Interesting. Tell us more please ………and out again this evening for a shake-down run on the CX-Periment in readiness for the annual Rat and Survival rally next month.
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Luckily Loomies was closed so I wasn’t tempted to sample any of their dreadful coffee!
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Off to Devon for the day tomorrow on the GSA..
Motorcycling.
Apart from the satisfaction of creating something totaly unique; are there any gains to be had from the bike that's better than standard; rd holding; comfort; braking or carrying capacity; i've always been curious about the genre;; you've spent plenty of time and effort on that Hann; a lot more than a fender extender or summat like that;……and out again this evening for a shake-down run on the CX-Periment in readiness for the annual Rat and Survival rally next month.
View attachment 505744
Luckily Loomies was closed so I wasn’t tempted to sample any of their dreadful coffee!
View attachment 505743
Off to Devon for the day tomorrow on the GSA..
Motorcycling.
Hi Snelly,Apart from the satisfaction of creating something totaly unique; are there any gains to be had from the bike that's better than standard; rd holding; comfort; braking or carrying capacity; i've always been curious about the genre;; you've spent plenty of time and effort on that Hann; a lot more than a fender extender or summat like that;
Cheers for the reply Hann; here's a couple i've snapped in the past; although the land rover is more steam punk i would say;Hi Snelly,
I was sat on my favourite easy chair one day with my feet up on a footstool and i thought `what i need is a motorcycle with this seating position`, so that was the original inspiration for this bike (and beer...).
In the ratbike world anything goes (the stranger the better) and i wanted to build something with the `WTF is that factor`. I think i did it.
It`s built for comfort and big daily mileage, and it is comfortable. Very mild knee bend! It`s been all over Europe and beyond, as far south as Hungary and halfway up Norway.
Roadholding......I would like to say that it retains all the unpleasant handling characteristics and is just as bad as the original CX500 donor bike but it`s probably worse!
No one has ever been brave enough to ask for a ride on it but if they did they would probably be horrified. Actually it really isn`t that bad but the riding position and handlebar arrangement is completely different to a normal bike and that gives it a very unique experience to pilot. You`re very low, your feet are way out in front, and the swept-back `bars require lots of arm articulation and you`re peering over the front end/screen to see..
It originally had conventional forks but forks are a bit boring so i dreamt up the funny front end (i like unusual steering/suspension set-ups, hub centre etc) to match the funny rear end and make this weird bike even more funky.
And this is where most of the `characteristics` of the handling stems from - in an effort to make the bike look as long as possible i set the geometry up with the minimum amount of trail i thought i could get away with - sticking the front wheel out front as far as possible without altering the headstock.
With this reduced trail the bike is very easy steering but a tad flightly and `weavy`. The solid wheels don`t help, they seem to pick up side winds. I noticed this when they were fitted to another bike of mine. For example, get behind a coach on a motorway in it`s `dirty air` and you can feel a bit of shimmy from the front, not dangerous but not as planted as a bike with a 1840mm wheelbase would suggest.. Fast sweepers can be taken with confidence, no probs there, tight bends are OK with the right technique (did Stelvio easily enough). U-turns? Forget it.
Probably similar to a raked-out chopper - all customised bikes will probably have their own quirks when they stray from the accepted norm. Form over function? Maybe.
It`s really not as bad as it sounds and definitely not so bad that i have had to rush to alter it since it`s birth in 2009, but i am probably going to rework it and give it more trail this year to make it that little bit more relaxed and stable to ride in the way it always could have done.
Curious about the Ratbike genre?
They are very liberating and a lot of fun, anything goes - see Docs mates trike for example in the Prom thread. A lot of folk just don`t get it. They see the rust, black paint and home-made fittings and automatically think it`s junk. Then get on a bike festooned with pointless, tacky bolt-on tatt from a huge accessory catalogue! We`re all different, but ratbike owners tend to be a little bit more different than most..They allow you to exercise your full range of improvisational skills and bodgineering expertise without having to make it look `right` - got an idea, just do it, they`re the epitome of customisation, you can modify them to exactly what you need/require without constraints. And the best thing about it is when you`re finished making a mod or addition you just slap on some Hammerite or spray it matt black!
Aye Gary at Sportax is a good bloke!
