The "Resurrected Rat" The bike was picked up this past February from a guy that had the bike since he was 18. It was his rat bike. I never heard the bike run when purchased but the previous owner attempted to get it started before I left so he could hear it one last time. So I trusted and believed that it ran. The bike was a true rat bike with speaker wires used for repairs on the original wire harness and crooked homemade bars, plywood seat wrapped in vinyl and so on.
So the idea for this build was to make a very simple light weight bad ass stripped down bobber. No Gauges, No turn signals. The 82 GS450 is a six speed 42hp bike and with all the original weight 416.7lb were removed and weighing closer to 300lbs if not lighter. And the open exhaust and intake this small bike will surprise you when you get on it. It's geared for top end so it's great on the highway also. We also wanted to keep the suspension to make it comfortable for kicking around on the weekends either hitting the highway for a long haul or just bopping it around town. This bike turns heads, sounds great and runs smooth threw all the gears.
The bike was completely disassembled and gone over and freshened up. The bike took just under 6 weeks to build and design as it came together over the last 8 months of working on and off this project. the list of all work on the "Resurrected Rat" is as follows:
Frame: The back half of the frame was cut off, reconfigured and welded to get a very aggressive stance while still keeping the rear suspension. All unwanted tabs were removed and smoothed down. The frame was painted in flat black spray paint. 20 cans where used on the frame swing arm and rims. The paint is on heavy and has no runs or pitts.
Motor: The motor is stock and nothing modified to keep it reliable. It has an electric ignition so there are no points to worry about. The motor was given a very good cleaning, then wet sanded and polished up. She has fresh oil and filter and does not leak any oil while parked or after a ride.
Carburetors: The stock carbs have been cleaned out and the main jets changed from stock 115 to 135's. New filter pods were installed with a matching oil breather. The pilot jet may need to be changed since it takes 5 to 10 minutes of ridding before keeping a steady idle but there are no starting issues at all with the bike, as she fires right up every time! Keep the choke on at beginning until she's warmed up.
Electric: New battery. The wire harness is a complete custom harness that is color coded and has all connectors to remove and reinstall if needed. The reg/rec and CDI box are mounted under the swing-arm to keep a clean uncluttered look. There is a main fuse near the battery that protects the components and the stock start button and kill switch both work. This is an electric start only motor and starts right up every time!
Tank: This is the stock tank that came on the bike. It was hammered in on both sides. Then the lip that binds the two parts of the tank was cut off and welded together to make it a one piece tank. It's one of the touches that make this bike ratty, but still clean. Then the tank was sealed on the inside and is painted in an olive primer with black over the olive and then wet sanded for an aged look, then topped off with 3 cans of a heavy clear lacquer coat. The skull on the tank was from the original owner and was brought out through wet sanding to keep some of its original rat chop home grown coolness. The tank holds about 1.8 gallons of gas and gets about 60 miles per gallon if you aren't twisting the throttle like a madman. then expect closer to 45/50mpg.
Front End: No gauges. The fork legs were shaved and painted satin black as well as were the triple trees to break up the flat black. Stock headlight ears were chopped to lower the headlight and bring it in tighter to the bike. There is a toggle switch on back of headlight controls low and high beam. The stock key location turns bike on and also locks the front end in place for security when off. The same key works the gas tank.
Wheels: The original rims were cleaned up and painted flat black. The front tire is a new Speedmaster. The back tire still has meat on it so we left it alone as it should get another two seasons.
Rear Fender: The fender is from a Honda CB360 and the chrome is in great shape for its age. It's mounted tightly to the rear tire using 1/4 steel round stock bent up as a fender brace/mini sissy bar, which was left in its raw steel form and rubbed with metal cleaner for protection and should age nicely on the bike. The bottom mounts were welded to the swing-arm so it moves with the tire. Nothing rubs or hits with this suspension.
Shocks: 10.5 Sportster shocks. Both won on the exterior and perfect inside. This little rodder makes tight turns both left and right and absorbs potholes without bottoming out.
Seat: This was an ugly thing at first with white speckle and red pipping. It was redone in real leather from an old jacket I had. We added a custom mounting bracket made to bolt the seat to the bike. One bolt removes the seat and tank. How easy is that?
Chain: New o-ring style.
Handle bars: New Biltwell mini ape bars with 10'' rise.
Tail light: The Brake light with license plate mount is from Dime City Cycles, upgraded to an L.E.D. A custom side-mount bracket was made to mount the light and left in raw steel.
Brakes: Pads are only about half worn and work perfectly as madmen test rode it and therefore they were left alone. Again, two more seasons before you'll need to spend an hour replacing them.
Exhaust: We gave the "Resurrected Rat" open headers with the a cross pipe between the two giving it a nice and deeply mellow sound.... until cracked wide open!
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