Star of the Month

The Builders Perspective

Owner Mike Bryant

Mike Bryant is the owner of this real custom effort.

As a rider of a Yamaha 1100 Virago, I have always been a believer in Yamaha's product and performance. I had read several articles on the new 1999 road star and seemed to be what I was looking to upgrade to but was not in stores yet.

In late Dec. 1998 I saw the first Road Star to hit Daytona area. As I really looked it over I was very impressed. It didn't take long to figure out that this bike had many possibilities of being customized to the fullest of imaginations.

I walked around this bike at Daytona Fun Machines in Daytona Beach for a couple of days trying to figure out if I could work with this color or wait for another color. By this time it was a couple days before Christmas and they told me this unit was already sold anyway, so I would have to wait for another unit.

Little did I know my wife had purchased that unit for me for Christmas. I know what a great gift I got. It was rode to my doorstep Christmas morning, what a surprise!

Then and there I knew I had to completely go through and custom out this bike. I figured if my wife put the first eleven thousand in the bike another fifteen of my money would be o.k. I rode the new bike it's first fifty miles to Daytona and back, a couple trips and immediately tore the new bike totally apart. With Yamaha big 1600 cc "V" twin push rod motor and belt and pulley drive, I knew the potential to do a classic American lookalike was no problem. I started on the front end, totally chromed the trees, forks and tubes. I also wanted to pull back the bars about an inch and up an inch and did so with different risers. All new controls on the bars were done with J-brake controls, cylinders and calipers on front. All stainless steel lines and cables were used and all wiring was put into bars, "fifty boys tach". Then I moved to the rear end and decided to chrome the swing arm and all rear brake brackets and calipers.

In the mean time I worked on the wheel situation. With the wheels I knew I wanted something very nice with custom chromed look but nothing you could buy off the shelf would work on this bike.

Someone pointed me to a wheel builder in the Daytona area. After speaking with him I gathered he had heard of this new bike and knew of its potential. He said he would like to tool up for my wheels, hubs, pulleys axles etc. He offered to blueprint up for this bike. After 2 ½ months of failed promises I figured that probably the blueprinting happened but not the product.

Luckily, Daytona Bike week was here and I met Rick Ball, president of RC Components of Bowling Green, Kentucky. What a difference a real wheel company makes! I picked up my wheels from brand x co. and delivered them to the show trailer Rick had at Daytona Harley. He took them back to Kentucky and started the whole process of blueprinting. Two months later I had the most beautiful and perfect fitting set of wheels, hubs, pulley and rotors (all matching) that I could ever imagine. Rick Ball and RC Components was well worth the wait. Now they are ready to market wheels and parts for this bike.

I decided to go to the 18" wheels and tires in place of the 16" stock size and low profile wide tires 4 ½ x 18" rear and 3 ½ x 18" front without changing the height of the bike.

So now I'm down to a completely chromed front end and upper bar area, rear end, beautiful wheels, rotors and brakes. It was around this time that I started thinking about custom paint. I checked out all the customs at Daytona during bike week… gathering ideas, looking for a painter/artist. All fingers pointed to world-renowned custom painter, Chris Cruz of Deland, Florida. I met with Chris and gave him photos I had taken. I also gave offered colors I liked and actual piece of travertine marble to pick up color and graining I thought would look sharp. I turned Chris loose along with some cash and a 40 day time schedule and lo and behold he called me ahead of schedule, and what a magnificent job he did. I have had so many complements on the paint it's unbelievable.

Last but not least, I needed some sound and performance. I started on the engine and removed the factory air box and recirculation pump garbage from the motor. Then I added a KuryAkyn hypercharger with a K&N filter. It took a little work with brackets and adapter plate but it did work out well and the motor breaths well.

I need to mention I have a junior machine shop and lots of tools in my air-conditioned garage, (such as lathe and milling head and I made many of the necessary fittings, bushings adapters etc.) needed to build a custom bike. I also made my own oil filter cover (chromed) and many other unavailable parts for this bike.

Now for sound, I needed to sound very good and breathe well. I searched the exhaust market and made the right decision hands down - a set of beautifully chromed Vance and Hines long shots pipes. I removed the baffles and inserted torque cones in the exhaust ports. They produce absolutely awesome sound and stunning looks, thanks to Ron Foster with Vance and Hines.

I have done work on the stock carb with needles and jetting and so far so good. Runs great with more kick than I can possibly use. The bike is still in the break in period and under warranty so I have not put it on a dyno yet to dial it in completely.

This is truly an awesome bike and I'm very pleased the way the bike turned out. I can highly recommend the Yamaha Road Star and all the after market accessory suppliers and tradesmen I used to build this bike.