Rat Rod Strut by Bill York

For most bike aficionados, owning a collection is one of the biggest aims in life. You scrimp and save so that you can purchase the bikes of your dreams. But there’s another class of people whose tastes revolve around motorcycles that look close to falling apart. Called rat bikes, the machines are held together using methods that cost little or no cash. These methods, called kludge fixes, help keep the essential components together so that the bike can function, despite not looking as glamorous as some of the fancy custom jobs we see today. Bill York falls into the second category. He’s collected quite a few rat bikes over the years and the only piece missing was an American V-twin. In his quest to complete his collection, York teamed up with Todd Anglani, the source of his rat bikes, to construct the missing piece based on all of York’s dream features. It would sport tall tires, patina as paint and a frame so low that it almost scrapes the ground.

Since the bike of York’s dreams couldn’t be sourced from existing Harley stores, he and Anglani had to construct the frame from scratch. They contacted Ride Wright for the 60-spoke, 23-inch, powder-coated yellow front wheel to contrast the bike’s iron oxide covering. The 18-inch rear wheel, meanwhile, was equipped with an over 7-inch wide whitewall Coker tire. The uber low saddle was positioned to align with the front of the rear wheel.

York’s rat bike features lowered geometry from the primary forward and motor though from that point towards the rear, it’s longer than a stock motorcycle. The team decided to forego a rear suspension beyond the sidewall of the tire while the stretch at the rear provided space to fit in the oil bag, sprung seat on top and a battery in the middle. An oversized length of chain was used to drive the rear wheel and to do this, they removed the slack.

The hand-built bike features yellow painted Gabriel Adjustable air-shocks for the front suspension. They allow the rat bike to ease on the framerails when even they’re drained of air. Aside from a few components like the drivetrain and the Ultima motor, York and Anglani hand crafted most of the other parts. That includes the gas tank, foot controls, oil cooler and air tank. The gas tank sports an inverted Corona beer bottle welded into place that acts as a gas gauge. For the air cooler, the duo made use of a junkyard heater core.

The kicker, however, is that the rat bike has been fitted with a flame thrower to give it loads of pizzazz. The team built an in-line fuel pump from the gas tank, attached it to a NOS sprayer nozzle and welded a spark plug to the tip. The result is a carefully hand crafted rat bike with an element of danger and allure. With the project wrapped up, York can now claim to have completed his collection and show it off with pride.

Source  Hotbikeweb