FAST STREET SHARK ATVs

— 100+ mph street-legal quads built by Lone Star Racing —

First tests by the Dirt Wheels crew:

 

Setting out to build something different and unique is admirable. We marvel when someone’s dream build comes to fruition, but building something that’s never been done before can take a toll on your checkbook and your mind. The big picture can look dismal at times. To build something special, something that rightfully allows you to bask in the glory of the epic build, isn’t an easy task. It takes a lot of blood, sweat, tears and sometimes throwing wrenches to get it right. But, having a great job and friends at LoneStar Racing (LSR) can come in extremely handy when wanting to create an exotic machine outside the norm.

 

Bobby Boyer has been a loyal LSR employee for over 15 years, and he’s seen a lot of progression in the sport ATV market and now the UTV market. Boyer has owned several quads in the past, but he developed a desire for an extraordinary ATV. That same desire infected his brother-in-law, Kenny Pacheco. They both wanted something completely different from any quad built before. In the Wild West town of Mesa, Arizona, there are a lot of cool opportunities for on-road and off-road enthusiasts. For instance, you can pretty much street-register anything in Arizona, but you must still follow the law book.

Bobby and Kenny decided that they wanted to take their better halves with them on these four-wheeled journeys, so they needed something safe with enough room for their passengers to stretch their legs. LSR started building what they call the Sand Shark ATV chassis a few years back. It consists of a custom LSR frame to accommodate pretty much any engine you can imagine, as well as having a smooth ride from a long-travel front and rear end. That’s something that really hasn’t been done before, but Bobby and Kenny wanted to build it for the street so they could cruise the highways and back roads just like their two-wheeled counterparts. They needed the Street Sharks!

 

LURKING IN THE DEPTHS

A lot of R&D and money were required to build these two street-fighting ATVs, especially when it comes to making something as unique as the Sharks! Both machines are so similar that if they didn’t have different powerplants and color schemes, you wouldn’t be able to tell them apart. Each machine has the Sand Shark chassis, which is a +8-inch extended front and +8-inch extended swingarm that give these quads ultimate stability at high speeds despite all of that power each produces. To help stability even further, they both have a Streamline steering stabilizer to help reduce undesirable movement in the front end. To help keep these portly machines on somewhat of a diet, they added a diet of LSR rear billet-wheel hubs, billet sprocket hubs, billet brake hub, billet lock nuts, billet front hubs and even LSR anti-vibe handlebar clamps to mute the vibration from the road.

 

The heart of Bobby’s quad is a 2010 Yamaha R1 street bike engine that he kept stock. Even in stock trim the R1’s 998cc, four-cylinder engine produces 150.89 horsepower and 76.55 foot-pounds of torque at the rear wheel. Kenny decided to go with a different approach and installed a unicorn of an engine—the mighty RVT1000R, which came from the Honda RC51 street bike. The 999cc V-twin engine produces 118 horsepower and 71 foot-pounds of torque at the rear wheel.

To get all that rocket juice to the ground, each quad has Hoosier Circuit Wet radials installed onto trick Keizer three-piece aluminum wheels. You could say these tires are more of an all-terrain street tire to handle all the types of weather Arizona can throw at these dudes. Interestingly enough, there is a Frankenstein-esque mismatch of parts on each machine. Each has a Honda TRX450R throttle assembly. That seems to be the rider’s choice on any machine these days. It’s a TRX450R front-brake master assembly, but with YFZ450 front brake calipers and a rear Banshee master cylinder and caliper. Those are some of the fastest quads to date, and to have their parts on these machines stands for something, right?

