Here are some pictures, taken by Matt the Rat, of the 7-31-02 Rat Ride. His photography reflects the elusiveness of the rat, our moral role-model.

Nine choppers (interestingly all choppers, no tallbikes, sleds, funnybikes, etc) met at a location halfway between the north side and the west side to fuel up at a nearby taqueria and take the obligatory test-rides on each other's contraptions.



We soon took to the alleys, scurrying along in a pack. Rats survive off of the scraps of society. All bikes made by the Rat Patrol as a group are composed of 100% trash.



Deth displays his unnamed chopper, featuring the longest fork of the pack. Like the brontosaurus and his two brains, a front wheel this far out often makes its own decisions as to where it will go, leading the rest of the bike into parked cars and such.



We rode in circles in a playground for a while. That's Noam on the left- I can tell by the flourescent "School is Cool" reflectors in the back wheel.



That's Alex on Choppasaurus Wrecks to the left, and Dan on an unnamed chopper to the right.



Chopper Bob on Chop Suey, with the impressive fork design that he put together at that chop session at my house a few weeks back. The third bar goes into the crotch of the top fork and is bolted through the little caliper-brake hole.



Johnny Payphone on Noam Chopsky. Check out the funky new dynamo-powered headlight and new straight sissy bar.



This is Al the Pal on "Big Poppa Choppa", which he rides 10 miles just to get to the Critical Mass rides. Behind him is John on an amazing chopper that became even more amazing before the night was through.



Alex on Choppasaurus, which I saw Al the Pal ride 30 miles one day.



Dan on an unnamed chopper.



As true today as it was... when it was written.



One of the things the Wurlington Bros. love to do is make a wall of discarded couch cushions and try to bash through it and stay on your bike.



John found a schnazzy stainless-steel chair that he taped on top of his seat... and rode the rest of the night on! Due to the razor-sharp metal lightning bolts running down his fork, we started to call this bike "The Electric Chair".



As you can see, it has deadly eye-gougers extending out the top of the sissy bar as well. Also, having the greatest rear-to-front-wheel radius ratio is a source of great status among chopper riders.



Our secret meeting location, and secret meeting activity.



We ride off into the night.