Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

PROJECT BIKE w it h a d esire to d o n othing s hor t of go ing all th e way: w heels, bodyw ork, su spension , handlebars, mot or hop-up, new bolt -on pieces (and some of the old ones, too) and so me, shall we say, rath er flamboyant (read: loud) fishtail exhausts by Samson . However , w hile we were d efin itely goi ng for th e look of an all-o u t s how bik e, we still wanted to retain the rid ability of th e stock Royal Sta r. To th is end, we wanted to keep the positionin g of the controls as close to stock as possible, retain the stock sus pension travel and ride quality and, w hile we definit ely wanted to squeeze some more engi ne p e rf orman ce ou t of t h e n o t orio u sl y u nderstressed 129Scc V-four, we d id n't want a drag mot or, either. 00 0\ 0\ ,....... 10 It was the motor, in fact, tha t was the orig inal inspirat ion for this project. Pro One in Azuza, California, d evelop ed an engine kit for th e Royal Star said to bump the power output to 100 hp. We co u ld n' t resis t. The kit co n ta ins four ca ms ha fts with a p rofile that is more cond ucive to high-rpm pow er production , new valve springs and a new igni ter box that lets the engi ne spin all the way to 7800 rpm - so me 1600 rpm abo ve th e s tock li m it. What a difference it mad e. Usa ble low -rpm grunt is retained - it jus t can' t be lugged qu ite the way the stocker can - but the powerplant positively zings on the top end. It d idn' t feel like 100 hp, however - 80, maybe. A call to Pro O ne reveal ed the reason behind th is: We r etained th e s to ck airbo x. A K&N or othe r hig h-flow filter mu st be used in co nju nc tio n w it h je tting cha nges, com pletely chucking the stock airbo x. Maybe next time. Ov erall , however, we were happy w ith the way the bike performed. While it did n' t feel like 100 hp, it su re . so unded like it. Whe n my girlfriend first sa w the lo ng, fish ta il p ip es she sai d, "Hey, cool mu fflers ." "Baby, those ain' t mufflers. Th em' s hollow tubes . H ere, lemme me show vou ." , And I fired it up. It' s a window-rattling racket, rem iniscen t of a top-fueler. Th e nei ghbors dra w th eir blinds and peer out furti vel y . Blooming flowers close, then wilt. Children cry. Horses ar e spooked : The lawn di es. Car alarm s go off. It ' s th e co olest th in g going . You might call it a near-deaf experience. In re tr ospect, we probably shou ld ha ve op ted for th e p ipes that actually had some kind of mu ffling device ins ide , but we we re go ing for the hot-rod effect. We wer e successful. As for keeping the bike comfortable to ride a nd close to the stock setu p, a Royal Star Custom U l e 01 a Star: This Is the evo lution 01the Cycle News Royal Star Project. The first photo Is th e bike as delivered, the second Is after the bo lt-on pro ject was complete , and the th ird Is the bike toda y - truly complete. Co rbin -m ad e Yamaha ac ces sory sea t was used - in black leathe r wit h ostrich pattern - and Yama ha accessory d rags ty le h an d lebars were fit te d . Stock levers and grips we re retain ed , alt houg h w e fitt ed A eromach m irro rs a n d h ydraulic reser voir co ve rs . Also from th e Yamaha ac ce ss ory ca ta log w ere ch ro me floorboa rd s and billet s hifte r covers. . The low ered look comes courtesy of the low-p rofile Du nlop Spo rtmax lIs _ a 160/70ZR17 at the rear and 120/70ZR17 at the front. Thi s allow ed us to ge t a low look, while retaining all the su spens ion travel of the stock bike and thus so me semblance of ride, alth ou gh these tires do give the bik e a firm er feel than the fat I S-inch , hi gh-profile stoc ke rs. A si de benefit of the narrower-than-stock front tire is ligh ter steering. But wha t's really special ar e the rims that allowed us to use these 17-inch tires - H all cr a ft ' s Ind u s tr ie s 80-s poke chrome-laced wheels, 3.5 inch es wid e at the front and 5 at the rear. The chrome o n these is bea utiful and co m p lete ly changes the look and feel of the bike. With these wheels there was no way we could stay with stock brakes, so we used a full set of beau tifully ma chined and po lished Performan ce Machi ne sixpiston calipers. Wh ile w e left the accep ta ble rear s h ock s toc k, Ra ce Te ch m od ified the front fork with one of its Emulator valve kits. Essentially, this kit turns the stocker 's archaic - and harsh - dampin g-rod fork into something that em ula tes a cartr id ge-sty le uni t; hen ce the Emulator nam e. Ride qu ality is greatly im proved and the harshness the fork used to transmit