2004 Suzuki Hayabusa - The Harlequin Busa

Don't even say that, you know exactly what a harlequin is. Think back to school, the masked character in your history books that was usually hopping around like a jester in the colorful suit. The harlequin was the mischievous servant of a true gentleman, and through his jokes and antics he would frequently try to steal the ladies away from his master.

For over 600 years, anything brilliantly multicolored has been known as a harlequin, and this time around a Hayabusa has assumed the title. This vivid ride is the property of Andrew Rumley, a polite 24-year-old shop owner who set out to build one of the brightest and most distinctive bikes in the country.

His Greensboro, North Carolina-based company, Custom Cycles Ltd, has been around for a little over two years, making the wild-style bikes that we all love. This crazy machine is the shop's most radical, though, and like so many others it started out as a standard Suzuki Hayabusa-the most popular base for customization. But we don't customize bikes to be the same-it's all about being different, and that gets harder and harder with every bike that has a few bucks spent on it.

Rumley decided that his showcase 'Busa would smack you square in the chops at the first look, and a huge part of that effect is down to the paint, as he explained: "I wanted a bit of everything in there; flames, tear-aways, rips, tribal, murals, checkerboard, ghost skulls, carbon fiber, hundred-dollar bills..."

OK dude, we get it.

After a few minutes of walking around the bike and tallying up the color count, Rumley found that he has 18 different paint colors on his bike, plus various shades of those colors. They worked well during daylight hours, but he wasn't satisfied. So that his harlequin would be just as in-yer-face in the dark he added some night color, too.

Now, when the sun goes down, he can flick a switch and bring on the glow from 16 sets of Kryakyn Lizard lights. The coolest thing about these lights is that they constantly change color; blue deepens and becomes purple, which brightens as it melts into red, and so on-all the way through the color spectrum.

That should have been about enough to get some people looking, right? Nope. Next, he fit a police-issue strobe kit that fires inside the front turn signals and the taillight. Then, to finish the lighting off, he fitted an HID headlight for better sight as well as the bit of bling that expensive kit shows off.

With so much going on in the paintwork, Rumley knew that the rest of the bike had to complement all of the color rather than clash with it. The best way to do that was with a non-color, so everything is chrome, and I mean everything. The crew at Custom Cycles tore the entire bike down and sent everything out for the shiny stuff, and it covers everything from the frame to the switch housings. If it couldn't be chromed traditionally it was usually available in the plastic version, so, either way, it all sparkles like the Pacific Ocean at sunset.

With the appearance sorted Rumley looked to spice up the spin, and he literally did just that with a set of RC Components' "Wolverine" spinners. The rear holds a massively oversized 360-section tire, and is carried by a C&S Customs swingarm that runs 18 inches over standard length. That's long, no doubt-from the side this thing looks like an ocean liner-you could probably fit a pool table inside that wheelbase.

All Rumley needed now was some entertainment, and that came in the form of a JVC multihead unit. There's also a camera under the tail and a TV screen built into the gas tank, and it's all linked to the JVC hub.

While you can see that the electronic center is built into the seat cowl, what may surprise you is that it's all instantly removable so that he can still carry a passenger (ladies only, that is). Rumley freely admits that building such a bright custom is partially about cruising for girls, but just watch your back, man-you created a harlequin, and they have a habit of stealing the laydeez right from under their masters' noses.

The Buyer's Box
2004 Suzuki Hayabusa

Original Make/Model: 2004 Suzuki Hayabusa
Front end: Lowered and chromed factory suspension, RC Components "Wolverine" spinner wheel
Rear end: C&S Custom swingarm, RC Components "Wolverine" spinner 360 wheel, DaPincci air-ride system
Motor: Nitrous, Custom Cycles Ltd exhaust by C&S Custom
Paint: House of Kolors paint applied by Dish-Did-It, Greensboro, NC
Polish/chrome: S&H, TN
Bodywork: Smoothed front fender, tail section and gas tank molded with monitor
Accessories: CD/DVD player, video camera, 6-inch TV monitor
Other: Viper alarm/remote start, nitrous purge
Owner: Andrew Rumley
Builder: Custom Cycles Ltd
www.customcyclesltd.com