CREATING "PUFFED RICE"

Puffed Rice, my suitably named creation above, started out as a completely stock 2001 Yamaha Road Star. Yamaha Motors USA cruiser division (now called Star Motorcycles) began building the Road Star model in 1999 and it is still today confused with other "Star" line bikes by people that haven't really taken notice to the rather obvious differences between the models. Just a quick primer for those not familiar...the Road Star is a belt driven large displacement v-twin. In the first few years of production, the engine used was a 1602cc (98 cubic inch). Currently, the engine offering is a 1670cc (102 c.i.) version. The other models alluded to earlier...named V-Stars...are offered in 650cc and 1100cc versions...all V-twins. The V-Star line is shaft-driven and comes in several different configurations from "custom" to "classic" as well as bagged/windshield versions called Silverado models. Also, not to be confused with the Royal Star line which are V-4's, shaft-driven and water-cooled. For 2006 and beyond, Star Motorcycles has introduced a 113 c.i. belt-driven model under the RoadLiner and StratoLiner banners proving the producers of metric metal are not asleep in the saddle.

As with most bike owners (and I'm as sick as the next guy), there are some areas of the bike we prefer to add our own touch to. I added bags (my buddy, Big D, Darrin Daniels liked to call them "boxcars"), windshield, lots of chrome and performance parts from Barons Custom Accessories as well as items from Yamaha's accessory catalog. I added a set of RC Components "Wizard" style wheels. A lot of other touches were made to the beautiful black motorcycle but it still wasn't where my heart was. As much as I loved the ride and the time spent in the saddle of that bike, I wanted it to be something different...something for me...by me. It's useless to try to explain this unless you have been down the same road, but apparently there are several more out there with the same sickness. All you have to do is check out some of the sick stuff created by people like Stephen Keller at TOCC, Sam Nehme and crew at BMS Choppers and Baron's crew at his gallery page to see that the custom motorcycling community is deeply disturbed and beyond help.

Customizing a stock bike means you must decide what you want and where you want to take it before you do anything. I had plenty of time to mentally build my project while driving around the country in the "Petey Cruiser". A fat rear tire was an absolute. (* A note about the fat tire thing...funny how a 240/250mm tire looked so big back just a couple years ago, isn't it? I recently rolled a 330 tire up to the rear of Puffed Rice and it dwarfed yesterday's monster 240. Now, Triumph, Suzuki and Victory all have factory 240 rear tire models available.)

An air-ride suspension was the next desired item. Yeah, I know...hardcore bikers ride rigid and swingarms are for sissies. In my truckin' career, I've been cruisin' up and down the nation's highways for over 4,000,000 miles most of it sitting in an air-ride seat bolted to an air-ride cab which is mounted to an air-ride suspension hooked to a trailer that's also riding on...you guessed it...air. My "bee-hind", as my grandson, Benjamin, calls that area of his anatomy, has become accustomed to the comfort that this adjustable cushion of air provides. If you are one of those that reserve the right to yell out worn-out clich?s and call strangers that you don't even know various names, then I reserve the right to say you wimped out on the engineering challenges and fabrication that such applications require in chopperdom. Choppin' ain't easy and the end result will show...no pun intended.

Design is everything...I had a definite design in mind for my "chopper" and my idea was somewhere between the high front end and the lower "pro-street" style. I wanted long and I wanted low to the ground. I also wanted to keep as much of the bike "Yamaha" as I could because I was not interested in trying to "fit in" with the rest of the crowd. Read that however you will. I enjoy the camaraderie and friendships created in the motorcycling community and value them deeply but...there remains that tendency to do things my own way and that way has proven in the past to deviate from the most of the pack. There are really only a handful of people I know that even understand what I'm talking about because for the most part, they are blinded by tradition and the desire to "fit in". Custom is personal, as the definiton above explains, and if you bend to the pressures of the masses and what they deem custom to be, you have taken the "you" out of it and along with that, the custom aspect of the whole idea. Then it becomes "cookie-cutter" and while that may be OK for many, it's not in the cards pour moi (imagine french spoken with a southern drawl...I drove my junior high french teacher, Madame Kleckner, crazy!).

On a similar note, I recently entered this supercharged bike, "Puffed Rice", in a Horsepower Promotions event called the Hot Bike/RC Components Super Show in the downtown Louisville, Kentucky Convention Center where the bike trophied in the Full Custom Metric class in this judged event. As the winners were announced and called forward one by one to the front of this large room filled with "American/clone" builders and participants, we were handed the microphone and given the opportunity to say a word or two. As Steve Bohn, editor of Street Chopper magazine, offered the billet trophy and his handshake of congratulations to me, I really couldn't muster anything inside me other than to ask him to consider inclusion of custom metrics like these in his magazine. No, I didn't speak that with divisiveness in my heart nor did I do it to put Steven on the spot at that moment. I did it because I meant it. I meant it for good. For the good of all of us. Metric bike owners, builders, customizers and fans should be aware of the fact that TAM Communications, Inc and their publication, RoadBike Magazine have taken a similar stance in our stead...providing a high-quality dedicated magazine covering the bikes, the custom builds, travels and stories as well as giving those companies the voice to speak to us all directly. There remains that bastion even today that ignorantly feels compelled to criticize and belittle others in an effort to lift themselves up. No, I don't think Steve Bohn is that way...nor are the majority of his readers. Most riders know the real deal and the wind is the same. But in their silence and the void of coverage and inclusion, it is my belief that it continues to prop up the age-old differences that still are very much alive today and prevent the advancement of the sport even further than what it is today. How can I say that in light of the tremendous rise in popularity of motorcycles and industry related business, etc? I believe there is more ahead. More because we are the "boomer" babies and there are more of us. More because we are enjoying longer and healthier lives and more because of economic issues related to the transportaion industry today. More because of the world as a whole becoming more advanced and open to trade. I am transporting for clients now that cannot currently get their product from America to overseas ports in Africa and other parts of the world because there is no available space for cargo on the ships...proving again that the times are changing and what used to be is no more. This is a personal observation and I guess it really doesn't amount to "a hill of beans"...besides, I really don't have any more right to ask someone to change their magazine than they do to tell me what bike to ride or how to cut it up. Enough about that...on to chopper building...

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