Posted by Justin Lorraine on Wed, Dec 21, 2011 @ 01:42 PM
Santa not visiting your house this year due to your questionable behavior? Here is your chance to WIN BIG for the holidays!
If you were at the AMD Championship at the last incarnation of the one-and-only Sturgis Rally, you may remember this bike. If you do not, let us get you up to speed.
Darwin Motorcycles has developed a sporty machine with a lot of (X-Wedge) muscle. This bike, dubbed the "RLX", won 1st in the "Production Class" at the 2011 AMD World Championship of Bike Building. That class is no easy ticket to come out on top of!
This bike was built for 2 reasons:
1) "To build an American Muscle Bike that pays tribute to Bobby Rahal and his storied racing career."
2) "To raise money to support our troops through military charities, Steel Anchor and Pros 4 Vets" (to be raffled off January, 2012)
Seriously... how awesome is that?!
Heard enough? GET YOUR TICKETS TO WIN HERE!
Darwin Motorcycles could have slapped some shiny parts together for your average chopper, put a price tag on it and given a portion of the proceeds away and called it a day. Not the case! This is an exceptional motorcycle with the highest quality components, some by yours truly, and award winning design that its sole purpose was to be raffled off to raise money for our troops. (I'll give you a second for an appropriate hardy slow-clap.)
The RLX was featured in the January edition of IronWorks Magazine and they had plenty of good things to say about it.
"I’ve mentioned it before; the most exciting part of working with creative people who make stuff is watching things come together. I’ve seen this machine in various forms and described in various conversations, captions, FB posts, emails, and texts 
so that I had a clear image of it in my mind’s eye before I had ever seen it in the “tin.” But when I first saw the bones of the machine last year in Daytona, I was knocked out. It was so much cooler and tougher in person, I couldn’t wait to see it done and flying down the road.
I got that chance this past Sturgis. Dar, Bryan, Tim, and the Brass Balls/Darwin Motorcycles team had kicked some major booty with this machine at the AMD show with a win in the very competitive Production Class and were feeling good about the results of all of their effort. The bike was a killer and knowledgeable folks had recognized that, we all know how good it feels when hard work is recognized." -Stephen Berner
Darwin Motorcycles: RLX S&S Cycle: 132"
X-Wedge Baker Drivetrain: FFP primary w/ King
Kong Clutch and 6-speed transmission
D&D: Materials for 2-into-1-into 3 stainless
exhaust, built by Darwin Motorcycles
Beringer: Dual 4-piston front and single
4-piston rear brakes plus hand controls
Brock's Performance: BST Carbon Fiber
wheels, 19"x120mm front, 19"x180mm rear
WorldWide Bearings: Ceramic bearing sets
Dunlop: Sportmax tires
Ohlins: Road/Track suspension
Racing Innovations: Muscle Bike frame
w/25-degree rake
Autometer: STACK race gauge
Braille: Carbon fiber battery
Vortex: Clip-ons, sprocket, gas cap
Vortex/Darwin: foot controls with reverse
shifting
Joker Machine: Bar end mirrors
Motion Pro: Cables and switches
MoFlo: Air cleaner
Alloy Art: Headlight
Hix Design: Custom seat
Escort/Passport: Radar detector (machined
into top clamp)
Cycle Electric: Regulator and Stator
Shark Skins: Front fender
Paint: Manny's Ink & Air
Darwin Motorcycles: Tag bracket, custom
bodywork, custom top clamp and rear
brake hanger using Summit Machine.
Designer, Dar Holdsworth had a few things to say about the build / charity: "At Darwin Motorcycles, we build a no compromise custom/production bike using only the highest quality components. We machine everything to fit perfectly. There is a performance edge to our bikes...
I wanted to go farther: more power, more sport/cafe inspired styling. I could not stop thinking about this next bike. How could I bring it to life: out of my head, onto paper, and onto our bike lift? I decided the best way to develop this bike was to pay it forward. To build it then give it away at the end—and that is what we did.
See, I do a bike every year that supports the military. I knew with such a tight economy, I’d have to do something big to get contributions from the top suppliers I was seeking to partner with... All proceeds go to Steel Anchor and
Pros For Vets charities. The components listed in the sidebar were generously donated by these exceptional suppliers; Darwin Motorcycles built the bike for free."
Tickets are only $20.
The bike is valued at over $50,000!
Only 3,500 tickets are being sold!!
