10th and 11th of June I went to a ratbike meeting organized by the 'Dutch Hardly Rideables'. Though my bike isn't a rat and it isn't hardly rideable ... it's definitely Dutch and Hard to Ride.
It took place nearby the village IJsselstein on a site called 'Highlands'.
I made the trip with photographer and journalist Sabine Welte. She came with a testbike even less rat than mine: a brand new yellow Kawa ER-6n. We might not exactly fit in the profile...
We were very welcome though. They just want to throw een nice party and everyone is invited.

As at all meetings (streetfighters, Harley's, self-built, mixed) much time is spent mainly looking and talking bikes. And enjoying the weather with some cans of beer.
Now and then a rat started smoking...
... and smoking ... and smoking.
It's a small world; NitroMax came by with his slick VMax.
How to discribe the phenomenon 'ratbike'? Well, it's mostly Japanese origined and one might think it's a bunch of worn-out crap. Just buy yourself (or better: find yourself) a seventies Japanes bike, take a crowbar to get rid of all the plastic, and cover it with some cans of black paint.
'Hardly Rideable'? Very obvious.
But a ratbike is far more than that: a lowbudget but very individually styled piece of art.
The personal look of each bike makes you walk around and around many times; every ratbike tells a different story.

On the picture you my favorite Z750 turbo (called 'NOSfearatu'), built by Mick Hüby: a beautiful streetfighter used for dragracing.

Aim your pointer at the picture to see a rat-style Z750 turbo; a very different approach. Both bikes share the same engine, and both are very worth looking at.
Black rats arrived from Holland, Germany and England. In the evening an exuberant procession from France roared in.
I got many offers to get my bike sprayed black for free; I maneged to turn them down though...
Totally unexpected I won my thirteenth (!) award: 'Best Fighter'. A nice gesture to make me feel at home I suppose ;-)
Like always, between drinking and talking, I spent a lot of time taking pictures. And I was not the only one: on the picture you see Sabine Welte (smallest, with biggest camera), Floris (bigger, with smaller camera) and a German bloke (biggest, with smallest camera).
Floris is one of the organizers of the event. He writes for the Englisch magazine '100% biker' and made a photoshoot of my bike.

We argued about a rather important question: should or shouldn't there be green on a bike's picture? Decide for yourself: aim your pointer at the picture ...

Floris' bike is called 'Gonzo' and is a classic example of a good ratbike. This is one of very few bikes-with-trailer that doesn't disgust me: Mad Max would agree.
I'll summerize the rest of the evening and night: BBQ, talking, drinking, burning wood and rubber, and finally sleeping.
Next morning the Dutch Automobile Association (called 'ANWB') arrived, which didn''t surprise me a bit: DHR has got a reputation to uphold.
Made a nice trip homewards with the award cable tied on my luggage. It was a nice event and it certainly won't be the last rat-meeting I'll visit!
   
German biker mag 'Biker Szene' published a report on the Dutch Hardly Rideables meeting in their August 2006 issue.
Click the picture to read the article. (written in German language)