Bike World - Sportbike Market - The Scene

Club Jenna and Super Streetbike exchanged vows for a marriage of sex and speed at the 2007 L.A. Erotica show held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Jenna Jameson has been instrumental in breaking down the barriers between mainstream media and the previously underground world of adult entertainment, and in a further blurring of these separate worlds, Club Jenna's Duane Bell released a new genre of adult videos that feature stunt riding, drifting and custom bikes in addition to the usual, umm, sex.

Super Streetbike's Project R1 and Sesto Custom Cycles' 2003 CBR600RR were invited to display at the largest adult expo in Southern California to help promote the release of the new film RPM Extreme.

Despite the bevy of beauties, the bikes were an unexpected hit at the event. Many of the largest names in the adult industry stopped by to chat about the bikes and inquire how they could get one of their own. The invasion from a world outside the typical motorcycle show crowd was another fine example of the widespread appeal of the growing custom sportbike market. It was also a nice excuse to give our girlfriends so we could hang with the porn stars. Yeah, life is rough sometimes.

Special thanks: www.clubjenna.com

Mass Media
Speed Channel's popular TV show Super Bikes! consults SSB for the current trends in the sportbike market.

Super Bikes! kicked off its second season with a visit to Los Angeles, and Super Streetbike served as chaperone to show the cameras some of the country's hottest rides. The crew came down to discuss the current trends in custom sportbikes and how they are influencing the rest of the motorcycle world, particularly Japan.

The day started with Editor Dave Sonsky sharing his vision of the future for the custom bike scene and what Super Streetbike's role will be. Later on, Associate Editor John Zamora arrived with some of the hottest bikes on the West Coast.

After taking a coastal ride up to a secret filming location deep inside the Malibu canyons, the TV crew ran through a series of interviews while some of the custom bikes pulled wheelies and squealed fat-tire burnouts.

While filming on some of the most exciting twisty roads in Southern California, many of the riders discovered a thing or two about their custom bikes' performance-most of it on the positive side. All for TV.

For more info: www.speedtv.com

Sands In The Desert
RSD Day at Willow Springs hosted every toy a big boy could wantFor the "Mythbusters" story (page 56), Super Streetbike set out to put fat-tire set-ups to the test. A trackday has never been attempted to see exactly how these wide wonders would perform on an actual racecourse. Fortunately, famed bike builder and former AMA racer Roland Sands had rented the Streets of Willow in Rosamond, California, for a day of testing, tuning and fun on his custom-built motorcycles. SSB loaded its own bikes in the back of the truck and came along to join the party.

As the bikes were unloaded, onlookers scratched their heads in amazement and all pretty much asked the same question: "You're not going to ride those on the track, are you?"

Super Streetbike's Project R1 would appear more at home at a bike show than running through the paces of the tight 1.8-mile road course. Sonsky brought out his CBR929/954/1000 hybrid to give the new 240 Pirelli Diablo tire a true track test as well.

These weren't the only exotic toys getting flogged, though. Track time was shared with everything from 125cc shifter carts, classic and modern-day racecars, Performance Machine's owner Perry Sands' new Ford GT-40 (that had a spin off the track) and the RSD KRV5 Tracker with a MotoGP V5 engine. To hear the Tracker run was a treat in itself, but watching Sands rock it down the track was the ultimate sight in functional artwork. Special thanks: www.rolandsands.com