Clearly the Basnett brothers aren't afraid to innovate, and their fabrication skills are evidenced on the back half of the chassis, as well. Study the pictures and you'll see that it is, indeed, a 300-section tire mounted to the eight-inch-over extended swing arm from C&S Customs in Mocksville, North Carolina (the same guys who built the 'Busa chopper featured in our July '05 issue), but if you look for the jackshaft you'll see that there isn't one. This bike is direct drive, and just how the Rick's crew managed this feat and still fit a 300 tire will stay a trade secret for now. An air-ride suspension allows the rear of the bike to drop six inches at the press of a button, and a fork that has been cut down three inches (a USD version taken from a later-model CBR954RR) lowers the front to match.
There aren't any off-the-shelf Blackbird pipes that will work with the 900 frame, so the Rick's team had another chance to exercise their creativity with a custom exhaust system. A custom header dumps directly into a sewer drain-sized midpipe that connects to an undertail-mounted muffler. Rather than exiting out the end of the tail section (taken from another Honda sportbike model, the RC51), like most exhausts, this one exits upwards with the spent gasses venting through holes drilled directly into the top of the passenger-seat cowl. A custom Arlen Ness chopper taillight finishes off the RC51 tail, and the mirrors come from the Ness catalog, as well. The seat is a one-off piece, handmade in crme-colored leather by "Like New" based in Revere, Massachusetts.
The fresh look of the gold plating, the well-executed fabrication and the inspired engine swap make the RR/XX hybrid from Rick's Motorcycles a knockout on all fronts. It's different, it's innovative and it's beautiful. The next time some old bore is telling you how custom sportbikes aren't on the same level as the choppers they see every night on TV because we just bolt on chrome parts and go, show them this bike and say that we're so far ahead of the chopperheads that we're sporting 24-karat gold. But it ain't just a bling thing.
Sheriff Roscoe P. Coletrane wouldn't stand a chance against this GSX-R from Rick's Motorcycles, inspired by the TV car and huffed up with a Velocity Racing turbocharger.
Nearly every episode of the "The Dukes of Hazzard" television show started and ended the same, with Bo and Luke Duke tearing up the backroads of Kentucky in their Confederate-themed Dodge Charger with Waylon Jennings blaring from the 8-track and mullets blowing in the breeze as the hapless Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane filled the rearview in hot pursuit. Well, had the Duke boys the opportunity to blag a ride on this GSX-R1000 built by BJ and Johnnie Basnett of Rick's Motorcycles (motivated by a turbocharged 1000cc engine and painted up to resemble the famous General Lee), they'd never be bothered by Coltrane again. As for the poor officer, all he'd be left with is the sound of the turbo whine disappearing in the distance.
Those Damn Yankees up at Rick's in New Hay-umpshere started this project with a 2002 GSX-R1000 and then dialed in a load of performance mods to allow the rider to better outrun rogue Southern sheriffs should the need arise. The General Lee Dodge benefited from a monstrous, 440 cubic-inch V-8 that pumped out around 390 hp. General Gixxer comes close thanks to plenty of internal engine mods, including a 1mm overbore Yoshimura racing cams and heavy-duty Carrillo rods. The bottom end was beefed up to withstand the real power adder, a Velocity Racing turbo system that helps to provide a very potent 250 rear-wheel horsepower. A slash-cut dump pipe exiting out of the fairing side panel means it even sounds like a muscle car. When you consider that this Gixxer weighs roughly ten percent as much as that Dodge Charger, you can see that our claim about Roscoe P. Coltrane being outgunned on the open road is more than true. This bike is real quick.
To help put the power to the pavement (or dirt, should you ever find yourself down in the real Hazard county), the Basnett brothers bolted up an extra long, 14-inch-over Trac Dynamics extended swingarm carrying a set of RC Components "Smoothie" solid disc wheels with an extra-wide 240-series tire out back for more grip. Capping everything off is the unmistakable General Lee paint scheme, applied by Rick's house painter, Eric Chase using a toy model of the Charger for inspiration. The bike comes complete with "01" numerals on the sidepanels and the controversial Confederate flag image on the top of the tank.
Imagine how much cooler the recently released "The Dukes of Hazzard" big screen movie would have been if Johnny Knoxville and Seann Michael Scott were tearing out on one of Rick's turbocharged sportbikes instead of some outdated hunk of Detroit iron? Had that been the case, we guarantee that Roscoe P. Coltrane wouldn't have been the only one with the Duke Boys on his radar screen-every one of us would have been lined up at the theater door, too.