Strata Cruiser

American FLYERS

NO. 11 IN A SERIES

STRATA CRUISER

Further advancement of the corporate custom

HERE'S HOW THESE THINGS WORKor don't, actually. Aftermarket company honcho has his minions throw one of everything in the parts book at a bike, then jingles us at the magazine, asks if we want to run a story on his creation.

Chances are, no. What we're looking for is something out-of-the-ordinary, not the crass, twowheeled equivalent of a catalog clotheshorse. Make us go, "Holy mother...!" Really blow our skirts up. Have us nervous that some other, lessworthy magazine might get the bike before us. Do that and the pages are yours, we're easy.

Cobra's Ken Boyko has our number. Cobra specializes in exhaust systems and billet trinkets for metric cruisers, and recently branched out into the Harley-Davidson market. To drum up interest in the company's products, Boyko has commissioned a series of hand-built specials-17 in the past nine years-but here's the catch: For the most part, nothing on these bikes is listed in the Cobra catalog; virtually every component is a one-off piece. These are true customs.

Of course, Boyko hopes his showbikes inspire you to do a little garage self-customizing on your own cruiser, which is where his exhaust systems and billet trinkets come in. Must be working, judging from the company's gleaming new headquarters in Yorba Linda, California.

The latest creation from Cobra's Special Projects Division (that would be Boyko, stylist Mike Rinaldi and master fabricator Denny Berg) is this `03 stroke-job Kawasaki Vulcan 1600, though you're forgiven if the parent age was not immediately evident.

"It's very concept-carish," Boyko says. "Not just another chopper." In fact, inspiration for the bike, dubbed "StrataCruiser," came from the L.A. Auto Show, where he saw a limited-edition MercedesBenz in a striking color. Some detective work tracked down the hue, known as “Designo,” sort of a silver with a light green tint, which is applied to just the first 500 units of every Merc model run. That’s the StrataCruiser’s color, too.

About the items the Designo adheres to: That’s handhammered aluminum, done in just five noisefilled weeks by car guy Simon Leach working to Rinaldi’s sketches.

“He’s an artsy type, lives in a VW bus, works out of a hole-inthe-wall shop,” says Berg, obviously impressed, “but his work exudes oldworld craftsmanship-just sandbags and hammers, gas-welded seams, it’s like building a suit of armor.”

Expensive? The bike you currently own probably cost less.

While bodywork-seat/ tank, bellypan and radiator shrouds-was being persuaded into its various curves and ridges, Berg got to work on the rest of the bike. Because style-wise the tailsection needed to almost lay on top of the tire, rear suspension had to go, so Berg made it rigid. What appear to be massive tubes running from engine to rear hub are actually just half-sections of 3L2inch steel pipe welded to the driveshaft/(non)swingarm. Nice touch is the right side’s fluted end, which mimics the rear shroud’s rounded shape.

“Organic, a little imperfect, like a branch growing out of a tree,” says Berg.

Up front, the stock fork legs were shortened and shaved, but the tripleclamps come from a Harley Dyna Glide, picked for their clean looks, though the 39mm openings had to be opened up to accommodate the Vulcan’s 43mm tubes. Performance Machine provided its new Vader wheel (an 18-incher, like the back), a 13-inch brake rotor and four-piston caliper. The latter item Berg mounted low, almost down to rim level.

“I just wanted to keep the top of the wheel uncluttered,” he says.

Same subject, look closely and you’ll note no shift lever or rear brake pedal. Ah-hah, left off in the rush to make the bike’s unveiling at the Indianapolis Dealer Expo? Nope. Again, wanting things as smooth and streamlined as possible,

Berg linked front and rear brakes through the PM handlebar master cylinder and a homemade proportioning valve. Then came a roadrace-style electric-shift kit, thumb-activated via a switch on the left handlebar. Use the clutch lever to get underway, then simply rock your way up and down through the gearbox. Normally, you’d need a snub shifter to pop the tranny into neutral, but Kawasaki’s Positive Neutral Finder-at a stop, the gearbox cannot be overshifted from first through neutral to second-means you can simply electro-shift out of gear. Neat.

No need to unbutton the motor; in fact, mods were limited to fitting an FÍ2000 fuel-injection tuner (at last, something Cobra sells) and a set of custom-bent straight-throughs done by Cobra co-founder Tim McCook Berg then got out a rattle-can of Rustoleum Stainless Steel for the cylinders. Like the rad shrouds, headlight bucket and swingarm tubes, the engine cases were sprayed a matte Guncoat Black.

And that’s about it, another magazine-quality bike, another showstopper for Boyko, Berg and the boys.

“It has to evoke a strong reaction, love it or hate it,” Denny says of his latest work. “If someone walks by, goes, ‘Okay, nice bike,’ then just keeps moving, I haven’t done my job.”

Safe to say, Mr. Berg’s paycheck is secure.

—David Edwards