Working with a startup custom bike company that has decided to use the term "Rat" in it's name.

Appreciate your feedback.

this would greatly depend on its useage , but I would not be against buying from a "rat" company

theres a blues band round here called "Iggy ray vicious's ratt sass" (right spelling )

I think its perseption!

Who would buy stuff from a bunch of "Yahoo!"(s)?

"Google" isn't even spelled corectly, is it?

Why do people who live in the "Amazon" have so many cheap books?

Could be a description of the bikes they build. rats are generally unadorned, minimal chrome, built for riding machines.

I really like the name "Yellow Rat Bastard" but that's the name of a clothing store in downtown NYC.

I think of the girl we all called "Rat Lady" that tended bar at the Whiskey One in Potsdam. Had a little fling with her in my frat days. She was pretty decent or awesome or wild or slutty or experienced or trampy... not sure which is the best description... I guess I'd have to say I like the name.

Gary

Everytime I hear RAT now I think of a MC nearby, Ratpack (RPMC)

BIG BLOCK CHEVY! 396, 420, 427 & 454 engines (even the new ones 502 etc.). bet you'll get a lot of people calling for chevy engine parts if you use the word Rat in the name, not that bad though, call for a set of forged pistons and go home with a custome bike!
but hey. i've got two rats in my garage, one to ride and one to power the vette.
RatWorks (gotta smell better than the skunkworks!)
peace

RAT could be Good if used properly!!! :D

i'm with txsporty, depends on what its used with.

BIG BLOCK CHEVY! 396, 420, 427 & 454 engines (even the new ones 502 etc.). bet you'll get a lot of people calling for chevy engine parts if you use the word Rat in the name, not that bad though, call for a set of forged pistons and go home with a custome bike!
but hey. i've got two rats in my garage, one to ride and one to power the vette.
RatWorks (gotta smell better than the skunkworks!)
peace
...or the 572/572... :smoke

oh...YEAH!!!! tho nothing sounds like a ZL1 all aluminum 427 at 8500 RPM. Usta go to Summit Point and Road America when i was jest a rugrat.
rob

Working with a startup custom bike company that has decided to use the term "Rat" in it's name.
Appreciate your feedback.

DCinPa,
I'll say bad idea to market using the terminology "Rat".
Marketing is everything, and word association can narrow you to an extremely small market. Though there are those who love the "rat" look. I doubt that there are a sufficient number of retail buyers to sustain a successful business advertising new "Rat" bikes. I also would be concerned as to how insurance companies would quote rates on those products. Insurances rates can kill a new motorcycle company if not competitive.

Billy

I know this question was vague. I wanted to gauge the overall reaction to the word "rat". However, we won't be buildin' "rat" bikes.

The idea was to call the company Phat Rat Motorcycles, Inc. and market the bikes under Phat Rat Kustoms. The reasoning:

Phat - old jazz term meaning "cooler than cool". That's were it comes from for all you younger guys & gals.

Rat - radical as in Rat motor.

Together , Phat Rat (fat rat) is getting the best of a deal...as in "made out like a fat rat".

We'd use the Kustoms to tie in the 50's & 60's eras, but the plan is to appeal to all age groups.

Phat Rat Kustoms = cool radical bikes.

Wasn't terribly crazy about the word "rat" until I heard the full name, Phat Rat Kustoms ... I dig that!

I agree! Like I said before, its all about context!

Its a good name...... 'I Like it'.....I think someone is already using the 'Phat Rat' portion in the Custom Car field.......If its a Harley shop then 'Rat' fits perfectly. :cool:

as long as it has the word customs behind it then its cool.if not, its a j/y name.

Rat: ratty, 2 bit peice of junk, ready for the scrap yard, just resurected from the scrap yard, future project, of poor quality and condition, unsafe and not very roadworthy.......

Rat: Precursor to today's chopper from the 50s and 60s. Mostly back yard mechanics that couldn't afford the lone local HD shop. Usually $50 basket cases often assembled from used parts of dubious lineage, unknown or uncared about quality. Reused gaskets made for even more leaks than usual. Lack of loctite or lock washers meant parts were always falling off. Mostly painted with hardware store paint (if that). Undependable, unsafe oil burners. You get the idea.

Remind me to tell the story of Dirty Loyd some time.

Rat: Precursor to today's chopper from the 50s and 60s. Mostly back yard mechanics that couldn't afford the lone local HD shop. Usually $50 basket cases often assembled from used parts of dubious lineage, unknown or uncared about quality. Reused gaskets made for even more leaks than usual. Lack of loctite or lock washers meant parts were always falling off. Mostly painted with hardware store paint (if that). Undependable, unsafe oil burners. You get the idea.

Remind me to tell the story of Dirty Loyd some time.
Very easy to follow becuse of the oil drippings on the road, and you could do an oil change with what they dripped on the surface of a parking lot. Wish I had invented duck tape in those days, I'd of been a billionaire.

Phat Rat Kustoms = cool radical bikes. In this order it sounds good to me.
But i think the products of a company will tell, not a name alone.

first think i came to was a rat bike...

