Ratbike rampage - let's see yer stock chaser

[Rectifier]

Rat bikes and trikes have a proud history around here, and probably around your area too... lots still in daily use... I was doing some work on mine today and thought, why not start a thread to show off these tough old machines.

Maybe you have a nice new quad, but let's face it, she's a trailer queen and is only used to putt around looking for deer - let's see your ride that chases the cows every day

1982 Honda ATC185 frame and motor
ATC110 tank
Polaris seat
Scrap heap rack
Dual reserve tanks from scrap water pumps
Unbreakable Amsteel starter rope
No brakes

Just put those tanks on today after losing the odd-sized gas cap off the main tank. Some days it's ride or die

[SueMc]

Sure isn't what's consider a rat bike around here and they're sure not used to chase cows. It will take a while but I'll hunt for our pics of a couple rat bikes from out group of motorcycles. Both of them Harleys. We do have a JD Gator but don't need it to chase the cows. Our cows, beef and dairy, tend to hang out in our personal space as it is!

[SueMc]

Here's one of ours on the Tail of the Dragon. I'm still hunting for the our other one. These are long distance bikes, not cow chasers. They are annoying because when we travel as a group, people pass up the awesome, beautiful bikes (like mine) and oh and aww at the scary, ugly bikes with no front controls, jockey shift, etc.

[simi-steading]

I agree with Suemc.. a rat bike has two wheels and is put together from left over parts..

But in the spirit of this thread, here's my rat wheeler... I just ran out and snapped this.. It's a 2008 Yamaha Grizzly 660....

The guy I bought it from took a can of bed liner to it.. It's peeling off the red plastic pretty bad... I am gonna take a power washer to it some day and hopefully get all that off.. Half the bolts under the seat to parts are missing, and I just swapped out the rectifier the other day. It didn't fit so I got moved and dropped under the seat too.. and the side covers for the engine are either missing or loose too... It's lived hard..

Mine has been used to chase cows, and I've used it to chase pigs that got loose.. I also use it to run up to the fire house to for calls...

I also use it to haul my stuff for trail cutting and firewood getting... Anything around here that needs done I pretty much use it for...

I don't own any trailer queens or gun safe trophies.. I always say if you see my bike on a trailer, call the cops, because it's being stolen.. .My stuff gets used, and used hard... Even my street bike only gets hosed off at the car wash.. They are meant to ride, not shine.. and chrome don't get ya home..

Yeah, I use it to go look for deer too...

[simi-steading]

OH, wish I had the card right now from my trail cam.. I have pictures on it of me rolling this last week.. I had just set up the cam and was driving off... I caught an old fence wire that was grown into a tree with my back tire and it rolled me over on the hill..

[Rectifier]

So a rat bike is more of an aesthetic thing down there? Here the lack of pavement leaves ours more of a dirt bike/quad/trike business, the only definition is pretty much if it still runs and it shouldn't. The more different vehicles it is made of the more points and you can identify a rider from afar based on the colours, racks and cobbled on bits that make up the stock chaser.

Ours are definitely not road worthy and would probably score a ticket of some sort if ever spotted by police!
Still, nice ride!

[SueMc]

Threads like this just make me realize how much I need to go through and organize all my pics. The second rat bike makes the one above (my son's) look like a showroom newbie.
That thing though traveled from Illinois to Maine three years ago without a hiccup. It looks like it shouldn't be able to run down the block. I swear though, every time we stopped for a meal or gas, guys would surround it and take pics. The Alaska plates on it also attracted attention. Son worked in Alaska for a while. We also (I don't know why) have a pain in the everything hardtail chopper. It mostly sits in the shop.

I love all bikes no matter the number of tires. I met my new SIL's grandpa on that Maine trip. The 80ish fellow had just purchased a new Spyder which he rode often with his 80ish yr/old girlfriend on the back. Love it!

[Rectifier]

Looking at yours Simi mine looks so shiny - it's never been washed but it did get a good rain before the snow. We don't have much mud unless you go looking for it and well it's a working bike not a mud bogger

Wish I could edit the thread title to rat wheeler now but it doesn't look like it can be done?

[SueMc]

Originally Posted by Rectifier

Wish I could edit the thread title to rat wheeler now but it doesn't look like it can be done?

Doesn't matter. It's all good even if it's a Honda!

The only bike I hated was a three wheeler trail bike. That thing was dangerous. It would try to climb your leg if you were unlucky enough to have to put a foot down while on a trail.

