French Flyers
FRENCH FLYERS
Rolling Objects d'Art
DON CANET
FRANCE HAS LONG BEEN RECOGnized for its artistic contributions. Now, a country that has produced many of the great painters, sculptors and designers of our time, is doing the same for motorcycling. French sport riders are roadrace fans through and through. They want their bikes to remain practical, usable and fast. To them, a "tuned" bike-the French term for a custom-must have handling and cornering ability every bit as sharp as its looks.
Many of the bikes shown on the fol lowing pages were built by French tun ing shops as demo pieces to showcase their work and products. Photographic proof that the only design limits lie in the depth of one's imagination-or wallet.
Overlight II Honda CBR900RR
You had better wear shades when gazing into the blinding paint of Jacques Roca’s Overlight II CBR900RR.
Roca, a former French national roadracing champion, is revered as one of the first French tuners to customize Japanese bikes.
Roca’s conversion pares some 33 pounds from a stock CBR. The elegantly sculpted kevlar fairing and tail were built by Fulgur Industry, with Roca applying the paint. An FRC dual-tip exhaust routes through the tailpiece, giving the CBR a very sleek and clean profile. Yoshimura rearset pegs, a healthy dose of carbon-fiber parts and plenty of polished aluminum complete the look.
Roca’s CBR conversion kit also includes a trick front fender that incorporates a carbon-fiber scoop to channel air onto the hot brake calipers.
Pretty cool, huh?
MER Ducati 916
Ducati’s 916 is widely regarded as the most beautiful sportbike ever. To date, few French tuners have risked disturbing such elegance.
But then, youngsters don’t respect anything anymore. With an average age under 25, the three partners of Moto Equipment Racing, a speed shop located just west of Paris, happily plead guilty to defacing Moto Ducati’s most idolized machine.
Being a fairly new business, MER is working very hard to
make a name for itself. By attacking the 916 in such an audacious manner, the MER boys have certainly seized public attention. The $3000 paint job alone makes sure of that.
A stylized piranha chowin’ down on a Japanese meatball, the graphics take a playful jab at the Big Four’s dominance of the French sportbike market.
A liberal sprinkling of carbon-fiber parts complements the paint, and in keeping with the latest ultra-chic trend, the carbon mufflers have been sprayed with a tinted clearcoat. Polished-aluminum and red-anodized fasteners serve as additional highlights-as if the MER 916 really needs it.
PMP Honda NX650 Dominator
Even a dual-purpose bike can succumb to the French kiss. Jean-Marie Gautier, a mechanic at Paris Moto Parts, is known for his ability to mix ’n’ match parts. Proof of this talent is seen in his Honda NX650 supermotard. A VFR750 single-sided swingarm, wheel and brake have given the NX an awesome-looking rear. Up front, the fork, wheel, brakes and lower triple-clamp were lifted from a CBR600. The fender comes compliments of a Suzuki GSX-R750.
Engine mods include head work, cam, Wiseco piston, Dynojet kit, K&N air filter and a Marving exhaust.
A super Single, to be sure.
Show Room Etoile Suzuki GSX-R750
Located along the Champs Élysées, only a wheelie’s distance from the famed Arc de Triomphe, Show Room Etoile is one of the classiest bike shops in Paris. When the allnew Suzuki GSX-R750 was introduced in 1996, the bike was so good that nobody dared delve into tuning one, but Show Room owner Alexandre Puiseux took the plunge.
With a goal to stay under the psychological threshold of 100,000 francs (about $18,000) total, work was limited mainly to aesthetics.
The Ducati 916inspired upper-fairing is a custom Show Room piece that mates to the stock lowers. This fairing has spawned a trend, as more than a few French GSX-Rs now sport the 916 look.
While the fork, front brakes and wheel are all stock, a single-sided swingarm fabricated from bent and welded sheet aluminum carries a Marvic wheel at the rear. A custom exhaust runs up through the tailpiece, making its exit just below the taillight.
Très bien!
Guichard Moto BMW R1100R Cartoon
Deni Guichard wanted to see how far his shop could go with a run-of-the-mill Beemer, and what the response might be. Guichard’s R1 100R, nicknamed “Cartoon,” is the resulting styling exercise. Performance mods amount to the FRC dual-cannon exhaust. The carbon-canister slip-on system uses the stock header, and is said to emit a sound unlike anything you’d expect from a standard-style BMW.
Cartoon’s $2100 paint job was applied by AéroStyl, regarded as one the best paint shops in all of France. The saddle is a Guichard Moto original.
Yeah, but it’s really just paint, you say of the bike? True, but then so is another French art treasure, the Mona Lisa.
