performance-times-banner2-1

Performance Times

    David Zemla

    Recent Posts

    What about the US riders? Everyone relax! Our latest release for the European market is not an exclusive, we already build a very slick slip-on for the US market Nightsters! What makes this one special is a unique baffle that complies with more stringent ECE sound standards. Both versions of this...

    Winter is rough for motorcycle people. We push the riding season until we can’t feel our fingers and then reluctantly park our bikes, hook up battery tenders, and stare lovingly at them before turning away with a tear in our eyes. The next several months are often a fever dream of cold temps, snow,...

    We kind of fell in love with the KRX when it was originally launched in 2020. One of the most durable and sorted 1000cc SxS in the space. Massive trailing arms and just about every part of the suspension is on par with the RZR Pro XP, the factory wheel/tire package is solid, and even the stance is...

    Brainerd International Raceway in Northern Minnesota is no stranger to top-level racing, with a drag strip, two road courses, and even a jet ski lake tucked into the facility. What is new to BIR this year was King of the Baggers, arguably the biggest, wildest, two-wheeled race series in recent...

    What is Build Train Race? Why is S&S involved? Are the racers really all girls?

    These are just some of the questions we’ve been asked regarding our involvement in the BTR program. The brainchild of Royal Enfield’s US marketing guru, Bree Poland, the race series is far more than, well, a race...

    American Road Racing has a unique vibe, a very specific soundtrack, and until recently, a fairly purist approach to motorcycle competition. Across the last few decades, US-made V-Twins have come and gone from this upper echelon of two-wheeled racing, rarely drawing significant attention and...

    What's new with the Indian/S&S King of the Baggers racing program? Better grab a beverage and get comfortable for this one. Looking back a few months, the team was asked to test on the banks of Daytona, and since then, MotoAmerica has locked down a doubleheader King of the Baggers race (first of...

    S&S has been building complete engines for decades and there are quite a few in the field. Many are now on their third and fourth owners and more often than not the original information on the engine has not made it to the new owner. Not surprisingly one of the most frequently seen tech questions...

    Events

    Mama Tried and Tried...

    by David Zemla / December 14, 2021

    Only a handful of bike shows have the energy of Mama Tried, maybe because it’s held in the dead of winter in the Midwest and we’re all jonesing for the two-wheeled life, maybe it’s the historic venue that frames the show, or maybe it’s just the insane caliber of bikes on the floor. No matter the...

    If you're a fan of motorcycle racing antics, Flat Out Friday never disappoints. Born from the Mama Tried bike show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, FOF has evolved into a must-see winter event. For the uninitiated, Flat Out Friday has taken Hooligan racing (small track, big Sportsters) and added Boonie...

    The 2021 American Flat Track Season has seen plenty of excitement, a few race cancellations (rain!), and a handful of spectacular get-offs (Johnny Lewis huck at the Atlanta TT comes to mind), but the last few doubles have been spectacular. We're talking about the Memphis Shades Springfield Mile II...

    Although the King of the Baggers championship was only three races this year, each was action-packed, unpredictable, and absolutely record-setting. Our own Mission Foods/S&S Indian Challenger piloted by Tyler O'Hara has gone from winning to DNF (Did Not Finish). Much of the grid is fighting...

    Motorcycle racing is rumored to have been born right around the time the second motorcycle was built. We'd be hard-pressed to argue that and S&S itself can trace our lineage to two-wheeled competition (it's a good story, we'll re-tell it here soon).

    Race two of the 2021 King of the Baggers series happened to fall conveniently in our backyard. A few hours East in scenic Elkhart Lake. The Road America facility has stood as a premier motorsports facility since the mid-fifties and remains one of the best in the US. This storied racing facility...

    The M8 engine platform is capable of serious power, but with that also comes the need to beef up critical moving parts in the top end. The latest from S&S Cycle does just that by combining our roller rockers, bearing quality rocker shafts, rocker arm studs, and cold-formed head bolts into one...

    Storied motorcycle racers, particularly in the US, have been few and far between in recent years, but that very likely changed this past weekend as low key but high-speed Tyler O'Hara took on an insanely competitive American Flat Track TT and the MotoAmerica King of the Baggers road race IN THE...

    Shortly after the Royal Enfield 650 Twin was launched, the crew at S&S Cycle began pounding out performance parts! Our latest is the Qualifier, an all-stainless 2:1 exhaust that looks and sounds the part. Hand fabricated in the US, each system is a TIG-welded brushed stainless piece of performance...

    Big bore engines are all about the flow, more air in and more air out, anything that slows that down, robs horsepower. The factory M8 intake manifold does a decent job in stock form but starts getting in the way when trapped between 124" and larger cylinders. The stock polymer unit is also less...

    Building bikes has been a staple of the S&S brand since before there was an S&S brand and that sixty plus year tradition of customs continues to this day. The latest generation of builds run the gamut of styles from choppers to race bikes to performance baggers and naturally the venerable...