"Jim" of all trades?

Do aftermarket chrome bolt-ons call out Who You Are? Nothing wrong with being meticulous and shiny, but some of us are looking for MORE "individuality". Whether a subtle pinstripe, your favorite outdoor scene, WWII pin-up art, or even a sci-fi vision, Mr. Jim Cope seems willing and definitely able to apply the color. Looking at a brief gallery at www.jimcopeart.com I find myself drawn to the pin-up art. Typically I'm not the type to draw attention as the smoke and tire marks cause me enough grief, but I was extremely supprised at how tastefully Mr. Cope has created some of the more controversial pictorals.
If you have a moment to visit Mr. Cope's site and glance at the brief collection available via the web, please leave a comment as to your favorite. Mr. Cope is currently working on the "under construction" V-Rod project for a Frontier Custom Cycles customer. The bike will appear shortly on the "Customer's Cruisers" page with a full photo shoot.
My favorite item on his site, and my wife agrees, is "blondova." I keep trying to think where I can get this painted without getting myself in trouble. The piece is truly awesome and even though you typically would feel guilty "oogling" something of this nature, it truly is ART.

Why does S&S offer gear drive cam kits?

S&S performance offers a gear drive system to replace the factory "silent" chain drive system for Twin Cam engines. Why fix a problem when "there is no problem?" As with any S&S component, the answer is usually "because it gives you MORE power." And yes, this is true of the chain elimination kit, but there is still MORE!

With the stock setup, the chain involves stretch and requires tension. The tensioner is a physical contact item along with the chain. Both the tensioner AND all of the chain are wear items. This would not necessarily be a bad thing, until you realize that all the little "wear particles" accumulate down in the oil sump, by the pump. Passing wear metal through a precision gear pump is always not advisable.

So, the S&S upgrade is essentially to give your engine MORE longevity, but as always, there's MORE power too! The chain setup can have as much as 10° of variance in cam position. When you take the TWIN-CAMS and you figure you are tuning the bike to run EQUAL in both cylinders, that become very difficult with "variance". So, the S&S gear drive make the bike more consistent, and that is where the power lies. How much power? Up to 4 Hp!

What's so BIG about 4 Hp? A dyno test of a stock 88B engine bike produces somewhere between 54 and 60 Hp. We are talking almost a 7% increase in power on a stock bike. If you don't think you can feel 4 Hp difference on a motorcycle, try taking away 4 Hp from your bike now.

Why does S&S offer gear drive cam kits? Because they are a good idea for longevity and performance of your Twin Cam bike.

V-Twin Horsepower and Reliable Performance

The "Tractor" motor used in V-Twin motorcycles is a Torque based design that utilizes twin bore displacement to propel your ride and you throughout your journey. Some of you may be perfectly content to purchase one of these vehicles as designed and simply enjoy life. These are the people I truly envy! For the rest of us, we are alway in the search for MORE. More power, more speed, more agility, more braking, more bragging rights!
Unfortunaly, MORE requires more...
More money, more forethought, more wear and tear, more downtime, more frustration and ultimately more stress. Going fast on a V-Twin is an artful science. As with any engineered product, when you make changes, you affect reliability and performance.
Knowing HOW to make changes that are cost-effective and provide power without reducing reliability is the Secret. Most of these "Secrets" aren't really secret at all, but by the time your old enough to know better and have the scars to prove it, you don't just sit down and e-mail the world the answers.
That is why this BLOG exists. I, Shaun Beauchamp, have taken upon myself to extract the KNOWLEDGE of the WIZARD and bring it to you, John Q. Public.

Please Feel Free To Ask Anything, for there are no stupid questions if it saves you time, money and lost riding opportunity!