Tuning Formula Yamaha V-Max 1500
Being cllaraclerized as a V-Max specialist was not the intent of Pascal Schlitz, owner of tuning Formula, another of France's top shops. But when Schlitz's maxed-out Yamaha appeared at the Paris Motorcycle Show, no French shop had ever gone as far in technical modification, much less on a V-Max. For better or worse, the stereotype had been cast. Pumping muscle into a stock 1188cc motor (Euro-mandated to 90 horsepower) began by punching it out to 1500cc. The heads were fully massaged and a Dynojet Stage 7 carb kit installed. The Yoshimura 4-into-1 exhaust was custombent to raise the muffler f~r a cleaner look that mates nicely with the Tuning Formula tailpiece. Producing a healthy 150 horsepower in this hot-rodded state wasn't enough for Schiltz, though, who really took things to the max by adding an NOS nitrous-oxide system. Power is estimated at 190 bhp when ingesting the juice. And if the ensuing rush of acceleration makes your toes curl, simply thumb the horn
switch to actuate the MRF air-shifter. The main techno attraction here, though, is the singlesided swingarm. This uses the stock ring-and-pinion carrier, hut has an additional support to handle the torque. The driveshaft's forward ring-and-pinion setup was moved 5mm outboard at the transmission to provide necessary clearance to mount a 6.5 x 17-inch BBS race car wheel. A Progressive Suspension single shock, with custom-built rocker and rod linkage, stands in tbr the stock twin-shock arrangement. The rear disc comes from a Yamaha Fazer and is mated to a Brembo caliper. Up front, billet triple-clamps grasp a fork comprised of billet-aluminum outer stanchion tubes with (iSX-R sliders and hydraulic internals. The front wheel is also a Fazer item that's been adapted to carry 3 10mm Beringer floating rotors pinched by six-piston calipers of the same make. While the cost is estimated at four times that of a stan dard V-Max, Schiltz points out that price was not an issue. Good thing.
Top Driver Kawasaki Predator
Before you venture onto the streets of Paris after dark, be warned, there may be a Predator on the prowl. Top Driver, one of the leading motorcycle parts dealers and bike builders in the Paris suburbs, created this Kawasaki ZX-7R streetfighter. While the bike was one of shop owner Karim Madami’s first publicized efforts, the young, creative tuner has been building bikes and shaping his own fiberglass parts for some time.
Stripped-down sportbikes have been popular in France since 1994 or ’95, but Madami wanted to take the streetfíghter style much farther. First came a serious bhp bolster in the form of a lightened and balanced crank, polished rods, Muzzy high-compression pistons, racing cams, a V&H Power Pak ignition and a custom-bent exhaust system. All of which has transformed the Predator into a true pink ’n’ blue wheelie monster. Although the stock Keihin carbs have been retained to aid aroundtown ridability, Madami claims to have extracted 140 horsepower from his streetgoing 750.
A scooter flyscreen and headlight replace the ZX’s full fairing, offering weight reduction while showing off the bike’s impressive mechanicals. A smaller radiator was fitted to make the inline-Four more visible; then the engine was painted bright blue so people couldn’t possibly miss it. And how’s this for a hot seat? The saddle, made by Top Driver, has the exhaust system routed through it.
Imitation carbon paintwork-evident on the frame, swingarm and fork lowers-is another Top Driver specialty. Chrome plating also highlights several components, including the controls, triple-clamps, exhaust, Beringer sixpiston calipers and rear brake system. One of the bike’s most striking elements is its dash. The stock instrument cluster was faired into the top of the fuel tank and angled sharply, allegedly to make it more readable when you’re wheelying.
That pretty much tips-off the Predator’s favorite attitude.
Honda CBX1000 Rebel
What began in 1995 as a series of whimsical sketches has turned into one of France’s most outrageous customs. It’s designer Eric Loiseleux’s CBX Rebel, which successfully joins Honda’s legendary six-cylinder engine and an absolutely statuesque chassis.
Part chopper, part sportbike, all original, the Rebel is meant to shock. Its single-sided swingarm is Honda VFR
fare, as are the wheels and rear brake. Billet-aluminum tripleclamps and a WP inverted cartridge fork lend a stout, yet rakish look up front. Ever-popular Beringer six-piston calipers and floating rotors handle the stopping-which may be often as the stylized fuel tank holds but 3.3 gallons of fuel.
In case you’re interested, Loiseleux is prepared to produce a few more copies of his shocking Six. However, at $38,000 per-you supply the motor-they ain’t cheap. Call it the price of exclusivity.
Honda CBR900RR Doohan Replica
Roadrace fan Yann Baron had a burning desire to paint his new CBR900 in Mick Doohan colors. Sadly, he was killed in a road accident aboard the yet-to-be-modified bike. Grief stricken, Sylvian Baron decided to make his deceased brother’s dream a reality.
Aéro-Styl is credited with the paintwork, which included handstenciling on each of the sponsor logos-no decals here. This attention to detail even carried over to using the same number of windscreen fasteners as found on Doohan’s works racer. The trickest element in this NSR500 illusion is the hand-built 4-into-l-into-4 exhaust system tipped with four carbon-fiber silencers.
While nothing can ever make up for the loss of Sylvian’s brother, the Doohan-replica CBR lends credence to there being life after death.
Top Driver Kawasaki ZX-9R
If you found Top Driver’s Predator streetfighter to be a bit over the top, then perhaps the subtle tuning treatment given this ZX-9R will be more to your liking.
Engine internals and the chassis have gone untouched, but custom paint and bodywork collaborate with a stylish twin-canister exhaust to set the ZX's altered tone. Especially appar ent in this photo is the elongated tailsection and the swirling paint scheme.
