Icon Motorcycles' Turbocharged Tribute to Barry Sheene | WILD FILE

We're having a hard time connecting two-time 500cc Grand Prix World Champion Barry Sheene with this custom streetfighter from England's Icon Motorcycles. Beyond the Suzuki logos on the engine cases and Sheene's "signature" engraved in the upper triple clamp, the relationship seems tenuous at best. According to Icon founder Andrew Morris, the Icon Sheene isn't a Sheene replica, exactly. It's meant to be a turbocharged tribute to the passion and spirit that Bazza's exploits inspired in motorcycle enthusiasts everywhere. Okay, then.

Questionable concept aside, Morris has built one seriously sick streetfighter. The tubular-aluminum Spondon frame is mated to a gorgeous Fabrication Techniques swingarm, complete with built-in lifters and a polished hugger. The motor is an old-school air/oil-cooled GSX-R1100, freshened up with new internals, bored to 1400cc and topped with a Garrett turbo to produce 250 horsepower. The fuel tank is hand-hammered aluminum, and the bodywork-which vaguely recalls a first-gen Suzuki Katana-is hand-laid carbon-fiber. BST carbon-fiber wheels, Bitubo suspension front and rear and ISR billet brakes complete the exclusive spec.

Morris' machine is endorsed by Sheene's widow, Stephanie, and the champion's best friend and former teammate, Steve Parrish, served as Icon's lead development rider. Morris hopes to build a limited run of 52 Icon Sheene bikes, each with a unique undertail graphic featuring a bikini-clad woman holding a different playing card. These graphics will be hand-painted by another Sheene cohort, artist Mike Fairholme, who painted all of Sheene's helmets back in the day.

Fancy one yourself? You can have one for the staggering price of $158,000!

We can't help but wonder what an everyman like Sheene would have said about a number like that...