the 1st thing outa my mouth was...."How much n where can I get 1?".....I just knew that's what I had to have for that cool lookin bike that I never rode! Then my girlfriend bought me a kit, n for those of you who are familiar with the OCC, ya gotta have that special engine mount, bcuz of the super cool fat tire in the back, as well as a different exhaust. Well of course, I did not know this until I started trying to put it together, and I knew nothing of this super cool web site! It's a whole new world!
So I figured out that I could get the mount and the pipe from this guy who made them n sold em on ebay! Here I thought I had an original idea, thought "man I'll bet nobody has ever done this b4, this is gonna be cool!".....lol....how naive I can be sometimes! Still unaware of this super cool web site, I finally got my parts, n with some help from my buddy with the MB, that super cool bike that never got ridden, was even cooler now, and guess what, it was being ridden! It wasn't long b4 I was thinkinto myself "huh, I'm gonna hafta replace that rear tire" that I never dreamed of having to replace!
I was riding this thing all over the place, back n forth to my job (6 mile round trip) every once in a while, not necassarily instead of driving to work, but on my days off for lack of anyplace else to go that I was comfortable venturing out to on my new toy, terrorizing the neighborhood, over to another buddy's house who lives close. Then I did start actually riding it to work instead of driving occaisionally, and then I noticed something I guess I hadn't expected!
I'm 6' 225-230lbs, the OCC is originally a rigid bike, they look pretty beefy, they're a Schwinn, but little did I know that they're only rated for 175 lbs! Well, it stands true bcuz just about as I was becoming more n more confident with the closest thing to a "Hawg" I've ever owned, catastrophy strikes. Not in 1 but 2 places, the frame started to crack, right where the rear tire cage attaches to the main part of the frame!
"MAN......Now what am I gonna do?" I thought! My buddy with the MB says, "man just ditch the OCC n get yerself something that fits ya, like a BC or something, don't go trying to polish that turd, get something else n start over!" NOPE, I wasn't havin it, I was really diggin on the chopper thing it had goin on, n I refused! I was tellin this kid at work, that had become fond of my new toy, my woes n now what was I gonna do? He says to me, "well, yer just gonna hafta turn it into a softail!" ????????HMMMMMMMM was that posssible, wait a min, I'm a fabricator, of course it's possible! I just gotta find somebody who's done it before, get some ideas! That's when I finally found this super cool web site! A whole new community, n the "Orange Coast Chopper Build", actually I think that's a thread on a similar site that's pretty cool! Anyway, I found Brett Mavrik's bike, n that was it, that's the kinda theme I was gonna go for!
So much for just makin it into a softail, I mean if I just welded up the cracks it would just keep breakin right? So soft tail it is! Which led to this n that n those.....n so on, n so on....if yer not familiar with Brett's bike, it's got the rat rod theme goin on, many props to ya Brett, n since my bike was a turd, per my MB buddy, that was gonna get the same theme, The Ratt Turd was born!
The following attachments are of phase 1, pre-discovery of this super cool web site and the cracks in the frame!
