It may look like a one-off, but this showbike's mostly stock. The Devil is in the details.
The biggest visual splashes at the annual Dealer Expo in Indianapolis are created by rows of vibrant showbikes tarting up manufacturers' displays up and down the aisles. Aftermarket provocateur Cobra USA is usually at the forefront of the hype generation, invariably holding an elaborate presentation ceremony complete with an unveiling and interviews with in-house design guru Denny Berg. The fanfare was less strident for the recently completed 2006 show, but this time 'round there was not one but four new bikes revealed at the Cobra booth.
Berg's designs were decidedly more subdued, too; a sleeker and flatter Suzuki M109R took center stage, sporting mostly stock parts surrounded by a gaggle of Cobra USA add-ons. The bike flaunts its Cobra Dragster pipes and swept floorboards to impressive effect, while a no-nonsense two-tone paint job by Zeak's Design and Joker Machine controls flesh out the rest of the menu. An Avon Venom R 250 rear donut makes like an exclamation point at the end.
Not far behind on the buzz scale was Cobra's take on Kawasaki's new 900 cruiser, writ somewhat larger than stock, also thanks to an impressive helping of Cobra accessories. We'll have more details and photos of this bike in the next issue so stay tuned.
As someone who's usually found on the other side of the envelope, we wonder if Berg is ushering in a new trend for cruiser design; the DIY aesthetic revisited.
For more information and a plethora of images, visit www.cobrausa.com.