Rat Wing Pix!

If you LOVE rat bikes... (Like Me!) You HAVE To swing by the RAT BIKE ZONE. One of the BEST rat bike websites on the net! Those European ratters look like they have fun... I sure wish the current "Outlaw-Gotta-Have-A- Million-Dollar-Chopper" phase would die out here in the states... I'd personally rather see some duct tape and bailing wire creations that can actually ride PAST the bar! =)

"In the Beginning"

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 18 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.

Devil's Tower; 1993 (Back when she was still shiny)

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...

"Birth"

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 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 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.

"RE- Birth"

Spring 2008----- MAJOR changes to the original rat above include some fishtail mufflers from a junked Harley, (check out my GREAT welding expertise!). = )

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.

The seat and seat pan are "cutom" jobs... The seat pan is actually a road construction sign which has been (skillfully) bent and welded by someone.... Definitely NOT one of my welding jobs... The seat is a'la 1960's "flat back"style. I bobbed and polished the rear seat section so the back tire would stick out a bit.

Future "improvements" include swapping in a spoked rear tire for the mag. The "rabid rat" picture (above) has been replaced by a vintage red, black and white "Holley" sticker on the side. The bike is CRAZY to ride! I use to have an '85 Kawasaki KZ 1000 P-4 (Police Special) which was so scary to ride that my cajones would take a week to fall back into place.... THIS baby, with the Holley carb, and ONE brake REALLY make the cajones run for shelter. =)

11/12/08