to the rid er is gone. With th e ins ides of th e fo rk tak en care of, we turned ou r atte ntion to the outside. The whole fro nt end was polis h ed a n d all th e s toc k ligh tin g was canned. An elega ntly shaped headlight - machined of aluminu m and beau tifull y polished - was cra fted by Joel Felty of Headw in ds Cycle Products. A cus to m bra ck et w as m a ch ined to all ow th e hea d lig ht to work in co nju nctio n with the front marker light/ lower tr ip leclam p cove r from Aeromach. The stock light ing at the rear was also ashcanned. This time we turned to Joker Machine for a chro med, billet-aluminum taillight /license-plate com bo. This was side-mounted on one of the brackets for the exhaust, usi ng a hand-machined polished-alumin um bracket made by us. While not usi ng turn signals doesn't exactly obey the letter of the law, we just didn' t wa nt to clutter up the rear of the bike, particularly not the beautiful shape of the exte nded rear fender. Key in the overall presen tati on of the bike was the Pro O ne bod y kit that this fend er is part of. Inclu ded on ou r Royal Sta r were bo th fenders, ex tended side cov ers, d ifferen tia l and swingarm covers, and exte nded tank ski ns. All these pieces ar e fiberglass, and come finis hed in a smooth gel-eoat that took very little Joker Machine Aeromach Billet Products 1028 W. Kirkwall Road Azusa. CA 91 702 11423-B Woods ide Ave. Santee. CA 92071 8 18/ 334-937 1 8001990-9392 Horn cover Carbu ret or covers W ater-pump cover Mir rors and adapte rs Timing.hole cover Bra ke-rese rvoir covers Cylinder covers $89.9S $107.95 ea . $129.95 $263.90 $49 .95 $39.95 $799.80 Side-mount lice nse 8. taillight $339 .95 Perlormance Machine 6892 Marlin Circle La Palma. CA 90623 7 14/ 523-3000 Six -pis ton brake calipe rs $405 ea. Pro-One Perlormance Mfg. Inc. APDesigns 2700 M elboume Ave. Pomona. CA 9 1767 1245 S tone Dr . Suite B San Marcos. CA 92069 909 / 445-0900 760 /47 1-1024 Paint prep before painting. Pa ttern s are left wher e each piece mu st be drilled for fitting, and, th ankfu lly, these were all in the right place, maki ng our job easy. In order to make the sea t fit properly with the extended tan k, it was necessa ry to remove the cove r of the seat and cu t the fiberglass base, then re-riv et the leather in place. Pro O ne d oes, how ever, offer its own modified seat if you d on 't wis h . to do this you rself. For paint , we turned to Alex Paul of AP Desig ns. Paul is wi d el y kn own in th e watercraft indu s tr y a nd he p aints both Yam ah a' s an d Kawa saki' s factory r a ci n g w ater cr aft. Wh e n we firs t approac hed him for his help on the project , he sa id, "Yo u know , I h a ve this p ainting process I've been wanting to try on a bi ke fo r a lon g ti me ." Th e results are stunning. Th e sec re t-reci pe "chrome" base coa t is his own concoction, an d the transluce nt blue flames he laid ov er have an almost anodized look. It's amazing wo rk. As it grew (slowly) toward comple- . tion, we were trying to decide which element of the bike truly defined what it was becoming, or made it wha t it was. It was universally ag reed that all the eleme n ts ended up wo rking together in a way that the in divid ual pieces didn't suggest when taken singly. It's just hard to envis ion a complete bike when yo u're pushing a 700-p ound bare frame and engine with n o b rak es in a n d ou t of you r ga rage for a year. Some thi ng kept us 'going, thou gh. I guess it was the fuse lit by the fire to create, and th e bomb has go ne off. C~ $2500 Power Pack engine kit $799 .99 Fenders Barnett Fron t 9920 Freeman A ve. Santa Fe Springs. CA 906 70 562/941-1284 Rear Tank skins D iff erential cover Side covers Swingarm cover Braided. stainless thr o ttle cable s $80 $189.94 $249 .95 $289.95 $129.95 $ 169.95 $59 .95 Bill:.,'s Dream Santa Ana 1420 Village Way Santa Ana. CA 92705 714/835-84 64 Race Tech Haller.It's Industries Corp. Emulator valve kit P.o. Box 1036 Gainesville. TX 76241-1036 Labor 3227 Producer Way # 127 Pomona. CA 91768 909 /594-7755 9401668·077 1 Samson 8O-spoke chrome wheel s $139.95 $85 .00 Front · 3.5 x 17 $905 220 S. Loara St. Anaheim. CA 92802 Rear - 5.0 x 17 $990 800 /373-4217 samsonusa.com Heedwindll Cycl. Products Fisht ail straight pipes P.O Box 661 213 Arcadia. CA91 066·1213 White Brothers 626/359·8044 $529 .95 24845 Corbit Place Yorba Linda. CA 9288 7 5-3/4 ·;nch Bradley Rocket Headlight Custom mounts Lamp $248 $75 &$85 $37 7 14/692-3404 Fastline Crui ser brak e lines Front Rear $129.67 $44.95

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