A Very Wild Trike Out Of A Comic Book

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In a rally like Daytona it’s quite unusual to see a trike attracting as many people as your typical 2-wheel new “show bike of the year”. Well, I had to check out this one and met with Canadian Fred Vaillancourt (a.k.a.The Rat) from the Rat Shop who explained to me that he loves to build bikes inspired by the comic book heroes of his childhood…and of his adult life. So, all his builds transport you in fantasyland, and the big kids that we all are seem to enjoy this approach. A few years ago he started with the “Mutant” bike, then “The Punisher” and the public asking for more he built the wildest one featured here and called “The Spawn”.

But don’t think that Fred just produced a “comic book paint job” running on 3 wheels. He really built the trike that the Spawn character would ride. The canvas for this creation needed to be huge, therefore “Rat” chose to build a three wheeler like no other and it started with a frame of Rolling Thunder, with huge 360mm tires fitted over rear wheels attached to two single sided swing arms. Then he designed the body to hug the tires as he tried to mimic the cape that the Spawn character is sporting. And Fred went to explain to me (not being into comic books I really needed explanations) that the cape, chains and armor were part of Spawn’s body with his body changing to become fully armored with spikes shooting out from all angles… Hence the look of this trike. Imagine the fab. work! In “Rat”’s mind, one of the things that really needed to be spruced was the 145” S&S motor. On the right side he installed a super charger (like it needed one) but the left side seems bare. Many people stare awhile (including me) before they ask him what the hell is that? Fred came up with the idea of a coil mount that had the same lines as the heads and barrels but blended into the motor. Pretty cool and tricky. After I finished to “read” this trike from front to rear and from right to left, Fred told me that ‘The Spawn” won 1st place in the Trike Class of the Rat’s Hole Show. Of course, his face looked like the one of a kid at Christmas receiving his favorite comic book series. More at The Rat Shop Custom Bikes (pictures Horst Rosler)

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8 Responses to “A Very Wild Trike Out Of A Comic Book”


  1. 1 Fred Zimmer Mar 27th, 2009 at 12:59 pm

    Not into trikes, but you have to respect the fabrication.

  2. 2 Brandon Mar 27th, 2009 at 12:59 pm

    Very sharp. Huh!

  3. 3 A 1 cycles Mar 27th, 2009 at 5:13 pm

    SAW THE BIKE IN PERSON, AS ABOVE NOT INTO TRIKES (EVEN THOUGH I HAVE BUILT A FEW) ITS BUILDERS ATTENTION TO DETAIL WAS AWESOME. NICE TRIKE. NICE GUY.IT STOOD OUT AT THE RATS HOLE SHOW.

  4. 4 Loud Ass Mar 28th, 2009 at 12:46 pm

    Hey, A-1

    Anyone ever tell you that using caps is the same as yelling at people? Do you know where the caps lock key is? Try it some time, it really works to turn the caps off……Just another expert on every subject

  5. 5 Bradley K Mar 28th, 2009 at 6:01 pm

    Cool coil mount. Bitchin all around.

  6. 6 Jesy Reno Mar 30th, 2009 at 8:02 am

    Cool to see stuff from guys around her.
    Conglatulation Fred, you deserved it!
    your friend Jes

  7. 7 Randy Mar 30th, 2009 at 4:04 pm

    Hello from another Canadian! Fred builds awesome stuff. We here at the Canadian Biker Buildoff are most proud of one of our buildoff competitors. What an accomplishment to win at the Boardwarlk and the Rat’s Hole! I saw him ride it. It is loud and it works great! I hear about 300 horses. We are looking forward to Freds new build which is in the works.

  8. 8 jatinder Mar 31st, 2009 at 2:02 pm

    The first trike that i liked………not a big fan of trikes though…

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Cyril Huze