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pg.7 ..... Magazine Viewer Features pg.13 ... Intro pg.17 ... "GINGER" pg.29 ... Commander in Chief pg.69 ... HALO bike pg.83 ... Passion of the Hitman pg.99 ... Readers Ride pg.105 . XXL Bling pg.107 . Social Networking links
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Publisher: Rockets Media Inc. info@rocketsmedia.com Executive Editor / Photo Editor / Art Director: Lee Wallace lee@blingrockets.com Associate Editor / Art Director: Adam Canni adam@blingrockets.com Editor-at-Large: Louis Grasse louis@blingrockets.com Marketing and Promotions Director / Senior Writer: Jesse Fennell jesse@blingrockets.com Contributors / Participants: Motorcycle Botique Hitman Custom Motorcycles Game Over Built TOCE Brothers Performance
BlingRockets, ISSN 2151-0776 (online), Issue no.15, May, 2011 is digitally published several times a year by Rockets Media Inc. All rights in letters, all photographic submissions including but not limited to drawings, or any type of submission sent to BlingRockets will be treated as unconditionally assigned to copyright purposes and are subject to BlingRockets right to edit, title, and organize editorially and will become the property of BlingRockets. Copyright Š 2009-2011, digital publication originating from the USA.
Welcome
back to another issue of BlingRockets, We appreciate your readership and support. As planned this issue is being released just in time before Memorial Day, a day to remember our military men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Coincidentally while putting together this month’s cover feature the FBI’s number one terrorist was finally removed from the list. This is a great day for those that lost friends and family during 9/11 and hopefully this event helps to bring them some closure. Whether you love or hate him, our Commander in Chief was the one who gave the order to make this happen. There are a handful of bikes out there commemorating the 44th President, as you read the main feature, you will discover that our cover bike is not just commemorating President Obama.
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We appreciate the bike submission from Game Over Built and this month Reader’s Ride. Keep in mind that you are free to submit your bikes to us, but be advised that we must follow certain photo quality guidelines to continue to bring a high quality publication to our readers. Our expectations are lower for our Reader’s Ride photos so we don’t want you to think that you need to go out and hire a professional photographer, you just simply need to take good quality photos. The next stop for BlingRockets is Myrtle Beach, SC for the infamous Atlantic Beach Bikefest. At each event that we attend we orchestrate a meet and greet for all of readers and followers to hang out and meet others with like interests. Check out the Forum section of BlingRockets.com for all the details. If you feel that you have the next hottest creation and will be attending Myrtle Beach contact us now so that we may possibly line up a photo shoot with you. Take care!
After Mathew Williams unfortunately
wrecked his 2006 Suzuki GSX-R 750 he thought it was a good time to have it lowered and stretched while the left side was being repaired. Just day taking his bike to Game Over Built the "easy fix" concept morphed into a full on first glimpse this bike looks very subtle but it's actually filled with all kinds of cus
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ys after n custom bike project. At stom goodies.
Once the bike was torn completely down; the frame, swing-arm, handle bars, including various nuts and bolts, were all sent out for powdercoating. The bike's new set of plastics were sent out to LL Cool Spray where the windscreen was molded in and the tail section was shaved down and then sprayed with a custom heavy metal flake Kandy Root beer paint. To add even more detail, Cole Stevens was called in to lay down some ghost pin-striping onto the frame and swing-arm, adding Game Over Built to the right side. To flow with the pin-stripes a custom pin-striped seat from Seats-By-Tommy was installed. Lastly, Syndicate Custom Sportbikes got this project rolling with one their 240 swing-arms and a set of their custom billet wheels. Check out the te for the rest of this bike's custom parts. -JF
e of ech sheet
Tech Sheet: -2006 Suzuki GSX-R 750 -Kandy Rootbeer paint by LL cool spray -Pin-striped by Cole Stevens -Billet grips -Pazzo shorty levers -LRC billet triple tree -HID headlights -Roaring Toyz smoothie gas cap -Custom pin-striped seat by Seats-by-Tommy.com -Smoked tail lens and turn signals -Vortex rear sets -Jardine GP-1 exhaust -Billet Lowering links -17" front, 18" rear billet wheels by Syndicate Custom Sportbikes -240 wide tire swing arm by Syndicate Custom Sport bikes -EK black 530 chain -Yanashiki front rotors
Special Thanks to: Kenneth B, Matthew Williams, Sidney Cooper, James Inscoe, Cole Stevens, LL Cool Spray, Tommy Taylor. Abe Pagan, BT powder coat
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The truth behind the Obama bike
For most people who first lay their eyes on this monstrosity of a custom
sportbike the first thing that comes to mind is “another bolt on Obama bike”. Well for this creation it goes much deeper than that and the picture of President Obama is just as its paint “only skin deep”. For the creator of this masterpiece, Army Combat Veteran, Sergeant First Class Raul Laureano had much more in mind for his artistic creation than the "Obama Bike" label. Several years ago while stationed with the Special Operations Command, Raul learned just how strong his love for motorcycles was. He realized that he was more excited about messing around with the SOC’s dirt bikes and ATV’s than blowing stuff and jumping out of airplanes. In 1999 when Suzuki released their over the top 1300 Hayabusa it was love at first sight. Over a decade has passed and Raul has already gone through several phases with his obsession with the Busa model along with his preferences in modifications.
