Rat Bikes and Survival Bikes Explained

Ratbikes are motorcycles that have fallen apart over time but been kept on the road and maintained for at little or no cost by employing kludge fixes. Survival bikes look similar to but are different in purpose from rat bikes, they are modified for stylistic reasons.

Rat Bikes

The concept of keeping a motorcycle in at least minimally operational condition without consideration for appearance has probably characterized motorcycle ownership since its earliest days. Since the general upturn in economic conditions of the late 1960s; trends have seemed to favor either replacement of well-worn bikes with newer models or maintenance that conserved the appearance of a like-new condition. "Rat bikes" emerging in the late 1970s and early 1980s (before the term was in use) seemed to appear as a social statement in favor of functionality over the aesthetics of like-new appearances. The essence of a true rat bike is keeping a motorbike on the road for the maximum amount of time while spending as little as possible on it. This calls for adaptation of parts that were not designed to fit the model of bike in question. While the origin on the term ratbike is unclear, it is generally attributed to custom motorbike magazines and retrospectively applied.

Most Rat bikes are painted matt black but this is not a requirement. This may be a cross over from survival bikes. These two kinds of "customized" motorcycles may appear similar but are considered different aesthetic genres.

In recent times there has been a trend of deliberately customizing bikes into rats. It is argued that this defies the organic growth into a rat bike that characterized the original rat bikes and led to their uniqueness. Bikes deliberately distressed to look like a rat bike are sometimes derisively referred to as fake rats. Currently the "rat style" is also gaining popularity in car customizing circles, though again in a somewhat misunderstood manner where vehicles are carefully decorated or modified to look worn with age. This is similar to the distressing of furniture

Survival Bikes

Survival bikes are bikes that may appear to be rat bikes, but are not. They are influenced by the Mad Max films. The term survival bike itself originated in the British motorcycle press (particularly, Back Street Heroes and the now defunct AWoL) in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

It has been posited that both rat and survival bikes present an ideological alternative to the consumerist mainstream. Neither rat or survival bikes continue the endless quest for speed of the modern sportsbike. They do not sport the large areas of chrome on cruisers. The rat bike enthusiast believes that the factory-produced "custom"-style bikes paradigm is subverted by the alternative approach of the rat bike aesthetic. Unlike the glossy paint finish of commercially available bikes, the matte black paint of the rat bike requires no polishing. This is dissimilar to cruisers with lavish amounts of chrome and custom paint jobs. The guiding principle of functionality and practicality make usable power in all road situations more important than speeds that can only be attained on a racetrack.

In contrast to pride in the latest/biggest/fastest/most expensive motorcycle, the ratbiker is impressed by ingenuity and frugality. A decades-old bike that has been kept on the road by whatever is at hand or a resurrected wreck is more prized than a shiny, right-off-the-show-room-floor, new motorcycle.