Rat Bikes! Pub Bikes Beaters! Frankenbikes!

independent looks filthy enough to me, maybe its just been through the rain so tyres & loose stuff has come off already. its probably run with a very dry chain most of the time.

Rusty nuts and these tyres means the owner isn't riding that much in the winter, apart from that it is standing about a bit long in the harsh salty cold weather.

^ orly? Riding everyday doesn't stop your nuts getting rusty. GT85 helps though.

This bike is a great advert for full length front mudguards. Even better if it had a pair of soggy vans in-shot.

#smugface

Independent Fabrication stainless steel fixie skidder;

[IMG]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kFFsK9uidAo/S2Lno4OPnTI/AAAAAAAABow/6y-g29MyFCI/s1600/Bruno_stainless_fixie_1.jpg[/]...

If it didn't have rusty nuts it would be in anti.

Just a nice frame, fugly built, that's been used and not looked after very well (imo).

that looks like a fairly big ring

/inbeforeeuph

That last one is well suspect.

• £2 ebay NOS tyres
  
• NoBrakes System
  
• big gear
  
• valve caps
  
• rim sticker
  
• no footstraps
  

That 953 IF really annoys me. Just because it's a beater (er, with a $2500+ frameset) doesn't mean you don't grease the axle nuts.

That's just fetishising rust, or stupidity/ignorance of basic bike maintenance. It might be the latter, given that the chain also needs to lose a link and gain some tension.

You grease your nuts?

#Imdoingitwrong

The threads, I mean, yeah. And the contact surface between the nut part and the ring part. Not the part of the ring that contacts the dropout, obviously. The nuts on the IF have clearly never seen any grease or anti-seize at all.

I should buy some anti-seize before winter sets in. My pompino will become my winter bike this year. I have a feeling it'll start to look like some of the bikes in this thread by next spring...

Park Tool ASC1 for the win.

Pitting and surface rust on axle nuts is totally normal on an all-weather bike, but allowing that sort of comprehensive rust on them just means there'll come a day when you'll have a puncture in the rain and you can't get the wheel out to fix it...

You should try keeping Halo nuts rust free. Mine were leaking brown water after the second ride and have been rusting ever since.

function over fashion everytime. ass to halfords for some new nuts. heh , they keep your wheels ON the bike.

Anyway, I guess that is what classifies as a ratbike: rusty nuts, i.e. not looked after...
Beater: looked after ratbike. Or just both.

No?

But; rusty nuts to tend to be pretty tight (once they've rusted into place), which can be handy for stuff that wants to stay in place.

The way Iook at it:

Ratbike - loved and well looked after but used and abused, battlescarred porn....

Beater - (typically) something you can leave locked up without worry about too much, maybe thrown together from the parts bin for not alot of money. A fun bike that may not be aesthetically pleasing in a traditional manner, but is a hoot to ride.

Of course, there is some crossover...

I don't know where new bikes covered in stickers comes into this though.

http://velospace.org/node/38805

^ Noice!

Also, Malaysian hit the nail on the head, I rekkins.

The way Iook at it:

Ratbike - loved and well looked after but used and abused, battlescarred porn....

#pics

Beater - (typically) something you can leave locked up without worry about too much, maybe thrown together from the parts bin for not alot of money. A fun bike that may not be aesthetically pleasing in a traditional manner, but is a hoot to ride.

#some more pics removed in order to save some precious space in teh internets..

Of course, there is some crossover...

I don't know where new bikes covered in stickers comes into this though.

Right, I think I got mixed up with the naming and identifying them battered bikes.

Just a question regarding this all cool mounting massive baskets at the front.

Does that not actually impair manoeuvrability once they are actually loaded? All that mass at the front, and at the top picture, it'd be quite far over the centre of the front(!) wheel. That would make using the front brake some risky business, but assume skidding should make a whole weight of a difference.

waaaaah, I can't stop, nor steeeeeer!!.........

btw, I'm currently building a beater myself and consider of mounting 2 panniers (front and back)for some basket fun too. :)

Rusty nuts and these tyres means the owner isn't riding that much in the winter, apart from that it is standing about a bit long in the harsh salty cold weather.

And; oil is needed for that chain! Otherwise defo a cool setup.

none of what you said was needed

:(