For a guy who calls his business Angry Guy Streetfighters, Jim Haucke is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Soft-spoken and always smiling, Haucke, from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, utterly personifies the laid-back, low-key Midwestern charm that his home state is known for. How, then, did a mild-mannered guy like Haucke get started building some of the nastiest, most anti-social streetfighters we've ever seen in the United States? And, what's more, how did he come to build these wild customs in Wisconsin, the home of Harley-Davidson and a place more typically associated with the chrome and conchos cruiser crowd than stripped-down, blacked-out, urban road warriors?
Haucke originally launched Angry Guy in 2003, motivated mostly by boredom with his day job. He was working for the Kohler Company (plumbing fixtures) at the time, a self-described "tub guy" who spent his days enameling bathtubs and daydreaming about streetfighters to pass the time. Haucke was a performance motorcycle guy from way back, a former motocross and ATV racer who caught the streetfighter bug from reading European magazines and was in the process of building his first 'fighter from parts painstakingly sourced from the obscure European streetfighter aftermarket. Haucke was working second shift at the time, and one day when he complained to his buddy and fellow bike enthusiast Dave Schmidt that he didn't want to go into work, Schmidt suggested he quit and come to work at his printing business. So Haucke did, ditching the tub gig and joining forces with Schmidt, making banners, awnings, and custom vinyl graphics and doing bike stuff on the side. Eventually, the bike portion of the business grew to the point where Angry Guy Streetfighters (www.angryguystreetfighters.com) became a full-time motorcycle business focused on supplying hard-to-find streetfighter gear and apparel, including Motocyco parts, Sick Innovations stunt gear, C.R.W. neoprene face masks and New Rock boots.
At the same time, Haucke and Schmidt met Dave Begotka, a former pro roadracer, stunt rider and mechanic for the HMC Superbike team, where he tuned for Scott Russell and others. Begotka, a talented fabricator located in nearby Two Rivers, Wisconsin, was likewise into streetfighters (he built his first one in '97), and was just starting to manufacture the components that would soon form the basis of his Motocyco line (www.begotka.com). The three instantly bonded over a shared love of the streetfighter style.
"Streetfighters are the new outlaw motorcycle," Haucke says, "and I think they're the future of custom bikes. Streetfighters really bridge the gap between the performance of a sportbike with the style and attitude of a chopper. You've got all the power and handling of a sportbike with the attitude, look and craftsmanship that people usually associate with choppers." Angry Guy has made it their mission to be a driving force behind the streetfighter trend in America.
The Angry Guys crew has turned out roughly a half-dozen bikes since they started off, but the one shown here-dubbed Hell's Tailgunner-is the latest creation, and their wildest one yet. Haucke says he first got the idea for the project when he saw the unique Tailgunner "rotary cannon" exhaust canister, which features a gatling gun-style six-barrel outlet tip that rotates when the engine is revved, advertised on the Web. Haucke had just seen Begotka's Motocyco Psycho tailsection for the first time, which utilizes a high, center-mounted taillight, and he immediately imagined the Tailgunner exhaust protruding from that taillight opening. Haucke contacted the Tailgunne's owner, who agreed to provide him with an exhaust. Begotka said he could make it work with his tail, and the Hell's Tailgunner project was off and running.
Then tragedy struck when Haucke's business partner and friend, Dave Schmidt, died unexpectedly on the first day of the Hell's Tailgunner build. Dealing with Schmidt's loss at the same time as a 30-day deadline to complete the Tailgunner and feature it in the exhaust company's vendor display at the annual Sturgis Rally and Races, Haucke considered canceling the project entirely. Fortunately, Begotka stepped up and volunteered to handle the bike build himself while Haucke attended to the Angry Guy business. Begotka built the bike almost single-handedly from start to finish, investing more than 100 hours in the project over a four-week period. Both Haucke and Begotka wanted to see the Hell's Tailgunner project through to completion as a tribute to the memory of Dave Schmidt.
Step one was to get the base bike-a tired '93 Honda CBR900RR with one dead cylinder-running right. The 893cc motor was completely rebuilt and upgraded with a Dyna 2000 ignition and a full set of Nology wires. While the motor was on the bench, the frame, swingarm, and rims were sent away to Seal Fab for a satin black powdercoat while Begotka got to work fabricating the custom tail. First, a one-off subframe was constructed, with special accommodations made to securely mount and locate the Tailgunner exhaust. Once the Tailgunner canister was mounted at the desired angle, Begotka bent up the custom 2 1/4-inch midpipe that connects the Tailgunner to the Hindle header. As mentioned previously, the tailsection itself is a Motocyco piece that mounts directly to the custom subframe, while the "666 Special" headlight cowling, "X-Treme" bellypan and "X-Tatic" front fender were all supplied by Haucke's contacts at Brandy's Biker Store across the Atlantic in Germany.
