Aging Through The Ages... My Rat Bobber

I have always had a fondness for "rats"... Rats of all shapes and sizes, starting with a '65 Rambler Classic and progressing through a ratted out 3/4 ton Chevy truck , affectionately known as "Punkin' Head" thanks to the gallon of OSHA Orange paint my pop was able to "liberate" from his work... I have had several just plain old junky cars, trucks, and Jap motorcycles, and all of the "ridin' rice" jokes aside, could not be more pleased with how any of them performed or held up over the miles of abuse I put them through... I cultivated a true taste for rat bikes, though, as my old '81 Goldwing, which I owned for 20 years, aged from a shiny fiberglas beauty to a ratted out, yet dependable, rat in her own right...

The first pic was taken back in 1993 on a trip to Sturgis, SD during bike week. The bags are from an AMF Harley with a home made hitch which I used to drag out a home made trailer (we keep things low tech ((and cheap)) around my house) =) My wife, Beverly rode her 600cc Honda Shadow and our friend Georgia rode her 250cc Rebel all the out and back (some 2,400 miles) at interstate speeds and without any problems. =) My bike was pretty much stock back then.

Next Up- Sorry for the small pic, but if you look really close at the side cover area of this bike you'll notice a "lumpy, ugly, angular" looking thing in place of the stock side cover. What you're looking at is a very rare 1.5 gallon reserve tank. There's another one on the other side, giving an additional 3 gallons of happy juice. They were neat to have on the bike. I stopped long distance riding and eventually sold them to a Canadian on an eBay auction of all things. = ) Some 245,000 miles of trouble-free riding (without EVER having the carbs off) ended one day with a spun bearing, thanks to not checking the oil enough...

The first "bobbing" of my rat began about five years ago... This is an '80 GL 1100 which was pieced back together, ala Frankenstein style, from pieces of my old rat, a wrecked Goldwing, and a parts wing. I was able to buy the wrecked and parts wing, both, for $200.00! The wrecked wing had been squashed into the back of a dumptruck, killing her owner, and had major cosmetic damage throughout, but a good engine... My old rat had a spun bearing but had lots of good parts, and what I didn't have came from the el cheapo parts bike which came with the wrecked wing... The wing is currently running a Holley 2110 double downdraft carburetor which is sittin' on a home-made intake. The carb and intake have been in place since 2005 and seem to be holding up well. Check out my "Plastic Intake" page for more information about the set up.

This version of the wing retained the twin Ford tractor headlamps from my old rat as well as the crash guards. The front end and tank are also grafted on from my old wing. I've been taking a chance by running without the cam belt covers in place, but folks LOVE watching the moving parts in action when the bike is running. I replaced the right side head in 2005 after a valve seized and stuck open. The valve made a nice little crescent moon on the top of the piston when the piston smacked it. Instead of poking a hole through the piston, I got lucky and the valve base in the head cracked off... The head was shot, but thanks to being a stingy ol' bastard I still have a couple of old heads laying around...Instead of popping some fifty bux for a new head gasket, I slapped some Indian Head gasket shellac on the used head gasket and have been riding the wheels off of it since. (That Indian Head gasket shellac is outstanding!..And damn cheap, too!) =)

Anything deemed unnecessary was scrapped, including the bags, side covers, turn signals, etc. I wanted to try and make a 1950s style bobber, but with a Goldwing instead. You see more "naked" wings on the roads these days, so I wanted to come up with something just a little different... The entire objective of this "build" or "DIS build" if you will, was to take bits and pieces from whatever I had layin' around the house and in the yard to use on the wing. The objective has been to make or modify before buying anything! Thus far, it's worked well.

The bike came stock with air shocks on the back, but I wanted a more "traditional" appearance and took some coil-over shocks off of a '79 Honda CX 500 as a replacement. The bike sits lower and the ride is actually better than with the airs. The seat is salvaged from a Harley chopper and the funky rear tail light and "enduro" handlebars were scavenged from a 1970 Yamaha 90 HT-1. I was thinking about drag bars, but the BMX bars have a couple of more inches of height while still giving it a neat and new appearance ( I have since come across some nice ape-hangers and am toying with poppin' those critters into place... Another FREE item,. so what the heck.) Since this last set of pix was taken the front fender has taken a powder (gettin' closer to the "bobber" look) while the back fender came from a '81 'Zuki and the bullet lights came off of a 70's full-dress Harley and are wired to come on with the brake light. The pipes in the pix are stock Goldwing, but I have since replaced them with some fishtail pipes from another Harley (Harleys are good for somethin'!) (Wink)... I didn't have any muffler hangers so I took a couple of spanners (wrenches to we Americanized folks) and welded them up into muffler hangers... What the hell...They seems to work well and ya' just can't beat FREE! My latest addition to the wing is a converted 30 caliber ammo box bolted in front of the license plate. I had a bicycle bag hangin' in front of the battery to hold some goodies, but it pretty much fell apart and I like being able to carry MUCH more without resorting to full-blown saddle bags.

