SF167.RT BUSA.indd

WORDS: MDM
PICS: CLINK
Mr Fisher, you are
spoiling us with
these faired bikes...
062/167 / STREETFIGHTERSMAGAZINE
SF167.RT BUSA.indd 1
22/11/07 12:24:53 pm
SF167.RT BUSA.indd 2
22/11/07 12:25:32 pm
The owner of the bike you see here is a chap by the name of
Chivas James, a doctor from Sarasota in Florida, and the pilot of
a nitrous ZZR 1400 built by Roaring Toyz last year. However, the
speed-hungry doc (who also races boats) decided that the gassedup Kwak wasn’t quite quick enough, and was frustrated by the
fact that the nitrous bottle could empty itself within seconds, so
he decided that what he really wanted was a turbo bike. What bike
could be more suitable for the application of forced induction than
a new-for-2008 Suzuki Hayabusa? And, naturally, he returned to
Roaring Toyz for the build.
He showed so much enthusiasm and excitement at getting the
tweaked and turbo’d ’08 Busa that Bob Fisher decided that they’d
get the brand new bike air-freighted direct to Florida, and delivered
to the shop still in the crate, so he could crack on and hopefully
build the world’s first custom ’08 Busa.
On the turbo front, Bob turned to Barry Henson of Velocity
Racing, a man renowned for his experience with turbocharged
motorcycles, and in particular Hayabusas. In fact, somewhat
astoundingly, Henson had already built a turbo 2008-model
Busa for use in the Prostar Pro Streetbike race series, and
you’ll actually see that bike being raced, by Steve Venables,
in the UK next year! So, with a Stage 1 turbo kit from Velocity
- capable of producing in excess of 265 bee-haitch-pee which,
in turbo bike terms, might be relatively low power, but for a
street-going machine, it far exceeds MotoGP levels of grunt,
with far more reliability. The build was on!
In order to get Chivas out on the road in as short a time
as possible, the full Roaring Toyz team was enlisted to work
overtime and get the bike stripped, modified, painted and
rebuilt within a week! This required painter Paul Wong to fly
064/167 / STREETFIGHTERSMAGAZINE
SF167.RT BUSA.indd 3
22/11/07 12:26:15 pm
ENGINE:
in from Aruba and paint all the panels in the
Roaring Toyz workshop – one can only imagine
the chaos as a panel was removed only for it
to disappear into Paul’s temporary spray booth
and reappear again, painted in the glorious
purple, black and silver scheme, and complete
with the ‘XXX’ theme that Chivas also has on his
ZZR and chopper. Hmm, you begin to wonder
just what sort of a ‘doctor’ Chivas is when you
clock the triple X and girly pics on the bike...
And of course the paint extends further than
just the bodypanels as the switchgear is colourmatched as, in fact, are the panels around the
dash and the upper frame rails.
The built was started on a Saturday
morning, and completed by the following Friday
night - a complete build undertaken in the time
it takes for a Streetfighters project bike to have
some brake lines fitted...
While the build did use quite a large
number of off-the-shelf parts – such as the
clutch window cover from Steve at Tricked Out
Custom Cycles, the beautiful tubular singlesided swingarm and the many other Roaring
Toyz aftermarket goodies, the fact that this
was their first ’08 Busa custom, and that the
bike had to be completed in such a short time
period, meant that it certainly wasn’t an easy
build. And what has to be pointed out here is
that the attention to detail and quality of finish
is of a very high quality and that, more than the
number of bolt-on parts, is what makes the one
week build even more impressive. Of course,
this isn’t the normal sort of time span assigned
to a build, and if you wanted Roaring Toyz to
perform a similar act with your bike you’d have
to be prepared to pay the overtime needed by all
the staff! There’s also all the price of the next
day air freight used for the not only the original
bike, but also some of the component parts too.
We’ve mentioned before that Bob Fisher,
given his pedigree as AMA racer and road-riding
nutter, has started to lean towards building
bikes that are more of a rider’s machine rather
than an out-and-out show bikes, and this is
borne out by the fact that this Busa hasn’t got a
rear end like a bull hippo, nor has it the ground
clearance of a horny dachshund (think about it),
but is built to be ridden. Bob reports that;
“Between the incredible but smooth power
delivery and the killer set up on the suspension
this bike rides better than almost any custom
we have ever sat down on. If this bike does not
give you a smile big enough to hurt your face
when you get off, I don’t know what will!”
So, Bob has proven without doubt that he
can built a beautiful faired ‘fighter, and with
this latest bike he’s also proven that he isn’t
necessarily confining himself to ‘biggest is best’
ethos that has permeated the American scene
in the past, and he’s starting to use parts that
we could be expected to see on this Pond, like
that stunning tubular swingarm.
So Bob, your mission, should you chose to
accept it, is to build a naked bike to the same
quality as your faired projects that
you’ve been building over the last six
years, and thus prove to us Europeans
that you can build a ‘real’ streetfighter...
2008 Suzuki Hayabusa, Velocity Racing Stage 1
turbo kit, street/strip clutch modification with heavy duty
springs & shims, high pressure oil valve, chrome billet oil
filler cap, chrome plated clutch cover with see through
window by Steve at TOCC, stator cover with kanji logo.
POWER OUTPUT: 265+bhp.
FRAME: 2008 Suzuki Hayabusa, chrome billet swingarm
pivot caps, motor mount caps, shock access hole cap, and
exhaust mount plugs, lowering kickstand.
FRONT END: Performance Machine Torque Contrast Cut
17”x3.5” wheel, 120/70/17 Pirelli Diablo tyre, Roaring Toyz
scalloped chrome directional brake rotor, Roaring Toyz
chrome billet lowering yoke, Roaring Toyz diamond cut
chrome grips with arrow point bar ends, chrome billet
clutch & brake levers, reservoir caps, fork caps, yoke stem
nut cap & ignition cover cap, custom stainless steel braided
brake line from Craig at HEL Performance.
REAR END: Gregg’s custom chrome 6 inch over tubular
single-sided swingarm, Performance Machine Torque
Contrast cut 18”x8.5” wheel, Pirelli Diablo XXl 240 section
tyre, fully adjustable lowering links, Roaring Toyz custom
rear shock set up with heavy spring & stroke limiter to keep
the tyre off the taillight, custom stainless steel braided
brake line from Craig at HEL Performance.
BODYWORK: Myrtle West chrome billet pop-up petrol cap,
mirror blanking plates.
ELECTRICS: Standard 2008 Hayabusa loom.
PAINT: Sick XXX paint from Paul Wong of Aruba.
POLISHING: by Sport Chrome.
ENGINEERING: By Roaring Toyz.
THANKS TO: “Barry Henson and crew at Velocity Racing;
Jon Reed at Sport Chrome; Paul Wong from Aruba; Red
Bull; and countless others.” Roaring Toyz products are
available in the UK from MH Products on 07974 312522 or at
beanos-nuts.co.uk
STREETFIGHTERSMAGAZINE \167 \065
SF167.RT BUSA.indd 4
22/11/07 12:26:32 pm