What is a Rat bike?

Rat bike - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rat bikes are motorcycles that have fallen apart over time but been kept on the road and maintained for at little or no cost by employing kludge fixes.[1][2] Survival bikes look similar to but are different in purpose from rat bikes — they are modified for stylistic reasons.
[edit] Rat bikes
Ratbike engineering: how to make a sound joint between sections of exhaust pipe when you don't have welding equipment.

The concept of keeping a motorcycle in at least minimally operational condition without consideration for appearance has probably characterized motorcycle ownership since its earliest days.[2] The essence of a rat bike is keeping a motorbike on the road for the maximum amount of time while spending as little as possible on it.[3] This calls for adaptation of parts that were not designed to fit the model of bike in question. While the origin on the term ratbike is unclear, it may attributed to custom motorbike magazines,[4][5] and retrospectively applied. Most Rat bikes are painted matte black but this is not a requirement.[6]



So how often to you see them in our area? Do you have one?