Here she is. A project that took me four years to complete and a lot of contact to Mert lawwill in the states, to phoning around , buying blue prints, talking to some of the greatest Harley racers and designers, getting back door to HD racing and development .....it was a great mission and project and the result you can see above.
At the time the only Harleys leaving their mark were Lucifers Hammer and the Buell, which we termed the Mule as the wheelbase was around 61 inches and the design had faults.
So, Lawwills "flying shark" blueprints were purchased, and after a few ideas and phone calls to some of the best frame builders, I decided to take my design and ideas to Spondon Engineering in England to get their ideas and a rolling chassis.
The Engine had a story on its own. I'd read about a guy in grass valley, california, who'd built alloy heads and barrels to a stock block but made it xr style with two carbs.I called up the guy and asked him about these parts and he offered me his 002 engine, which he'd taken records at Bonneville salt lakes. It was stuck in a box and shipped over to Sweden. It was running at approx 1280 cc. We added some interesting parts, including carbon fibre pushrods which I always thought trick! and after a few more calls we had what I considered the most up to date and modern HD racer ever built.
We took her over to England and had the pro racer who had raced the Buell a shot at Donnington. He was very impressed.Who wouldn't be to be honest, she was the size of a 250 yamaha due to the bimota stale co-axial swinging arm and weighed in at around 160Kg with an engine running 100ft lbs torque at 3500 revs and 100 hp at 6500 revs!! Our performance bikes test had the guy mentioning she sounded like a Focke Wulf tri.plane on tickover but with a power curve of a steam train!
Shes sold now, rolling chassis to the USA (the guy who just purchased her again contacted me with questions) and the engine to Germany.
Good times indeed and a project to be proud of!
Sputhe XR1280
6 comments:
Jodå Sleipner projektet kommer jag ihåg, helt plötsligt stod en "halv" Harley i rummet ;-)
Fantastiskt resultat Neil trots en del strul på vägen..
Donnington resan var bäst, för då fick jag Randy Mamolas autograf på jackan-den har jag kvar..
Och ditt race med slicks i Finland som fick finnarna att skaka på huvudet, DET var kul!
Hade bäst med dina nya "projekt"..
Marie
Please contact me sputhester@gmail.com
I have one of these engines, w/ an opportunity to buy another. I would like to talk w/ you about yours. Thanks,Chad
Please contact me sputhester@gmail.com
I have one of these engines, w/ an opportunity to buy another. I would like to talk w/ you about yours. Thanks,Chad
Hi Chad,
You should have recieved a mail in your inbox .
Where can I find these XR heads for the Evo XL1200 5 speed? They're awesome!! I've been looking for these for years and can't find anything. The closest thing are some four valve Japanese heads (Hot dock and Sundance) that are also no longer made.
Thanks.
Sorry the answer is late, I seem to miss comments moderation all the time!
As far as I'm aware, there are no such heads made for the EVO's. Sputhe made his own heads and barrels and they're not made anymore. There used to be a company in the USA making 4 valve heads, but once again they weren't XR style.
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