Star Nitemare Custom Cruiser by Scott Laitinen

Built on a Road Star, Scott Laitinen’s Nitemare will stun the onlookers with its extremely stunning and unique looks.

Every detail of the bike is awesome but few parts have been retained, for example the engine. Only cosmetic touches have been done in the power unit, while the power and torque remains untouched.

New rake, huge front wheel, 330mm rear wheel and nice artwork are some of the features the bike boasts about.

One of the prominent features of the bike is the “alien tentacle headlight”, the name has been given by Scott.

Review

The creations of designer Ben Beck and his partner/builder Scott Laitinen from their shop appropriately enough called Sic Chops, “Nitemare” got its name thanks to all the trouble that went into his build. The project started with a 1600 Yamaha Roadstar. Why not a Harley motor as is the custom in custom bikes? Says Scott, speaking from the shop located in Lake Havasu, “Everybody takes a Harley or any other American engine and builds customs with it, but I thought, ‘Why not a Yamaha for a change? So we took a Yamaha Roadstar 1600 engine and started to build something crazy around it. We knew that the bike would not have a kick stand so it sits on Independent Air Suspension, front and rear, which can be raised up to five-inches.”

That was just the beginning of the Yamaha’s metamorphosis. Ben then designed the wheels, a 26-incher in the front and 17-inch “fat” 330 series in the rear, then sent the design off to be cut by a wheel builder. Here starts the “nightmare” part. The wheels came back less than hoped for, so Ben tried again, sending the complex design off to another fabricator. When the second effort returned, it also didn’t meet his standards, so off they went again. Eight months and $15,000 later they finally turned out right. And that was just for the two wheels part of the project, but worth the effort since they are truly one of a kinds in the industry.

Ben came up with a unique design for the air intake system, the dramatic intake scoop seen extending over the top of the gas tank that was plumbed through the tank itself. Meanwhile is partner Scott said, hey, if we’re stepping way out of the box, why not run the exhaust underneath the seat, then into an air chamber and then exit out the rear fender? Ben replied, let’s go for it, but then added another off the charts idea.

“How about an alien tentacle like eyeball for the headlamp, and something looks like it’s attached to the front fender and really gets people guessing. And let’s make it out of polished copper along with a bunch of other copper parts. They’ll look great against the black paint job.” It went from the drawing board into reality. And while the long copper stack with the small, high intensity light at the end looks like it’s part of the fender and thereby you can’t turn the fender, the bike is seen lowered to the ground via one of its two onboard air suspension systems. When the bike is brought up to its riding height, the headlamp stock separates from its resting place on the fender and all is “normal” again.

After the bike was completed and taken to a couple shows, it blew people away but for some reason the judges just shook their collective heads and couldn’t figure out what it was. The spectators however all agreed it was the best of the best. Soon after, Nitemare started getting recognized including trophy wins at famous the Rat’s Hole in Sturgis. The biggest win, so far, came when Nitemare won the People’s Choice Award at the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building. And as you can see, Nitemare is not a static piece of garage furniture or living room art, and was built as a real world get up and ride it bike, so has a street license plate and registration.