Mark Tempesta of Break Lite Motorsports originally picked up his Hayabusa from a customer that had been involved in an accident. The intention was to build a showpiece for his shop and turn the custom bike scene up a notch. "This build started years ago with the mentality of building something that hadn't already been done. The goal was to do everything as over the top as possible," explained Mark.
The evidence of trial and error is obvious with a laundry list of custom and one-off parts. For starters, the headlight is molded from several different pieces of bodywork and incorporates R1 headlights. There are also two batteries and enough wiring to power an SUV beneath the custom tail and side panels. "We started with the smashed upper from an R1 and started screwing around with it. After we added the headlights I lost the ram air. When that happened I had to add a turbo to make up for the loss of induction. Once the bodywork was messed up I decided to go ahead and add a stereo system. It sort of just snowballed into the project you see today."
But with each step along the way, Mark encountered a new problem. What would have probably only taken a few short months to build for a customer took nearly four years to complete because of all the constant changes, upgrades and improvements. "Everything on this bike so far has been an exercise in patience. The speaker box alone took nearly six months to complete. In total, it took almost four years to complete the bike because all the people involved were experimenting with ideas in their spare time."
Mark summed it up best when asked if he was finally finished working on his bike. "It's just one of those projects that seems to go on and on and on. I hate that every time I take this bike out something breaks, so the last time I rode it I decided to do it right. I wicked the boost up and dropped the clutch...and broke a jackshaft bearing. See, it's always something!"
2006 Suzuki Hayabusa
Front end: 2006 Yamaha R1 headlights, RC Components "Havoc" wheel, Galfer chrome Wave rotor
Rear end: RC Components "Havoc" wheel, C&S Customs swingarm with 300mm tire, Tricky Air Ride
Motor: Stage 1 turbo system
Paint: Break Lite Motorsports
Polish/chrome: Sport Chrome (
sportchrome.com)
Bodywork: Molded and chopped windscreen, R1 front end, smoothed out and molded ram air covers with speakers, boost and fuel pressure gauges, chopped rear set hump
Accessories: Roaring Toyz switch housing, Performance Machine bar switches, RIS Designs covers, ST Machine levers, Dakota Digital gauges, stereo DVD head unit with speakers, five inch LCD screen, dual battery system with isolator, green and white LEDs, HIDs
Owner: Mark Tempesta
Builder: Break Lite Motorsports (
breaklites.com)