Orange Krush
ORANGE KRUSH
American FLYERS
Hot-rod harbinger
THIS MOTORCYCLE, A nicely street-rodded Kawasaki Vulcan 1500, is more important than you might think.
Explanation to follow, but first a little history would be helpful.
Back in the 1940s and early ’50s, America’s motorcycles—Indian and Harley V-Twins—were heavyweight affairs, festooned with fully valanced fenders, fringed saddlebags and all manner of chromed geegaws. Fine for Fourth of July parades, but not exactly what hard riders had in mind. Out came the hacksaws, off went the accessories and the “bob-job” was bom.
Now jump ahead 45 or so years. The Japanese Big Four bike-makers, envious of Harley-Davidson’s success with old-style V-Twin cmisers, all come up with their own versions of the fatfendered retro wagon. Lovable enough lugs, but hardly paragons of performance. Well, guess what? History is repeating itself, the bob-job is back.
Have a look at the tangerine dream below. What started out as your run-of-themill mega-cmiser has been slammed to the ground, courtesy of 17-inch RC Components wheels, a short-
ened stock fork and Progressive IAS shocks. A Thunder Mfg. engine kit with 10:1 pistons, stiffer valve springs, bumpier cams and a carb kit raises bhp levels to a very streetable 85-87 at the rear wheel. Vance & Hines supplies the 2-into-1 drainpipe exhaust. Planet Cruiser came up with the cut-down fenders. The colormatched seat, in trendy vinyl by AP Design, looks like it was intended for the world’s largest Schwinn Stingray. Sanitary, very sanitary.
And, of course, the manufacturers have taken notice of the trend, too. Harley’s cleanly done Deuce even
takes its name from the car hot-rod movement. Add the rumored Porsche powerplant to Willie G.’s styling and you’ll have a ride to be reckoned with. And, of course, there’s the big cmise news of the year, Honda’s unveiling of its VTX1800 bmiser, sporting a manhole-spinning 117 foot-pounds of torque. There will be more.
So, what’s so important about this particular mo’pickle? It’s not the bike really, but the builder-none other than John Hoover, the man in charge of all product planning for Kawasaki U.S. Get the picture?
-David Edwards
