As the Motor Company was making the move from carbs to fuel injection, owners were already exploring ways to improve the performance of the factory fitted systems. Among those looking at ways of increasing the fuel injected bikes’ potential were the machinists in the machine shop of Mary Jo Light - they were using the facilities after hours to make parts for themselves for their own FI bikes.
Mary Jo was a smart enough business women to realize that the work her employees were doing could be turned into a new revenue stream, and so she set about creating Horsepower Inc., which at that time was the first company to manufacture an aftermarket throttle body and intake replacement for Harley- Davidson engines.
Today Horsepower Inc. is spread over two sites -the original facility in Eire, Pennsylvania, where all the machining is done using state-of-the-art equipment, and a second operation, opened in 2012 by Mary Jo’s son Jimmy Light, in Indianapolis, Indiana, where sales, customer relations, and shipping and receiving to dealers and distributors is handled.
When HPI began it concentrated on throttle bodies, and now, as the business has grown, so has the range of parts it designs and manufactures.
The product offering now includes not only a wide variety of throttle bodies, but also intakes and air cleaners through to complete EFI performance builds.
“Our American made units provide a crisp throttle response and are flow bench tested for unparalleled dyno-proven performance. The result is that we can create increased airflow and substantial increases in horsepower and torque,” says Jimmy Light of the company’s product line.
In order to produce these results each HPI big bore throttle body is CNC machined and then hand-ported internally, a process that HPI believes is unique to their company. The bodies feature a split shaft design that is black zinc-coated to prevent corrosion, and are completed with a precision sealed roller shaft/bearing assembly. Additional features include the use of factory bolt patterns, and cruise control to make them fully compatible with stock components, for ease of installation, and they are offered in many bore sizes with extended deck lengths and port configurations to match any head.
When we asked Mary Jo about the development of new products alongside improvements to throttle body designs, her answer reflects the attitude that was responsible for getting Horsepower Inc. (HPI) started in the first place “A lot of us here at HPI are basically a bunch of 'motor heads', so we spend a lot of time reading about, thinking about, and talking about all the things that are going on in the motorsports business. We know what's coming down the road for new engine designs, and we keep a sharp eye on the latest developments in CAD/CAM technology, too, so we can continue to introduce components for the latest Harley engine designs before others in the industry are able to catch up.”
Among these gear heads is Eric Henderson, who is the company’s head machinist and head of design and testing of new products. He is assisted in the manufacturing and inspection work by Kyle Layton and Mike Regan.
However, such is the high level of quality control at HPI that the company also employs Ian Ross as head of assembly and final inspection quality controller in their automotive division - the company not only deals with products for the V-twin market but also caters to the needs of automotive, racing and fire industries.
One man whose sole role is V-twin related is Bryan Salisbury, HPI’s hand-porting specialist, the process HPI believes makes them a stand-out in the V-twin industry.
Over at the Indianapolis location, owner Jimmy Light is Head of Sales, and contributes to the design process and new product development, along with handling all technical support with customer service, in which he is aided by his wife Laura, who is Head of Marketing and Sales.
"Without the ability to do reverse engineering and make a part compatible with Harley’s own, we would have been stopped in our tracks, but because we kept up on technology and software we were able to do that first before anyone else did.
"Now there are a few other competitors who have introduced a version of this product, but it is our best selling part. Most recently we came out with a Sportster throttle body kit that has also taken off as the Sportster model line has made such a strong comeback in the industry in recent years.”
The throttle-by-wire application for ’08 and onward Touring models offered by HPI consists of the company’s Max Flow 55mm throttle bodies, which is machined from 356 aluminum castings, and is fitted with the stock electrics before being matched to a CNC ported and hand-finished 58mm manifold.
The package is then completed with double sealed bearings, O-ringed gaskets and billet intake flanges and seals. Once installed Horsepower Inc. claims it will offer horsepower gains between 10-15hp depending on what other modifications have been done to the engine.
Horsepower Inc began with its high performance throttle bodies program, and down the years has developed their own brand. They remain the only company to offer a throttle body upgrade for every make and model of Harley-Davidson motorcycles after adding the Sportster throttle body earlier this year. Their technology and quality in parts is unmatched and it shows in their product. "We are all performance driven with ‘Made In The USA’ quality as our main objective," said proud owner Mary Jo Light.
As Jimmy explains, the range of applications that the company offers can be tailored to is very extensive range: “We offer all popular port configurations on all of our throttle bodies. They are OEM compatible, including cruise control, whereas a lot of other brands are not. In addition customers of other companies must also buy their air cleaners or other components to use the product, which is not the case with ours.”
One of HPI’s newest products, and believed to be the only Sportster throttle body upgrade on the market, the HPI 51mm and 55mm bodies, provide significantly more airflow compared to the stock 45mm unit. Each HPI Sportster kit includes a Billet-Pro air cleaner equipped with a K&N lifetime warranty air filter element.
When it comes to getting the new products, such as the Sportster kits, to market, HPI is a firm believer in new technology, having fully embraced social media, using both Facebook and Twitter to market new lines.
Jimmy’s wife Laura, who takes care of the company’s marketing, says: “Social media is sometimes the fastest and easiest way to get new things out there. We also have a website which we update with the latest news, and we send out new product e-mails as well.”
While the majority of its sales are to the domestic market, the company has dealers in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, England and Japan. The company usually sells directly to dealers, but does have some distributors in place, when there is no dealer close to a potential customer, it is willing to retail directly to the end user too.
HPI also offers a pricing package that is favorable to its qualifying dealers, with the added advantage that those dealers can also generate more revenue by installing the products and then dyno-tuning the bike once the install work has been done.
As part of its evaluation of new products in development, HPI has its own dyno, which is not only used for in-house testing, but as it is Erie County’s only certified DynoJet tuning center, HPI offers seasonal tuning services, and has had customers travel to use it from all across the US. The facility is also used by the local H-D dealership and Erie Harley-Davidson as its dyno tuning center, which gives HPI quick access to new models as soon as they are released.
Indeed, such has been the success of HPI’s use of dyno tuning that a second unit is currently being set up at the company’s Indianapolis location this year.
Looking further to the future, Jimmy says: “We are always working on new products and thinking of ways to improve. Right now we are focusing on our Sportster throttle body, but we will have more new products ready in the next few months.”
HORSEPOWER INC
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Tel: 317 757 8668
info@horsepowerinc.net
www.horsepowerinc.net