Don't try this at home. Unless you really like pulling the heads every few thousand miles for a valve job, running your bike without an air cleaner is a bad idea, even if it does look good.
Everyone comments on the speedometer which is set into the top of the tank. Berg put it there because he didn't want it interrupting the lines on top of the bike. Starting with a stock Vulcan 1500 Classic fuel tank, Berg frenched in the seams and fabricated sheet metal to fit around the 2.5-inch Drag Specialties gauge. A flush-mounted Goodridge billet filler cap and a Pingel chrome petcock, designed expressly for the Vulcan tank, completed the changes to the fuel tank.
The hot-rod treatment carries through to a nasty-looking engine. In this case, there is more to the engine than just the appearance of power. The motor was completely torn apart, and Berg mixed and matched components with the older-style 1500 A-model -- which supplied the crankshaft, flywheels, and balancer, which are lighter to improve acceleration, and narrower, permitting the use of the A-model side cases -- which tuck in a bit tighter and make the engine look unusual even to the knowledgeable viewer. The cylinder heads were sent to Mission Yamaha for porting, then fitted with some experimental cams and R&D valve springs. Compression shaft was increased slightly by machining the heads, and a Mikuni HSR 42mm carburetor was fitted (and will probably be offered by Cobra in the future).
In keeping with the hot-rod character of the beast, there is no air filter to obscure the carburetor, which breathes through an open velocity stack. (Remember, this is a show bike more than a rider. Running a motorcycle regularly on the street without an air filter is a sure way to shorten the life of your engine.) Everything worked except the camshafts, which proved to be a bit too radical. New, somewhat milder cams were being readied for installation as this was written. Blasting created a sand-cast appearance to the fins, accentuating the purposeful appearance of the big V-twin.
Customizers tend to forget that seat color can play a role. Berg made this one gray.
Cobra's Tim McCool fabricated the two-into-one exhaust system with its pretty head pipes tucked in around the cases. We suspect that Cobra is going to get requests for a similar system from customers.
Berg also played musical gears with the cogs in the four-speed transmission. He used the A-model's first and fourth gears and employed the second and third gear sets from the Classic. This put the first three gears close together for hard initial acceleration while keeping the Classic's comfortable gait on the highway.
The engine is completed with Berg's attention to sanitation. Removing the air filter left various hoses exposed, so they were routed over the top of the engine out of sight. He also spent time hiding the spark-plug leads as the bike came together. That is the sort of attention to detail that sets a top-shelf custom apart from the crowd.
As with other Cobra/Berg sculptures, the paint was applied by Damon's Motorcycle Creations. The primary hue is a sort of metallic version of Kawasaki's racing lime-green, which perfectly mixes the custom/performance components of the motorcycle's character. It also gave the bike its name: Green Streak. That name was used for Kawasaki off-road racers 30 years ago.
Machining the cast Ninja rear wheel and welding it to the shaft-drive Vulcan hub was a major undertaking.
A tasteful selection of billet pieces from Cobra's catalog highlights the bike; including the license-plate frame, nut covers, footpegs, and controls -- which are adapted to the Vulcan's stock floorboard mounts. As always, Berg devoted considerable attention to routing wiring, cables and hoses out of sight. The detailing is superb.
It's hard to believe that this bike was supposed to be a smoothly curving streamliner, just as its companion Royal Star. One speaks of elegance and comfort, the other of street-smart performance, yet they both came from the imaginations and efforts of the same pair of enthusiasts. Which one's cooler? In our experience, it's the one you're standing closest to.
A tasteful selection of billet pieces from Cobra's catalog highlights the bike; including the license-plate frame, nut covers, footpegs, and controls -- which are adapted to the Vulcan's stock floorboard mounts. As always, Berg devoted considerable attention to routing wiring, cables and hoses out of sight. The detailing is superb.
It's hard to believe that this bike was supposed to be a smoothly curving streamliner, just as its companion Royal Star. One speaks of elegance and comfort, the other of street-smart performance, yet they both came from the imaginations and efforts of the same pair of enthusiasts. Which one's cooler? In our experience, it's the one you're standing closest to.