S&S Cycle® co-sponsors the AMA Hall of Fame 2011 Induction Ceremony

 

November 13-15, 2011 - Red Rock Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada

S&S® was proud to be a co-sponsor of this year’s event as the Who’s who of the motorcycle world gathered in Las Vegas Nevada for the AMA’s 2011 Hall of Fame Induction event. Over 800 people were in attendance at the banquet ceremony hosted by actor/motorcyclist, Perry King.  Newly named, S&S President, Steve Iggens and his wife represented S&S Cycle at the star-studded affair.

Industry leaders gathered to pay tribute to this year’s inductees which included Fred Fox, founder of Parts Unlimited, Phil Schilling, managing editor of Cycle magazine, Stu Peters,

Photos by Camilla Sjodin, courtesy of the AMA.

S&S President: Steve Iggens

Continental Motosports Club racing promotor, Norbert Schickel, early designer and innovator/founder of Schickel Motor Co. and Doug Polen, World Superbike roadracer.

Special awards were also given to existing Hall of Fame members, racers Kenny Roberts and Roger DeCoster.

This year’s induction ceremony was held in conjunction with the Dave Mungenast Memorial Concours d’Elegance. Over 100 beautiful classic and historic motorcycles were on display.  Best of Show award went to Bob Mitchell’s 1947 Indian Chief.

Other winners included:

Loren Carpenter’s 1958 Harley Sportster             Al Lutino’s 1971 Kawasaki F-5

Dan Selman’s 1961 Triumph TRS AC                   Don Harrell’s 1966 BSA Hornet

Don Johnson’s 1967 BSA Spitfire                          Peter Palko’s 1972 H-D XR-750

Brad Boyle’s MV Augusta 500                                 Paul Wheeler’s “Easy Rider” replica

Rick Huemmerich’s 1960 BMW R69S                   Eric & Lee Hale’s 1978 Yamaha OW-36

Gary Brigg’s 1966 Honda CA-77 Dream               Don Johnson’s 1953 AJS 185

 

S&S company founder George J. Smith was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994.

Established in 1958, S&S Cycle has been the industry leader in high performance accessories and engines for American and metric V-twin motorcycles. From engines, big bore kits, camshafts, valve train components and more, S&S has delivered the finest in American made high performance products to a worldwide market for over 50 years.

Count on S&S to bring “Proven Performance” to your motorcycle.

Anders Nygren, founder of Flathead Power, visits S&S Cycle.

Anders Nygren, founder of the original Flathead Power company in Sweden, recently visited S&S Cycle.  He was accompanied by his son Magnus and freelance magazine writer and knucklehead enthusiast, John Endrizzi.  John was along to do research for a magazine article on Flathead Power and S&S Cycle.

Anders started Flathead Power in Sweden in the early 1990's as a way to get parts to fix his own engines.  The business grew to be known for their quality parts for vintage motorcycles.  To take advantage of reduced shipping costs and access to the larger American vintage motorcycle market, Anders partnered with some American backers and the company moved to Morgan City, Louisiana.  The move turned out to be ill fated and Anders was forced to leave the company and returned to Sweden. 

S&S Cycle Inc acquired the Flathead Power brand name, intellectual property, tooling and remaining inventory in July of 2007.  At the time that transaction occurred, Anders had already gone back to Sweden.

Mr. Nygren was in the States for a about a week, during which he was visiting relatives, touching base with old friends, and buying parts for his hot rod Chevy truck that his son drag races back home in Sweden.  We were really happy that he was able to fit in a visit to S&S Cycle.  After all, our location is a little out of the way.  If you end up in Viola, Wisconsin, either you really want to be there, or you're really lost!

Anders toured the S&S museum and manufacturing facility, which has changed tremendously since he was last here in 2003, as far as any of us can recollect.  He was particularly interested in how S&S machines the parts and assembles the KN series engines.  Flathead Power Product line manager Eric Wangen, and Marketing Manager Bruce Tessmer served as tour guides and hosts for the visit.  While Anders was here we shot a video interview, which you can see here in the blog.

 

In this video interview, Anders Nygren, founder of Flathead Power in Sweden talks about how he got started in the vintage motorcycle parts business and how he ended up leaving the company.