S&S Cycle

Chairman Emeritus announced at S&S Cycle

GEORGE B. Smith, current Chairman of the Board and CEO of S&S Cycle, has announced his retirement from regular involvement in the company, becoming Chairman Emeritus.
John McGinnis, an S&S Board Director since 2007 and Vice-Chairman the past three years, has been elected Chairman of the Board to replace George B. Smith, following on from the two men having been working closely on many significant projects.
S&S Cycle was founded in 1958 by George J. Smith and his wife Marjorie A. Smith and moved from Chicago to Viola, Wisconsin in 1969. George B., who joined the business in 1979, is the eldest of the second generation of Smith children, and became company President following his father’s death in 1980.
“The past 35 years has been quite a ride,” said Smith. “I am very proud of what the S&S team has accomplished. I was extremely fortunate and blessed to be in the right place at the right time with a great group of family members and employees dedicated to continue the legacy Dad and Mom started. 

George B. Smith, formerly the Chairman of the Board and CEO of S&S Cycle, is stepping down to take on the role of Chairman Emeritus

"But the time has come for me to step back a bit and enjoy some time off and let the organization we built, led by our Board of Directors, take over. As Chairman Emeritus I will continue to be involved as necessary while at the same time spending more time with my wife Connie and family. I have great confidence in our Board and after working closely with John McGinnis the past seven years, I find him well qualified to take over ongoing Chairman responsibilities.”
“It is a great honor to become Chairman of S&S Cycle and relieve George of some of his responsibilities so he can enjoy some well-deserved time off,” responded McGinnis. “I look forward to coordinating the Board’s efforts in further developing our management team as we continue to grow S&S in today’s demanding and changing market place.  I’m confident this transition will go smoothly including working with George and the other Shareholders. These are opportunistic times at S&S Cycle and I find it challenging and exciting to work with S&S President Steve Iggens and the S&S Team to develop and implement new strategic initiatives that will best serve our customers into the future.”

S&S CYCLE
Viola, Wisconsin, USA
Tel: 608 627 1497
sscust@sscycle.com
www.sscycle.com

Hesketh Motorcycles

Hesketh launches first new model in 30 years

BRITISH motorcycle brand Hesketh has returned to production with the launch of a new limited edition S&S x-wedge powered model. The "24" is the first new model manufactured under the Hesketh name in 30 years, and comes four years after current owner Paul Sleeman acquired the British motorcycle manufacturer. 

Paul Sleeman with the Hesketh 24, the first new motorcycle design from the historic British manufacturer for 30 years

Hesketh Motorcycles was first established in 1980 by Lord Hesketh following his success running a winning team in Formula 1 car racing with British driver James Hunt. The original Hesketh V1000 motorcycle was a 1,000cc, V-twin powered sports inspired machine, and this was followed by a faired touring model known as the Vampire. 
In 1984 ownership of Hesketh transferred from Lord Hesketh to Mick Broom, who was a member of the original development team, and he continued to make a limited number of original Hesketh motorcycles along with maintaining existing examples, and it was one of the Broom built bikes that led Paul Sleeman to the business. It was while Sleeman was out on a road trip concerning another of his businesses when he saw an unusual motorcycle parked up. It was so unusual that he had to stop and take a closer look. Already a collector of classic British bikes, he knew nothing of the Hesketh brand until he returned home and did an internet search, which led him to Mick Broom, with whom he began discussing buying a new Hesketh V1000. However, he soon changed his mind and decided to buy the entire Hesketh motorcycle business. Now, four years later, he has launched the completely new Hesketh 24. 

