VOLUME 57 ISSUE 16 APRIL 21, 2020 P67
Curtiss owner Matt
Chambers (left) with
young designer Jordan
Cornille, who will take
Curtiss Motorcycles
forward with the
electric platform.
the girder-style fork similar to the
type favored by John Britten, here
machined from solid aluminum to
hold down the unsprung weight,
kept right on working at damp-
ing out road rash as I trail braked
into the turn on the angle. The
RaceTech shocks had been set
up to give optimum damping and
excellent ride quality for a person
of my weight, and the Warhawk
felt pretty confidence-inspiring
in the way it steered. Mr. Curtiss
would have approved.
The grippy front Pirelli Night
Dragon encourages you to keep
up turn speed, especially as
there's more ground clearance on
the Warhawk, with the exhausts
moved upstairs for extra clear-
ance. The fact that the fat rear tire
is mounted on a slightly wider-
than-usual 8.5-inch BST carbon
rim spreads the rubber out more,
resulting in a flatter profile deliver-
ing a more progressive feel.
Firing up the X-Wedge pow-
erplant is instant, after turning
the ignition key down by your
right knee and flicking the tiny kill
switch on the right switchbox that
seems disproportionately dainty
for such a meaty musclebike.
Just thumb the starter button,
and it cranks immediately into life
first time, every time—though you
must be ready for the earth to
move under the sustained thun-
der emitted by its twin mufflers.
That easy start-up by Big Twin
standards comes because S&S
has fitted the motor with its Easy
Start cams, which reduce crank-
ing compression via an innovative
feature. Each of the two exhaust
cam lobes is equipped with a
spring-loaded compression re-
lease lobe on the heel of the cam,
at the point where the valve would
typically be fully closed. This lobe
holds the exhaust valve slightly
open at cranking speed, which
releases some of the compres-
sion, making the engine much
easier to turn. Once it starts firing,
revs increase until at 800 rpm
the compression release lobe is
centrifugally retracted, and the
exhaust valve closes fully as part
of the normal engine cycle. The
engine now runs normally, with full
compression. Clever!
When that happens, the War-
hawk's engine bursts into life
with a satisfyingly meaty peal of
thunder from the exhaust, settling
to a 900-rpm idle that's devoid of
the clackety rattles and shakes of
some other American air-cooled
