Rat Bikes! Pub Bikes Beaters! Frankenbikes!

So what are rat bikes?

I thought the term is borrowed from homemade motorbikes, cobbled together from a mismatch of parts?

In my head

beater = day to day knockabout bike cobbled together from spare parts and/or functional other parts
Ratbike = ^ this but more worn

To be far this thread is also for Beater & Frankenbikes, so it's all covered. I've come across Rat Bikes (Motorcycles) and yeah they're ratty, shitty heaps that look like they came from the set of Mad Max. That said I know there are show motorcycles with acid-bathed/rusted tanks and gleaming parts chromed wheels. That's very similar to Rat Look as it's known in the Dub scene.

To describe a bike as a Rat bike (rather than a shitty bike – which you'd just call a beater) implies it's superficial condition is deliberately made or allowed. This 'run-down' condition can be by design or circumstance. The condition makes practical sense if you want to ride a quality bike in the city and not draw attention from thieves. Riders might appropriate this condition through design, in empathy of those who gained it through circumstance.

It's pretty well established in the VW modification scene.

Sorry for posting a car!


[ame="http://www.google.co.uk/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=rat+look&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1471&bih=960"]Rat Look[/ame]