At the risk of offending every one of our Beantown-based readers, the city of Boston has a pretty rough reputation. Lacking the urban sophistication of New York City or the sun-bleached shimmer of Los Angeles, the Beantown vibe is one that's much grittier and grimier and decidedly more working-class than upper-crust. Whether we're talking rowdy Red Sox fans setting fires and overturning cars after last year's championship win or notorious historical figures such as the Boston Strangler, there's often an undertone of violence and aggression associated with Boston. In other words, it's just not the kind of place you want to f*** with.
It only makes sense, then, that the custom sportbikes coming out of the Boston area are something less than cuddly. There's not much fondness in those parts for multicolored, cartoonish paint schemes, spinner rims, onboard DVD players or other gimmicks and gadgets. The hardcore East Coast look is more stripped down and sinister, distinguished by very long, low stances, dark paint, blacked-out brightwork, sawed-off exhausts and other touches that basically scream, "Back off!" It's a brutal, buck-nasty aesthetic, and Competitive Edge Motorcycles, located in the Boston suburb of Raynham, Massachusetts, is ground zero for this street-bred style.
Comp Edge is co-owned by Peter Therrien and Owen Tirrell, though Therrien, who got his start in custom sportbikes with an outrageous GSX-R1100 he built almost a dozen years ago, originally opened the shop. Therrien was all about the dragbike look from the beginning, stretching that first Gixxer way out and slamming it to the ground. Tirrell was a fan of the dragstrip refugee look, too, as well as one of Therrien's first customers. Nearly three years after partnering, the duo is going harder than ever, knocking out their signature extra-long, extra-low street nasties for customers throughout the Northeast.
As in the early days, Therrien's own bike remains the best advertisement for his shop's services. The midnight-hued 2001 GSX-R1000 shown here is his daily ride, and even though he's been offered plenty of money many times to sell it, he always says no because he'd only build the same bike all over again. A close study of Therrien's Gixxer will tell you everything you need to know about the Comp Edge agenda. It starts with a properly stretched-out swingarm, the longer the better--in this case, a 15-inch-over chromed piece supplied by Trac Dynamics. And since real men don't need suspension, a rigid strut supports the bike's rear end--we told you these Boston boys are hardcore. Actually, the rigid rear helps ensure Therrien can run the bike as low to the ground as possible (about an inch off the deck, in this case) without the risk of damaging the tail. A Suzuki Genuine Accessories gel saddle helps take the edge off the biggest hits. GSX-R750 forks were swapped out (the gold-toned 1000 forks looked too chi-chi for Therrien's tastes) and cut down a few inches internally to bring the bike's front down to the level.
Once the chassis fit the Comp Edge criteria, Therrien turned to the bodywork. The first thing most people notice about the bike is its distinctive upper fairing, which is a European-made Predator aftermarket upper Therrien sourced from Enigma Superbikes in Ronkonkoma, New York. The headlight grilles are actually stickers Therrien cut to shape, and the chrome-look windscreen is a Sportech piece available through Parts Unlimited, held on with custom-fabbed Comp Edge spike bolts. Out back, twin nitrous tanks peek out of the tailsection to put the fear into anyone who wanders up next to Therrien at a stoplight. As if that weren't enough, Therrien routed a nitrous purge out of the phony handgun passenger footpegs to shoot out a blast of nitrous vapors on command. How sick is that?
Speaking of, those "full gun" passenger footpegs come from SickShooter (www.sickshooter.com)--why are we not surprised to find it is also located in eastern Massachusetts? In addition to the passenger pegs, SickShooter contributed the shell-casing valve stem caps on Therrien's ride. Other trick touches include police-issue headlight strobes and turn signals built into the passenger peg brackets. Therrien drilled out the brackets to accommodate soldered and wired-in LEDs.
The paint is a jet-black basecoat with subtle purple flames applied by Therrien. The dark hue contrasts nicely with the chromed frame and the chromed RC Components Predator wheels, the rear an extra-wide 250-series. The Gixxer's motor is lightly massaged (enough to make 157 rear-wheel horsepower without nitrous) and finished with another Comp Edge signature piece: a shorty open-megaphone exhaust for both a clean look and a suitably menacing exhaust note.
Tirrell's ride, the silver- and blue-flamed bike, is an alternate take on the '01-model GSX-R1000--and if you can believe it, this one is even longer than Therrien's ride! The swingarm is an incredible 18 inches over, and the overlong wheelbase is further emphasized with a cut-down fork and a frame raked an additional 6 degrees by Therrien and Tirrell. After the reconfigured frameset was checked for trueness by GMD Computrack, the chassis was set to roll on another set of RC Components wheels, Whirl spun aluminum pieces with "only" a 190-series tire in the rear. Another pair of rear-mount nitrous bottles (in blue) gives it away, and an additional shorty exhaust marks this bike as a Comp Edge creation.
The third GSX-R, a '03 model also owned by Tirrell, goes in a different direction entirely--everything chromed on the other two Suzukis is powdercoated black, lending the bike an even more evil appearance that works well with the two-tone copper and black paint scheme--original colors for the Canadian-model GSX-R1000s that year. This bike rolls on RC's Predator wheels (same as Therrien's), though these are gold powdercoated by D&T Powder Coating in Pembroke over the original chrome. The rear wheel is 250 inches wide and snugged into a 12-inch-over Trac arm (also rigid-mounted) modified to carry a nitrous bottle for the dry-shot NOS kit fitted to the motor. Dig also the SickShooter firearm-themed footpegs, bar ends and preload adjusters fitted to this bike.
Lest you think it's an all-Suzuki show at Comp Edge, Therrien and Tirrell were proud to show us Ben Lambardi's bangin' '04 Kawasaki ZX-10R, which received the first fat-tire swingarm Trac Dynamics built for that model, measuring in at 10 inches over stock and wide enough to fit a 250 tire. The wheels are RC Warlocks powdercoated gold, along with the rearsets and passenger pegs, fork ends, engine case covers and other select bits. The nitrous bottle mounted to the swingarm is a dummy--it feeds a just-for-show purge and isn't connected to the motor at all. In reality, a Dynojet Power Commander and another Comp Edge open exhaust are the only engine mods. Comp Edge also made the mirror block-off plates and handled the paint, a gorgeous wineberry with gold metalflake that is hardly done justice in photographs.
Did we just call that blood-red Kawasaki "gorgeous"? Our mistake--we meant to say evil, mean, nasty, wicked or some other ominous adjective. Comp Edge creations are absolutely bad in the best sense of the word, which gives them exactly the right attitude for rollin' on Boston's mean streets.