Building a rat

[Big Daddy Funk]

Best of both worlds

My restored 79 Special is dead nuts stock, a real beauty. My 80 special is my favorite of the two. The engine is hotrodded,(1196 kit,megacycle cams, ported and flowed head, hi perf. valve spings Mikes Green coils, Mac 4into1 header Dyna jet kit and springs on order) fenders are chopped, flat black primer/paint with gas stains all over it(accidental) brushed aluminum covers and an XS Chop chain conversion on the way. The bike has been completely refurbished. I have done all the work myself, with much info from this site.
I truly enjoy restoring or customizing bikes. I appreciate both. The Hotrod XS is alot more fun to ride. I would classify it as a rat because of it's sleeper appearance. It is intentionally not pretty. Scruffy bordering on ugly. It is VERY functional.
I do appreciate anyone who puts the time, effort and money into personalizing their bike, no matter what their vision of cool is.
And yes, I put more money into my Hotrod XS in one year than I have on my car in five years. But it sure doesn't look like it. Rick

[tbishop11]

I think that everybody should conform and all bikes should be exactly the same, because that would be wicked cool . But then, who would we hate on? Who could we complain about? Would it be the guy with slightly over inflated tires, or faded paint? Perhaps,fuel levels? I'm just glad to ride, and could care less what people think. If you wanted people to think that you dropped a lot of coin into your bike I guess you could gold leaf your rims, and drop in a dope sound system for everybody to hear. But then it wouldn't be stock, ah the dilemma. If you give to much thought to what others think, how could you ever be yourself? Especially when others are always trying to make you like them. Perhaps it's a compensation, or a self esteem issue. So everybody please make your bike just like mine because I can't stand anybody being different! Well that was the purest form of sarcasm that I could muster up. However I thought this was a very entertaining thread.

[xs11jack]

Fred, is this what your talking about???

http://

[mstic2000]

It's funny how this post comes up now and then I find this on craigslist within walkin distance!

As the owner told me...."I will tell you that this is a rat bike. Very low budget, almost everything is self made."

(the very stuff dreams are made of)

A really "Rat" bike

Just needs some apes to make it complete.

Round my neck of the woods, back in the day (70's) it didn't matter how bad your ride looked. It was what you had hidin under the hood that mattered.

[fredintoon]

Fred, is this what your talking about???

http://

Hi XS11jack,
thanks for the effort but seein' as the link sez "this image has been moved or deleted", I dunno.

[fredintoon]

- - - As the owner told me...."I will tell you that this is a rat bike. Very low budget, almost everything is self made." - - -

Hi mstic,
that's hardly rattish at all. That's a custom hardtail bobber that has been enhanced by not being painted up like a cheap tart.

[mstic2000]

Hi mstic,
that's hardly rattish at all. That's a custom hardtail bobber that has been enhanced by not being painted up like a cheap tart.

Touché! I humbly stand corrected

[DGXSER]

To each their own

I have yet to see anyone here truly "Hatin" on anyone. Yep, its your bike, make it how you want. And postin it here to show off what you have done is certainly understandable as anyone likes to hear good things about their work. You also have to know that if you put your work on the pedastal, then some rocks are gonna get thrown.

As to cutting up bikes, well, in my opinion there is a great example of the opposite ends in the bikes for sale section right now. A Venturer that would be a sin and a shame to hack up and the same person selling a "parts" bike that would be a great candidate for chopping up as it is already missing most of the stuff folks tear off anyway. Just an opinion, not meant to hurt or "hate on" anyone. Yours may and probably does vary.

[mstic2000]

I'd consider rat bikes, custom works of art. Like these are beautiful! (drool, drool, drool).

[wa407mpp]

origin of the rat bike, by Steve.

I know that the name Rat bike has a different meaning today then it had in the past, but this may help explain why some people have a different view on the subject. It has long been my understanding that a rat bike was created by neglect not intention. It starts out with a guy who would rather spend his time riding his bike instead of maintaining it. He keeps telling himself, he'll do it later. Today the weather is too good to spend working on his bike, so he ignores the dirt and oil leaks, and goes riding. Over time the paint fades and the tarnish on the chrome turns to rust, so he decides it would be too much work to fix it up and with the exception of the parts needed to run the bike the rest is let go and are striped off as they break. So when he gets tired of his friends comments on the condition of his bike he tries to cover everything with a can of flat black, and make everyone think it was done intentionally and starts to call it a Rat Bike, when in reality he is the rat for letting a good bike die a slow and ugly death. The bike that's thrown together out of parts so a guy has something to ride is a different bike and is well cared for by it's owner, because he built it and to call it a rat bike used to be a insult, and to some it still is, because it reflects on the owner as well as the bike.

[xs11jack]

This is the Photo I tried to post earlier

[xs11jack]

Or how about this one?

[WMarshy]

I see an angry Badger! That bike has to be a XS11!