Darwin Motorcycles is raffling this bike through midnight pacific standard time, December 24th and need your help to raise as much money as possible to support our troops. Winner will be selected January, 2012. Good luck!
Posted by Justin Lorraine on Mon, Oct 10, 2011 @ 12:45 PM
In the November issue of IronWorks magazine, Stephen Berner published a great article titled "Scott Sjovall's X-Glide: More than the sum of its parts" covering his experience with Scott's motorcycle. The X-Glide is a lab rat of S&S Cycle's research and development and is a true workhorse in the name of better motorcycle performance research. Scott lent Stephen his X-Wedge powered custom homebuilt for a week and had a few things to say about it.
"The X-Wedge was debuted to the VTwin press during 2007, heady times in the V-Twin industry indeed. It was a new engine designed for the blossoming OEMs who were looking for an EPA-compliant workhorse; a worry free high performance engine made in America from a name they could trust. That in and of itself had value and leverageable brand equity. 'It is powered by an S&S XWedge engine, you know.'"
"Well things being what they are and history being what it is, looking back we obviously are much wiser, smarter, and a hell of a lot more conservative in how we spend our hard earned cash now. But if it weren’t for the boom the X-Wedge might not have been developed. And friends, I can report that it is indeed a well-developed engine."
But let me tell you, this is a great engine; a responsive power plant that can go to a whole ‘nother level of V-Twin riding. A 56-degree cylinder configuration, a wider configuration than a 45-degree engine layout. It is this characteristic that prevents us from simply sticking this beastly strong S&S engine in our stock framed machines. The front cylinder and exhaust pipe wont fit a stock configuration and the back cylinder would be crowded."
"And so every once in a while a knowledgeable enthusiast would typically ask three questions: the first was “What am I looking at?” The second, “What’s it like to ride?” And the third, after hearing my answers, was “Where can I get one?” So, this is how I answered those queries.
What is this? This is a 132-inch, S&S XWedge-powered, Rolling Thunder frame’d Road Glide derivative owned by Scott Sjovall, VP of Product Development at S&S Cycle. The front end is off a Hayabusa. All the running gear/bodywork is a blend of S&S and H-D for the most part.
What’s it like to ride? It’s a lot like a Harley but it spools up faster, goes longer, is stronger, has more torque and doesn’t run out of breath. The engine seems unflappable and doesn’t mind redline/rev limiter shifts through all the gears, all the time. It never complains. At slow parking lot speeds, you can feel the longer frame but in every other situation the bike is like a locomotive; strong, straight in terms of handling, and has seemingly boundless enthusiasm for the task at hand. Sixth speed is ridiculous—a total “you’re gonna collect autographs” gear. Put it this way: you are doing 75 MPH at 2900 RPM in 5th and the engine is barely breathing. What are you planning on doing in 6th gear? Getting tickets, uh huh.
Where can I get one?: Unfortunately you can’t get one. Well, let me rephrase that: you can’t buy one “baked.” You will need to connect with a builder who can put the bike together or you can do it yourself if you are a crafty hands-on type that has done work like this before. Working with a frame manufacturer like Rolling Thunder insures you’ll have what you’ll need in terms of tabs and mounts, and S&S has some real patient tech support folks that can work with you to answer fitment questions and make recommendations. The bodywork and accessories are available most anywhere. Put it this way: S&S wants you to succeed."
To read the entire article, click here to download the pdf.
Coming soon: The X-Glide hits the drag strip!
Photos taken by Chris Callen of Cycle Source
Posted by Justin Lorraine on Mon, May 23, 2011 @ 10:20 AM
Nowadays, most people know that S&S Cycle offers some of the best motorcycle engines for Harley-Davidson® motorcycles, but back in the day, old timers knew S&S for high performance carburetors such as the venerable Super B, the Super E, Super G, and even the now discontinued Two-Throat. So how did S&S Cycle make the transition from "The Carb Guys" to the "Engine Guys"
It's a long story because S&S has a long history, but here's a brief, condensed version.
S&S Cycle was founded in 1958, and the first product sold was a solid lifter conversion kit featuring light weight aluminum pushrods. It wasn't too long before S&S introduced stroker flywheels to make Harley® engines bigger. Then came larger carburetors for gas and nitro, capable of supplying the demands of larger displacement stroker engines. The nitro engines were bending stock connecting rods, so S&S came up with stronger connecting rods for both Sportster® and big twin models. Big bore cylinders and pistons, and the improved Super carburetor were introduced in the 1970's, and the as time went on, more and more parts were added to the line. Some were purely high performance parts, but many could even be used as stock motorcycle replacement parts. Predominantly however, S&S was known for carburetors, and the iconic S&S teardrop air cleaner cover made it easy to spot a bike with an S&S carburetor.
