Life's A Beach What a misery...
Life's A Beach
What a misery it must be to ride these, eh?
It's going to be an epic battle to the death; in the blue corner we have the world-famous Captain America, and in the orange corner we have a newcomer covered in princess-cut diamonds. OK, so it's not really going to be a battle to the death, but it's going to be a battle regardless. Some of us here in the office dig the Captain America bike, while others love the bling queen. It's even-Stevens here, so it's down to you to decide which one's hotter.
So why are we running two bikes, side by side? They were both built by the same guy, Mark Tempesta, who is the proud owner of Break Lites Motorsports in Malden, Massachusetts, and the creator of this dynamic Suzuki duo. He's been into the custom sportbike scene for years, having had an online parts shop since 2001, and following the success of the Internet business, he quit his day job and set up a real-world store location too.
Tempesta has been doing well in the Boston area-very well when you consider he's put out nearly 60 big-tire bikes in the last two years. Of all the bikes that he's built, though, these two are the first to be featured in a magazine, and as the Captain America was built for his own pleasure, we'll follow that story first.
First off, Mark is a huge fan of Suzuki, which is why it was a Gixxer or...nothing. The base is a 2004 Suzuki GSX-R1000; he bought it new and almost immediately chromed the thing out. If you look carefully, you can see that the whole bike is chrome underneath the glorious paint, but we're jumping ahead.
 2004 Suzuki GSX-R1000 Captain...  2004 Suzuki GSX-R1000
Captain America |  Energy Shield Under the Captain's...  Energy Shield
Under the Captain's paint hides the true power-a built motor. | 
Chrome body |
After he chromed it, he fitted a Trac Dynamics 240 tire kit with a six-over swingarm. He then got ahold of some Performance Machine "Hooligan" wheels and finally fitted an air ride on the rear.
Once his bike's stance was sorted out, it was time to move on to the motor.
Of course, not everybody goes down the performance route, as many owners feel that the factory power output is plenty. But not Mark-he wanted more. So he dropped the bike off at local performance shop S.R.E. and let them go to town. Now the motor features bigger bores, a longer stroke and a host of top-shelf internals to keep it durable. And just to make sure he's never lacking acceleration, he fitted a NOS system as well. Loony.
Obviously, this Gixxer is no longer a 1000, and calculations put it at 1150cc. It's very capable of flexing its muscles, too. At Daytona's Brute Horsepower shootout, the bike won its class. Once Tempesta had the trophy to prove it, he took great pleasure in explaining that: "Chrome really does add horsepower."
Front view |  One of the Crocodile Hunter's...  One of the Crocodile Hunter's victims. |  Double Vision A dashmount...  Double Vision
A dashmount camera gives a look at trouble behind |
With everything else complete, all the bike really needed was a great paint scheme. After all, a solid chrome bike is like a mirror; it's just plain dangerous on sunny days. Tempesta wanted an all-American theme, but also liked the idea of going with a comic-book style. As Captain America hadn't been done yet, it was an easy decision.
He trusted the Captain America paintwork to Killer Kreations, and the shop definitely killed it. The entire paint job was airbrushed, as opposed to being done using flat color. The flag looks like it's blowing in the wind and is slightly transparent so that you can see the chrome shining through. In contrast, Captain America was painted using opaque paint, so there's no chrome show-through at all, which is what helps him "pop.