Enter the foyer at the Graves Motorsports race shop and you're greeted by several seductive sirens. No, we're not talking about multiple secretaries or French maids frolicking about the lobby, but rather a collection of championship winning racebikes.
The one that draws the most attention and is unequivocally the most misunderstood is Chuck Graves' personal streetbike. Though it flaunts a number one plate and impersonates the other race-only machines to the last detail there's something different. But what is it that's so peculiar? Try lights, turn signals and a license plate. Huh?
It all makes sense when you understand that Chuck Graves isn't some holier-than-thou racer dude with the archetypal attitude that riding on the streets is pointless unless you've got suicidal tendencies. Naw, he knows where he's from and, for lack of a better expression, still keeps it real.
And it doesn't get any more real than his personal streetbike that could easily stunt double as a World Superbike racer.
What's really the point of having a streetbike with such high dollar and esoteric performance parts bolted on? We'd say simply because you can. As a race team owner there are a few fringe benefits after all. Graves' perspective is slightly different though: "Building this bike was like building a model as a kid where you create the ideal scenario. I wanted to make the ultimate streetbike-the lightest, fastest, best braking bike for the street.
If I could go buy the perfect bike from the dealer, this is how I'd want it to be."
Pull up to a bike gathering (we went to the famous Rock Store in Malibu) on this thing and it's impossible not to be noticed and immediately flocked over. If it wasn't for the race replica paint scheme you might get a few moments of solitude, but one look at that front end and the cat's out of the bag. Hell, you needn't be a race aficionado or even technically savvy to see there's something special going on here. The most obvious pieces of dream mods are the hlins FGR 700 gas charged forks. If you've got something in the range of $15,000 you can have a pair for your own bike, but at that sort of cheese they'd take some explaining to the missus and require more exoneration than simply a week's worth of back rubs.
What's attached to them is equally special however, and even harder to get ahold of, regardless how fat your wallet might be.
A WSB Nissin brake package isn't your typical streetbike stuff by any means. From the master cylinder up top, down through the quick-release lines to the billet calipers and full-floating rotors, these brakes are reserved only for the best racers at the front of the grid.
There are stronger biting brakes on the market, but these offer linear eye-popping power with one finger on the lever. There's nothing abrupt at first hit-just smooth power like your daddy's Camaro.
But this sort of stuff wasn't just lying around the shop as tear offs from an old race bike. In fact, they came from World Superbike star Noriyuki Haga's R1. It's amusing when you think of it; the exact parts from the king of late braking's bike were bolted onto a street legal R1. Nice.
Below those juicy bits is a 16.5-inch Marchesini (same in back). Sure, it's not the most practical wheel for the road, and neither is the fact that Graves has to use cut slicks because there aren't any street legal 16.5-inch tires available, but he's not bothered.
Jumping straight to this bike from the saddle of a 2008 Yamaha R1 felt as dramatic as swapping a veggie burger for a double Baconator. Immediately obvious is just how extreme the riding position is, which is only exacerbated by the supremely stiff suspension settings, particularly the rear. Of course that's not your basic consumer hlins rear shock though, and this titanium sprung unit mimics the comfort of a concrete stair pretty accurately.