Runnin’ With The Pack
You’d Have To Be Plum Loco

By Steve Lita, Photos By Bob Feather

Scott Evans wanted to lead the pack. He had the vision, the desire, and the plan. But, as luck would have it, while the rest of the pack surged ahead, Scott was still chained to his run.

In 2002, Scott had the idea to build a radical custom using a then untried-and-true power plant, the Yamaha Road Star V-twin. Back then, there were few Road Star customs in existence like the one you see here. Most people were just bolting parts onto stock-chassis Stars, but Scott wanted to use a new approach: Start with an aftermarket frame designed for American V-twins and shoehorn in the Road Star motor. He wanted to lead the small but growing pack of builders who were creating radical, ground-up metric customs. But doing it his way would require breaking new ground — and, unfortunately, that ground was very hard.

Once Scott got rolling on the project, things took longer than expected, and delays popped up around almost every corner. He needed so many custom parts that starting his own mail-order business suddenly made a lot of sense in order to get the parts at a reasonable cost. So, Scott made a career change and founded ProspectCycleShop.com. His logic is “You ride most of your life, eventually you get bored with stock bikes, and you decide to build a unique custom. Next thing you know, you’re in business.” Coming from the furniture business, Scott knew plenty about moving the parts, but not much about the moving parts, meaning he’d need help with the mechanical, fabrication, and assembly ends of the build.

After months of research, Scott finally chose a War Eagle Pro Street frame, which was set up for an American V-twin. This meant that all the internal mounts had to be removed, and mounts for the Road Star engine had to be fabricated to replace them. Using this kind of frame also opened up the project to a range of catalogs for American V-twin custom parts.

Next, he needed the motor. There weren’t many wrecked Road Stars to be found, so Scott did what he had to do: He bought a brand-new Road Star and parted it out. Many of the stock body and chassis parts were sold off on the online message board Scott manages (Motorcycles Going Wild on delphiforums.com). Incidentally, the bike’s name came from an online discussion, when a Canadian member stated that he thought the project was “plum loco.”

The next step, finding someone to bring Scott’s vision to life, proved a difficult task. The first builder Scott worked with (who shall remain nameless and out of business) went months over schedule and did such a poor job that Scott had to reclaim the bike before the project was done. On the trip home, the engine mounts broke away from the frame, and the engine started falling out of the bike. Scott was so disappointed in the work that he decided to strip the bike down to bare metal and start over. And, feeling quite dejected, he was now a couple years behind schedule — and behind the pack.

Around this time, Scott met Jim Grasso of Prospect Customs in South River, New Jersey. Jim’s a skilled bodywork and sheet metal guy and a dyed-in-the-wool Harley man. After seeing Scott’s bike, however, he signed on for the project. This was the breath of fresh air Scott needed to get back on track, and nearly eight months later, Plum Loco was up and running. Scott says that if it weren’t for Jim, the project would never have been completed. “He let me work side by side with him throughout the whole project, learning the ins and outs of bike building,” says Scott.

Further credit goes to the staff of Orient Express in Freeport, Long Island. They took the fresh new Road Star mill, did one of their 122-cubic-inch build-ups, and ended up with an engine loosely based on their own shop-sponsored Yamaha drag bike. With an estimated 120 hp and 150 ft-lbs. of torque, Plum Loco packs some serious punch.

There are several other features that Scott’s particularly proud of. For starters, adapting an American custom wire harness to a metric power plant is a headache waiting to happen. But Jim made it work, and most of Plum Loco’s electricals are housed in two places on the bike: behind the chin spoiler and under the seat.

The one-off seat, made by Woodstock Leathers, was crafted from black leather and tattooed stingray skin. This tattooing wasn’t the painful kind (except maybe for the stingray); it simply entailed using leatherworking grinders and chisels to imprint the skull image in the center of the seat. A meticulous process like this would normally set you back about $1,400.

Finally came the paint. It took a while, but with all the other delays, it really didn’t matter, and it really wasn’t anyone’s fault. Alan Kerskey of Florida started working on the custom tribal/flame paint job, but owing to a series of hurricanes and power outages, he couldn’t complete the finishing touches. So, Alan handed the project over to Aggressive Paint Works in Wall, New Jersey, and provided the inspiration they needed to put the Plum in Loco.

This bike inspires things, too. For instance, it inspired the judges at the Cycle Promotions USA bike show in Somerset, New Jersey, to award it the first-place trophy in the metric custom class. It was Scott’s first show, Plum Loco’s first show, and many other builders (read: Harley builders) were admiring the bike all weekend, some not even knowing what brand it was. When the announcement came for the Judges’ Choice award, Plum Loco took it right out from under the noses of all the $100,000 customs in the show. After all the initial delays and disappointments during the project, winning the show was the best thing that could have happened.

Scott says that when he takes the bike out on the road, the public reaction is “totally ridiculous.” He especially gets a kick out of it when he sits a kid on the bike so a dad can take a photo. Says Scott, “The boys’ smiles are priceless, and maybe one day, they’ll be bikers, too.” So while that pack of radical custom builders may have passed him by, perhaps Scott’s leading the next group. RB

TECH SHEET

OWNER Scott Evans

HOME East Brunswick, NJ

BUILDER Prospect Customs

YEAR/MODEL 2002 Yamaha Road Star

TIME TO BUILD 18 months

COST TO BUILD $40,000

CHROMER Prospect Customs

PAINTER Prospect Customs/Aggressive Paint Works

ENGINE

DISPLACEMENT 1999cc

PISTONS Orient Express

HEADS Orient Express

CAMS Orient Express

CARB Mikuni 45mm

AIR CLEANER Paul Yaffe Originals

EXHAUST Morton’s Custom Cycles

FINAL DRIVE Belt

CHASSIS

FRAME War Eagle Pro Street

RAKE 42 degrees in the frame with 6-degree trees

STRETCH 5"

FRONT SUSPENSION DNA Tribal

SWINGARM War Eagle

REAR SUSPENSION Tricky Air Ride

FRONT WHEEL Weld Chopper 21 x 3.5"

REAR WHEEL Weld Chopper 18 x 8.5"

FRONT TIRE Avon Venom X 120/70-21"

REAR TIRE Avon Venom R 250/40R-18"

FRONT BRAKES Hawg Halter

REAR BRAKES Hawg Halter Drive-Side

FENDERS Prospect Customs

ACCESSORIES

HEADLIGHT Headwinds

TAILLIGHT Joker Machine

TURN SIGNALS Say what?

FUEL TANK Combs Custom carbon fiber

HANDLEBARS Prospect Customs

SEAT Woodstock Leathers

PEGS Supreme Legends USA

HAND CONTROLS BDL

MIRRORS V-Twin

FOOT CONTROLS Supreme Legends USA

TAG BRACKET Joker Machine with custom mount