Hoshikawa, 37, has run
Asterisk Custom Cycles, a small three-person operation in northern Japan
specializing in bare-bones Shovelhead-powered specials.
Avanzare (Italian for “progress”) as
easily the most impressive custom I’ve seen in the past year. First order of
business was to bring frame geometry and suspension up to current standards. Off
came the steel twin-shock swingarm, replaced with a braced aluminum monoshock
job inspired by Honda’s NSR500 Grand Prix racer. Öhlins supplied the damper and
the inverted fork, the latter grasped by a custom billet triple-clamp, one of
the project’s few parts not crafted in-house. All done, rake was tightened up
from the stocker’s lazy 29 degrees to a much more sporting 24.
Hoshikawa broke out the aluminum
tubing and fired up his welder again to create the rear subframe, which serves
as a mounting point for the alloy tailsection, the dirtbike-style Pro Circuit
muffler and a small catch tank for the top-end oil breathers. The main oil
supply is housed in an Asterisk-built aluminum chin spoiler, its down-low
location freeing up space amidships which allowed the wasp-waisted look
Hoshikawa was after. The artfully arching fuel tank is steel, so severely
pinched at the rear that it is barely wider than the frame’s backbone.
About 100 horses make their way
through Hoshikawa’s snaky 2-into-1 stainless-steel exhaust system, a masterwork
of bends and welds.