 

SMILE, BABY

Just like watching Jaws as kids, we had to face our fears and ride these two powerful beasts—just kidding. We were ecstatic to swing our legs over two full-fledged LSR street-legal quads. Each quad had different mannerisms. The R1 engine on Bobby’s Shark was the smoother of the two, and we could ride it at a comfortable pace all day if needed. When we wanted to pour it on and paint the ground with Hoosier rubber, it was happy to do our evil bidding. Now Kenny’s bike—oh, man—it is a handful! The twin-cylinder Honda engine has so much torque on tap that it feels like riding a CR500 two-stroke dirt bike. It would gladly do wheelies and try to rip you off the back. Luckily, both machines have a rear “sissy bar” that kept us on. You could be smooth with some handy throttle actuation on Kenny’s quad, but Bobby’s took the cake for overall comfort. Both Sharks climb the mph ladder in a hurry, reaching 80 mph in literally less than an Arizona city block. We didn’t attempt a top-speed run, but both Bobby and Kenny have reached speeds of 120+. At that point the rear end started to hop, so they had to let off the throttle. Even after switching to a heavier-duty steel axle, the machines won’t go much faster than that, but who cares, because that’s some serious speed on a quad!

 

When turning the front end, it would become twitchy on pavement. It took some time to get used to, but we can see why they were set up for that type of riding. You need quick and precise turning to skate around an accident on the road. Plus, the Hoosier tires hooked up extremely well on all four corners. The Sand Shark chassis was built to be a drag-racing frame, but with LSR’s ingenuity, their long-travel suspension offers a plush ride while cruising and a stiff-enough feel to attack fast corners.

The ergonomics put you in a street bike body tuck, which was nice on fast sections, yet it wasn’t so extreme that we fatigued on slower rides. LSR’s steel footpegs are a part of the frame with the Shark chassis and were sharp enough to keep our feet securely planted. The stock-style YFZ seats seemed to have a bit more cushion than an actual stock seat, and our butts appreciated that.

 

WE WANTED TO TAKE THEM BOTH HOME 

Bobby and Kenny have over $30,000 invested in each of the Street Sharks, so we doubt we’ll be seeing them proliferate on the road. Plus, few live in a state like Arizona that allows you to street-register a special construction machine. We’re over here in California wishing we saw more than just great whites, but having a machine that starts out unique and stays that way is what Bobby and Kenny were hoping for. There may only ever be two Street Sharks, and that makes them happy.

Kenny’s Arizona license plate reads “LEGAL.” It’s a good goof, and it really got a rise out of the cop that pulled them both over during our photo shoot. They did nothing wrong, but it’s still hard for some cops to see an ATV on the street and not pull them over. We’re jealous of the freedom these guys have, but we’ll be back in Arizona at some point, and you can be certain we’ll be back to rip the streets on the Sharks!

 

LSR STREET SHARK HONDA RVT1000R (RC51 ENGINE) & STREET SHARK YAMAHA R1

LoneStar Racing: www.lsracing.com, 480-834-2990
Sand Shark chassis (A-arms, frame, swingarm) $7050
Custom wide steel drag axle N/A
Rear wheel hubs $193
Billet sprocket hub $260
Billet brake hub $145
Billet lock nuts $190
Billet front hubs $349
Anti-vibe handlebar clamp $97
Brake line clamps $32.95
Custom exhaust: N/A

Hoosier Tire: www.hoosiertire.com, 574-784-3152
Circuit Racing Wet radial front tire 21×6.5-13 $240 per tire
Circuit Racing Wet radial rear tire 22.5×9-15 $240 per tire

Keizer Aluminum Wheels: www.keizerwheels.com, 712-737-3053
Three-piece aluminum front wheel 13×6 $245 per wheel
Three-piece aluminum rear wheel 15×10 $265 per wheel

Streamline Industries, Inc.: www.streamlinebrakes.com, 909-987-4213
Front steel-braided brake lines $104
Rear steel-braided brake lines $40
Front wave rotor $89.99 each side
Rear wave rotor $89.99
Lock-on grips $23
Reflex clutch and brake levers $179.95
Stick steering stabilizer $159.99

MS Shocks/Yarnell Specialties: www.msshocks.com
Custom coil-over shocks: N/A

Maier Mfg.: www.maier-mfg.com, 800-336-2437
YFZ450 front and rear plastic kit $313

JM Collision Center: 602-237-2222, www.jmcollisioncenter.com
Custom paint job on Maier plastics N/A

Baja Designs: www.bajadesigns.com, 800-422-5292
Squadron pro headlights $229.95

Autometer Competition Instruments: www.autometer.com, 866-248-6357
GPS speedometer $373.95