It's like giving Van Gogh a 64-pack of Crayolas, or asking Jimi Hendrix to rip off his signature version of the "Star-Spangled Banner" on a toy ukulele. When the producers of the forthcoming "Metric Revolution" sportbike build-off TV series (www.metrictv.com) presented McCoy Motorsports with a Suzuki Hayabusa as a starting point for their build-off bike, the McCoy family found it hard to hide their disappointment.
"What was the first thing that went through our minds?" says Mike McCoy, when asked about learning that they would be building a Hayabusa? "Oh, shit. Oh, no. We've had it now. What can we possibly do with a Hayabusa that hasn't been done a million times before?"
Talk about being forced outside your comfort zone-McCoy Motorsports, located in Pikeville, Kentucky, are among the most accomplished custom sportbike builders in the nation (which is how they landed an invitation to participate in the exclusive "Metric Revolution" build-off in the first place). Until now, though, their artistry has been almost exclusively limited to Yamaha products, specifically Yamaha's uber-sportbike, the R1. We can think of no other builder that is so closely aligned with a single model of bike as McCoys are with the R1, and they've established their reputation building blinged-out, big-speed alternatives to the (dare we say) over-exposed and often over-done Hayabusa customs. Now, in what was likely the single-best opportunity of their career and biggest exposure that their business would ever receive, they were going to be forced-sacrilege!-to build a Hayabusa? Sweet irony.
To their credit (and to the extreme benefit of custom sportbike enthusiasts everywhere), the McCoys quickly overcame their disappointment and set out to build what would be indisputably the wildest, most outrageous Suzuki Hayabusa that the custom sportbike world had ever seen. "What else could we do? This was what we got; this was what we had to deal with," McCoy says. "We knew that we'd really have to do something special with a Hayabusa to set it apart, so we started doing some research to see what we could come up with."
"We" is the McCoy Motorsports core team consisting of shop owner/president Jerry McCoy, his son, Mike, his brother, Randy, and Randy's son, Shane. These four did the lion's share of work on this project-Mike acting as project manager, Shane doing most of the design and Jerry and Randy handling the actual fabrication-though Mike McCoy is quick to point out that everyone on the McCoy Motorsports staff played an essential role in making this project possible, even if just doing their job to keep the retail business (www.tobefast.com) on track while the core four worked 12 hours a day for 180 days straight to finish this bike on the show's deadline.
Like any good project, this one began with a concept. "Before we even touched the bike, we killed ourselves for weeks researching, talking, meeting, discussing and fighting about what should be done with the bike," McCoy says. "Eventually we came up with a list of things that had never been done before-to our knowledge-on a custom sportbike, and this gave us some direction on where to go with the project."
The first thing was the engine-an exhaustive Web search failed to produce any twin-turbo sportbikes, so the McCoy crew decided that their Hayabusa would sport not just one, but two turbochargers. No one had ever done a one-off tubular frame, so they'd do that too. Formula One-level engine management technology was also added to the list, and, of course, custom, one-off wheels were a must. And then there was the little matter of bodywork-it would have to be something totally new and custom.
"We knew who our competition was, and some of those guys at the other shops are really creative and talented," McCoy says. "Bottom line-we would do anything to win, so we threw every idea we had at this one."
Step one was the stunning tubular trellis frame and single-sided swingarm built by Gregg DesJardins of Gregg's Customs in Campbell, California. Using the stock Hayabusa geometry as a starting point and taking special care to carefully locate all the engine and accessory mounts, DesJardins designed and engineered a frame that was even stronger than stock (to withstand the estimated 500-plus horsepower the twin-turbo motor would produce) and meticulously constructed it out of a combination of chrome-moly steel tube sections and billet plates. The 10-inch-over extended swingarm presented its own special challenges, as the main tube needed to be pressurized in order to pull double duty as an air tank for the Pingel air shifter. "What can we say? Gregg really came through big with this one, especially considering he did this all in less than a month," McCoy says.
