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Rat bikes, love them or hate them, they are just as valid as the latest mega-buck shop built custom bike. This particular rat/survival bike started life as an unloved Honda 650 Silverwing found lurking in somebody’s back garden by the original builder, a good mate of mine who goes by the name of Bully (he of bright woolly hat fame).

After getting the bike home, some head scratching and general wondering what he was going to do with it, out came the angle grinder and off dropped the rear end of the frame as it was on the rotten side of things. Out came the original 650 motor and in went a GL500 one but keeping the original 650 carbs, using the top hose off an old transit van as inlet manifolds. A radiator from an old CX500 was pressed into service with a few frame mods to make it fit.

The front rack was made out of a GPZ550 light and mounting bracket welded up to an old rack which just happened to be layering around his garage. All the wiring which normally sits in the headlight was conveniently hidden in an old margarine tub. Now that’s re-cycling. A set of one-off apehanger handlebars were constructed and toped off with a set of grips which started off life in a kiddie’s playground.

The seat was cut down to a single one and re-covered in some bright orange waterproof covering. The rear rack complete with a question mark sissy bar was again made from various bits and peaces.

The whole thing was finished off with a coat of florescent pink paint with yellow stripes. At least they couldn’t say “Sorry mate, didn’t see yer”

Following an incident involving me, my trike and a BMW car, I was in need of another set of wheels in a hurry until the trike was fixed. Come Bully to the rescue, offering me the bike and a shed load of spares for not a lot of money. Now been skint at the time, in steps the wife and buys it for me as a combined Christmas and birthday present.  

 After riding around on it for a few weeks, I decided to make a few changes.

Off came the apehangers to be cut in half and used as a new cissy bar complete with a rack off a moped and on went a set of crosser bars. Some mesh that had originally come from the inside of a reinforced security wall (Thanks Gas) was used to wrap the front rack and the screen off a Fazer 600 got cable tied to it. A new rear mudguard and seat was constructed and to finish the whole thing off, a healthy dose of matt black paint (couldn’t handle the pink anymore).

The bike was ridden around in this state over the winter months while I decided what to do next and the fact it was too cold and wet to go outside and do anything apart from basic checks. I’d never been totally happy with the overall look of the front part of the bike so a few more changes were in order. The original screen was replaced by a nose cone off a VT500 which came to me for free (thanks Gary). As I’d liked the look of those bikes with a high mounted front mudguard, I decided to cut mine down and fit a modified crosser one under the light.

Since then I have replaced both mud guards, the seat and the side panels.

The bike gets used as daily transport and is great fun to ride, turning heads where-ever it goes. I don’t class it as finished, just work in progress and still have a few ideas I want to try out.

A BIG thank you to Elaine (my long suffering wife) for buying me the bike, Bully for building it in the first place, sorting it out with an MOT before I picked it up and been an all-round top bloke