By the early 1990's, with the addition of crankcases and cylinder heads, S&S had enough parts to put together a fairly complete v-twin engine. These almost complete motorcycle engines were brought to market as "Long Block Engines", indicating that they were not quite all there. Some stock Harley-Davidson® or aftermarket parts were needed before they were ready to run.
During this time period, Harley-Davidson® motorcycles were becoming increasingly popular, and as a result, hard to get your hands on. It could take anywhere from 18 to 24 months to take delivery of a new Harley®. With that kind of supply and demand imbalance, it didn't take long for enterprising entrepreneurs to start building custom bikes to fill the void. There were a lot of available aftermarket parts for v-twins, so these new manufacturers didn't have much trouble coming up with parts to build these "clone" bikes as they were sometimes called, with one exception – the engine.
The timing was perfect for everybody. The new "Custom OE" manufactures needed engines, and S&S could supply them. So the v-twin motorcycle buying public had a choice between waiting a year and a half to two years for a new Harley-Davidson® motorcycle with an 80 cubic inch engine, or taking immediate delivery of a custom built bike with an 88 or 96 cubic inch S&S engine.
S&S became the motorcycle engine of choice for most of the new manufactures, and as a result S&S became known to more and more people as an engine manufacturer, as opposed to a company that makes go fast parts to hop up a Harley-Davidson® engine. It's important to note that S&S was, and still is both. S&S manufactures complete high performance engines, but high performance parts for Harley® engines is still a major part of the product line to this day.
To complete the story, S&S continued to come up with more styles and sizes of engines, and today S&S can supply a complete engine for just about any big twin model from 1936 to 2006 and a fair number of Sportster Buell models as well. It's quite a list:
(click the Harley® model to view the S&S replacement)
In addition, S&S produces special engines for custom applications such as alternator/generator KN, P, and SH series engines, as well as the new KN-Kone engine that was named "Engine Of The Year" for 2011 by V-Twin magazine. Let's not forget S&S Cycle's proprietary X-Wedge® engine, which has received a lot of attention in connection with the British Morgan three wheeler and the Italian CR&S motorcycles.
That's our story, and we're sticking to it!
Posted by Justin Lorraine on Thu, Mar 31, 2011 @ 01:12 PM
We'd like to introduce you to a one-of-a-kind vehicle that is sure to turn heads. With it's iconic design but with 21st Century technology, the Morgan 3 Wheeler looks like an aeroplane and built with one purpose in mind, FUN. Just take a look:
The Morgan 3 Wheeler is built with safety in mind with reinforced tubular chassis and twin rollbars for the driver and passenger. It is easy to control, the exhaust looks like it's ready to shoot down "bogeys", has a leather padded cockpit complete with aircraft instrumentation, all to add to the feel that is second only to getting in an actual WWII fighter plane.
Now let's get down to it's power. The Morgan 3 Wheeler is running the one of a kind X-Wedge engine made by yours truly, S&S Cycle. The X-Wedge was designed by S&S engineers from a clean sheet of paper. This power train has features designed into it that other V-twins envy. With increased durability, decreased noise, and has plenty of power to get the Morgan 3 Wheeler flying on the road.
This engine was designed as an emissions compliant performance engine right from the get-go. It was intended to fill a need in the market for manufacturers and custom bike builders who wanted something a little different while maintaining emissions compliance. It is available in 49-state and 50-state versions.
Think 3 wheeled vehicles or “trikes” are a new phenomena in the motorcycle world?, well guess again.
Harry Morgan from England introduced these unique vehicles over 100 years ago!
An earlier Morgan on display at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham, England
photo by: Dennis SchaeferIs it a car, is it a motorcycle or is it a trike? It’s a “Cyclecar”! Started in 1910, the Morgan bridged the gap between the fledging automobile industry and the thrill of two wheeled early motorcycling, introducing affordable motoring to the masses. Simplicity combined with low cost drove the Morgan into the early consumer arena.
Now Morgan has partnered with S&S® using their powerful X-Wedge™ engine to bring the Morgan to 21st century owners.
As Morgan said: "The time is right for Morgan to take a new look at the combination of acceleration, on road performance and economy. The time is right for Morgan to relaunch the 3 Wheeler."
For more information please visit www.morgan3wheeler.co.uk