Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/220782
P32 IN THE WIND HESKETH IS BACK F irst Triumph, then Norton, next Métisse, and now Hesketh – the revival of Britain's bornagain two-wheeled yesterdays is picking up momentum, with another all-new product heading for the marketplace bearing the DNA of an historic brand. Now it's the turn of the youngest marque in the UK's two-wheeled product portfolio to react to the reveille roll call, with the announcement by British businessman Paul Sleeman that production of the all-new Hesketh 24 will kick off in February. In doing so, it'll restore a brand to the marketplace whose resume is so improbable that it's worthy of a Hollywood screenplay. Sleeman, 48, is a mechanical design engineer whose Londonbased company Tullman Design has developed and manufactured the best-selling Diesel Key, a patented invention that makes it impossible to mistakenly fill a diesel-engined vehicle's fuel tank with regular gasoline. That's a process known as miss-fueling, an accident that research has established happens on average 400 times each day in the UK alone – thus consumer sales have taken off around the world, with rental car companies the first in line. The generous profits generated by this and other Tullman Design products have allowed Sleeman to satisfy his ambition to become a motorcycle manufacturer. "I've been a British motorcycle fan since I was very young," he says, "Besides a couple of Heskeths, I've got a Commando 850 - I'm a Norton fan, and it's good to see them back in business again." Sleeman acquired the rights to the Hesketh marque in a deal signed with Lord Alexander Hesketh in May 2010, and since then has been working to re-launch the brand with a range of V-twin motorcycles. The Hesketh 24 is the first of those. This takes its inspiration from Hesketh's Formula 1 roots, employing Hesketh F1 driver James Hunt's Grand Prix winning car (with the number 24) as the theme for its red, white and blue styling. The new bike is powered by a 1950cc American-made S&S X-Wedge OHV 56-degree V-twin motor (similar to the engines equipping the USA's Confederate Hellcat and the Italianmade CR&S DUU). However, the Wisconsin-based engine builder has created a dedicated version of the triple-camshaft XWedge pushrod motor for the new Hesketh, producing 120 hp and matched to a six-speed Baker transmission with belt-driven primary, but chain final drive. This is mounted in a TiG-welded chrome-moly tubular steel twin-loop frame to create a Café Cruiser, complete with underseat exhausts, Öhlins suspension (including a twin-shock rear end), Beringer brakes with fourpiston monobloc calipers front and rear, and 19-inch BST carbon fiber wheels. The 5.9-gallon fuel cell is mounted under the engine. "The Hesketh 24 is a nod to