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Custom Bike Review: Custom 2004 Yamaha Road Star Midnight - From RoadBike August 2005  Pipe Dream By George P. Blumberg, Photos by NMEDIA3.com Mere mortals build motorcycles. But building gods seem to form them with a lightning bolt. “I’m used to short build times,” laughs master builder and Discovery Channel Biker Build-Off champ Matt Hotch. “With all the build-off competitions, I generally just jump in feet first and make it happen,” says Matt. So, when Mark Dooley of Hard-Krome ordered up a custom Road Star to showcase a new line of pipes — with a two-week build window — Matt revved up both feet and jumped in. Matt makes it happen time and again. His string of successes includes winning a Discovery Channel build-off title twice in the two television seasons in which he’s competed. “First, I beat Joe Martin in the individual contest, and then 10 builders from Arlen Ness to Kendall Johnson overall,” he recounts. “Next go-round, I was up against Rick Fairless in the individual contest, and the finale was against 24 builders, from Indian Larry to Billy Lane.” “We had just entered into an agreement with Matt to build a signature line of pipes,” says Tim Hansen, Hard-Krome’s marketing guru, “and we needed a centerpiece motorcycle to showcase our pipes and Matt’s building skills.” Mark and Tim had visited Matt’s shop, HotMatch Custom Motorcycles, where they saw a 360-series rear tire on a bike with a 23-incher out front. “It was a jaw dropper,” says Tim. “We just had to have a bike built around that combination. When we adopted the 360 tire for our project, it was the second tire in that size produced by VEE Rubber of Thailand.”
As for the build parameters, Matt was given free reign — if you can call two weeks freedom. “The build fell right on top of my regular production schedule,” laughs Matt. “So, we agreed I’d do the styling and the major fabrication, and turn the rolling bike back over to Hard-Krome to finish some of the details.” The bike had to be ready for the Indianapolis dealer expo in February. But when Mark requested something really wild in the way of paint, Matt put on the brakes. “I don’t go wild with paint. I’m the less-is-more type of guy. Make things elegant and simple, hide the wiring; it’s what you don’t see that makes a bike different.” Besides, says Matt, it still had to look like a Road Star. So, he kept the gas tank stock and used the stock fenders, just chopping them a bit. The paint is the factory Black Cherry, with the modded fenders repainted to match.
“Actually, we told Matt, ‘Just surprise us with the bike’,” relates Tim. “Matt came up with the single-sided swingarm design. He built the swingarm, mating it to an RC Components hub, which allows the pulley and wheel to bolt on. Matt fabbed the swingarm from 1.25"-wall tubing and welded it to the hub. “When the bike came back to us,” says Tim, “we milled a new countershaft pulley to accommodate the huge tire.” They used the stock shaft, though they’ll probably build a longer shaft in the future. “It doesn’t rub, but we want to make sure it won’t break internally,” Tim explains. To accommodate a 23" front wheel and give the bike the desired profile, Matt installed a Perse Performance front end, which is a bit lower than the stocker. “We didn’t modify the neck, so we beefed up the internals with stiffer springs and a bit more preload, so the bike wouldn’t rebound as high.” According to Matt, the bike has a 6-degree rake in the trees, which brings the trail to about 3.5 to 4 degrees, not far from the stock number. The dog bones were reversed to lower the bike about .75" out back, but the rear shock is stock.
Matt’s shop produced the front fender, while the Hard-Krome crew widened and shortened the rear fender, being careful to keep the signature Yamaha “lip,” and also reversed the stock taillight for a teardrop look. The fenders were painted by Paint-N-Place to match the Yamaha tank and frame color. HotMatch 1.25" handlebars hide all cables and an internal throttle. “It’s the bar design I did on the ’04 Discovery Channel bike,” says Matt. “They’re a clean set, kind of timeless, and flow really well with their curvy and straight sections.” The engine is stock, except for the addition of a Baron Custom Accessories velocity stack intake and the Hard-Krome pipes. Ah, yes, the pipes — the bike’s raison d’être from the git-go. The Road Star was equipped with the CLR design from Hard-Krome’s new Signature Line. “It stands for Center Line Radius,” explains Tim. “It’s a tube-bending term. Basically, the pipe has no straight part; the entire pipe is a radius.” When we spoke, Tim was figuring out how to spiral in a louvered-core baffle. A second design, called Slants, has also been developed within the Signature Line. Tim explains, “The Slants pipe comes out of the front cylinder, goes below the crankcase, and comes back up to form a V and meet the rear cylinder, to flow with the line of the swingarm.” (Incidentally, both pipe styles are made of double-walled 14-gauge steel, are guaranteed not to discolor, and are designed for easy install by do-it-yourselfers. Both should be available by the time you read this.) Since the bike was ordered as a Road Star Midnight, the engine came blacked-out from the factory. The only chrome elements are the velocity stack and the exhaust, which really pop. The pipes are displayed like jewels against dark velvet. Matt had Bitchin Rich’s Seat Co. mold a new fiberglass seat pan, covering it in black suede. He notes, “The seat is important in making the flowing transition from gas tank to rear fender. They gave us just what the bike needed.” This bike is more about bark than bite — eye power, not horsepower. As you might imagine, a humongously corpulent rear tire does not a well-handling bike make. In fact, it hardly needs a kickstand to stay upright! But with its monster rubber and flowing lines, it’s a jaw-dropping looker. “We’re making a statement to showcase the pipes and draw people in,” stresses Tim. This big, bold piece of eye candy certainly caught people’s attention at the last Indy dealer expo, the Detroit Cycle World International Motorcycle Show, Daytona Bike Week, and the Laughlin River Rally. And it’s the cover bike for the ’05 Hard-Krome metric catalog. Tim says the bike will continue to tour, and after some finishing tweaks and touches, will go back on the show circuit. And what of Matt Hotch? “I’m not building any Discovery bikes anytime soon,” he says. “I’m back to making customer bikes, and I’m hoping to stretch out the deadlines.” If this is what he creates in two weeks, think of what he could do in a month. Yeeow! RB SOURCES ACCUTRONIX BARON CUSTOM ACCESSORIES BITCHIN Rich’s SEAT CO. FAITH PLATING GMA ENGINEERING HARD-KROME HEADWINDS HOTMATCH CUSTOM CYCLES PAINT-N-PLACE PERFORMANCE MACHINE PERSE PERFORMANCE RC COMPONENTS VEE Rubber WELD WHEEL INDUSTRIES |
The Weld Racing Recluse wheels are impressive. The rear rim is a two-piece, special-order unit that separates in the center, to allow the tire to be mounted. “No equipment can mount a tire that size without splitting the wheel,” says Tim. “About 30 bolts come out of the wheel, it separates in the middle, and then you push the two halves onto the tire and bolt it back up.” A Performance Machine three-piston caliper up front and a GMA Engineering two-piston caliper out back handle stopping chores. The rear brake assembly sits at the bottom of the rotor, under the hub and over the drive belt. “We offset the drive belt by about an inch,” says Tim.