S&S’s Super Stock 96-incher is available in natural, black and polished finishes.

Every S&S engine is completely U.S.-made.

You have a choice of carbureted or EFI and Delphi® or Magneti-Marelli®-style injection.

S&S has been delivering high-performance products for more than 46 years.

n few transactions is the one-on-one personal touch more important than when it involves the purchase of an engine. This isn’t something you’d want to buy from someone you don't know and someone you can’t trust. Emphasizing that, Kurt Peterson, senior sales executive for S&S, says, “We rely on our dealers every day to sell, support, install and service our product line. Our customers need to have a personal relationship with their local dealer to ensure that our product does what it’s supposed to—perform.”
     Now, of course you know Drag Specialties. Try this for trust: S&S has delivered high-performance V-twin components for 46 years now, which begs the question: Who would you rather have put together your engine?
Company President Brett Smith sums it up like this: “When my grandparents started this company in 1958 they began by selling a solid lifter conversion kit with lightweight aluminum pushrods. Those kits sold because they worked. My grandfather was a racer, so results were of paramount importance. If a part didn’t make his bike go faster, he wouldn’t use it or sell it. ‘Proven Performance’ is our company motto. It was true then and it’s still true today.”
     It’s also true that selling genuine S&S can sometimes become a price issue. No question, there are less expensive engines available. But what does that short money really buy? Certainly not S&S quality. Every genuine S&S engine is completely U.S.-made. That’s more than just the assembly. S&S supports the U.S. labor market, keeping American jobs in America whether it’s a steel foundry in Pennsylvania or a casting company in Iowa. Sure, this costs more, but you know what you’re getting—American-made quality, through and through.
     Open the FatBook to page 298. Those U.S.-made S&S engines start right there, and boy is there a selection. 124-inch Super Sidewinder Plus Evo-style motors—carbureted or EFI—lead the pack. There’s even a choice of Delphi®- or Magneti-Marelli®-style injection. These are the same engines used in the “HotBike/S&S 124VFI Ultimate Challenge,” engines making upwards of 140 horsepower at the rear wheel. There are 124-inch Twin Cam engines, too, one version incorporating the Evo-style rear motor mount. There are 113-inchers, there’s a Super Stock 96-incher that’s getting lots of attention, and there’s that rip-snorting 100-inch XL motor chosen to power this issue’s feature bike. S&S has recently purchased an additional 165,000-square-foot facility in La Crosse, Wisconsin, to make all this happen quicker, too, a new facility that will allow for increased production and expedited delivery, according to Charlie Hadayia, sales director for the company.
     But new facility or not, S&S has always been the innovator, never the imitator. S&S works off a strict five-year business plan, too. Engines in development now won’t be released until 2007 or 2008, and everything that’s just come out has been in the works for the past four or five years. Every engine is stringently tested, too, and S&S certainly has the wherewithal to do that; some of their state-of-the-art dyno/test labs cost more than $1 million. Before those famous initials go on anything it has to work, and work well.
     Does all this cost more? Let’s talk about that 96-inch S&S for a minute. There’s been a real resurgence in the use of this engine, and for good reason. Briefly overshadowed in the displacement race, S&S took a hard look at this venerable Big Twin, redesigning components to make the 96 even more efficient. In the process some of the cost came out, too. The result is a genuine S&S, assembled, warranted and certified authentic (see sidebar), and selling at a retail within a few hundred dollars of that budget-priced/off-shore 100-incher. Which would you rather have?
     And remember, along with all those complete engines S&S has plenty of rebuild kits and replacement parts for existing Harley-Davidson engines. There are lots of riders with older bikes they dearly love, but with motors that have become pretty tired. S&S has what it takes to breathe new life into those motorcycles, without spending a lot of money. It’s another aspect of “Proven Performance,” S&S’s 46 years experience making V-twins better.