The cockpit is pure streetfighter goodness, starting with a Tag Metals "Fatty" riser bar in black bolted to the upper triple via a set of Angry Guys' own CFH (Cowboys From Hell) bar risers. A Drag Specialties mini-speedo begins and ends the simple instrumentation, while a tiny Arlen Ness Stealth mirror mounted under the bar and a slick set of black aluminum bar-end turn signals keep things legal. And that too-cool billet front brake reservoir styled after a set of brass knuckles? Thank Begotka for that, as it's from his Motocyco line, as is the very realistic hand grenade reservoir on the rear brake. Brass knuckles heel guards are from Motocyco, too, while the extra-clean rear license plate mount is made by another Wisconsin-based aftermarket supplier, Patrick's Performance.
Finishing the bike off is a stunning Hell's Tailgunner-themed graphic package designed and laid down by Dave Begotka's wife, Sandra. Working on top of a midnight-black basecoat put down by RCR Customs, Sandra Begotka laid down a mural of the grim reaper facing backward and manning the machine gun handles on top of the tank, with a flaming scythe arcing over the top of the reaper's head-a nod to the CBR's "FireBlade" model designation in Europe.
Thanks to Haucke's clear vision and the Begotkas' hard work, the completed Hell's Tailgunner bike is a gorgeous streetfighter that certainly honors the memory of Dave Schmidt every time Haucke rides it down the street-and make no mistake, Haucke says this one was built to ride.
"That's the great thing about our bikes," Haucke says. "They're not like those artsy-fartsy Orange County Choppers you can barely get off the kickstands-streetfighters are totally cool looking, but you can still ride them every day. And that's what I plan to do with this one."
Riding therapy-sounds like a good method of anger management for this not-so-angry guy.
The RaptorSaved from service as a high-octane cocktail bar (don't ask), this once-great roadracing GSX-R1100 has been reborn as a streetfighter-styled drag bike.
What do you do when you've got a retired, fully race-prepped 1993 Suzuki GSX-R1100 sitting around your shop collecting dust, a bike that's too out-of-date to be competitive at the racetrack and too far from stock to ever consider returning to street duty? Dave and Sandra Begotka, the owners of the GSX-R you see here that once fit that description, first thought to turn the bike into a "sculptural bar" inside their house.
"We thought it would be cool to build a support under it and a bar on top of it to serve drinks and give people something to talk about," Sandra says. It would be a great conversation piece, no doubt, but Dave had an even better idea-to get the bike running again and transform it into a streetfighter-inspired drag bike that would pull double duty rocketing down the quarter-mile while also serving as a rolling showcase for the stunning streetfighter parts made by their business, Motocyco (www.begotka.com).
The Begotkas certainly started with a solid platform-this particular one began life as the MCM/Fastline Suzuki endurance racing bike, once billed as the "world's fastest endurance racer," first raced by the Fastline Team and later by Dave Begotka himself in AMA Endurance, CCS, NASB and Formula USA roadrace events. The liquid-cooled inline-four engine is built to the teeth, bored out to 1200cc, and fitted with a ported head, race cams, Carillo rods, flat-slide carbs and a full titanium exhaust to make a very healthy 170 rear-wheel horsepower. The chassis is full-race as well, with a modified inverted fork, Fox rear shock, and Performance Machine Chicane racing wheels and brakes.
Building off of this base, Dave stripped away all the old bodywork and began the streetfighter conversion, starting with the must-have riser handlebar-a Pro Taper MX piece mounted on Angry Guy CFH (Cowboys From Hell) risers and fitted with Moose Bark Buster handguards modified with acorn nut studs for some extra attitude. With upright handlebars installed to adjust the rider's attitude, the Begotkas next turned to crafting some custom bodywork to set the bike off. The Raptor headlight assembly, Psycho tailsection, and custom front fender are all Motocyco-designed pieces sculpted by Dave in florist's foam and cast in fiberglass by a local vendor-and yes, these parts are available retail through Motocyco's Web site. Covering this arresting bodywork is knockout paint consisting of a basecoat by Dave Hartwig covered with marbleized flames and racing stripes done in House of Kolor candies by Sandra Begotka.
Killer bodywork is just the beginning: What really caught our attention was the detail pieces, like the hand grenade front brake fluid reservoir that is also made and sold by Motocyco, and the rear brake reservoir formed from a transparent skull. Translucent blue acrylic frame and axle sliders and grips are from Motocyco, too, and, of course, the wheelie bar. Made from a canvas composite material called phenolic, the wheelie bar was designed by Dave Begotka as a quick bolt-on/bolt-off bar that requires no alteration to the bike's suspension or swingarm geometry so it can be put on for weekend racing and removed quickly to get your bike back to street trim for commuting duty. Since it mounts directly to the swingarm, the Motocyco wheelie bar compresses the suspension as the bar makes contact with the surface, increasing traction and driving the front wheel back to earth. And believe us, with 170 hp on tap and an upright, streetfighter riding position, this bike needs all the help it can get when it comes to keeping the front wheel on the ground.
And that's how the MCM/Fastline endurance racer became the Raptor, a machine that's much better suited to collecting dragracing timing slips than bar tabs. And even if the Begotkas are stuck serving cocktails over a sheet of plywood at their home bar, we think they definitely made the right choice in building up this streetfighter-styled drag bike.