Ain't modern technology grand? I'm sure the guys in Milwaukee don't like it, but I figured my rat should have the proper badges and what more fitting badges than "Hardly Rideable" to go onto the tank?Yet another tribute to modern technology is the cool "rabid rat" I printed off of a German rat bike website. I am thinking of putting my new "Bad Rat" logo on the bike in lieu of the original rat... AHHHH, decisions, decisions.....A back coating of Plasti-Dip spray on plastic, some auto adhesive, and five coats of spray clear and you too can take something from your printer and paste it onto your rat without worrying about it peeling or coming off.

Perhaps the BIGGEST changes to the bike is to the front end and it's rear end. The forks are s'pose to be some high dollar Italian jobs which were originally on a Yamaha dirt tracker. They came with the BIG front spoked tire. I used my original triple tree assembly which required getting out the angle grinder and grinding down the triple tree clamp to fit the smaller diameter forks. I slid out the stock forks, getting rid of all of that UNnecessary front brake crap (Too many brakes just slow you down...) Making the dirt bike handlebar look MUCH cleaner with all of the extra gee gaw. The rear end is partially "boxed" with the frame sections from the rear shock mount back chopped off. I originally "boxed" the rear frame section when I had a different fender installed, but removed the welded cross section when I got rid of the fender for the one piece seat/ cowl combo.

Spring 2009 In the spring of 2009, I decided to swap out the Ceriani forks for the front end from an '88 Honda Shadow. My main reason for the swapout was to get a front brake again.... You can't beat the bold, clean looks of a brakeless front wheel, but I just never gained trust in using the rear brake alone. I added fork gaiters from a junk CB 750 laying out in the yard for more an old "old timey" look. Minor adjustments include "blacking out" the mufflers, front forks, front and rear wheel and rebadging the tank "F.U.B.A.R.". I have had a mechanical siren liberated from a 1943 Army Military Policy jeep for about 20 years. It's been used on numerous bikes and a couple of my cars so now it'll take its place on this bike for while. = ) I don't believe in payin' for anything unless I absolutely have to, so I took a light switch I had laying around the house, ground the mounting tangs off of it with my grinder and mounted it to the bottom of the handlebar. A flip of the switch and the siren is wailin'. It makes LOTS of noise... I like noise! = ). The broom in the first two pix is because I am a member of the Bikernews.net "Broom Crew". The bike has been running extremely well (knock wood) and I ride her about every day. Future improvements may include lowering the rear end with a set of home made struts (if my back will let me) =)

Fall 2009 After a long (but seemingly quick ) summer of riding, I am happy to report no major problems noted. = ) Changes to the scoot include swapping out 19 inch X 1in thick ape hangers for the motocross bars about 3 months ago, swapping out a small rectangle mirror for the stock 'wing mirror, blacking out the forks and final drive, and adding rain gaitors. I've been toying with putting the Ceriani forks and 21" wheel back on the front, but I'd be giving up my front brake. As it stands, the front brake assembly and forks from the Honda Shadow have been outstanding.

Winter 2010 An old snowmobile windshield cut down and zip tied to the bars and a pair of Hippo Hands I've had for almost 2o years gets the old girl ready for winter.

SNAFU!

I recently decided I needed another bike. The bobber is my favorite, for sure, but it tends to beat you up in no time. After saving my pennies, my choice of a "new" bike came down to a very cool '72 Sporty with an engine of unknown heritage and a weld-on hard tail. My second choice was an '82 Honda Goldwing Aspencade full dresser. The Aspencade was bone stock and showed less than 40K on the odometer (no miles at all for a wing). The whole decision making ordeal is detailed in a message board post. If yer really bored, feel free to check it out. After everything was said and done, I found myself the new owner of another Goldwing. Years ago, FUBAR (my bobber) was a fully dressed Goldwing Interstate. The Aspy is an upgraded version of the Interstate, featuring a Clarion stereo system with integrated CB radio and intercom system, digital gauges, air ride front 'n back and of course copious amounts of storage via a fairing, bags and trunk. I rode the Aspy in its fully dressed state a few times this spring and while the radio was cool to play with, I couldn't really justify a fairing since most of my riding is within an hour of my house. I had forgotten just how "slushy" the ride on a full dresser can be and wasn't too thrilled it after spending years and years riding the bobjob. Last weekend I decided to "undress" the Aspy... Off came the fairing and in its place came a large Yamaha headlight (off of God knows what), and a pair of spotlights from my wife's old and now departed Honda Shadow.

The "high dollar" paint job is a combination of flat black and flat "OD Green" (Olive Drab). I've loved flat black long before it became chic. Separating the green from the black is a gold pinstripe.

Updated July 12, 2010

After a few months of ridin' the bagger, I decided to re-install the rear trunk and add an old windshield I had laying around. I also added a pair of 14 inch "mid apes" to bring the bars up and give me more of a straight up and down seating posture against the backrest (the backrest may be big and dorky, but it's worth its weight in gold on longer trips. The trunk was added mainly because I usually ride my motorcycle to and from the reptile shop and the live mice I buy for my snakes tend to either freak out when they're strapped to the tank or I have to use a very small "mouse condo" (lidded container) and squeeze the condo into one of the side bags. With the trunk, I plop in the big condo and go. So far, the Aspy has been a decent ride. I dont get the same "thrill" riding it as I do the bobber, but it's a smooth dependable ride thus far and is more like my "truck" as I can carry stuff back and forth to school (I'm a teacher) and stuff home from the pet shop and store.

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