WILD FILE - Nitrous Express

WIL
FILED
BUILDING
A BEAST
WORDS & PHOTOS: Brian Hatano
STREETFIGHTER PERFECTION WITH A GIXXER’S PUNCH
50 MOTORCYCLIST
You were probably sporting a mullet
under your helmet back when the
first roached-out streetfighter started
prowling the streets of England in the 1980s.
'Fighters, as we know, were all about keeping
a crashed sportbike up and running by shedding bodywork too expensive to replace.
Streetfighters have been popular ever
since, with efforts from the pros and amateurs
alike dotting the scene. Now we have custom
bike builders dishing out some over-the-top
fighting machines with unique influences. In
the V-twin world, customs rolling out of Roland
Sands Design are essentially streetfighters
based on highly modified Buells and H-Ds,
while Chris Redpath of MotoGP Werks has put
his race-inspired, hand-built touch onto some
exotic and high-dollar brawlers. Of course, the
manufacturers themselves have tried doing
streetfighters, but most of them are too tame
or too polished to really have the vibe.
Despite all the noise, streetfighters have
survived both the mega-ticket items and
manufacturer efforts. No better example
exists than this GSX-R-based fighter built
by All Industries Performance in Van Nuys,
California. The shop is owned by Chris Jones
and Clint Solomon, who clearly love all things
old school and have found a way to instill their
own retro-modernism into creations ranging
from supercharged Harley-Davidsons and
carbon fiber-themed Rocket IIIs to stretched,
fat-tired sportbikes and custom streetfighters.
AIP went clean and retro when it came
to this Gixxer. In fact, this bike started life
as staff-instigated Project ’Fighter in Super
Streetbike, a sister magazine to Motorcyclist
under our old owners. The idea and execution
of this project are simply too good to let a
shuttered magazine keep it out of the limelight. So here we are.
The project is based on a street-scarred
2003 GSX-R1000, a local Craigslist score with
more than 34,000 miles on the odometer.
Rather than trying to work around a 10-yearold sportbike that had seen better days,
the AIP crew took the Gixxer down to a bare
frame so that every part of the bike could be
inspected for damage and rebuilt from the
ground up.
AIP fabricator Solomon repaired a minor
crack in the frame (from a low-side drop)
followed by a few subtle mods to clean up
areas that would no longer be concealed by
bodywork. Prior to paint and powdercoating,
the frame, engine, subframe, and exhaust
were mocked up to check fitment and see
what kind of brackets and hardware would
be needed for the new LeoVince exhaust,
LSL rear brake reservoir, and Fight-Machines
universal tail and belly pan. A used Hayabusa
swingarm was pulled from the AIP take-off
pile to replace the stock item. The extra inch
gained in wheelbase is not just for keeping
the front end down; it helps visually offset the
squatty look of the shortened tail.
With the bike’s tank and custom streetfighter body parts being prepped for paint, the
crew at AIP used the downtime to check valve
lash, compression, and leak-down before
giving the engine a clean bill of health. This
laid the groundwork for a simple, budgetfriendly power increase: nitrous.
That upgrade comes from a Nitrous
Express EFI Power Booster kit, which is
known as a “dry shot” system. (In simple
terms, a dry-shot setup injects oxygen-rich
nitrous oxide into the intake stream where it
mingles with an enrichened fuel/air mixture
to produce more power. A “wet-shot” system
pours in both nitrous and extra fuel. Nitrous
itself doesn’t add power; the ability to give the
engine more oxygen to consume with extra
fuel does.) The EFI Power Booster is a dry
system that will work with any factory fuelinjected sportbike with ram-air induction.
Chris Jones ran Project ’Fighter up on
www.motorcyclistonline.com
51
MAKING THE HEAVYWEIGHT
The engine and all wiring are removed as AIP’s Blas Gomez starts modifications on the
frame. Going naked requires several tabs and air intake flanges to be removed.
Modifying the tail is what gives a streetfighter its aggressive profile. The Fight-Machines
Evo tail is a universal-fit fiberglass piece that requires extensive subframe alterations to fit.
The Gixxer subframe was shortened by 11 inches, and the leading edge of the tail was shaped
on the belt sander so it would match up to the contour of the fuel tank.
The custom spoked rear wheel features a
Harley-Davidson hub offset to the left.
Project ’Fighter is mocked up and then
disassembled once more for final paint.
Here Gomez installs the blue-painted NX
bottle and solenoid under the tail. That’s
where the fun comes from.
Three wet coats of urethane clear are
applied and allowed to cure before the final
cut and buff.
52
MOTORCYCLIST
the AIP Racing dyno to get baseline power
numbers and fuel-curve data. Although the
bike was equipped with a Power Commander
III, there was no map installed by the previous
owner. Jones remapped the bike with the new
LeoVince GP Pro pipe and K&N air filter before
making the first nitrous-assisted run and
came up with a best baseline power number of
131 hp and very linear air/fuel ratios (AFR) in
the 13.8:1 to 13.9:1 range. Mike Golightly of
Nitrous Express attached his 10-pound nitrous
tank for testing purposes, and Jones made a
series of nitrous-assisted pulls starting with a
#16 jet. (The number refers to the jet’s inner
diameter, in this case 0.016 inch.) That setup
yielded a best run of 137 hp. Stepping up to
a #18 netted 141 horses with adjusted AFRs
still in a safe pattern. Our final run with the
#20 jet and Jones’ custom map produced 153
hp, a steamy 23 up on the baseline.
Nitrous is a bit of an old-school route to
more power, true, a theme echoed elsewhere
on Project ’Fighter. The final stamp of a true
custom is, of course, the paintwork. To handle
the final step of Project ’Fighter we called
on B&E Customs in Chatsworth, California,
where metal expert Bob Dale and master
painter Eugene Smith are turning out some of
the area’s finest rods, trucks, and bikes. B&E
stayed true to AIP’s retro theme with a modern
take on the early ’80s Katana colorway, adding
their own custom twist to the paint with a heavy
flake in the metallic blue, accented by handbrushed red pinstriping and Suzuki “S” logo.
“S” for “superman”? An extra 23 hp on a
bike whose center of gravity is much higher
than Suzuki ever intended makes for some
superhero moments. Without the juice, the
’fighter is entertaining enough. Punch the
button and ride the gas for a thrill ride you
never expect from a decade-old sportbike.
Even better: As comfortable as the ’03
GSX-R1000 was by sportbike standards, the
new upright ergos makes riding beyond city
limits more cruise than bruise. The Suzuki
feels more like a ZRX of the same model year
than a hunched-over superbike.
The only difficulty we had was keeping
the front Metzeler in contact with the road
thanks to some aggressively lower gearing
and a higher center of gravity. Braking is
improved over stock—with the addition of
braided lines—but still not up to par with a
new Brembo-equipped GSX-R. Handling is what
you’d expect from 10-year-old technology, and
like any naked bike, wind protection is nil. But
what this bike delivers in abundance is ’fighter
attitude with a wow factor that only a custom
build can provide.