THE CANADIAN MUSIC SCENE

CUSTOM RUSH BIKE

Some of you who attended RUSHCON V earlier this year might have bumped into Michael Bratcher proudly showing pictures of his work in progress, a customized Pro-Street bike based on RUSH's Vapor Trails CD. Mike's been riding bikes since he was 9 and has been a RUSH fan since 1976. One day at a friends garage the two ideas became one. Why not build a custom bike from the ground up! As Mike say's: "I had one major obstacle in my way, to convince my wife why I need two bikes. I told her I would take my time and that over a five year period it would not be too much of a financial burden. I am compelled at this time to say that my wife is very wonderful and a understanding women! Back to the bike! So with her blessing I decided to get started. I already had an idea in my head what I wanted he bikes paint to be. What would be better than the Vapor Trails album cover! It had everything I was going for, Sun, Moon, dragons, vapors, etc. This bike was going to be what they call in the motorcycle world a Pro-Street bike. Which basically means low, long, mean, and fast! So over the next year and a half (not five years) we started buying parts, looking for a painter, and slowing putting the bike together." "We got lucking with the painter. He was the first one we actually went too and he was a perfect fit. His name is John Bauers and he runs Bauers Studios in Belleville, Il. I told him what I was looking for and he said he could do it. Most people do not realize this, but about 95% of the bike is hand painted! Not air brushed or sprayed on! He refers to as a piece of art not a paint job. I agree! I did give him some artistic freedom and some of the things he came up with, just blew me away. The final product is just unbelievable to me and I hope everyone else agrees."

"Which brings me back to another motivating factor as to why I choose the Vapor Trails theme for this bike. Not to mention I just love the music from this album! Not to mention that the cover was perfect! Build It and they might come! I would just love for Neil, Alex, and Geddy to see the bike and maybe they would love to see it in person. Oh to dream, but it is a nice dream. To be able to meet them and show them the bike would be a dream come true. If not, I still think they are the greatest band around and no regrets with the bike."

"Just a few more things about the bike. If you noticed there are two nitrous bottles on the side of the gas tanks. These serve two purposes. The first is obvious, you hit the nitrous button and the bike goes faster. The second is what I like the best. You can hit another button and it sprays nitrous out from under the bike (with a red LED light) and this big vapor comes out from the bike. Thus this big vapor surrounds the bike (Vapor Trails)! There is a dragon on the front fender with his claws grabbing the metal which is really cool. The StarMan on the back fender and the Rush logo from the web site on the side oil tank."

"Well I saved this for last. I must give credit to the man who built the bike. My good friend Quint McAdoo. He runs and operates McAdoo Customs Cycles. He helped with a lot of the ideas for the bike and basically built it for me for very little or no money. He only has one flaw! He is not a Rush fan, but I’m working on that. Everyone who has seen the bike loves it, even non Rush fans. I hope you all enjoy the pictures and hope that sometime in the future you can see it in person."

Mike, John, Quint... well done simpling amazing. I'll take two, one Vapor Trails and one Caress of Steel... thanks for the Story and Pics. Bring it to RUSHCON next year!