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066/168 / STREETFIGHTERSMAGAZINE
SF168.RT JOE ROCKET.indd 1
18/12/07 9:55:45 am
While this type of ‘pimped’ motorcycle may remain
popular with the sort of people who regard wearing
your trousers around your knees as the height
of sartorial elegance and think that carbon fibre is the main
ingredient of a breakfast cereal, the over-long and over-blinged
Busa, R1, or whatever has ceased to a be a ‘motorcycle’ and has
become as much a fashion accessory as the TV chopper.
When Bruce Parker of the Joe Rocket clothing company
wanted a customised sports bike to promote his new line of
Project H officially licensed Honda schmutter it would have
been all too easy to have the punters gasping in admiration by
painting, chroming and stretching a brand new stock Honda
endowed with a ridiculously wide rear tyre to end-up with a bike
that was closer to Preparation H than Project H. And, while it
may not take much in the way of unnecessary ornamentation to
have Joe Public crying ‘Awesome!’, Joe Rocket however wanted
more than the usual chromed and custom-painted hobby
horse to promote his latest products. A conversation with Dave
Sonsky, the Ed at Super Streetbike magazine and former Star
Boy, formulated the basic premise for the project that would
keep the rear-end of the new CBR1000RR unfashionably stock
in both length and width while concentrating on paintwork
and accessories to make the bike special... until Bob Fisher at
Roaring Toyz became involved.
Alongside Custom Sportbike Concepts, Roaring Toyz have
been responsible for the bulk of blinged Busas and their
ilk, being both originators and innovators of the style,
but Fisher is a racer at heart could see the chance to
take the original Project H concept of Parker and
Sonsky for a street-friendly customised race
rep and use his experience as an AMA racer
to add go as well as show.
STREETFIGHTERSMAGAZINE \168 \067
SF168.RT JOE ROCKET.indd 2
18/12/07 9:56:01 am
After consultations with Honda and stylist Adam Canni the main three
protagonists – Parker, Sonsky and Fisher – came up with the blueprint for
a bike that would be trick enough to drop jaws on the show circuit and still
be able to be hustled around a racetrack as good as (if not better), than the
original motorcycle. Step one was to shitcan the original plan for the stock
rear-end and go for a tubular steel single-sided swingarm as close as possible
to stock dimensions allied to a rear wheel that would be able to make the most
of Pirelli’s brand new Diablo high performance 240mm tyre. Step two was
more power – and the easiest road to a big jump in bee-haich-pee is to strap
on a turbo.
Having built very special show bikes for major manufacturers like
Kawasaki and for the Metric Revolution television show, besides dozens of
high dollar motorcycles for well-heeled customers like the rapper Ludacris
(as featured in Streetfighters #166), Bob Fisher is used to working with
tight deadlines and is able to both project manage the building of a special
bike as well as getting on with the job of actually nailing it all together.
Naturally the rounding up of the usual suspects like Performance Machine
to supply the wheels and brakes and Gregg Desjardins at Gregg’s Customs
to fabricate a tubular steel swingarm similar to the one on Fisher’s Metric
Revolution Gixer was part of the plan, besides the talents of Roaring Toyz
favourite painter, Ryan Hathaway and the rest of the RT crew. A new addition
to the spec sheet however is Dave Jones and Cycle Logic who created the
turbo kit especially for the Honda CBR1000RR. And while the intentions
were always to lean this motorcycle more towards the tarmac of racetrack
than the carpeted aisles of the show circuit, a few bolt-on baubles wouldn’t
be amiss, although the line was drawn at fake guns for footrests, crack
pipes for levers and coke spoons for mirrors (and this was Honda we were
dealing with after all so everything had to be agreed on with the corporate team
of lawyers), and genuine race parts like the Sato Racing rear-sets and frame
sliders were sourced in addition to a couple of purely custom dooh-dads like
the Roaring Toyz bar-ends, the mirror blanks from Gregg’s and a battery of
concealed LEDs.
The trouble was that Parker needed the bike for the big Project H product
launch at the American MotoGP round at Leguna Seca (where ‘local boy’ and
factory Honda rider Nicky Hayden was expected to do good – but didn’t after
colliding with fellow American, John Hopkins in the first corner), giving Bob
Fisher less than four weeks to pull the bike apart, get it painted, source all of
the parts and put it all back together again. And not just completed to satisfy
anyone who looked at the bike on the Project H show stand, but completed to
satisfy a blast around a racetrack to prove that the Honda wasn’t just another
shiny show ornament. But, as is obvious by the photos in front of you, everyone
involved pulled-out all of the stops and the bike was completed on schedule.
Amazingly so as putting this bike together wasn’t as simple as it would have
been with something like a Hayabusa, R1 or Gixer Thou where piles of custom
parts like wheels, brakes, and even turbocharging systems, are groaning on
the shelves of aftermarket suppliers. The wheels had to be specially made
by Performance Machine, particularly the rear hoop that had to fit the oneoff single-sided swinger, and not content with designing and machining the
wheels in record time PM’s man also found time to make a trio of matching
brake discs. Despite being in California, way at the other side of America from
the Roaring Toyz workshop in Florida where the bike was located, Gregg’s
Customs came through with an all-new swingarm design using their own drive
hub assembly and brake caliper instead of the Ducati parts previously pressedganged into service on Gregg’s single-sided arms. The design of the arm
actually meant that the wheelbase ended up being extended by two inches, but
with a turbo on call maybe that’s no bad thing, but to make sure that the rearend would behave Penske custom built a rear shocker to suit the length of the
swingarm. To match the trick rear-end the Honda front forks were resprung
and revalved by suspension experts GMD Computrac who also carried out
a full chassis geometry optimisation to make sure that Fisher didn’t kak his
Kushitani’s out on the racetrack when the turbo kicked in mid corner.
