It's said that the third time is a charm-that is certainly true for this 2000 Suzuki TL1000R owned by Dennis Hans of Schenectady, New York. Hans purchased the bike as an $800 wreck that he brought home in a milk crate five years ago, and he says he's rebuilt it three times already. Judging by the pictures, that third rebuild was the charmed one-this is probably the tightest TLR that we've ever laid eyes on. Start with that mile-deep paint, the work of "John Boy" Imbezzi at Quality Auto Customs, who Hans says put over 1000 hours into the finish. Using House of Kolor Orion silver and candy apple red hues mixed with the biggest flake available and covered with an unbelievable 40 coats (almost four gallons, Hans says!), the paint looks like it was just poured on seconds ago. Contrasting with this color is plenty of show-polished aluminum (all done by Hans) and billet parts manufactured by Hans' business, Hans-N-Throttle (www.hans-n-throttle.com), including the bullet-bedecked grips, fork caps, axle caps, frame sliders, pegs, swingarm spools and more. The trick see-through clutch cover is from Van Driver at TLZone.net (Hans also says he received a lot of help from the folks at TLPlanet.com), while Vortex aftermarket triple clamps, Drag Specialties mirrors and painted dash and gauges dress up the cockpit. The engine is as Suzuki intended except for the M4 full exhaust system, while the rolling stock got a big-time upgrade in the form of 17-inch billet "Gangster" wheels from Urban Industries wrapped in Italian-made Pirelli tires. Yes, the third time is a charm indeed.
It is often said that riding a sportbike is the nearest you can come to flying without leaving the ground. With this in mind, a USAF fighter jet paint scheme is the perfect theme to finish off this gorgeous, turbocharged 2005 Kawasaki ZX-10R custom put together by Abraham Pagan from Ocala, Florida. Pagan runs a small shop called Syndicate Custom Sportbikes, and he tells us that he put this bike together for the express purpose of scoring a spot on the pages of this magazine. The bike originally belonged to a buddy who bought it new and pampered it for a thousand miles before he laid it down to avoid impaling a Chevy pickup that pulled out in front of him. The bike was totaled out and after some haggling, Abraham was able to buy the bike back from the insurance company for a fraction of the cost. It needed plenty of work (including a new frame), but since Pagan was planning to rebuild it from the ground up, this didn't concern him in the least. Pagan already had an image in his head of the finished project and, with the support of his girlfriend, Rebecca, and the painting talent of Shane Murphy and TJ the airbrusher, the bike was reborn. Pagan picked up a new frame and had it powdercoated black and mated to an eight-inch-over swingarm from C&S Customs, carrying a Performance Machine "Judge" wheel with a 240-width Metzeler tire. The forks and swingarm were painted black to match the frame and give it a machined look. Galfer wave rotors were mounted front and back along with braided lines while, down in the motor department, Pagan decided to install a Muzzy turbo kit and a smoked Double Bubble windscreen to finish the look off, before it was hit with the intricate, Air-Force-inspired graphics. Now Pagan is flying high indeed.
Does this bike look vaguely familiar to you? If you or any of your riding buddies are currently rocking an Icon "Legion" helmet, you've no doubt seen these Oriental-inspired graphics before, as the hand-laid decal graphics that cover Jason Fullington's black beauty were custom-made by AFG Moto in Tokyo, Japan, using artwork supplied by Icon and lifted from its own Legion helmet design. It says everything about the sensibilities of the Icon design team that the graphics look every bit as hot draped over the sides of a 2004 Honda CBR1000RR as they do on a piece of protective headgear. This is actually Fullington's second Icon-replica CBR-he also built the "Scorpion"-themed CBR1000RR featured on page 80 of our November 2005 issue-and he didn't spare any expense in setting this one off. Color Zone Designs in Huntington Beach, California, laid down the gloss-black base coat and the high-gloss clear over the graphics, while Fullington sent the engine covers, frame and swingarm to Specialized Coatings for a black powdercoat to match. Specialized also zapped the translucent orange powdercoat on the wheels, but not before Chrome Effects laid some plate on them. Tomahawk M3 tires and Galfer Wave rotors and hard brake lines further dress up the wheels, while the integrated front and rear turn signals and Hotbodies undertail exhaust system keep the bodywork sleek and clean. Demon Eyez headlight treatments from McCoy Motorsports make this dragon's headlights glow red, and the gator-skin seats from Cee Bailey are laser-etched with the Icon Dragon and selected sponsor logos. Fullington also added a GPR Stabilizer, Race Tech fork internals, Vortex +2 rear sprocket and rear sets, Power Commander, K&N Filter and more. Fullington has gone even further than just Icon-izing his ride-he has a tattoo rendition of the Icon "Skull" Mainframe helmet on his forearm. His product loyalty paid off-Fullington and his bike can be seen on the cover of the 2007 Icon catalog.