The Dirty Rat Build Thread

[chillphillyphil]

This will be the official build thread for my project I have dubbed, "The Dirty Rat."

The bike in it's current state is already built - infact it's been operation for over a month, and commuted me to work everyday since it's succesful completion.

It's platform is an old 1980's era Raleigh Mountain Bike. The reason I had chosen this frame is merely because it was the only bike I had available. I was "ballsy" enough to take my only form of transportation and full-heartedly put forth all my effort into building a reliable commuter.



I'm very proud of this build for several reasons, firstly is that I bought each part separately, which I pieced together based on crude schematics off of the grubee website. Secondly, I had no instructions or guidance whatsoever in it's construction. Just a manly determination to proof he understood how mechanical things worked, and a good back-doors redneck friend who's built many mechanical monstrosities. Finally, that it worked despite the few days of wanting to pull my hair out.



As you can tell from the picture above, it was a ragtag piece by piece operation. I went through two coils, two carburetors, two staters, a magneto and several other misc. pieces to get the rat to kick. I was eventually rewarded with a spark-plug in my left calf when the motor gained enough torque to lift off the frame - tears of joy I tell you.

It was well worth it, a proud papa I am indeed, so here I share with you a few pictures of my build, and I'm sure that I will continue to improve on this platform as time goes:

[GearNut]

Necessity is the mother of invention. I say you did well!

[chillphillyphil]

Like most of you, I'm sure there's been a time where we all wanted to break up the monotonous braap braap of our daily commute. What better way then with music? Here was my simple solution that has proven to work quite well for me.

Bluetooth speakers are gaining huge popularity lately. I am a bit of a tech savvy geek, and I love when there's a new way to utilize technology in our daily lives. When I saw this tiny speaker at a store I just couldn't resist but to purchase it. After taking it home and pluging it in, jamming out and showing it off to a few people it sat on my desk, awaiting a day when it would be used properly.



That day came yesterday when I had an idea of how to mount this speaker safely onto the bike, in a position where I would hear it (the tiny speaker is actually very loud), and in a way that was easily detachable for when I leave the bike.

I didn't want the speaker to be damaged, so I took a simple beer cozy and placed the speaker inside, I then took the bikes useless water bottle holder and zip-tied (love those things) it to the middle of my handlebar. There you have it, high quality streamed sound from my cellphone to Bluetooth speaker, drowning out the motor sound while allowing me to still be aware of my surroundings. You're welcome!

[lksdG2]

Originally Posted by chillphillyphil

I was eventually rewarded with a spark-plug in my left calf when the motor gained enough torque to lift off the frame - tears of joy I tell you.

my milk came shooting out of my nose at this part, i definately enjoy your writing style.

also, my buddy also has that speaker at work, and that little beast is loud, plus the battery life is pretty good too.

[chillphillyphil]

So I mentioned a bit about how dirty this rat really is, but I wanted to show off my new shiny forum sticker and give you all a closeup of this Frankenbike. Including my plumberstrap front engine mount, cardboard intake gasket, oversized door spring and washer throttle tensioner and found-on-the-ground custom scrap bolts used to piece it together. She truly is a dirty rat.

Originally Posted by lksdG2

my milk came shooting out of my nose at this part, i definately enjoy your writing style.

also, my buddy also has that speaker at work, and that little beast is loud, plus the battery life is pretty good too.

Haha, glad to entertain! :P The speaker seem's to last about 4 hours maximum (unless plugged in), which is about as long as my cellphone want's to continuously play music before it has low battery.

Originally Posted by GearNut

Necessity is the mother of invention. I say you did well!

Necessity indeed, thank's for the compliment!

[chillphillyphil]

The Dirty Rat was sold today, I will miss you very much. <3

[GearNut]

Now that's a dirty thing to do!
What are you building next?

[maniac57]

Ugly bikes are like ugly women, they try harder!

Here's my Pig. It was all I had at the time so I used it. I like it now,and don't want to swap to a better frame!