Ever heard of a Wakan Cafe Racer? Well, after reading this, you do!
“Engineering and More Ltd is the company behind the Wakan, and was established in December 1999 by a Frenchman, Joel Domergue, with the specific intention of developing a new motorcycle.
The guiding principles of the Wakan, beyond the obvious exceptional performance and handling characteristics that were sought after, were to obtain a compact design that used the engine as the core technical element, to conceive a bike that could be built using modern industrial manufacturing and assembly processes, to limit the number of components involved, and to suffer no compromises in quality.
The design criteria for the Wakan Cafe Racer were:
- Be exceptionally rigid for precise handling
- Not to hide the engine, neither by the frame, the air-box, nor any other technical or aesthetic artifice. –> They took a 1.640cc 45° V-twin S&S engine with 115HP
- Have a very low centre of gravity so as to reduce parasitic weight transfer during acceleration, braking and cornering.
- Have a maximum weight of 180 kg.
- Have a forward riding position to give more control to the rider.
It is a glorious mixture of nostalgic appearance and bang up-to-date technology,’ the Special S&S 50th anniversary Track Racer would make us cross the road to drool all over it.
The engine is mounted via 8 fixing points to a tubular oil-carrying spine frame, thus creating a most compact load-bearing structure. They tilted the inlet assembly 43° upwards so as to site the air-box and forced-air inlet just above the engine, in a volume generally occupied by the petrol tank, thus leaving the engine slim and uncluttered, and leaving the rider unobstructed by any lateral projection. The petrol tank is located under and to the front of the seat so as to lower the centre of gravity and reduce still further the width of the motorcycle.
The Wakan Cafe Race is styled to respect and follow the simplicity and rationality of the principal technical choices, whilst introducing a subtle mixture of innovation and authenticity.
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