It's a good thing that DesJardins worked both skillfully and speedily, as time was of the essence with this project-"Metric Revolution" rules dictate that builders have just 180 days start to finish to build their bikes. McCoy spent the first 30 days researching and imagining the bike, before they even turned a wrench, and then DesJardins spent another 30 days building the frameset-without which, the McCoys couldn't begin work on the motor, bodywork or myriad other details that needed to be handled on such an involved build. Once the completed frame was back in-house, they were able to set to work on the motor. Looking at the frame, they immediately made an important observation: Now that you could see through the frame and see more of the engine than before, they were going to have to spend even more time making the engine look good. As a result, every single component and surface on the engine has been painted, plated or replaced with a top-quality aftermarket piece to create the most unbelievable-looking engine compartment.
The most impressive feature under the body has got to be the twin-turbocharged motor put together by turbo guru Barry Henson of Velocity Racing, who recently relocated from Miami to the McCoys' neighborhood in Lexington, Kentucky. Consisting of twin Garrett turbochargers plumbed together and managed by a Bazzaz Performance Design fully programmable ECU that monitors both turbo boost and nitrous controls (yes, there's a full nitrous oxide injection system set up to fog the airbox too!), this motor is good for in excess of 500 horsepower and said to be the only twin-turbo sportbike engine in existence. The engine is just as beautiful on the inside too, with a full turbo prep including a thinner base gasket, lower-compression JE turbo pistons, heavy-duty con rods and all the other high-perf goodness needed to keep it together when the boost gets turned up.
Just like the see-through frame presented new challenges for the engine, the insane powerplant raised new issues with the bodywork: "Once we saw how wild the motor was going to look, we said to ourselves 'We're actually going to put bodywork on and cover all this up?'" McCoy says. As you can see from the pictures, transparent "windows" in the fairing side panels, made by the wizards George and Randy Kleber at Gator Customs in Crestville, Illinois, were the solution to show off the turbo setup. These windows are just one part of the all-custom bodywork that sets this bike apart.
"We knew right from the beginning that the bodywork on this bike would be all-custom," McCoy says. "I think the stock 'Busa is so ugly. I've always hated the front end; I can't stand the looks of it. For me the R1 has the best look from the front, like a bird coming down on its prey, and we wanted that same wicked look for the front of this bike." The final bodywork design was a collaboration between the McCoys and their partners at Catalyst Racing Composites and Gator Customs. The McCoys described the overall look that they wanted, and Catalyst sent them existing body parts from the Aprilia Mille R, Honda CBR1000RR and Yamaha R1 to get started. The McCoy team cut up these pieces and taped them back together to approximate the shape they wanted. The tail is one of Catalyst's extended R1 tails grafted together with pieces from the Honda CBR1000RR (the vents behind the saddle) and the Mille R (the top and the end piece, including the taillights). The upper fairing is an R1 unit that has been stretched out, with the vent from the Mille R upper grafted into the center. The tank, by comparison, is relatively conventional, a carbon Hayabusa race tank also supplied by Catalyst, and the front fender is an R1 piece that has been radically cut down and reshaped.
Once the McCoys had their mock-up bodywork taped together to their satisfaction, they sent the blanks back to Catalyst, who recast the one-off pieces. Then it was time for Gator Customs to work their magic. It was George Kleber from Gator who hand-formed the lower fairings (working off a mock-up made from a Dunkin' Donuts box!), carefully frenching in the twin K&N air filters that cap the turbo system and also designing the outlet ports for the twin exhaust dump pipes as well as mounting the heavy-duty mesh that caps the filter vents. The Gator guys also frenched a set of R1 headlight units into the upper fairing and fabricated the clear windows in the lower fairings as well as the clear windows in the tail to show off the twin nitrous bottles underneath. Lastly, Gator molded the bottom edge of the race tank to blend seamlessly with DesJardins' tubular frame spars, and the bodywork was finally called complete.