September 2007
THE X-WEDGE
by ROB KELLER / Cycle Source
Pretty impressive for a prototype
Recently we had a chance to test ride some bikes that housed the new S&S X-Wedge and before we got too far into the article about those test rides, I wanted to take a minute and give you a little history about the S&S Company. You may already know that their 50 year commitment to improving performance for the American V-twin industry, but what you may not know is how many products they are actually responsible for developing, and why the X-Wedge is a combination of those many years of design, development and innovation.
For nearly half a century, S&S Cycles has been carrying out the dream that founder George Smith started back in 1958. George simply said, "I want bikes to go faster." From that simple beginning, they have now grown into one of the world's most respected manufacturers of high performance engines and components for the American V-Twin. In the early 1950's George Smith Sr. set a land speed record at Bonneville using homemade pistons, cylinders and Knuckleheads that he'd modified. Using his bike named Tramp 1, he tested his products and raced at drag strips in the Chicago area where he pretty much ruled the roost. It became apparent that George was definitely able to make motorcycles go faster.
Over the next few decades, the company would continue to develop and expand their product line through racing. They added stroker kits for Sportsters, produced the now famous teardrop air cleaner design and in 1975, S&S even helped leading motorcycle manufacturer, Harley-Davidson, develop the 80" Shovelhead using S&S components. The list of components they’ve manufactured over the years is like a parts manual for a bike. Valve spring kits, cam shafts, big bore cylinders for Sporties and Big Twins, connecting rods, oil pumps, Super B,E, and G cards, tappets, cam covers, rocker covers, drive gears for Twin Cam motorcycles, even foot pegs at one point, they have made it all. So it was no surprise when fledgling motorcycle companies like Big Dog and Titan started using S&S as their power plant supplier in the early 90's. They became known as the company that out Harley’s the Harley through a quote in Fortune magazine. Having more land speed records than almost anyone in the business to back up their knowledge of performance, didn’t hurt a bit in the lines of that reputation . S&S continued to refine their complete engine designs with the Sidewinder brand, while units like 107", 111", 113", 117" and the 124" became a staple for the gear head.
New regulations from the EPA CARB had motorcycle manufacturers like Big Dog and Amrican IronHorse, who were already using S&S engines, looking for a power plant that would meet current and future restrictions. They turned to S&S once again for the development of this new design. Their answer was a high performance, emission compliant, pushrod actuated, overhead valve, and air cooled v-twin. Taking their 50 year history with v-twin engines, combined with some engineering aspects borrowed from the automotive industry, they came up with a prototype design in December of 2004.
Scott Sjovall, VP of Product Development, met me at the Daytona Speedway for a test ride. We were about to ride off on a Softail for the first leg and Scott rode a European styled bike. With a push of the button, the 114" version of the X-Wedge I was on came to life and was idling smoothly. The 3cam design is driven by a Gates tooth belt and has a very quiet overhead valve train. If the belt breaks, the engine doesn't launch the valve train like a car with a serpentine belt would. Scott explained that there is enough clearance in the pistons that they won't hit the valves. With very little vibration at idle, I tached it up a little and noticed an extremely smooth running machine. It sounded real good compared to the standard 45 degree v-twin that I'm used to. That was a major concern for the S&S team; making it sound right. In my opinion, they did a great job here.
We hit the Daytona traffic, the X-Wedge never heated up at stop signs, and we worked our way out to some open road. After getting some room to ride, it was time to see what this X-Wedge was made of. When I accelerated hard for the first time, the engine went quickly to the rev limiter. I short shifted the next gear and it quickly went to the rev limiter again. I watched the tachometer and with the next shift I noticed that the rev limiter was kicking in at about 6500 RPM. The engine pulled hard all the way up to the shift point so I knew that this motor had way more to offer than 6500 RPM's. At our first stop I questioned Scott about the low setting on the rev limiter and he just smiled and said, "No comment."
It's obvious that S&S has big plans for this new X-Wedge, far and above what they have released at this point, after all, they are a performance company and while we can only speculate about what advancements will be made to this new engine, we can report that it will accept bore sizes from 4 1/8" to 4 1/2" and the stroke can go from 4 1/8" to 4 3/8", equating to a displacement range of 110 to 139 inches!
Out on the interstate the bike had plenty of acceleration to get up to speed and ran smooth once we got up to cruising speed. It had a little vibration but I think that had more to do with the fact that the engine is rigid mounted to the frame than any excessive drive train vibration. There wasn't any that came up through the handlebars and overall, I felt that I could ride it all day without any discomfort. Coming off the highway, as we rolled off top end, and under aggressive riding conditions, torque took over and the engine braking was good. Passing response was more than adequate and I had the choice of downshifting or just rolling it on; plenty of torque throughout the power range.
Off the highway and on to the back roads, this engine accelerated well out of the corners, again, short shifting due to the rev limiter but I was really surprised how fast it would move through the rev range. As we banked into the turns, the engine braking was good, it had a decent clutch and a smooth shifting transmission. For the very limited amount of twisties Florida has to offer, I had a blast with it, in both frame designs, it's a fun ride.
So my final assumptions are that this is still a work in progress. The engine still has room for refinement and the fuel injection needed some fine tuning. In spite of that, I'm very excited about where it stands at this early preview stage of the game and that it's the first new American V-twin design since who knows when. I’m glad to see that an American company took the initiative to design an engine that will comply to the new EPA regulations and still give the end user some room for modification. There are built-in aspects of durability and serviceability that make it very user friendly. I have no doubt that this engine has marked a milestone for the company. I can't wait to ride the unregulated version. It is important to point out, however, that the X-Wedge will not fit into your stock Harley-Davidson chassis. While S&S fitted these prototype engines into rollers that they had hand built in-house, companies like Daytec, Rolling Thunder, and Chopper Guys are in the final stages of designing frames to house their new engine. Some of the larger manufacturers custom lines like Big Dog and Rucker have already worked on their preliminary designs and it won't be long before the rest of the industry follows suit. I spent a few minutes on the side of the road picking Scott's brain. Every question I asked about the ability of the X-Wedge to perform was very reassuring and answered with confidence.
A group of S&S employees rode 6 bikes down from their Viola, Wisconsin factory to Daytona. Actually, they towed them until they got below the snow belt and then rode on to Florida. As part of the grand plan, they'll be riding to all the national events this year; an aspect that Scott and other engineers were excited about. This continued real world testing will give this product the finishing touch to take it to market with total confidence. Look for full production availability of the X-Wedge and frames by Oct.
Scott and the entire crew at S&S should be very proud of what they've accomplished; a totally new design, EPA compliant engine that you can build into a monster. I want one. Thanks to S&S for letting us try out this new product.
September 13, 2007 11:40 AM | send page | Press Releases