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The Road Star Project
Bike of the Week- March 23, 2008
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HRVSTR1's Description:

Thank you very much. I am honored.

Well, here it is.

I purchased my Charlotte new in June 2003.  I was hit by a teenage girl on my Kawasaki LTD back in 1993 and hadn't ridden since.  I looked at bikes for a couple months and had kind of settled on the Kawasaki Mean Streak.  I went to the local dealer for one last look and right beside my red Mean Streak was a beautiful 2003 Midnight Star!  I sat on it and that was pretty much it.  I had never looked at a Road Star and didn't know much about them but, I had to have that bike.

Within the first 500 miles I started to work on her.  First came the "dressing down".  I pulled off the turn signals and a few other things. Naturally next came new slip on cobras, K&N filter, etc.  Well, 40,000 miles later a lot has changed.  

Here's a list.

Starting at the front:

Pulled off the rotor covers and painted the inside of the rotors metallic black.

Off came the fork tins and triple tree cover to give it a little leaner look.

This past winter my second set of pullback drag bars were replaced with 16" ape hangers (which I painted black) on 6" chrome risers and all steel braided cables.  
Chrome controls from Debrix Cycles and a single throttle cable.  Throttle sleeve from Arlen Ness with an outer roller bearing (very smooth throttle action).  
Chrome mini tach mounted between the risers.

She is currently on her second gas tank after a little mishap on the trailer (guess she didn't like being towed).

The inside of the motor is still stock (for now) but on the outside I've installed Barons velocity stack, ported manifold, straight 1-3/4" drag pipes with power cones wrapped in fiberglass heat tape, rerouted fuel enrichener cable and idle speed cable, relocated fuel pump under right side cover, all switches from handlebars relocated to left side cover.

Barons jet kit, Dyna 3000 ignition, Dyna coils, Orient Express double valve springs, rev limiter bumped to 5500 RPM's. When my clutch started to slip I figured it was a good time to upgrade so I went with Barnett’s clutch and plates.

Two years ago I converted to a jockey shift and that really set things off in that old school vein.  Unfortunately after knee surgery I had to convert it back to ride it.  I am currently working on jockey shift 2.0 and hope to have it resurrected shortly!

I converted the rear suspension to a rigid to get the lowered look I was after.  Dropped almost 5".   A couple years ago I added Maxxis classic white walls and it really set it off.  When my rear fender cracked I decided to cut it off right at the crack and that started the whole "bobbed look".  I added a side mount plate and Maltese cross tail light. Sometimes I run with no front fender and just love the way it looks.

Only 2 days ago I switched back to the stock long fender in the rear just to see how it looked with the apes.  I also just recently added the nude pulley conversion. I guess that about covers it.  I'm sure I'm leaving something out though.

I have to thank JR Lew and Danny Blake for their inspiration and help and to everyone on the Road Star Project for answers to questions I never would have figured out.  Also to the other forums I tend to hang out on (Looneys, Ape Hangers Revolution and The Road Star Riders).  Also to my wonderful fiancée Cheryl who supports my habit and spends time in the garage with a beer while I'm out there working on my "mistress".

Life's goal is not to arrive at the Pearly Gates quietly in a well preserved body, but to come in screeching sideways yelling "Holy Shit what a ride!"

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