The story goes like this: Boy meets bike, boy buys bike, boy wants to throw a turbo kit on bike so that he can blow by his friends with insane increases of horsepower and torque without sacrificing comfort and rideability of said bike. Bruce Beckwith, a sales/marketing consultant from Custom Performance in Phoenix, AZ, is that boy. Actually, he's a grown man, but he likes to go really fast!
So while most of us are still searching for the unattainable answer for the meaning of life, V-Rod owners can quit searching, because Bruce's boss (and owner of Custom Performance), Nick Trask, has figured out how to gain approximately 75 horses and 50 ft-lbs of torque out of a stock V-Rod with one his Turbo Kits from Trask Turbo Systems.
Bruce mentioned to Nick that he was in the market to buy a bike, and they both decided on a stock '03 V-Rod. He and Nick decided it was time to put the Turbo Kit to the test, and naturally they installed it, because Bruce was looking for something with a little more get-up-and-go. When asked what set the bike apart from any other, Bruce said that it was "The surprise in the extreme horsepower that we get out of our turbo kits."
According to Nick, the kit sent the bike soaring to insane proportions with 174hp and 114 ft-lbs of torque from the approximate stock numbers of 100hp and 75 lbs-ft of torque.
"To make over 170hp with literally a bone stock engine is the surprising thing," Bruce said. "V-Rods ride so smooth anyway, and being a water-cooled motor they can handle a lot more horsepower."
Did we mention that it only took them three weeks to install the Turbo Kit, along with an abundance of other treats? They also installed a set of Legend Air-Ride shocks for a cushy ride, and some Custom Performance drag bars for that distinct look. The Clear Alternatives Smoke taillight is subtle, yet killer. The Eurocomponents custom fairing seems like a perfect fit, as it bolts onto all V-Rod models. There are plenty of other goodies on the bike but we thought we would let you do a little detective work of your own.
Nick is a native New Zealander that moved to Arizona with the goal of opening a shop that specialized in dyno tuning and turbo systems. Custom Performance, whose doors opened more than eight years ago, is one of the premiere dyno testing centers in the Southwest United States. Nick developed Trask Turbo Systems-a subsidiary of Custom Performance-and has worked with Bruce, an Arizona native, for over three years.
Unfortunately the story ends like this: Bruce rode bike, Bruce very much liked bike, but Bruce ended up selling the bike about a year ago. He ended up with a cool $25,000 after the fact, though. Maybe he'll get the itch to turbo something else so that we can see what he and Nick are going to surprise us with next.