Japanese Bikes, Build Threads & How-To’sBuild threads, tech Q&A and conversations centered around custom-built motorcycles from the Land of the Rising Sun
I finished building this monstrosity last summer. it started life as a stock 1985 yamaha virago xv700. has already won some awards at the local bike nights. let me know what you think. thanks
Thanks for the pos and neg comments, everything is welcomed. I built it to look like shit but be totally functional and reliable. The sissy bar is there to serve the task of bracing my back, cuz although it looks like there are rear shocks they're more like struts and provide no suspension.. People always ask what year it is and look at me strange when i say it's only an 85. One dude thought it was from the 50's. So i guess it does the job of looking old.
Technically isn't that more of an art bike aka a reg bike with Shit thrown on to show some artsy prowess.
@davidabl-i actually get that all the time.the shield and banner throw them off.
Technically isn't that more of an art bike aka a reg bike with Shit thrown on to show some artsy prowess.
@davidabl-i actually get that all the time.the shield and banner throw them off.
No, its a Rat Bike. People with rusty bikes and/or flat black "bobbers" may call it differently. But its still a real Rat Bike.
Please define it and what qualifies that bike as such. No arguements just a good discussion. I would like to know why. And if it ain't a rat than fuck it.it's ugly and she's mine. :-)
A rat bike is a beat up piece of shit bike that the only maintenance done to it is what keeps it on the road and collects stuff. It doesn't look like that overnight, it's from years of being ridden and grabbing something at a truck stop or off the side of the road and strapping it to your bike. That's what makes it a rat.
But! Terms change and usage of words evolves. I understood by the title(as I'm sure mike did too) what your bike was gonna look like. For the same reason if I use the B word and say I have a GS550 Bobber, most people know what to expect. No, it's not 'technically' a bobber by the original definition of the word, i.e. old indian or flathead stripped down, but it is what the word has evolved to become. People get too hung up in labels.
You like it and ride it, that's what counts.
P.s. i understand the function of your sissy, I still think it looks ridiculous. Lol. Form over function sometimes my man.
A rusty bike thrown together, is just a Rusty Bike.
That thing is decidedly fresh, clean and newly thrown together for a rat. The argument over what constitutes a rat is down to opinion. The strict 'Ridden All the Time' is one definition, use of non OEM parts and fixtures, on-the-wing repairs etc. Personally, as long as someone doesn't buy a shiney new bike, sprays it matte, glues some Halloween decorations to it and passes it off as a rat, I'm good with it.
. The argument over what constitutes a rat is down to opinion.
A narrow,precise definition of what constitutes a "Rat" is kind of missing the whole point of
Ratdom...
Generic rat: older beat-up bike, typically Japanese, typically rattle-canned flat black (primer or rust
also qualifies 'tho) May or may not have odd crap attached. Attitude is "DILLYGAF".-
I.E. "Do I Look like I Give A Fuck" that you have a shiny new bike and I DON'T.
Motivation similar to those "art cars' you sometimes see with little toys etc etc glued on to them.
Certainly for the RatBikes that have odd stuff attached.
I guess sticking a label on it puts it in a box, and all that does is make bike building stale. Cuz if we all put labels on things and built them to strict standards there would be no different bikes just cookie cutters and for all that might as well buy factory bikes and leave them that way. But we obviously aren't into factory cutter crap, cuz if we were than this site wouldn't exist. And we wouldn't be here sharing our custom crap and collective knowledge and experienced. Enough writing, time to ride :-)
I don't think it's a matter of labelling, it's more a matter of classification. I doubt anyone here would complain about being 'labelled' when being handed a best rat/bobber etc. prize.... It's handy as a general guide for what you want and for folks who've made a bike like yours before. Beats a thread titled 'need help with a erm you know one of those short fender dropped end er.... kinda scruffy, you know the type'.
That thing is decidedly fresh, clean and newly thrown together for a rat. The argument over what constitutes a rat is down to opinion. The strict 'Ridden All the Time' is one definition, use of non OEM parts and fixtures, on-the-wing repairs etc. Personally, as long as someone doesn't buy a shiney new bike, sprays it matte, glues some Halloween decorations to it and passes it off as a rat, I'm good with it.
Even on my phone I can see the rust all over that thing.
As a person who truly enjoys an honest Rat, it's a bummer when someone says, check out my Rat, and its not. Same thing goes for the whole, Bobber, term but that's another argument all together. If you've gotta label it, call it a Motorcycle, or Sickle or Scooter or what have you, but in the eyes of people who know better, its just a rusty Bike.
When people label their bikes something like a Rat or Bobber, or even worse a "Swing ARM Chopper", when they couldn't be farther from an actual example of such, it just shows a lack of knowledge and a lack of respect to what those bikes actually are.
let me know what you think. thanks
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