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According to Wikipedia a rat rod is

“a style of hot rod or custom car that, in most cases, imitates (or exaggerates) the early hot rods of the 40s, 50s, and 60s”.

These are usually seen in a somewhat unfinished state and they’re intended to be driven and not eye candy at a fancy car show.   They are especially popular amongst the rockabilly, greaser and even punk culture.  So take an old bicycle and apply the same formula and you have a rat rod bike.

I have been wanting to build a rat rod for what seems like ages now but I’ve always had other projects push back my plans to build one.   I’m hoping to start one this spring.

If you have an interest in bikes like this you’ll find plenty of inspiration at the Rat Rod Bikes website.  Although their forum members are located all over the world, the site’s owner is a local Dallas guy so I’m delighted to help promote his effort.

I previously wrote about the Rat Rod Bikes forum here and recently sent Steve a note asking if I could use photos from their gallery to make a video. I really enjoy making videos with stills and music, it’s just fun to me. He gave me the green light so this is what I put together:

I’ll be posting on their forum for ideas and guidance after I finish my latest project.  I’m not planning anything very fancy, probably just sandblast a frame, clear coat it and add some fat tires, leather,  and flip the handlebars and call it done.  We’ll see.

Finally, the song is “Deuces Wild” by Link Wray.

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