Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

First Ride (Left) A small tachometer and fuel gauge complement the very legible speedometer. (Right) The "X twin" is an 85cubic-inch, 50degree V-twin with four valves per cylinder. Final drive is handled by a belt. back, so that even at high speed you're not clinging on for dear life, just leaning forward In The Wind and enjoying the thrill· of the chase - yet rumbling around town or in a line of traffic, you feel comfy, . but in control. The positioning of the twin-intake EFI throttle body behind the rectangular cover on the left, between the cylinders, means you have a much more rational riding stance than on a Harley, without the need to perpetually lean your right leg outboard to avoid the projecting carb, and this helps make a three- or four-hOur span of swift saddle time seem enjoyable. This bike is fun to ride, fast or slow. Other factors in this are the easy-shifting gearbox with its rocker-arm lever that encourage you to use your heel for upshifts neutral is as hard to find at rest as on a Moto Guzzi, though - with a progressive but fairly heavy smooth-action clutch, and excellent - if fum - ride quality both from the monoshock rear suspension (hidden urtder the seat, in pursuit of the hardtail look) and leading-link forks. These soak up freeway joints and junior potholes well, but may delude a rider not used to their action into thinking that the front brake doesn't work too well - whereas it does, and not just because this, too, is Made in England (by AP). In spite of the hefty 675-pound claimed dry weight of the Super X, the single 11.5-inch front disc and its four-piston caliper do a surprisingly good job of stopping the bike - except· that because of the fork design, it brakes very flat when you squeeze the lever, with minimal front-end dive that will cause some to underestimate its effect. Most cruiser customers will rely equallyon the same-size rear disc (gripped by a two-pot caliper) to throw off most of their speed, though, and using the two together maxes out stopping power - bigtime. Another area where the Excelsior excels is, rather surprisingly, in the handling - a surprise because with a 65-inch wheelbase, this is a B-I-G bike. But its steering geometry has been very wellthought-out and, helped by the low center of gravity, it is not only stable but also steers easily. Okay, it's not a sportbike - but by the standards of the maxi-cruiser class, the Super X turns in to the right-angle bends that will be its second home as if on !Iii autopilot. You don't have to lug it from ~ side to side like some V-twins of my .. acquaintance. And the precise, responsive pickup • from the dialed-in EFYs easy-action throttIe adds to the feeling of refinement!. Compared to the equivalent products of • four other makers that I've sampled in §! the past year, riding the Super X opens a" _ new chapter in cruiser.competence - even u> if the fact tha t the quite low-set floorboards don't hinge upward is a major nono. The Dunlop tires give quite enough 36 grip to get them scraping if you start hus- "I =! lil o i tling through turns overenthusiastically, and there's no safety margin left for panic avoidance. Needs fixing: Hinge that bracket! It's a credit to the Hanlons and their team that this motorcycle is as good as it is, straight out of the box. Remember this is the first product of a ground-zero company, which not only reawakens the name of one of America's most historic marques, but also has to compete with an established giant for even a smail slice of a market which may be moving on from the neo-retro look that the Super X represents. Customers must decide whether at $17,950 for the all-black base-model Super X, or $18,515 for one in Excelsior green or Henderson blue - E-H's debut model deserves their attention, even with the good quality of manufacture represented by the heavy chrome and thick paint of the early-production test bike,. albeit at prices around lo-percent more expensive that the equivalent Harley model. But the view from the bridge as you settle into the spacious seat of the Super-X Starship Cruiser and peer forward over the prow of the big, silver headlamp, between the thick, chromed fork springs and the dome-backed turn signals hanging from the handlebars, is unique in motorcycling, meriting due consideration by those in the marketplace. And the way those fork springs oscillate gently before your eyes under the vibration from road shock, or shimmer in the sun as the light glints off the headlamp, makes you glad that the dream of 'two men and a woman to provide an alternative definition of motorcycling The American Way came tme. They've done it right, so far, Let's hope the market backs them up, and customers agree. It's all a question of choice right? CIII A little history_ T o best appreciate the significance of the HanJons' revival of the Excelsior marque and its companion Henderson brand, you either have to be a student of American antique motorcycle lore or on the downhill run-in to that great garage in the Icy and blessed with a long memory. Por it's been nigh on half a century - since Indian's 1953 demise, in fact - that Harley-Davidson ha monopolized American motorcycle manufacture, currently laying claim to around 40 percent of total bike sales in the United States, the world's richest motorcycle market. By contrast, Honda is next up, with just 22 percent of what is a multibillion-dollar business. But before Harley started hogging things. back at the dawn of the century now about to end, there were three main players in American motorcycling. out of the more than 200 marques that existed back then: Harley-Davidson, Indian - and Excelsior. So, alongside GM and Ford, read Chrysler - or to Norton and Triumph, add BSA. [n fact, the British bike analogy is a good one, for just as BSA, the gunmaker-tumed-motorcycle manufacturer, was in Britain, Excelsior was the leading builder of bicycles in America at the outbreak of World War I, having been founded as a pedal-cycle supply company in 1876. But in 1905 the Chicago-based concern built its