Hip-Hop Hayabusa - First Look

"You can't actually ride that thing, can you?" That's usually the first question people ask the builder of this stunning Hayabusa, Nick Anglada of Custom Sportbike Concepts in Winter Garden, Florida. But it's a perfectly logical question to ask about a bike that rides on clear plastic wheels.

"Not a problem," says Anglada. "The wheels are made by Metalsport Inc. and use centers that are a special polycarbonate from GE. They're DOT- and TUV-approved, which means they're safe, and when you ride the bike, it feels and handles no differently than a Hayabusa with alloy wheels and the same 240 rear tire as this one."

Angalda built the Hayabusa as a showpiece for LRG, the hip-hop/skateboard clothing company whose little logos appear on the bike's sides, seat and windshield. Aside from the see-through wheels, some of the LRG 'Busa's other highlights are the GSX-R1000 tailpiece, which makes the bike look considerably lighter, the rear-view camera/monitor system that eliminates the need for mirrors poking out into the breeze, and green logos and lettering on the fairing that illuminate, providing a sharp contrast to the brilliant pearl-white paint. Both sides of the fairing also incorporate their own clear panels, as does the clutch cover on the engine, all of them from Gator Glass in Illinois. A Gregg's Customs single-sided swingarm gives an unobstructed right-side view of the see-through rear wheel.

Angalda built the bike to be completely rideable, thinking that he might be willing to produce as many as 10 replicas at $50,000 per if he got enough orders. That's a lot of coin for what is, basically, a Hayabusa with a stock motor powering an almost-stock chassis; but for anyone with reasonably deep pockets jonesing for a bike with a huge stare factor, $50K might be just what the look-at-me doctor ordered.

You can read the entire story about this spectacular custom in the 2008 issue of Cycle World's Sport Bike annual, now on sale at newsstands everywhere (or order here). Just look for the LRG Hayabusa on the cover.