Road-Rashed & Reborn
ROAD-RASHED & REBORN
The streetfighter Japan won't build
When the final ballots for the accompanying comparo were tallied, was obvious that something was missing. As a matter of fact, all four of the Japanese bikes were absent. What happened? On the surface it seems that the Big Four simply don't have the stones to build the bike that would kick the Italians back onto their little boot-shaped shores or send the Speed Triple packing.
But that machine does exist. In the quest for the ultimate hooligan hot-rod, we stumbled across this naked Kawasaki ZX-1 OR takina shaoe
JIUEWU J%UYVU~LiRJ &..1V I VI I LUI~III~ IIU1JV in the back shadows of company headquarters in Irvine, California. Highly unofficial, a Frankenbike in every sense, this is what happens to sportbikes with a little too much road-rash. The green monster wasn't at the Cycle World offices for more than five minutes before the trouble started. First a loud Braaappp! from the exhaust followed by the sharp Beeewww! from a police siren. None other than Admiral Edwards had been busted before he'd dden the bike 100 yards. After issuing a stern scolding, Newport Beach's Finest was on his way and the 1 OR's reputation was starting to take form. With a snicker, Associate Editor Conner took the key for his turn on the beast, asking, "Should I ride straight to the police station and save them the trouble?" Next to the word "hooligan" in Webster's is an illustration of this very motorcycle. It is exactly why the Japanese companies are ter
rified to build something similar. You just can't help but act out of order on . With a 158-hp ponyprint and ridiculous stopping power, one wheel is almost always aloft. Easy as pie, considering that the bike's dry weight is only 386 pounds, 36 pounds lighter than stock! Renthal Fatbars provide an abun dance of leverage-actually a little too much-which makes the naked 1 OR shake its thang when accelerating hard past the triple-diggy mark on whoop-ridden byways. At a normal
PHOTOS BY JEFF ALLEN cany~n dance pace wasn't a prob (em at all, snapping through corners with the slightest of ease. Exhaust blows through twin Two Brothers Racing KLX1 10 nubs (!) mated to the stock headpipes, making for an extremely short, very obnoxious system. Think sp~nt car. One rap of the throttle had the lady on the cell phone in her car next to me yelling obscen~ies-but, hey, at least she saw me. Some elements of this quick-baked beast are crude, like the electrical-tape-wrapped wiring, the Pep Boys driving light and the zip-tied brake lines-nothing trick, but all effective. Japan Inc. could easily build a finished bike like this that would send all challengers running back home wimpering. But we serious ly doubt it will ever happen in this era of cry babies, instant litigation and good corporate citizenship. Too bad, because as nasty as this bike is, it's more fun than just about anything else on the road. -Mark Cernicky