first motorcycle, an P-head/inlet-over-exhaust ("pocket valve" or IOE) push-rod single that was joined in 1910 by the first of the famous line of similar-format 61cubic-inch (lOOOcc) X-twin Excelsiors - so called because, though a 45degree V-twin like its H-D and (40-degree) Indian rivals. its offset cyLinders denoted connecting rods that sat side by side on the crank-pin, rather than the fork-and-bJade system the other two used (and Harley still does). The X-twin was an instant hit in tI,e fast-growing U.S. bike market of the day, prompting bicycle tycoon 19naz Schwinn to buy Excelsior in 1911 as his entry ticket to motorcycle manufacture and build a new factory in Chicago that was one of the architectural wonders of its day - a six-floor, all-concrete building housing the world's largest motorcycle plant, with a test-track on the roof! .Schwinn's acquisition of Excelsior saw the company swiftly become a volume manufacturer and one of America's Big Three, as well as a major player in world motorcycling, with the X-twins exported to Europe under the "American-X" label, to avoid confusion with the norelation British and German Excelsior marques. Though a money man at heart, Schwinn became a keen biker who realized the importance of engineering excellence, as well as competition, in raising the profile of his company and endowing its products with customer appeal. Hence the development of the Big-X Excelsiors which collected a host of world records over two decades, aU based on the stock 61-inch (lOOOcc) IOE X-twin, and on one of which Lee Humiston became the first man in the world to be officially timed at over 100 mph o.n two wheels, in Los Angeles in December 1912. Star Excelsior racers such as jake DeRosier, Bob Perry and joe PetraJi carved out daredevil reputations as aces of the .U.S. board tracks and dirt ovals during the teens and '20s, initially riding Excelsior's catalogued SC (as in "short coupled," or short wheelbase) customer racers to victory against their Indian and Harley rivals, in events from one mile up to 300 miles in length, at speeds as high as 90 mph. Then, in 1920, Excelsior designer j.A. McNeil - himself an ace dirt tracker - produced one of the finest American V-twin engines ever built, the bevel-drive overhead-<:am Excelsior racer, which helped the factory riders continue winning into the Roaring '205. Racing success helped fuel the boom in Excelsior sales, aided by a wide range of street models varying from a two-stroke single Ladies' model to the meaty 45-inch (75Occ) JOE Super-X introduced in 1925. With its unit-consrruction aluminum-crankcase engine used as a stressed frame member and fitted with gear primary drive, this was an immensely avant-garde design that humbled the period technology of its rivals. Its immediate, and deserved, commercial success, and Excelsior's influential presence at the industry's three-way power table, forced offi- (From left to right) Jenny. Dave and Dan Hanlon were motorcycle enthusiasts with a dream. The Super X Is the culmlnlltlon of six years of nar-eonstant work to bring the IWW Excelslor-Henderson to life. cial adoption of the 45-cubic-inch class for racing in 1926 - a formula that remains in force for AMA dirt Nationals even today. Thank Excelsior, Harley fans.. , In the meantime. Ignaz Schwinn had added the respected Detroitbased Henderson marque to his stable in 1917, allowing Excelsior to be the first of the Big Three to offer a range of prestige four-cylinder models, on one of which adventurer Carl Clancy had been the first motorcyclist to circle the globe back in 1913. Henderson only ever made fours: Harley never got around to it, and Indian only did so by acquiring the failing Ace company in 1927, which the Henderson brothers (William. and Tom) had founded in 1919, after leaving Excelsior, disillusioned with Schwinn's way of doing things i.e., commercially. The fact that the range of Ace fours (later renamed Indians) was designed by former Excelsior engineer Art Lemon, who left the company to join them, makes the connection all the more poignant - but the Henderson was the catalyst of four-cylinder American motorcycle design, and a long-distance record breaker, too: Henderson rider Wells Bennett set a new world 24--hour record at over 65 mph in 1922, which stood for 15 years. Prestige Henderson owners included Henry Ford who also owned an Excelsior X·twin given to him by his chum Charles Lindbergh, of flying fame.... In 1929, Excelsior launched the benchmark version of the Super X, the streamline styling of which set the future standard for the American Way of building twin-cylinder motorcycles, and in doing so created the prototype for today's V-twin cruisers, whether made in America - or japan. Long, low and lean, with a seat height of just 27 inches, the new full-fender Excelsior introduced design features that have been a signature of all such bikes (i.e., Harleys) ever since. These included the splitteardrop fuel tanks surmounted by instruments and located atop the frame tube, rather than below it as before, with the JOE X-twin engine (a limited-edition OHV version allowed Excelsior to win National Hillclimb titles in 1929 and 1930, but was never adapted to the street) set low in the frame, and - an Excelsior trademark - the leading-link forks passing through the front mudguard. The Super X also in!l"oduced the motorcycle world to bright, vibrant colors, including two-toned paint schemes like the green-and-yellow of the Hanlons' own such bike, and had its introduction not coincided with the Wall Street crash, it would surely have been an even bigger oommercial as well as styJe-setting success. . But the harsh effects of the Depression on motorcycle sales, coupled WJth the need to devote resources to his conversely buoyant bicycle business, persuaded Ignaz Schwinn - by now in his mid-70s - to close shop. At a March 1931 meeting with his key management, he announced the shutdown of Excelsior-Henderson production with the famous statement, "Boys, today we quit.. And they did - just like that.

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