In his early days of customizing, Raul was interested in trying to make them could. When he wasn't out getting his adrenaline rush by jumping out of air Army, going fast was his next choice. After maturing and realizing that spee didn't always mix he then transformed his modification thoughts from spee
m as fast as he rplanes with the ed and the street ed to BLING.
While stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas Raul began polishing and customizing motorcycles for other soldiers and different people within the community. With approximately 18 years in the Army under his belt Raul began to think about life after his high speed military career and what better way to continue a hobby then turning it into a second career. In 2008 while in Kansas, Raul opened his own shop, Motorcycle Boutique. Like many shops in the business, an over the top “shop bike� is always created to display their talents. Being that Suzuki had just released the second generation Hayabusa that year, there was obviously no better canvass for Raul's project. He already knew that he wanted the bike to have a one thousand dollar bill theme but who was going to take center place on the bill was the million dollar question. After some discussion, Raul came to a simple solution. Whichever Presidential Candidate won the upcoming election, they were going on the bike. Keep in mind that Raul's ultimate boss is the President thus the bike project was titled the "Commander in Chief".
Being that the results of the election were still months away he decided to go ahead and get his project started. The paint work was started but not finished. For the representation of his company he set out to choose some of the finest manufacturers in the industry to create the very best parts to be used on this build. He started by stripping the frame down and sending various parts out to Classic Components and Pulito Chrome Plating for the chroming. Syndicate Custom Sportbikes was chosen to create a one-off custom swing-arm with the words “Federal Note� embedded and back light on each side. Syndicate was also chosen to create a set of custom one-off rims that would match the bike's theme.
Tricky Air was selected to provide both the front and rear air-ride suspension which was a great for giving the bike a slammed look. Spike accessories were chosen from Ransom Machine Works as well as a set of levers and accessories from Ball Z Motorsports. The clear clutch cover was purchased from PPM Customs to add a nice touch to the masterpiece. To give this bike a great sound to go along with it's overwhelming looks a Fatty Pipes exhaust was chosen. To give the build a race like touch a set of illuminating Nitrous purges from DynoTune were installed in the front and rear. Giving this bike some heavy night time bling, color changing EFX Euro L.E.D.s were added to complete Raul's vision. Now with an All-Star line up of custom bolt on parts installed the election was over and the Candidate for the paint was known, the new Commander in Chief was now President Obama. A call was made to TC Concepts in Topeka, Kansas with a go ahead to finish the paint work. To go along with the one thousand dollar bill theme the seven Army Values: Loyalty, Duty Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity and Personal Courage were added to various sections of the bike. Not only are these the 7 Core Values what the Army goes by but these are the same values that builder Raul Laureano has learned to live his life by.
Now complete and ready to be shown to the world Raul loaded up the new Commander in Chief project in Fort Riley, Kansas and set out for Daytona, Florida for the 2009 Biketoberfest. Shined up and ready to unveil for competition Raul entered his bike into the world Famous Rat's Hole Bike Show. Once all the bikes were viewed and judged Raul’s Commander in Chief creation hands down took 1st Prize in the Custom Sportbike category.
In April 2010 Raul was enrolled into the Wounded Warrior Program and reassigned to the Warrior Transition Battalion in Orlando, Florida. Using his hobby and now secondary career choice to deal with the everyday struggles of being a multiple deployed Combat Vet, Raul was determined to come up with an idea for another over the top addition to his show stopper. Being that the smart phone craze had spread like wild fire, Raul’s vision was to be able to control various functions of his bike with a mobile device. Raul contacted the guys from Soundwave and worked with them in developing a means to turn his vision into reality.
Using a Windows smartphone they were able to develop a system to control various functions of the bike to include starting it, NOS purge, the raising and lowering of the gas tank, seat, and rear seat cowl, as well as the hundreds of L.E.D.’s all from his mobile device, connected via Bluetooth. Content that this was a major upgrade to his project, Raul set out again for Daytona where he entered his creation once more into the 2011 Rat's Hole Custom Bike Show during Bike Week where he captured 1st prize once more in the Custom Sportbike category.
