Now it was time for some major horsepower upgrades to the already potent Vulcan and for that we turned to the NX Express setup available from Schnitz Racing (with polished bottles). The understressed, medium-compression Kawasaki motor is a perfect match for a nitrous system, and we planned to take full advantage of this to use the wet kit for what we hoped would be a huge horsepower bump. Contrasted to a "dry" nitrous kit that fogs the airbox with a cloud of nitrous oxide that mixes with the air, a wet kit uses a secondary fuel pump to inject a mix of fuel and nitrous directly into the intake runner, aimed at the intake valves. This setup is slightly more involved on the installation end, but maintains a more precise amalgamation of nitrous and fuel, reducing the risk of a nitrous backfire and allowing us to spray more funny fuel (than a dry system) without the danger of the mixture leaning out and damaging the engine. After careful consultation with Nitrous Express's in-house expert on the proper-sized jets for this monster, we then went one size larger (#24) and braced ourselves.
Installing a nitrous kit on a cruiser can be a challenge because there isn't much bodywork to cloak the necessary pump and solenoids. So, rather than hide anything we simply polished the bits and mounted them out in the open for the whole world to admire. When it came to mounting the twin 2.5-pound bottles (chromed, of course), we contacted Greg Wilmoth at Cycle Werx in Flintstone, Georgia, who designed the custom brackets and cut them out on a water jet cutter. Finally, and just for show, we rigged a remote-controlled nitrous purge that exits from just behind the headlight to give a good shot of nitrous into the air, backlit with blue LED lights, just to blow bystanders away. It won't make the bike go any faster, but cruisers are not just about speed now, are they?
On a similar note, we made a bunch of changes to dress up the looks of the Vulcan. Out back the factory taillight and tag holder was shaved off and replaced with an aftermarket, swingarm-mounted tag carrier/taillight. The factory root beer paint was sanded down and covered over with a beautiful House of Kolor cobalt blue by Matt Nation in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and then Liquid Visions in Ringgold, Georgia, sprayed on the ghost flames using a House of Kolor Ice Pearls-a very fine glass that just glows in sunlight. The bike was also treated to several bolt-ons from Cobra, including floorboards, caliper and reservoir covers and a chrome coolant filler cap. Up front a Kawasaki light bar ups the available candlepower (with Clear Alternatives turn-signal lenses) and a Cycle Craft Engineering tach keeps us from overrevving on the juice. Finally, to slow down the bike after a nitrous pass, we opted for upgraded Galfer pads and braided stainless steel lines from www.cyclebrakes.com.
Bryce's V-Rod is relatively plain by comparison, a box-stock motorcycle save for the massive turbocharger hanging off the right side of the bike. Just as the low-revving Vulcan is a good fit for a nitrous system, the high-revving Harley-Davidson V-twin is a perfect candidate for turbocharging. For starters, the V-Rod is one of the quickest cruisers on the market today, delivering around 110 hp off the showroom floor and capable of mid-11-second quartermile passes in stock tune. The G-Squared turbo is a turnkey kit, including everything you need to boost your V-Rod. The turbocharger itself comes from Garrett (a GT-28 model) set to produce a conservative (and reliable) seven pounds of boost, and the turnkey kit retails for $5995 from Bryce's shop. Expect the install to eat around 15 hours depending on your skills and the size of your rolling tool chest. If either of those are lacking, G-Squared will also install the kit for you.
The Dyno Don't LieOur visit to Valdosta corresponded with the opening round of the 2005 AMA/Prostar motorcycle drag-racing series, which was also the venue for the 2005 Dynojet Horsepower Challenge-a national contest sponsored by Dynojet to search for the most powerful motorcycles in the land. Dynojet staff was on hand at the event with two portable dynos to take readings, and of course we took advantage, strapping both bikes to the drum to get a fair read of the ultimate performance potential of the nitrous Vulcan and turbo V-Rod.
With Dynojet's Mike Belcher at the controls to ensure a controlled, impartial result, we tied the monster Vulcan down first. To refresh: in stock form the Vulcan cranks out around 95 rear-wheel horsepower and 120 ft.-lbs. of torque-not shabby but not especially impressive considering the sheer displacement available under the valve covers. To get a more accurate baseline to better assess the gains offered by the nitrous system we first ran the Vulcan off the juice and saw a mild increase to 98.8 hp and 125.94 ft.-lbs. of torque, gains provided courtesy of our previous intake/exhaust mods and also a tank full of VP C-16 race gas, to reduce the risk of detonation on the next run when we added the nitrous. Once a solid baseline was established, we made another pass with the nitrous system armed. Even onlookers could tell the bike was pulling harder than before, and the numbers that flashed on Belcher's computer screen were truly impressive: 129.03 hp (a gain of more than 30 hp) and an incredible 189.66 ft.-lbs. of torque-63.72 ft.-lbs. more than before! Now that's a power cruiser!