For Carl Bjorklund of Bellingham, Wash., the 1970 Triumph Trident basket case leaning in the corner would replace his Norton café racer . . . some day. In August 2009, a nudge from friend Young Pon got the wheels rolling.
“I knew my next café racer was going to be a Trident,” Bjorklund said. “That basket and frame had been sitting for years. Young just said ‘yeah, let’s do it.’” Four months later, after a parts search that went as far as Minnesota, the Super Rat café racer’s serpentine headers, twisted oil reservoir and hand-built alloy fuel tank were turning heads at the Cycle World International Motorcycle Show in Seattle.
“I like trying to make everything myself,” said Bjorklund, who with brother Mark turns out bikes and motorcycle parts, metal art and skateboard accessories at their Super Rat shop. “I’m really into stainless.”
Bjorklund fabricated the entire stainless exhaust, from the equal-length headers back to the muffler. To clean up the look up front and show off the motor he removed the Trident’s oil cooler. The oil tank of twisted stainless tubing restores the lost cooling capacity, and it’s mounted with beehive springs to head off vibration fatigue.
Out back he narrowed the frame slightly to fit a bum-stop built from a Model T headlight shell. It hides an oil filter fed by external stainless lines sure to please any gearhead. (Bjorklund calls himself a ‘gizmo-gadget kind of guy.’) The rear wheel he found in Minneapolis at the end of a two-hour search marathon on Craigslist.
The welded alloy fuel tank has a box built into its underside that conceals the electrical bits. An Italian racing bicycle inspired the bike’s two-tone paint scheme. Young Pon applied the finish.
(Thanks, Walt, for showing us this great example of craftsmanship. Really clean and loaded with handbuilt parts, very nice and only 4 months to build! – The Kneeslider)
Link: Super Rat Performance
Photos ©Chad DeRosa Photography, used by permission.
For more photos, go to http://derosaphotography.smugmug.com/Other/Super-Rat.
Video below:
Steve says
First comment of the new year!
Nice bike, Love it.
Steve
Tim Tom says
very cool find. loving the stainless look and the exhaust and oil \tank\ is pure art
Oldbikesrcool says
VERY nice work!!! I’ve always loved the twisted speghetti pipes on Young’s Brit bombers. Now I’m again taken with that very cool twisted oil tank….what a great idea!
Love it.
Tin Man 2 says
What a nice piece of work to start the New Year!! I love the Pipes, Tank and colors. This gives me the inspiration to fire up the heaters and get back out to the shed.
Henry says
Art, nothing but art, few people mess with the 3cyl Tri. and this is very cool. I see how much time and thought that went in to the bike. And like the 650 twin if you have not had the pleasure to ride a good one, you don’t know what your missing.
FREEMAN says
Beautiful bike!
emmet says
A true work of art! This is craftsmanship at its finest. There’s just so much detail! how long did it take to complete?
Matt S. says
Beautiful,an absolute work of art!Nice job.
Scotduke says
The oiltank is really special.
Brett Grinstead says
Wow! Great bike! Have these guys done anything else?
Walt says
Brett,
Check out http://www.superratperformance.com
Walt Greenwood
Chad DeRosa says
Hello everyone,
I wanted to let you know that I have just finished the “Making of” video for Super Rat’s Trident Cafe Racer and wanted to share it with you guys. Here is a link to view it:
http://www.derosaphotography.com/Other/Super-Rat/The-Making-of-The-Cafe-Racer/10879314_2ZaPP/1/763223086_g9VDt
(I’ve added the video at the end of the post – kneeslider)
Aaron Gibson says
For those of you interested in Carl and Mark’s bikes you can find them on Myspace. They don’t have much posted there but, what is there is real quality work. I met Carl and Mark last summer when I stopped by their shop to inquire about having an exhaust made for my ’08 Nightster. Not only do they love gadgets, old bikes but, they have a deep love for sportsters. We went to lunch and drew a rough a rough sketch of what I was wanting on a napkin. Carl seemed very eager to help me out after finding out that I am currently active duty in the army. They really are unique guys with amazing amounts of skill. I would recommend them to anyone who wants something unique.