Gator Customs also laid down the lightning bolt-inspired paint scheme, working from a design provided by Shane McCoy. The standout graphic feature, though, has to be the patented Gator Glass illuminated graphics that the Klebers applied to the upper fairing, tail and elsewhere to light the bike up after dark. Especially impressive is the Gator Glass panels in the sides of the fuel tank, with the LED unit installed inside the tank wall-something that the Gator crew had never attempted before this bike.
Another loyal vendor/partner that the McCoys turned to for this project was Cyko Racing Wheels, who made the one-off wheels for this bike. "We really like the Cyko stuff," McCoy says, "because unlike so many other custom wheels, their stuff is actually lightweight and designed for racing." Starting with an initial five-spoke pattern provided by Shane McCoy, Cyko tweaked it by adding the slits along the center to give the wheel more dimension and then cut them out, an 18x8.5-incher in back to hold a 240 tire and a standard 17-incher up front.
More eye candy is evident in the cockpit, which is anchored down with a cutting-edge AIM Sports dash unit that keeps tabs on all the engine's vital functions (the Formula One technology alluded to at the beginning of this story). Plugged into the BPD ECU and a host of other sensors around the bike, this dash unit displays at a glance all the bike's vital stats, ranging from basics like speed and rpm to specifics like turbo boost and even air pressure level in the swingarm. The twin monitors mounted on top of each fork leg are from AnT Racing and are connected to the rear-view cameras mounted to the bottom of the subframe. "On such an expensive bike as this, we didn't want the rider to have to turn around and look back, or have to look at ugly, low-tech mirrors," McCoy says. "We wanted the smallest cameras and monitors possible with the clearest view, and the AnT product fit the bill." The McCoy installed two cameras-one on each side-to provide the widest possible rear view.
Such attention to detail on this bike-we could go on and on... For our money one of the coolest features is one that is seemingly the most insignificant-the kickstand. "We didn't want the bike leaning to one side, didn't want to hide half the bike, so we decided to build a centerstand of some sort," McCoy says. Ironically, this turned out to be one of the biggest challenges of the build, requiring Randy and Jerry to build a tiny centerstand attached to an electronic actuating arm that engages the hidden stand with the flip of a switch. Once the stand is extended, the air is released from the Tricky Air rear air-ride suspension, and the bike settles down against the stand like an airplane lowering its landing gear. "I swear, you almost need a pilot's license to run all the gizmos on this bike," McCoy says. "That kickstand turned out to be a nightmare job, but Randy and Dad really pulled through on that."
By now time was running out, and the McCoys had just days left to finish the bike before the "Metric Revolution"-imposed 180-day deadline arrived. Eventually they did finish the bike up-literally with just three hours to spare! The last few weeks were pure chaos, McCoy tells us, and the company spent $15,000 alone on overnight shipping fees to get everything wrapped up in time, most of that money going to shipping parts all around the country for plating and powdercoating. Hearing this, it's easy to understand the amazing figure of $250,000 that the McCoys estimate is invested in this bike. "If you add up Gregg's time and materials in the one-off frame alone, you've probably got $25K," McCoy says. "Figure at least the same to develop the motor, and then the one-off bodywork, the wheels and the millions of other little pieces that people spent hundreds of hours working on..."
Speaking of hours, McCoy says the work on the bike continued almost nonstop for the latter stages of the project to get the bike done on time. "We didn't shut down at all for those last few weeks," McCoy says. "We worked all night, every night, just to get it done. There were definitely times we thought we went too far with our ideas, and we weren't going to be able to pull it off. We had so many problems, it was unbelievable, mostly with outside vendors who didn't get their stuff done in time. It seems like no one in this industry tells the truth about delivery dates, and we definitely learned a lot-next time we'll have some of these companies sign contracts!"
Despite all the headaches, heartaches and hassles, McCoy doesn't hesitate for a moment before declaring the project all worthwhile. "It wasn't easy," he says. "Our family fought like hell and clashed a lot, especially in the beginning. But eventually we all gave up and came together, and that's when things started flowing and started happening. Being a part of the 'Metric Revolution' TV show really motivated us-we would have never put this much money and time into a bike if it weren't for the show. It's beyond what even the chopper builders have ever done, with all the technology that we have wrapped up into this bike. Without the show, we would have never done it-maybe no one would have ever built a sportbike as wild as this."
Now that the hard part-building the bike-is behind them, all the McCoy family can do is wait to see if all the hard work and sacrifice will pay off in terms of raising their company's reputation in the industry. McCoy is sure that it will. "I can feel it; this is bigger than big," he says. "'Metric Revolution' is going to be the biggest thing in the sportbike industry yet, and being a part of it is going to be huge for us. We just previewed our bike for five minutes at Carlisle (the Carlisle Summer Bike Fest in July), and the crowd there was going wild. I mean, I've never signed 500 autographs before in my life, but that's just what we did that day. And that was just the beginning."