So you think you're a Trekkie, do you? You know just how pointy Spock's ears are. Well, you're not really into the Star Trek thing unless you have one of these, a trike decked out like the Enterprise.

That's all we know about this truly strange bike.

Here are two photos detailing the autumn years of the 1975 Suzuki GT380 two-stroke triple I used to have. The first photo shows the bike as it appeared when I thought it would be cool to make it into sort of a cafe racer: bald rib front tire, dented gas tank with leaky cap, lots of electrical problems, but drag bars I installed and expansion chambers I made to replace the 3-into-4 system it came with.

To make those, I cut the mufflers off just before the first baffle divider in each and brazed on the tail cones of two discarded 125cc motocrosser pipes. Since the middle cylinder split into two pipes, I had to make everything aft of the headpipe for that one, which I did by using the front cones from the two discarded pipes, brazed together at their large end, then welded one end of that to the middle headpipe and closed the other end by brazing on a big washer with a hole the size of the stinger.

Despite the power and sound improvements of this project, I got discouraged about the electrical problems and the bike's lack of a title, and decided to install suspension from a 1977 RM125 motocrosser to make a cheap, powerful dirt bike. The second photo shows the results of that decision. RM forks, RM shocks on the GT swingarm, purple tank from an earlier GT (cap didn't leak on that one), no rear fender, bald street tire on back, and note the shocks' gas reservoirs hose-clamped to the passenger pegs.

It really was a fun bike. The suspension was too soft for the weight, but it would do wheelies easily in four of its six gears. It sounded great with the chambers on and it could climb any hill you'd throw at it, as long as it was dry. If the jumps weren't too steep-faced, you could fly and land it pretty well too.

A few months later, the motor quit running. I think it needed crankcase seals and an overhaul in general. I scrapped it. I regret that heartily to this day. I really wish I'd have kept it as a street bike and repaired it, or at least developed it further as a dirt bike and repaired it, but I gave up too easily. It had a lot of character. There's a lesson in there somewhere.

Ben in Lincoln County, MI

Courtesy Ratbike.org

I am 16 years old and this is my 23 year old Honda XL500. It runs sweet, always starts on one or two kicks, and throws dirt all the way down our gravel road! And with that 23 inch front wheel, it rolls over all kinds of ditches. Can you believe that my uncle was gonna throw it in the trash because it smoked a little??!!! Okay, so first gear is gone, too, but WHO NEEDS IT?? It has never been rebuilt, but all I really had to buy was a drive chain and it was ready to go! I plan to put the taillight back on to make it street legal again soon, but that is all I would do to improve it. It was a red bike, faded by the sun to a sickly pink, so that's why it got that much classier paint job that you see.

Mark

Courtesy Ratbike.org

If you want to do bit of jousting, then this is the bike for you. We know absolutely nothing about this strange bike, but you can find out more if you speak Spanish and access the site.

Courtesy www.motoexcalibur.com.ar