Regal Redo

REGAL REDO

The King's new clothes

BLAKE CONNER

WHEN SUZUKI DECIDED TO SHOW OFF A VARIETY OF custom sportbikes in its Laguna Seca MotoGP display area, multiple big-time tuner shops were enlisted. Among them, Custom Sportbike Concepts in Winter Garden, Florida.

Little did CSC owner Nick Anglada (also responsible for the LRG Hayabusa, pg. 38) know that he would only have three weeks to complete this bike. But he couldn’t resist taking Suzuki’s challenge to transform a stock 2008 B-King into something special.

First on the agenda was ditching the stock tailsection/ exhaust system, which seems to be the biggest bone of contention with critics of the standard model. In its place is a French-made Ermax Yamaha R1 tail modified to accept twin LeoVince SBK silencers. Anglada claims that just replacing the stock items shaved 45 pounds off the bike.

Next up was the monolithic gas tank. All of the stock plastic pieces, including the radiator spoilers, tank covers, dash panel and sidepanels, were replaced with prototype carbon-fiber pieces from Powerbronze out of the U.K, which also contributed the c-f belly pan. The stock 1 pound (!) fuel cap was replaced by a Vortex Racing billet aluminum unit. Blending it all together in an attractive manner is a Kustom Seats Kreations saddle. As with all of CSC’s bikes, the paint was sprayed by Gator Customs in Crestwood, Illinois.

Chassis mods began with the 4-inch-over Trac Dynamics Elite 240 swingarm kit mated to an Arnott air-suspension setup. The system utilizes a Bilstein shock and Goodyear air spring and has provisions for compression and rebound adjustability, unlike many airbag suspensions. The shock provides a 3to 4-inch ride-height range and is controlled by the B-King’s re-purposed A/B drive-mode-selector button-the engine mode now defaults to the full-boogie “A” setting, as it should!

Rolling stock includes a pair of Carrozzeria VStar forged aluminum wheels in 8.5 x 18and 3.5 x 17-inch sizes, with a meaty 240mm Dunlop Elite 3 out back and a 120/70 Sportmax up front. Despite that huge jump in rear tire size, Anglada says the rear-wheel assembly weighs just 3 pounds more than stock.

The fork, wheels and other orange bits were powdercoated by Paul’s Powder Coating in Dallas, Texas.

Race-spec, radial-mount, four-pot Beringer front calipers are anodized gold and chomp down on Galfer Superbike Wave rotors. Up top, a black-anodized Renthal Fatbar hosts gold Beringer Radial Aerotec integrated brake and clutch master cylinders/levers. Rear stoppage is handled by a Galfer disc and Beringer caliper. Fully adjustable Gilles rearsets round out the controls.

Catching the attention of almost anyone who sees the bike are the gold-anodized CSC stator and clutch covers with clear windows showcasing their whirling worlds.

Building one custom Hayabusa after another is Anglada’s bread-and-butter, but he was more than happy to accept the challenge of beautifying the B-King. Imagine what the guy could do if he had more than 21 days. □