If the brake and suspension mods don't tip off the fact that this bike is made to be ridden, then the engine's upgrades will. Baron's employee Tom Fortune stripped the engine down to its bare essentials. Exterior parts met both the wheels of California Polishing and the paint guns of Hatch. The internals received some polishing, too. How does approximately 36 hours of porting and head work by Teddy Boyko of Mission Yamaha strike you? The valves were lightened to fit into reshaped, larger ports.
What good is porting if the rest of the engine isn't sweetened, also? The cylinders embrace a pair of 10.1:1 JE pistons. Baron's Big Air Kit adds 300 percent better breathing to the party, and a Dynatech ignition module gives the combustibles the optimum punch. Right now, the rev limiter is set at a conservative 4900 rpm but may get bumped up if testing shows that it will work.
And then there's the pipe. The opening of this custom-crafted pipe is larger than those in some garages! Although the talented hands that gave this glittering piece of art form will remain unknown (Baron says they're a trade secret), the pipe features the same delicate rib treatment as the fenders and tank, as well as a sculpted outlet.
The pipe got the same lip...
The pipe got the same lip as much of the bodywork. The RC Slash wheel isn't hidden because the brake disc is combined with the pulley on the left.
With a machine as polished as Shooting Star, choosing the right color scheme can elevate the project to star status or drop it to the nice-try level. Baron and Hatch discussed color and graphics for weeks before arriving at the proper shade of silver with citrus-toned highlights. Why did they have so much trouble finding colors? Baron wanted to be certain that the paint didn't overpower the engine. Also, he didn't want to use colors that anyone else had in their pallet. Still, even the color orange wasn't subtle enough. The graphics ended up being more of a clear with orange tinting, allowing the silver to shimmer through the graphic. Hatch also added gray shadows below the metal worked ribs, and extended them to places where a rib would not have been feasible. From a distance, the paint looks like a shadow.
The taillight benefits from the same light touch with the airbrush as the faux shadows. Flush-mounted LEDs for the brake light and turn signals were molded into the rear fender. Then Hatch worked his magic. Just the lightest layer of color hides the LEDs, making them look like the rest of the metal fender, but when the lights come on, they shine through the paint! Other paint touches include painting the milled sections of the calipers and other billet parts with the same orange used in the graphics.
Roger Bowman performed the meticulous pinstriping. The crowning piece of paintwork is the Road Star emblem on the speedometer. The emblem was altered to resemble a comet or a shooting star, with a clear numerical face set down over the instrument face before reassembly. Finally, the tail of the comet carries from the instrument to the rear fender with a mottled, metallic-finished orange streak.
The results are stunning. We saw Baron and photographed the newly finished Shooting Star just hours before it was to be trailered to the Star Days rally in Missouri. As soon as the event ended, Baron told us he would take the bike to its new home at Banzai Motorsports.
But something went wrong on the road. Maybe it was all those hours driving with nothing to think about but how much work had gone into Shooting Star. Maybe the fact that the project turned out unbelievably well -- despite all the traumas associated with building a top-notch custom. Or maybe the guiding words of the project finally bubbled up from Baron's subconscious.
Whatever happened out there, somewhere on the road, Baron called the folks at Banzai to say they wouldn't be receiving their Road Star. Baron had built the bike like it was his own, and he had to finish the job by keeping it that way. Now, that's what we call doing the job right.
Aeromach
11423-B Woodside Ave.
Santee, California 92071
(619) 258-5443
www.aeromach.net
Baron's Custom Accessories, Inc.
311 Industrial Way
Fallbrook, CA 92028
(760) 731-1200
www.baronscustom.com
California Polishing
15537 Graham St.
Huntington Beach, CA
(714)895-7786
Corbin
2360 Technology Way
Hollister, CA 95023
(831) 634-1100
www.corbin.com
Headwinds Cycle Products
221 West Maple Ave.
Monrovia, CA 91016
(626) 359-8044
www.headwinds.com
For more articles on custom bikes and articles about how to customize and modify your motorcycle, see the Custom section of MotorcycleCruiser.com.