The temperature was chilly with a chance of lowside. A crisp Wisconsin morning that Tumblr fanatics dream of with curving roads, dense foliage, and a sheen of frost. And here I was standing in front of a 160-horsepower (at the rear wheel) bagger that was shivering with fury.
Hooray.
What brought me here? S&S Cycles and a dare. I said some very unkind things about baggers a few months ago, and David Zemla, Vice President of Marketing for S&S Cycles, reached out with the retort, "Want to come up and ride the Dragon?" Which is an unusual text, but I was interested after just finishing up a Game of Thrones binge.
The Dragon referred to S&S's 143 cubic inch Harley-Davidson Road Glide Ultra with all the trimmings. Big T143 motor. Sportbike suspension (Öhlins). Sportbike brakes (Lyndall). Sportbike tires (Pirelli), and a catalog assault of S&S parts to make it run, ride, and scare the breakfast out of you in one kit for $9K plus the cost of parts, labor, and the bike itself.
The result? One hundred and sixty horsepower to the rear wheel, along with 170 pound-feet of torque. That's 55 more pound-feet than a Kawasaki H2R, attached to a 900-lb. fully dressed bagger. And it remains fully dressed in the full sense of the term, with all the electronics and bags attached, although you can't read the screen at idle since your vision will be blurred from the vibration.
This is S&S's "race bike" and it is also daily ridden. Because the employees of S&S have a sense of humor about both a race bike and a daily going back all the way to the company's original creation, the Tramp. If you doubt how a package like this can stay in one piece, the owner, an employee there, has ridden it 15,000 miles, and the bike went for 20 hours straight in Sturgis in the hands of amateurs; even the clutch is intact. And it runs 9's in the quarter.
Why would anyone do this? Put simply, it’s in the company's blood. Started by George Smith in the 1950s with performance pushrods, S&S Cycle has been making V-twin things punch the atmosphere in a straight line since then. From salt to strip, and at any intersection in between.
The headquarters is littered with 200-mph Harleys, land speed bikes, and unfortunate billet holdovers from the heady days of pro-street.
Everything is prototyped, developed, built, and warehoused in house. In fact, the materials are all sourced from a 300-400 mile radius. It typifies the Midwest mindset: If you want something done right, you better stuff it full of horsepower.
And have horsepower it does. The Dragon is overtly pissed off at idle. Clutch chattering, and loud pipes that scream not of retirement rebellion, but of killer intent. Everything has been butched up from a stock Road Glide.
The smooth and easy clutch of the OE Road Glide has been replaced by one that feels like it’s from a real motorcycle, less forgiving and with crisp engagement. The gearchange sounds like a rifle chambering. And then you start to ride the bike, and it becomes the most docile pussycat ever. Dragon? As if.
You get confident. You give it some throttle. And the earth turns upside down and you make amends with whichever deity is in-office that day. The hit is instantaneous, and violent.
Traction happens somewhere between third and fourth. As was instructed but ignored because freedom. First is useless. The suspension and brakes? Great, but they’re still saddled to a bagger, and feel is noticeably lacking on turn-in, which leads to guesswork. The floorboards are in the original location, so clearance is at a minimum.
It is relentless, and excessive, and typifies American fast—that good old boy simple recipe of punt and pray that makes muscle cars adored, but with the fit, finish, and expertise to make it reliable, smooth, and well mannered.
Could you ride it every day? Yes, and there are apparently 64 takers out there and counting. Is it worth 40K? In terms of the maximum of the maximum, yes. It is as decadent and useless as can be, and is all the better for it.
But S&S makes parts for every Harley and beyond. If they can make baggers dance they can make your Sportster sing. They’re a culture dedicated to making the MoCo products move. Each, with a twitch to go fast, and only knowing the function side of function before form.
If you want the most obscene sleeper on the planet, this bike is for you.
SPECIFICATIONS: S&S DRAGON