Anger Management

ANGER MANAGEMENT

Meaner Streaker

GOTTA LOVE A SUIT WHO'S NOT AFRAID TO BUST A knuckle every now and then. That would be John Hoover, chief product planner at Kawasaki U.S., and the man behind this most sanitary of Mean Streak 1500s.

While the stocker is a nice enough piece, one of the best-balanced cruisers on the market, its 65 rear-wheel bhp means it’s not exactly a player in the horsepower race. Stoplight to stoplight, Harley V-Rods and Honda VTXs have it for lunch.

Bring some Pepto-Bismol if it’s Hoover’s humper you happen to line up against, however. Beneath the pewter paint and pinstripes, see, is hidden a Mr. Turbo turbocharger, boost set at 12 psi, good for 140 freakin’ horsepower and 160 rootin’-tootin’ foot-pounds of torque! Suffice to say the bike needs its 200mm Dunlop and widened rear wheel with rim locks.

“It’ll torque you right out of the seat and have you sitting on the rear fender if you’re not careful,” says Hoover. “At 4000 rpm, it starts pulling really hard!” Easy to launch, though, he claims. Standardswingarm sportbikes don’t catch up ’til the eighth-mile mark, and you’d better be able to knock off quartermiles in the high 9s or low 10s to keep from getting embarrassed as Hoover punches the horn button to airshift his way through the lights.

The best part is that the Mr. Turbo kit doesn’t blatantly announce its presence, the Aerodyne charger all but invisible, mounted behind the engine, beneath the swingarm in the same location the stock exhaust’s muffler pod usually resides. The only real tip-off is the optional intercooler box in front of the radiator and the additional plumbing running along the engine’s left side. From the right, it just looks like a lowered Mean Streak with a 2-into-1 pipe and nice paint. Figure $4295 for the kit (turbo, wastegate, throttle body, fuel pump, exhaust system, hoses, gaskets, fasteners, brackets, etc.) and another $1000 for the intercooler. If that sounds expensive, try doubling horsepower (and then some) conventionally.

With “go” handled, it was time for a little “show,” though Hoover strived for subtlety, in keeping with the motor’s stealthy approach to making speed. The gas tank wears dished sides, an old hot-rodder’s styling lick, made possible when an exulted member of the press corps ran afoul of gravity and flat-sided a testbike (no names, but it wasn’t one of us). Hoover appropriated the dumspter-bound tank and wailed on both sides with his ball-peen hammer to arrive at the desired effect. Nicely done, too. Fook closely and you’ll see the ghost flames.

The rest is all paint, plating and polish, a slamming of the suspension and well-done routing of hoses, brake lines, wiring, etc. It all adds up to one of the most tasteful custom cruisers we’ve ever seen.

Er, can someone get Mr. Hoover a Vulcan 2000?

David Edwards