Customized means one of a kind...

Brush work (hand, not air!) by
Dave DeRyke
Paw Paw, Michigan, USA.

home: http://starling.us/royal_star


Lighthouse
Grand Haven, MI
2002-06-09

Lighthouse
Grand Haven, MI
2002-06-09

I actually live in Kalamazoo, which is an hour east of the Lake Michigan coast. But I can‘t seem to get a good angle on our local landmark, the 100-plus years old, copper roofed, brick Gothic water tower on top of Oakland Hill at the old State Hospital. So rode a ways west and made do with some lighthouses instead.

The pics above are a tad on the dark side since I could only get a good shot of the Grand Haven Lighthouse from Fisherman‘s Pier to the north. This being the wrong hemisphere, the sun was at a bad angle. Most inconsiderate of it, yes? Plus I had to use polarized filters on account of glare. But these two were the best I could do on account of the crowds on the beach at the State Park to the south. Even so to get there I had to ride out along a long narrow walk with steel handrail barely inches to the left and a rock wall just inches to the right. And before that I had to walk it and ask all the walkers and fishermen if they wouldn‘t mind. Not a one did. Then there were so many boats going by that it was hard to get an uncluttered shot of the water. And, of course, pause quite often to wave and shout at the boaters shouting and waving up at me. It was fun. Next year maybe the Holland Lighthouse?

Having merely bolted on a piece or two of mail-order chrome, I didn‘t brag she was ‘customized’ until after the paint was done. And not just the tank, either, as you can see...

A month after the pics below were taken (June of 2000), I got her a moderate power upgrade (65 h.p. & 77 lbs torque) with a Barron‘s Big Air Kit (stock air box replaced by four K&N filters; carb re-jet) and Bub exhaust. Only then did I chrome her up any more, with most of the the usual (not nearly so one-of-a-kind) factory issue, bolt-on, chrome doo-dads as seen in the pics above.

Most recently (see above) I had the front end done, Race Tech GVE‘s and yet more chrome. The wheels still need doing, and some more work on the engine. Maybe next year on one of those.

97 RSTD
South Haven, MI
2000-06-??

97 RSTD
South Haven, MI
2000-06-??

97 RSTD
South Haven, MI
2000-06-??

97 RSTD
South Haven, MI
2000-06-??

97 RSTD
South Haven, MI
2000-06-??

97 RSTD
South Haven, MI
2000-06-??

97 RSTD
South Haven, MI
2000-06-??

97 RSTD
South Haven, MI
2000-06-??

97 RSTD
South Haven, MI
2000-06-??

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