Exit the Dragon
EXIT THE DRAGON
CW CUSTOM
S&S DRAGON
S&S BUILD A 160-HP "SPORT" BAGGER. AND A HARLEY-DAVIDSON ROAD GLID HAS NEVER BEEN MORE ULTRA.
Joe Gustafson
The temperature was chilly with a chance of low-side. A crisp Wisconsin morning that Tumblr fanatics dream about, with curving roads, dense foliage, and a sheen of frost. And here I was standing in front of a 167-rear-wheel-horsepower bagger that was shivering with fury.
Hooray.
What brought me here? S&S Cycles and a dare. I said some unkind things about baggers a few months ago, and David Zemla, VP of marketing for S&S, reached out with the retort, “Want to come up and ride The Dragon?” Which is an unusual text, but I was interested after just finish-
ing up a Game of Thrones binge.
The Dragon referred to S&S’s 143d Harley-Davidson Road Glide Ultra with all the trimmings. Big T143 motor. Sportbike suspension by Öhlins. Sportbike brakes by Lyndall and Brembo. Carbon-fiber wheels by BST. Sportbike tires by Pirelli. Electric-over-air-shifter by Pingel. And a catalog assault of S&S parts to make it run, ride, and scare the breakfast out of you in one engine kit for $9K, plus the cost of labor and those other fancy parts, all the way down to a chain-drive conversion.
The result? One hundred and sixtyseven horsepower to the rear wheel, along with 170 pound-feet of torque. That’s 55 more pound-feet than a Kawasaki H2R, attached to a 757-pound, fully dressed bagger that’s 81 pounds lighter than stock. And it remains fully dressed
THE RESULT? ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN HORSEPOWER TO THE REAR WHEEL, ALONG WITH 170 POUND-FEET OF TORQUE.
in the full sense of the term, with all the electronics and bags attached, though you can’t read the infotainment screen at idle since your vision is blurred from the vibration.
This is S&S’s “racebike,” and it is also daily ridden because the employees of S&S have a sense of humor about both “racebike” and “daily” going back all the way to the company’s original creation, the Tramp.
If you doubt how a package like this can stay in one piece, the owner, an employee, has ridden it 15,000 miles, and the bike went for 20 hours straight in Sturgis in the hands of amateurs; even the Rivera Primo lockup clutch is intact. And it runs nines in the quarter.
Why would anyone do this? Put simply, it’s in the company’s blood. Started by George Smith in the 1950s with performance pushrods, S&S Cycle has been making V-twin things punch the atmosphere in a straight line since then— from salt to strip and at any intersection in between.
The headquarters is littered with 200-mph Harleys, land-speed bikes, and unfortunate billet holdovers from the heady days of Pro Street.
All S&S products are prototyped, developed, built, and warehoused right there in Viola. In fact, the materials
are all sourced from a 300to 400-mile radius. It typifies the Midwest mind-set: If you want something done right, you better stuff it full ofhorsepower.
And have horsepower it does. The Dragon is overtly pissed off at idle. Lockup clutch chattering in the 3-inch-belt open primary and loud pipes that scream not of retirement rebellion but of killer intent. Everything has been hutched up from a stock Road Glide.
The smooth and easy clutch of the OE Road Glide has been replaced by one that feels like it’s from a “real” motorcycle, less forgiving and with crisp engagement. The gear change sounds like a rifle chambering. And then you start to ride the bike, and it becomes the most docile pussycat ever. Dragon? As if.
You get confident. You give it some throttle. And the earth turns upside down and you make amends with whichever deity is in office that day.
The hit is instantaneous and violent.
Traction happens somewhere between third and fourth—as was instructed but ignored because freedom. First is useless. The suspension and brakes? Great, but they’re still saddled to a bagger, and feel is noticeably lacking on turn-in, which leads to guesswork. The floorboards are in the original location, so cornering clearance is limited, if still pretty decent for a bagger.
It is relentless, and excessive, and typifies American fast—that good ol’ boy simple recipe of punt and pray that makes muscle cars adored but with the fit, finish, and technical expertise to make it reliable, smooth, and well mannered.
Could you ride it every day? Yes, and there are apparently 64 takers out there and counting. Is it worth $40lIn terms of the maximum of the maximum, yes.
It is as decadent and useless as can be and is all the better for it.
If you want the most obscene sleeper on the planet, this bike is for you. CUM
