Just Another Ugly Bike?

A few days back I was puttin’ around town when I spotted some bikes outside a local watering hole. So I stopped and sat for a while. One guy I didn’t know kept staring at my bike. About ten minutes later he says: “Ya know, that thing is about two steps from a rat-bike”. All I could do is say ‘Thanks’. The dude made my day! That guy new a fine piece of Japanese craftsmanship when he saw one.

Now the old girl is 32 this year and she was looking pretty ugly last year when I decided to rearrange her parts. The first thing to consider was the budget, or lack of. After consulting with my finance administrator (wife), a budget was decided upon. It would consist of whatever spare parts I had or whatever I could get for free. So the show bike theme was out. Why not go the opposite way? No paint, no cleaning no nothing. Just use parts never intended to fit. Make it even uglier, but with style. The decision was made. It would be a piece of shit but look like a hundred dollar hooker from a distance, a ‘long’ distance.
The budget quickly went south. The timing advance was worn, as were the clutch basket studs. The threads were somewhat smooth and would sometimes make it hard to shift. So new parts were purchased. The bike now had a value of about $60.00.

The one thing I knew was getting changed was the rear fender. I hated the short skinny one and wanted a much longer one, (don’t we all). An old Yamaha front fender seemed to fit in the space, somewhat. But mounting it with the struts was not to be. New struts were made at a cost of I now owe a favor. The saddlebags, that have been cut up for different bikes, and are now held together with old bootlaces, cover the custom struts just fine. The seat mount is really hoakie but serves the purpose. The rims were found hanging on the wall of a barn. They were put there around 1980. I aired them up and used the rubber that was on them since it was better than what I was running. I don’t think the FL shocks have any fluid in them. But the forks leak anyway. An old re-jetted Sporty carb feeds the thing, sometimes.

Now without making this to long with a lot of boring detail, here’s the question: Is this thing really about two-steps from being a rat-bike? Which I take as a compliment. Or is it just apiece a of crap? In which case I made a mistake by cleaning some of the rust and heavy grime.