Slang for an experienced bike mechanic.
It takes several years to become a shop rat. Only after spending thousands of hours building bikes, building wheels, rebuilding suspension forks and shocks, setting up derailleurs, replacing bottom brackets, rebuilding hubs, matching chainrings/cranksets/cassettes, and bleeding every type of hydraulic brake system does one become a shop rat.
A shop rat is the guy/gal you want to talk to about your bike's issues. They've seen every possible problem a million times over and know how to fix it professionally and quickly. They also know secret repair tricks that you'll never find in a service manual or on YouTube.
The opposite of a Tool Box Ted.
It takes several years to become a shop rat. Only after spending thousands of hours building bikes, building wheels, rebuilding suspension forks and shocks, setting up derailleurs, replacing bottom brackets, rebuilding hubs, matching chainrings/cranksets/cassettes, and bleeding every type of hydraulic brake system does one become a shop rat.
A shop rat is the guy/gal you want to talk to about your bike's issues. They've seen every possible problem a million times over and know how to fix it professionally and quickly. They also know secret repair tricks that you'll never find in a service manual or on YouTube.
The opposite of a Tool Box Ted.
I spent 10 years as a shop rat in a Colorado bike shop.
The main Pinkbike guys all used to be shop rats for something like 10+ years before their current jobs.
The main Pinkbike guys all used to be shop rats for something like 10+ years before their current jobs.
by BB30 May 16, 2020
Get the Shop Ratmug. by RedGk20 September 14, 2022
Get the Soggy puff ratmug. This can be used in multiple scenarios and can be used as a person, place or thing, or even to describe something. A bitch, a snitch, a chismoso.
by Rebecca_007 May 5, 2020
Get the Ratmug. by rathater37 March 8, 2022
Get the ratmug. 
by southaussie.indigenous October 27, 2020
Get the Going in the ratsmug.