I bought me an old school and blew out the brains The Roc the Mic tour, I threw off my chain My Sprewells spinning man, I'm doing my thing And whodi now in trouble now that you in the game -Lyrics from "Stunt 101," by G-Unit
Slang terms and their meanings is an elusive subject, especially in the hip-hop world, where the normal rules of linguistic logic don't apply. Case in point: even though the word "Sprewells" in the above verse refers to spinner rims ("Sprewells is a generic term for any rim that has a part that continues spinning even after the tire stops moving," according to UrbanDictionary.com), NBA star Latrell Sprewell certainly didn't invent the spinner rim, nor does he manufacture spinners or even license his name to another manufacturer. But Sprewell, a car freak of legendary proportions, was one of the first guys in the nation to roll on spinners, and his aftermarket performance shop, Sprewell Motorsports, located in San Gabriel, California (www.sprewellmotorsports.com), was one of the first retail outlets to sell spinner rims. These associations were enough, then, for hip-hop rhyme slingers to co-opt his name as an interchangeable term for spinner rims.
This says a lot about the nature of celebrity that Sprewell, a three-time NBA All-Star guard for the Minnesota Timberwolves, will be remembered by a certain portion of our population not for his amazing athletic feats but, rather, for his choice of rims. It also says a lot about the power of celebrity in the red-hot custom car market and a star's power to influence aftermarket styles and trends--something that Latrell Sprewell has been at the forefront of since 1998, when he founded Sprewell Motorsports. Sprewell opened shop with his brothers, who run the day-to-day business while Sprewell is busy shooting hoops.
When Sprewell and his siblings first founded their shop, the hip-hop-influenced car culture was on the come up; now, eight years later, after the advent of the compact Hummer H3, when 20-inch wheels are available on many cars as a factory option and rental car commercials feature senior citizens bumpin' out to DMX tunes, the cost of entry to the pimped-ride playground is at an all-time low. What, then, is a big baller like Sprewell, whose street cred hinges on a standout ride, supposed to do? Start pimping out 200mph motorcycles, of course!
Sprewell is no newcomer to bikes--he's been riding since his college days at University of Alabama, and he currently owns 20 bikes, all of them blinged out with custom paint, motor mods and a brace of aftermarket upgrades. What is new, however, is the launch of a dedicated motorcycle division of his business, Sprewell Motorsports (www.sprewell-motorcycles.com), which is dedicated exclusively to custom sportbikes. Sprewell hopes to use his business and his celebrity star power to influence custom sportbike style in the same way that he has influenced the automotive aftermarket.
Custom sportbikes are definitely on the celebrity radar, especially in the basketball world. Former Chicago Bulls player Michael Jordon maintains a fleet of chromed-out and candy-painted Ducati and Suzuki sportbikes and even owns his own AMA/Superbike roadracing team, and Miami Heat hero Shaquille O'Neal chooses stretched-and-slammed Hayabusas as his preferred mode of transport. From a business perspective, Sprewell tells us, the market for sportbikes is red-hot; when asked about the potential upside compared with the auto aftermarket, his answer is simple and direct: "Bigger."
To get his new motorcycle business started off on the right foot, Sprewell first commissioned a new ride for him to act as a showpiece, based on an '05 Suzuki Hayabusa--Sprewell's preferred mount. The first thing you notice about the bike, obviously, is the unique magenta-red base color, an homage to University of Alabama's legendary Crimson Tide basketball team that Sprewell played for during his college years. Setting off the simple crimson basecoat is a multitoned blue Sprewell Motorsports logo covering the lower fairing and fuel tank.
Contrasting all that dark paintwork is plenty of show-quality chrome plating, which covers the frame, swingarm, triple clamps and most of the bike's other components. Adding even more shine is a set of RC Components "Royale" billet wheels--and no, they aren't spinners--to brighten up the underbody. Looking beyond the chrome, you'll also note the signature hlins gold tone up front--yes, that's a $5000 hlins Superbike fork on the front of Spree's ride, fitted with Brembo superbike-spec brake calipers to make certain that this bad-boy `Busa brakes as well as it accelerates. Speaking of acceleration, Sprewell Motorsports handed this bike over to the crew at Matsushima Performance in Montclair, California, for a little internal tweakage, starting with a set of Yoshimura race cams and a Power Commander PC-III USB ignition module. Finishing off the engine is a chromed Yosh header and a Tri-Oval canister, which holds down the back.
If you've seen even a single episode of the omnipresent auto shows that fill cable programming lately, then you know no celebrity cruiser is complete without a full complement of electronic and audio-visual equipment, and Spree's `Busa is no exception. Of course, there is full underlighting, courtesy of 15 blue-hued LED lights fitted behind the fairing to make the bike glow after dark. The stock instrument cluster has been pitched in favor of a high-buck MyChron Light TG data-acquisition system that incorporates a tachometer, a speedometer, a lap timer and a full-feature data logger to monitor the engine's vital stats and performance.
And of course, the gadgetry doesn't stop there: Sprewell Motorsports has a reputation in the automobile market for installing world-class stereo systems in its rides, so why would this streetbike be any different? Beats are pumped through a pair of three-inch QSD Tweeters built into the custom-made dash, while six-by-nine-inch mids and an eight-inch Critical Mass Subwoofer (yes, a subwoofer on a bike) are located in the tailsection to kick out the bass. Powering it all is an Xtant amplifier pushing out 150 watts of power. Finally, two Icon monitors--one in the windscreen for parking lot pimpin' and the other under the fairing, where it pulls double duty as a DVD player and rearview camera--finish off the audio/visual extravaganza.
This is the first of what Sprewell hopes will be many tricked-out custom sportbikes built by the guys on the Sprewell Motorsports team, who are geared up to build complete, custom sportbikes in addition to selling parts, accessories, apparel and custom-painted helmets via its web site. Just like they did with the car market, Sprewell Motorsports plans to put as many chromed-out sportbikes as possible in the garages of other pro-level athletes and celebrity movers and shakers. To get the ball rolling, Sprewell himself is planning to hit the streets as often as possible on this big-ballin' `Busa, or maybe on his latest bike, a brand-new Kawasaki ZX-14 that he had just picked up and sent over to the shop as this issue went to press.
Who knows--maybe if everything goes according to Latrell Sprewell's plans, the term "Sprewells" will soon have an entirely different, and decidedly more two-wheel-slanted, definition in the next G-Unit hit.