Ahh the turbo, forced induction has definitely come a long way since the
early days of boosting the BHP of a Jap four with a turbo off a lorry, a carb
from a Harley and lot of homemade bits in between that gave the engine ‘turbo
lag’ that could be measured with an egg timer and the life expectancy of a
suicide bomber. Modern electronics, fuel injection and the principle of the blowthrough turbo system have all been brought together by companies like Cycle
Logic to tame the raw edge of a turbo and produce an almost seamless rush of
power while keeping the reciprocal parts inside the engine.
068/168 / STREETFIGHTERSMAGAZINE
SF168.RT JOE ROCKET.indd 3
18/12/07 9:56:40 am
The Cycle Logic kit incorporates an IHI dual ball bearing turbo unit with
an integrated wastegate and a custom made fuel pressure controller to
produce approximately 240bhp from the Honda CBR engine at 8lbs boost with
no additional mods other than remapping the stock fuel injection system and
fitting a Cycle Logic lock-up clutch to hold the power. The other key ingredient
being the exquisite plenum chamber machined from billet aluminium by Cycle
Logic that’s an exact duplicate of the factory airbox in order to replicate the
airflow characteristics designed by Honda factory engineers. A real shame that
it’s hidden from view, but all will be revealed soon in a Cycle Logic feature.
Is this new Roaring Toyz bike the shape of things to come on the US
custom sports bikes scene? Are the Americans at last tuning in to European
race bike styling instead of trying to turn a Hayabusa into a Harley? I doubt it,
but if they do you’ll see it first in Streetfighters.
OWNER: Bruce Parker @ Joe Rocket.
ENGINE: 2007 Honda CBR1000RR with
Cycle Logic turbo kit using an IHI dual ball
bearing turbo with integrated wastegate,
a custom made fuel pressure controller
& a machined billet aluminium plenum
chamber, Cycle Logic lock-up clutch,
Custom Sportbike Concepts transparent
clutch cover with coloured LEDs, Cycle
Logic exhaust system with Roaring Toyz
tail section.
POWER OUTPUT: Operating @ 8lbs boost
engine makes 240bhp at rear wheel.
FRAME: 2007 Honda CBR1000RR, Sato
rear-set footrest assemblies & racing from
sliders.
FRONT END: 2007 Honda CBR1000RR USD
fork legs resprung & revalved by GMD,
2007 Honda CBR1000RR fork yokes &
clip-on handlebars with top yoke chromed
& Roaring Toyz bar-ends, Performance
Machine Torque 17in billet aluminium
wheel with Pirelli Diablo 120/70ZRx17in
tyre, Performance Machine Torque brake
discs with Performance Machine 4-piston
radial mount brake calipers, 2007 Honda
CBR1000RR brake & clutch master
cylinders with HEL braided stainless steel
lines, Yana Shiki Titax adjustable brake &
clutch levers.
REAR END: Gregg’s Customs 2in overstock
tubular chrome moly steel single-sided
swingarm with custom made Penske shock
absorber set up by GMD, Cycle Logic
lowering links, Gregg’s Customs drive
assembly, brake disc, brake caliper &
master cylinder with HEL braided stainless
steel line, Performance Machine Torque
18in billet aluminium wheel with Pirelli
Diablo 240/40ZRx18in tyre.
BODYWORK: 2007 Honda CBR1000RR
fuel tank, fairing & seat unit, Hot
Bodies undertail, Custom seat pads by
EliteSeats4U, Sport Chrome fuel filler cap,
Gregg’s Custom mirror blanks.
ELECTRICS: Modified 2007 Honda
CBR1000RR wiring harness & headlights,
Clear Alternatives integrated rear light &
turn signals, Gregg’s Customs LED front
turn signals, 2007 Honda CBR1000RR
instruments & switchgear colour coded
by Ryan Hathaway, Custom Dynamics LED
concealed accent lights.
PAINTWORK: Custom paintwork by Ryan
Hathaway @ Roaring Toyz.
CHROME: Jon Reed @ Sport Chrome,
California.
POLISHING: Polishing by Roaring Toyz.
ENGINEERING: Bike designed & built by
Roaring Toyz, 2171 13th Street, Sarasota,
FL 34237, Florida, USA. Website: www.
roaringtoyz.com
THANKS TO: “Bruce Parker @ Joe
Rocket (www.parkersynergies.com);
Dave Sonsky @ Super Streetbike (www.
superstreetbike.com); Dave Jones @
Cycle Logic (www.cycleogicmotosports.
com); Gregg Desjardins @ Greggs
Customs (www.greggscustoms.com); Dave
Zemla @ Performance Machine (performancemachine.com); GMD Computrack
(www.gmdcomputrack.com); Nick Anglada
@ CMC for the clutch cover; plus thanks
to Ryan Hathaway for the paintwork; Adam
Canni for the graphic design input; all the
crew @ Roaring Toyz; and special thanks
to model, Rebecca Klose.”
STREETFIGHTERSMAGAZINE \168 \069
SF168.RT JOE ROCKET.indd 4
18/12/07 9:57:12 am