Wild Wakan coming soon
America-based Joel Domergue has set up a manufacturing company to produce a sports bike called, the Wakan, based on an S&S 100 cubic-inch (1640cc) V-twin.The machine claims 115 horses and 115ft-lbs of torque, for a bike that claims to weigh a mere 176 kilos half-dry (oil but no fuel).
Fuel is carried in a tank below the seat, while the front suspension is a set of upside-down Ceriani forks. The front brake is a single disc with a six-piston caliper.
The first 100 or so machines will be using a single Keihin carburetor fed through an air scoop in the top of the dummy fuel tank. Later models (2008) will more than likely be fuel injected.
Projected pricing for the first few bikes is US$35,000, though this is likely to come down as production gets fully underway.
Freelance bike journalist Alan Cathcart is reported to say the handling is similar to that of a Buell, but with a significant power boost.
Domergue, who at one stage owned the successful trials bike firm Scorpa, says on his web site that the dream is not to build "just another bloody special" but the modern day motorcycle equivalent of a Shelby Cobra sports car.
The company says: "When Caroll Selby came up with the AC Cobra, he talked about 'a good big American V8 motor, reliable and easy to maintain, and a European chassis, light and maneuverable, which will make up for the horse-power'.
"The famous American 100 cubic inch V-Twin was therefore the logical choice for the sensations and power required in his European sports bike, a mixture of visual minimalist past and feather-weight technological present."
See www.engmore.com for more information.
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