Sleeman’s original idea for the 24 was to design the new bike around an entirely new British-made engine. However, the time scale and costs involved in creating a motorcycle engine from scratch proved to be too excessive and so he then began to look at off-the-shelf options, which led him to discussions with S&S Cycle and the eventual decision to use an 117ci X-Wedge, air-cooled V-twin.
Modifying the engine especially to suit the Hesketh 24, the company uses British tuning specialist Harris Performance Engines, a business which has 40 years experience in pushrod engines and drag racing. Hesketh will be offering buyers all of the limited edition 24 motorcycles with at least three different power options on the bespoke builds, with Harris providing stage engine tuning for various levels of preferred power. One change that will be made to the X-Wedge engine on all models is the air intake being moved to the left side of the motor to allow the use of a longer intake manifold for increased torque. 
A Baker enclosed primary is used along with a matching King Kong clutch and six-speed transmission, with a chain final drive to complete the running gear. 
The bike in which the tuned X-Wedge is used was inspired by the design of the RLX by US-manufacturer Darwin Motorcycles, which won the Production Manufacturer class at the World Championship of Custom Bike Building in 2011. Sleeman was introduced to Dar Holdsworth of Darwin Motorcycles by the management team at S&S Cycle and he agreed to work with Sleeman on the development of the 24, which shares many styling cues with the Darwin RLX, and Holdsworth is continuing to work as a consultant for Hesketh, with the  two companies discussing ideas for further collaborations in the future.
One aspect that has carried over from the RLX to the 24 is the construction of the frame by Racing Innovations, but changes to the Hesketh version include the swingarm being used as a supplementary oil tank. 
Another significant difference between the two bikes, alongside the lighting requirements needed to make the 24 street legal in Europe, is the use of a fuel tank under the bottom frame rails. This tank is one of three on the bike, the other two being one in the conventional location and a third under the seat. The decision to have three tanks was taken because the 24 has been developed as a sports touring bike, and a large fuel capacity was needed to make this a viable option.  
The bodywork, which covers those gas tanks, is in the colors of James Hunt’s Hesketh F1 car, with graphics designed and produced by British Superbike champion Tommy Hill, and Hill will be the first person to ride the Hesketh 24 in public during the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Finishing kit on the 24 features componentry from the world of racing with Öhlins supplying the suspension components, Beringer the brakes, and Blackstone Tek the carbon fiber wheels. 
Each of the limited edition Hesketh 24 models will feature an 18-carat gold plaque on top of the gas tank with the unique number of that particular model, and owners will enjoy full service back-up from the Hesketh team with a comprehensive two-year warranty as standard.

HESKETH MOTORCYCLES
Redhill, Surrey, UK
Tel: +44 1737 355 768 
info@heskethmotorcycles.co.uk
www.heskethmotorcycles.co.uk 

Kraftwerks Performance

Kraftwerks HDBlower

KRAFTWERKS is a Northern Californian company that has made its name developing supercharger kits for automotive and sport bike use. At the 2014 V-Twin Expo the company previewed its new supercharger kit, which it has developed for use on Harley-Davidson Big Twins. 
During the Expo Kraftwerks described its HDBlower as being designed in such a way as to make it sympathetic to Harley-Davidson’s styling, and this includes using authentic H-D emblems on the casing.
Unlike other supercharger kits that make use of conventional positive displacement supercharger (i.e. roots or twin screw), Kraftwerks has not gone down this route as it believes such systems are inefficient compressors generating lots of heat, are very bulky, target power delivery at low end torque, which is already sufficient on a Harley, and are very noisy.  
In order to countenance the perceived problems of a conventional blower, Kraftwerks decided to work with a centrifugal compressor. Rather than using an exhaust driven centrifugal compressor, such as a turbo charger, the company has adopted a centrifugal compressor, and have chosen the Danish made Rotrex. 

The Rotrex supercharger employs a patented ‘traction’ drive system that is virtually silent and allows the supercharger to operate at internal rpms unmatched by other centrifugal superchargers and only rivaled by turbochargers, and has a compact drive section making it suitable for packaging into the limited space available on a motorcycle. 
Kraftwerks claims that by using the Rotrex unit is has the best of both supercharging and turbo charging systems without any of the relevant penalties. 
One issue the company had when it decided to use the Rotrex was the input shaft speed needed for it to run efficiently, which is significantly lower than that of an H-D engine’s rpm limit. To solve the under-spinning issue, Kraftwerks uses a two stage system to step up the input rpm. The first stage used is a ‘wet’ system; a silent chain drive that steps up the engine’s rpm by a fixed ratio of 2:1. The second stage is a cogged drive system where various drive pulleys and supercharger pulleys can be swapped out to achieve ratios as low as 0.731:1 and as high as 1.632:1. The wide rpm range capability allows the HDBlower the flexibility to utilize any of the C15 Rotrex chargers and to tailor how the power/boost comes in.

