A streetfighter is a superbike that is customized by removing the fairing, and making other changes that result in an overall more aggressive look. Made popular by European riders, this type of custom motorcycle is gaining popularity all over the world.
This particular term should not be confused with a street motorcycle or street-use motorcycle, which is a generic term (used by the motorcycle industry) applied to urban street bikes.
Though it has its styling roots in the Café racer culture of the 1950s and 1960s, the streetfighter is very much inspired by the new Japanese bikes of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The term “streetfighter” appears to have been originally coined in the late 1980s applying to motorcycles modified to enhance their practicality, performance and handling, as opposed to the custom scene which preferred style over outright ability. Though it’s unclear when and who built the first of the modern streetfighters, the first sighting of the design template was seen in Bike magazine in 1983 when the editor commissioned Andy Sparrow to draw a comic strip to replace Ogri. It was entitled ‘Bloodrunners’ and featured despatch riders, delivering blood and live human organs for transplant operations. They rode enormous Japanese inline fours with turbos, with no extraneous parts. Fairings, mirrors, pillion seats & rear footpegs etc were all binned in favour of lightness and handling ability. Under-seat exhausts, dual headlights and the widest sport tyres were de-rigueur. Huggy Leaver was inspired to start customizing bikes in this style and there was a proliferation of ‘ratted’ streetfighters in London in the late eighties.
The term has since been diluted somewhat, and is now regularly applied to any bike with motocross “Renthal” style handlebars, no fairings or other typical customizations. In recent years, the term has also come to be applied to motorcycles manufactured without fairings in this style, usually based on the same engine/frame combination as an equivalent fully-faired motorcycle in the manufacturer’s product line-up.
Currently, race replicas, like the Suzuki GSX-R Series and the Honda CBR series, that have been damaged in accidents or through hooliganism are generally the starting basis for a streetfighter. The GSX-R 750 was initially often favored, due to its light weight and flexible engine. A side effect of the use of the 1980s GSX-R was the retention of the dual headlights in the subsequent streetfighter. This feature is now a common trait in both custom bikes and factory streetfighters like the Triumph Speed Triple.
In 1993 Ducati introduced a new naked sportbike called the Monster. Since that time it has been a perennial favorite amongst streetfighter enthusiasts. In 1994 however, Triumph introduced the Speed Triple, based on Triumph’s Daytona sportbike. This was an immediate success and rapidly eclipsed the Monster in sales. The Triumph is now the current favorite among factory streetfighters due to excellent performance, low ownership cost, and high reliability.
In the intervening years both bikes have been substantially improved, and have been joined by a rapidly growing group of other manufactures producing naked sportbikes. These include: Benelli, Aprilia, Bimota, BMW, Moto Guzzi, Moto Morini, MV Agusta, and Buell, a subsidiary of Harley Davidson. Even the “big four” Japanese motorcycle manufactures, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha, have tried to enter this market, but with limited success to date.
Modifications commonly made to custom streetfighters
- Clip-on handlebars replaced with motocross-style handlebars
- Raised rear subframes
- Most fairings removed, modified or replaced
- Distinctive paint schemes
- Loud aftermarket exhaust systems
- Aftermarket headlights to replace often heavy headlight setups
- Large rear sprockets to sacrifice top speed for more acceleration
- Larger brake discs than stock
- Improved brake calipers
- Improved springs, shock absorbers, and various other parts to improve the chassis
- Various performance improvements to the engine: superchargers, turbochargers, nitrous oxide, increased cylinder bores, custom porting, revamped fuel injection and timing, etc.
Tags: Aprilia, Benelli, Bimota, BMW, Buell, custom porting, Harley-Davidson, Honda, increased cylinder bores, Kawasaki, Moto Guzzi, Moto Morini, MV Agusta, nitrous oxide, revamped fuel injection and timing, Streetfighter, superchargers, Suzuki, turbochargers, Yamaha
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