Equal components pace, heritage, and perspective; this Victory Gunner is the sickest rat rod bike we have ever seen.
We love rat rod bikes. Bikes look naturally robust. Now strip one down to reveal steel with straight pipes, and you’ve got a monster! We particularly like to see a strong, trendy bike reworked right into a menacing hotrod machine of yesteryear.
This Victory Gunner based mostly rat rod has all of the uncooked attraction of a basic American bobber. On the identical time, it has been constructed for optimum sportbike efficiency. How did a customized bike builder get his fingers on a model new Victory Gunner? When he isn’t constructing imply road machines, Rudy Banny is definitely the founding father of Tattoo Projects–an advert company that handles Victory Bikes, amongst different shoppers.
Equal components pace, heritage, and perspective; this Victory Gunner is the sickest rat rod bike we have ever seen.
Hotrod Heritage
We love Victory bikes: examine why the Magnum was discontinued. We imagine the toughest-looking bikes have had all the things nonessential stripped away. Banny agrees. He recollects that when he acquired a swing at a Victory Bike, “I took it upon myself to take all of that superior, bad-ass trendy American muscle, and package deal it up in an old-school bobber-cafe.” Learn his story on BikeExif.
American bobbers acquired their identify from “bobbed” or shortened fenders and seats. (See our 5 favorite Bobbers). Banny knew he needed to pay tribute to this timeless look. He took the futuristic Gunner fenders off and downsized the massive headlight. Then he modified the bike with a brief cafe-style seat by Nitroheads. The oldsters at Tattoo have been in a position to chop off a bunch of the rear subframe. Then they constructed aluminum gussets to each help the seat and conceal the simplified electronics.
The results of shedding the rear body is a stretched, aggressive-looking swingarm, although the drivetrain’s rear finish has been left inventory.
Banny knew Victory’s spoked wheels had the timeless look he needed. However up entrance, he upgraded to a 3.5×16 rim that includes stainless spokes and a two-disc brake. For a classic look, he wrapped these rims in Firestone Deluxe Champion tires. These fats, zigzag tread tires alone will make any trendy bike appear like a gnarly basic. Add these to the tracker handlebars, and the customized Gunner calls out to the Harley flat-track racers, popularized many years in the past.
Dangerous Perspective
We imagine a naked steel tank and taped exhaust pipes enhance the appears to be like of any bike. This Victory Gunner is not any exception. Banny says that he “intentionally took a really trendy American bike and distressed the hell out of it.”
The inventory Gunner wears a really vast gasoline tank. Victory designed the tank to match the inventory seat’s curve, giving it a futuristic look. Gunner knew he would wish a customized gasoline tank for his rat rod bike. Sadly, the Victory bike includes a cut up, wishbone-style body spine; aftermarket tanks are very troublesome to put in.
The Tattoo Workforce formed the highest of the tank you see. They then employed Elite Steel to chop the underside off the previous tank and merge the 2. He topped the brand new tank in a Monza filler cap. We predict this ratty naked steel look was well worth the hassle.
Pace Demon
The inventory Gunner bike creates 97 horsepower. The Tattoo workforce added a Lloydz Torque Tube consumption and customized exhaust headers to extend the ability. The bike can be respiration by means of simplistic, Ok&N model filters. In addition they upgraded to an adjustable timing gear and an aftermarket gasoline management unit.
The rat rod bike has an extended historical past within the cafe racer scene, with Japanese “brat model” racers evolving into extra trendy road fighters. Victory’s trendy model nods on the aggressive bikes constructed throughout the Pacific. Banny, too would add a few of these sportbike parts to his construct. Study concerning the bike Ducati named the Streetfighter.
The tattoo workforce completed the Gunner with customized triple timber holding Suzuki GSX-R forks beneath Biltwell Tracker handlebars. A pair of entrance headlights are a transparent, streetfighter call-out. Extra trendy, Arlen Ness teardrop mirrors look virtually like they got here from the Victory manufacturing unit. With no room remaining for a driver’s console, Gunner selected a MotoScope Mini LED speedometer to clip to the bars.
The workforce tucked a lot of the electronics beneath the cafe seat, however the little Ballistic battery and some digital parts wanted a house. In true rat rod model, Tattoo employed leather-based specialist Colsen Keane to handmake a pouch to carry the battery. The ensuing bike is 100 kilos lighter than inventory.
The final touch was a black “Tattoo Moto” brand, that includes a single-piston, on the aspect of the naked steel tank. The general impact is ideal.
Conclusion
It is nice to see any customized bike getting consideration, we’re large followers of outlets customized akin to Keanu Reeve’s Arch Motorcycles. This practice may look extra classic with an older body, or basic engine with spherical jugs. However that will defeat all the objective of a rat rod. A rat rod bike is about stripping down the bike you’ve got, roughing it up, and driving it onerous. What’s extra, this hundred-horsepower Victory Gunner has the American muscle to again up its bruiser appears to be like. Due to its call-outs to basic V-twin bobbers and extra trendy streetfighters, Tattoo Initiatives’ Victory Gunner is the sickest rat rod bike we have ever seen.
Sources: BikeExif
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