You may say to yourself “I think I saw this bike before “ well you are right. A magazine that is no longer with us did run a small feature on this bike a couple of years ago but definitely not in this trim. This is why we decided to bring you this creation in our over the top manner that we are best known for. Being that most of the features on this bike are not easily captured in a photograph we decided to bring them to you in several short video clips, enjoy! -JF
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When the thought of building a motorcycle crosses the mind of most people
shop for their needs. Well for this bike the story went a little differently. Approx less hours of playing the highly addictive game HALO, Rick Rowe decided to pastime passion. Only shopping for a custom paint job at the time, he headed over to Explicit Ai tor Jamie Chasse about his ideas.
they tend to head over to the local custom ximately 4 years ago after spending counto change the paint on his bike to match his
irbrush where he talked with Owner/Opera-
After completing the bike and riding it all summer, by the time old man winter arrived his mind was made up to take his build a step further. After talking with Explicit Airbrush a much more involved concept was created. This is where the story gets twisted. Jamie, an air brush artist by trade and a sportbike enthusiast by blood, took this opportunity to immerse himself into something new and took the reins of this build himself. Being a fan of TOCE performance and with them being located just 30 minutes up the road, they were the prime candidate for all of the major parts. They decided to go with a TOCE 240 stock length swing-arm and a TOCE Double Down Half System exhaust. All the welds on the swing arm were smoothed out to give it a smooth look even before the paint. A Tricky Air Ride rear air ride system was chosen to provide an adjustable rear ride height and a smooth ride. For stopping power a set of Galfer Wave Rotors and braided brake
lines were installed. For entertainment purposes a Pioneer touch scree
tem with navigation and iPod connectivity was custom molded into the and connected to a set Eclipse speakers to give it that custom sound. A gas cap was welded and molded making it flush with the top of the tank.
up the build, 6160 bar ends and frame sliders along with green L.E.D added to top it off. This bike turned out as planned and opened a few d Airbrush artist Jamie Chasse. -JF To follow more work by explicit Airbrush, check them out at www.expicitairbrush.com.
en Tv sysgas tank A pop-up
To finish D.s were doors for
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You may recall seeing Hitman’s bikes in past issues of BlingRockets. With
his super creative body mods and full blown motors to match, one may wonder what inspired him to create these bikes. The Hitman's inspirations first started building up back in the early 80’s when the Suzuki GS model of bikes ruled the streets and were present at every dragstrip in America. These bike’s motors were so strong and bad ass that they still rule the dragstrip and are prevalent in the pro-mods, pro-stock, and funny bike classes today. The Hitman being a semi old school drag racer, who still has the love of racing in his veins, constructs his builds around these power plants. Having a passion for these bikes is shared amongst a few of his friends and that is how these two retro pimped out bikes were brought to you.
Hitman's 1986 GS1150E Doug's 1985 GS1150E -1230cc -Mikuni Flat Slide carbs -GSX-R suspension, front and rear -Murray Pro Mod exhaust -Stretched factory swing-arm -Dyna 2000 ignition -34 degree fork rake -Custom paint -GSX-R guages -Chromed GSX-R wheels
-1135cc -Mikuni Flat Slide carbs -GSX-R suspension, front and rear -Murray Pro Mod exhaust -Stretched Busa swing-arm -Dyna 2000 ignition -34 degree fork rake -Race tail -Custom paint -GSX-R guages -Chromed GSX-R wheels
These two bikes that we bring to you this month look very similar but are actu still very different. The first bike which is owned by the Hitman is a 1986 Suzu GS1150E. Like all of the Hitman’s bikes, he started modifying the motor first w he has increased its displacement from 1135cc’s to 1230cc’s. He changed ou the stock front end and replaced it with a newer updated setup from a GSX-R To allow the bike to fit its new pro-mod exhaust the front end was raked out 3 degrees.
ually uki where ut R. 34
To help keep the bike's front-end down with its power increase the factory swing-arm was stretched out as well. The other bike was customized by the Hitman but is owned by his friend Doug Bendetto. It's a 1985 GS1150E that has also been heavily moded but differently than the Hitman’s. Doug decided that the 1150 motor produced enough power for his current tastes so it was left untouched. His front suspension was traded out for a 2005 GSXR’s. Like the Hitman’s bike, it too was raked out 34 degrees to fit the Murray exhaust. This bike was stretched out by using a custom Hayabusa swing-arm. The obvious difference between the two is that this one had it's tail section swapped out for a custom race tail. Without a doubt these two old school bikes are to dream for. Stay tuned to BlingRockets for more exclusive coverage of Hitman's creations. -JF
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This month’s Readers Ride is brought to you by Sergeant First Class C. A. Williams "Andre" currently stationed in Afghanistan. A years or so ago Andre had just returned from Iraq and decided to build his dream cycle (a 2002 Hayabusa). Soon after its completion he was deployed once more but this time to Afghanistan. Andre’s dream was to be able to show off his creation t to the high operation tempo of our US Military he was unable to, so he aske Andre, We at BlingRockets thank you and the other service men and wome
to the world at various bike events and shows, but due ed if BlingRockets could do it for him. So here you go en for all that you do.
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