It's a made-up photo. And besides, when has HD ever made such a cool looking softtail chopper. I know those holes in the downtube are some famous designer's trademark (from Biker Buildoff) but I just cannot remember who.
Wondering if this has anything to do with the commercials they're running on TV right now about customers who customize their bikes (Road Stars, Warriors, etc). They show bikes that are raked, lowered, widened, etc.
Seems its a custom bike with a RoadStar engine in it. Not a Yamaha bike although they could have commissioned one of the custom builders to build it to showcase their engine. I've got pics all over my garage of custom Yamaha RoyalStars and RoadStars.
No I don't think so. I know the R1 engine is refered to as a Genesis engine, but its origins may go further back. It seems like it may have originated in the 80's. Someone else will know more about it than me.
Yes, you are right - the "Genesis" monikor was started with the FZ750 engine. They've used it for a lot of others since but, if I recall correctly, they are all multi-valve inline four's...
it's a rolling kit w/ a roadster motor,, and it was Indian Larry who first drilled a downtube ,, back in the 70's,, many copies of that running around ,, to keep the strength you have to weld sections of pipe through the holes,,
btw the background looks puter generated,, and the routing of the cables looks suspect ,,
There is all kind of modifing going on even with the metric cruisers now. When I had my V-star I was amazed at all the modifiying that could be done. Even Yamaha's web site has a calander of all modified yamaha cruisers. I'm not saying that picture isn't a hoax but there are many metric cruisers that are being modified. There is a company I checked out in Indiana and Yamaha modifying is all they do. They even had a few bikes for sale. I personally like some of the bikes alot, and thought of doing some stuff on my v-star back then. I'm happy I sold it and bought the fjr before I sunk that money into it though. The fjr is a lot more enjoyable ride than the cruisers are. At least for the type of riding I wanted to do.
I'm with you devanator. As a member of Yamaha's Star Touring and Riding (Chapter President on my FJR!), I receive the Star calendar each year. What some folks do to modify their metric cruisers is absolutely amazing. The bike in the link belongs to Antonio Renzi of Waterford, CA. It was the featured bike in the November/December 2004 Star Custom Calendar that I still have at home. I'm looking at that photo now.