Kraftwerks’ first stage drive (transmission stage) is directly off the crankshaft. However, unlike other systems, it utilizes a bearing to support the drive gear and insures that radial forces caused by tension in the supercharger drivetrain are not transmitted into the nose of the crankshaft as bending or shear forces. Any forces that exist are isolated to the drive gear. 
The kit has been designed as a two-piece unit for easy installation, and features a large flow-optimized plenum. Both the intake plenum and the belt cover are thermal insulated for heat shielding, and there is ram-air belt cooling for added reliability. An anti-surge blow-off valve is included for safety. 
Kraftwerks states that the HDBlower kit can increase hp by 50 percent and torque by 25 percent. 

KRAFTWERKS PERFORMANCE
Norco, California, USA 
Tel: 951 808 9888
sales@kraftwerksusa.com
cms.kraftwerksusa.com

Apsis USA

Apsis carbon bodywork

APSIS USA used the 2014 V-Twin Expo to debut its new range of carbon fiber products for the Harley-Davidson motorcycle range. 
Apsis has been producing carbon fiber parts for use in the automotive aftermarket for more than 20 years, and it has now brought the technology it uses to the American motorcycle aftermarket. 

The majority of the bodywork pieces produced by Apsis use a process called lamination, where the stock bodywork has carbon fiber sheets laminated directly to it. By making use of this process, Apsis is able to offer carbon fiber pieces for most parts on the majority of bike models, smaller pieces such as air cleaners are new parts, which are molded completely in carbon fiber. 

APSIS USA
Farmingdale, New York, USA
Tel: 800 682 7747
apsis@apsisusa.com
www.apsisusa.com

RST brake and clutch levers

RST brake and clutch levers

THE model range of German-made adjustable RST (Roland Stocker) brake and clutch levers has been extended to include H-D Sportster XR 1200 models from 2008, type XR1.

The levers are six times adjustable and said to offer a perfect grip, optimum modulation, and are CNC machined from high-tensile aluminum. Polished or black anodized finishes are available.

MIZU VERTRIEBS GmbH
Hilzingen, GERMANY
Tel: +49 (0)7731 9067-0
info@rst-performance.com
www.rst-performance.com

Brouhard Designs

Brouhard Elite Edge floorboards

BROUHARD Designs has released its new Elite Edge driver and passenger floorboards that coordinate with all the company’s other Elite products.
The over-sized driver floorboards are 18 x 4.25in, with the matching rear boards measuring in at 11.5 x 4in. The driver boards are equipped with adjustable mounts, which allow them to be placed 1in forward or 1in back.  

The boards, which are made from 6061 billet aluminum, can be ordered in either chrome or black anodized with offset cut.

BROUHARD DESIGNS
Grass Valley, California, USA
Tel: 916 660 9710 
ddub@brouharddesigns.com
www.betterbaggers.com

True-Track stabilizer

True-Track stabilizer

TRUE-TRACK has created a stabilizer for use on 2009 to 2014 Touring frames that helps to control large capacity motors. Following the Motor Company’s decision to remove the lower stabilizer link and add a fourth rubber isolator, True-Track’s unit stabilizes lateral movement in the front rubber isolators.

TRUE-TRACK INC
North Hollywood, California, USA
Tel: 818 623 0697 
tracktrue@netscape.net
www.true-track.com

V-Twin Manufacturing

V-Twin Manufacturing 7in LED headlamp 

V-TWIN Manufacturing has a new 7in LED headlamp that is a direct replacement for the OEM unit on ’86 onward FLT models. 
The company’s new light design features six LED’s around the edge of a regular 12 Volt headlamp. The LEDs are directly wired to be used as daytime running lights and provide increased visibility at night. The 12 Volt bulb used in the main body of the light features low and high beams, which reflect its light from the inside for better visibility. The 1.8A high beam and the 1.2A low beam super bright white bulb requires no special wiring and is D.O.T. approved.

TEDD CYCLE/V-TWIN MANUFACTURING
Newburgh, New York, USA
Tel: 845 565 2806
teddcycle@aol.com
www.vtwinmfg.com