The name sounds great!
In high school if you had a POS hotrod with "no go" we called it a Rat Box!
But in bike terms I did understand rat meaning radical motor.

To a Union construction tradesman its a guy coming on the job stealing your work (cheese). So my first thought when I hear rat is Scumb bag.
http://www.geocities.com/gearhead1972/norats.gif

You have "BIG DADDY RAT" which is a VERY Respected "RAT" name..

But you also have "YOU DIRTY RAT"

a new Movie, Ratatouille

a Phat Rat IN todays world seems to be an OXYMoron.. PHAT as it's used today is hiphopish/Blingy/etc... And Rat is the exact opposite.....


I'd rather see "FAT RAT CUSTOMS" and build BIG Barebones Bikes.. Now that makes sense----------------------2me.

I have always thought that a "Rat bike" was one that a guy don't take much care of cosmetically and looks like it has been ridden a million miles, But is really in such top mechanical condition it sounds like it could be ridden for a million more.
Generally it is all bobbed to hell as well.
Just the image I see in my head when someone says "Rat bike".

My bro and I used to build build bikes outta basket cases and parts from the local junk yard. Sold quite a few of them, too. My bro, who taught me more about bikes that MMI ever could, used to call them 'rat traps'...you know, ratty old bikes, whatever. They were true scoots if you ask me. Bare boned and hard to ride sometimes.

So, at least from my foxhole, you call a bike company a name with 'rat' in it...I'm there. But everyone who said it is right..all about perception. If it were me I'd name it something like "Rat Trapp's Bombshells", have a big Rat Fink-ish logo with a obese rodent flipping the bird and be puttin' out some crazy retro-moddern bobbers and street fighters....

But, hey, that's just me...PAX

When I hear rat or rat bike I think of an old KZ400 I once had. A rust filled gas tank that kept plugging up the carb every few hundred miles, a radiator hose for the intake tube, and the center stand removed so the straight pipe from JC Whitney would fit. I ended up giving it to a co worker and last I heard it was somewhere in FL. Just to many headaches to worry about. Though, Phat Rat Kustoms, I do like the name and I don't see any relations to a rat bike or a rat bike show, I'd relate that to more of a cool bad ass ride. Just leave out the flipping the bird in the logo, not cool just juvenile.

Working with a startup custom bike company that has decided to use the term "Rat" in it's name.

Appreciate your feedback.

So.....What's the name?

Wow this is an old thread. 2 years old to be exact and Dcinpa hasn't logged on since November of last year.

During an 8 1/2 month long strike when I was walking the picket line, a "Scab" was someone new that crossed the union picket line and went to work anyway. A "Rat" was a fellow union member that crossed their own picket line & went back to work. I don't like the sound of either name.

To me it depends on the end result. A trashy bike isn't a rat bike, its trash.

A bike that cares more for function than style: that's a rat!

Rat is a cool nick name but has a down side. People will call you a "Rat Bastard" when angry with you.

To me it depends on the end result. A trashy bike isn't a rat bike, its trash.

A bike that cares more for function than style: that's a rat!
:iagree

i dont like when they take an old bike and hot glue crap allover it and call it a rat back i like the dark, skinny looks of rat bikes i think it would be ok in the name though for motorcycle stuff
like mentioned earlier Scabs & Rats in Unions is bad course we call em snitches in my shop

Rat Bastard Customs...wouldn't be a terrible name. that being said, if the cycles are made from this and that hodge podge of parts they would be bastardized and custom....go with rat in the name.

"Rat bikes" in the old days were bikes that were rode hard, rode often, and I agree with willprevail's earlier post, no nonsense. I usually took offence to people who tried to imply that rat bikes were junk; since my closer friends would call my rides rats (but you had better be a close friend).
Good luck with Ratworks. PS say hi to all the chevy people also.

I always thought the term "rat" when associated with bikes was a positive word that denoted a certain amount of creativity and ingenuity in making badass machines out of junk, spit, and baling wire.

Sort of like a MacGyver on two wheels!

Working with a startup custom bike company that has decided to use the term "Rat" in it's name.

Appreciate your feedback.

here's my thoughts on a rat bike, and yes, i have a true rat bike, an 05 sporty rusted to hell, beat to shit, the only time it gets washed is when it rains on me while i'm ridin, looks don't matter, if you breakdown and have to find somethin on the road side to get you back on the road . . . so be it, a rat should be a geniune product of a dependable machine with loads of stories to tell . . . not some rattlecanned flat black bike with minimal changes . . . if you ask me, the term 'rat' has been smeared by society into what is know now as every bike sporting a flat black paint job . . .

just my 02.

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.

However Phat Rat Kustoms sounds more like someone with the nickname "Phat Rat" opened a bike shop. Refers more to the builder than the type of bike being built. Phat's Kustom Rat Bikes would refer more to the bike.

a RAT's Ass ??

:roflblack :roflblack :roflblack :roflblack :roflblack :roflblack :roflblack

I have a fondness for 'rat', probably because I had one as a pet once. Great pet, that rat.

Rat bikes: care more for function than looks.

If that's your definition, then I'm all for it.

hmm... how do I feel about "rat" ... hmmm... ;)


sincerely, tradrockRAT