[Muleman]

Here is mine, if I can get it to load? We actually bought it new, the first year Honda came out with the 300 4x4. Was a struggle to pay for it back then!! It sat around not being used for the longest time. Then I decided, if it had a bed on it, it may actually be useful for something. I made a 2" lift for it and reworked the front A arms to move the front tires 2" forward. I removed the rear end and replaced it with a 350 foreman full axle housing rear end and stretched the trailing arm 4" so the tires that are 2 sizes bigger than stock would fit. Then I had a buddy build a 54% gear reduction for it, so it actually turns the bigger tires easier than the stock tires. The bed is 2' and dumps. Now with the bed it gets used everyday for feeding. I got a water barrel strapped on the front rack with a hose attached for filling waterer's in chicken tractors spread all over the place. I have since bought another identical old 300 and have plans for a similar one, but with a bigger bed and 30" tires all around.

[simi-steading]

If you click edit, then click advance, you can try to change it.. but it may not show publicly to everyone..

I say that I live in a rain forest.. NOTHING ever dries out here.. OK, well, maybe the leaves enough to have a brush fire... I can't think of a single day in the last two years since we bought the place I've stepped outside and haven't had shoes packed in mud..

Mine is a lot rougher looking than the picture shows.. the seat is all cracked up and split up, and all the corners gone and showing the foam... The racks have been recently repainted, but right over the top of the rust. You can't see in the picture very well, but steel plating has been added to the lower front guard to help keep from breaking out the lights while trying to get through Autumn Olive...

It's rough, but mechanically, its' solid, and it does run well.. The body, that's another story..

[FarmboyBill]

I quit riding 2yrs ago, 2 wheel bikes. Heres my RIDE now

[SueMc]

My husband occasionally does motorcycle repairs for people (Used to do it full time after he "retired" from his real job). He has worked on some pretty messed up four-wheelers but he always comments on their toughness and repairability no matter what's been done to them.

[Muleman]

Bill,
You can't leave us with that, you got to tell us a little bit about your little tractor. That is really nice.

[Rectifier]

There, changed the title to wheelers so as not to confuse new readers! Though many around here do ride a two-wheeled bike for their stock chaser - usually built of many different bikes as well... I just don't own one myself.

Yeah simi, mine looks a lot more battered in person too! The main tank in particular is a horrible un-matched shade of orange and full of dents, and the rack is more rust than paint.

It's funny, if you want a pic to look good, it looks ugly. When you are gunning for ugly, the opposite happens? Because we do aim for ugly when we build these things

[simi-steading]

BTW, where the red is showing through on the rear fender, that's where the butt of my gun rubs I when I have it slung over my shoulder.. I need to mount me a gun rack.. .

[gila_dog]

2004 Polaris Sportsman 500. Tough, powerful, comfy machine. Great for hauling out elk quarters. Not a "rat bike", but just a hardworking piece of gear.



Ready to go.

[FarmboyBill]

Its a mid/late 50s Copar Panzer. It has a B&S engine. 3 speeds with 3 different changes of a V belt on each pulley. Friction reverse by a moveable pulley up and down When its down, it joines the flat ends of each pulley, and that puts it in reverse. When the shaft is lifted, the V belt is tightened and it goes forward. Im told it can hit 10. Never tried it. Its got a good bit of pull. I have fluid in the rears. Ive got a 8in plow im going to rig onto it, ive a disc, and it will pull a section harrow.

IF you want to see it plowing, Go to U Tubes, and type in Panzer Plowing.

[Cygnet]

Real similar to the machines I ride regularly -- I think ours are from about 2007 and have several thousand miles on them each. They'll go over any terrain I'd care to travel on, but they also have the speed to keep up with traffic on the road. (They're street legal here.)

My father also has a six wheel Polaris and we have a dump trailer to go with it. We helped a neighbor haul a cow elk out a few weeks ago -- we loaded the entire (field dressed) elk in the trailer and the guy's teenage son rode in the bed of the same Polaris. That thing pulled the elk in the trailer and carried two people (and my dad's 6'5"!) over some extremely technical terrain (lots of rock ledges and some deep mud) with ease. It's one tough machine, for sure.

ETA: I was taking a friend out to hunt coyotes here once. He opened the rear storage compartment on one of the quads to stow his jacket, and found it was entirely full. He was pretty shocked, which amazed me -- I always carry a complete survival kit, air compressor, and tire patch kit on the quads. IMHO, everyone should, if you're traveling in remote areas.

I've needed the patch kit and air compressor many times, but I've never yet been stuck -- knock on wood. Aside from innumerable flat tires, the only time one of the quads broke down on me, I was a quarter mile from home and just getting the mail. It had electrical issues ... rat in the wiring. We've had to fix a few busted struts and have them tuned up regularly, but they are really reliable machines given the abuse they get.

Originally Posted by gila_dog

2004 Polaris Sportsman 500. Tough, powerful, comfy machine. Great for hauling out elk quarters. Not a "rat bike", but just a hardworking piece of gear.



Ready to go.

[ErinP]

let's see your ride that chases the cows every day