BIG news for special project builders and customisers - the availability of the first EURO 4 compliant aftermarket engine.
Lauge Jensen Engineering in Denmark have teamed up with noted American aftermarket engine and performance parts specialists S&S Cycle of Wisconsin to unveil a line of 111" fuel injected 'Sleipner' engines at INTERMOT.
The engine is now ready to ship and available straight away for builders, customisers and volume manufacturers for the 2015 custom build season.
With testing and development work undertaken both at S&S' own facility at Viola, Wisconsin, and at TÜV Automotive in Pfungstadt, Germany, the much more stringent EURO 4 regulations involve running the engine for at least 1,000km (the efficiency of catalytic converters declines with use) and rolling road simulation of various riding situations and engine behaviors.
Uffe Lauge Jensen, who established his own custom bike building company in 2008, told us that in addition to complete bikes (bespoke and volume production), the plan was to offer the engine that he needed to develop also to custom bike builders and manufacturers in Europe for one-off and volume use.
The latest news is that his sister company, Lauge Jensen Engineering, is now ready to start marketing the engine and plans to give the programme its public debut in Europe at the AMD World Championship at INTERMOT (September 29th - October 5th), under the 'Sleipner' motor brand. Norse mythology has it that Sleipner was Odin's immensely powerful and fast eight-legged horse!
The EURO 4 regulations come into effect on January 1st 2016, and Uffe told IDN that "being the first with EURO 4 may not be a primary concern for some customers, but it will give owners the reassurance that their bike is future-proof, and ahead of the rest in terms of its low emissions output".
Lauge Jensen designed its own catalytic converter exhaust system for the project, which Uffe says was "calibrated specifically to the cat/chassis set-up. As builders and volume producers start planning already for bikes that will need to be road legal in 2016, this is the time for customisers to start planning for this next stage in Europe's regulations.
"As v-twin performance market leaders, S&S are the obvious and best manufacturer for us to have partnered with on this project, and their reputation, experience and expertise means that custom bike builders, and those planning series production, can be assured that their customers will be compliant straight away".
Speaking about their collaboration with Lauge Jensen, S&S said that they were
"uniquely positioned to support our customer and help develop a package that is not only efficient and clean, but retains the character and sound that riders want from an air-cooled v-twin".
Uffe Lauge Jensen went on to say “the new '1-eleven Squarehead' Sleipner motor is mean, lean and green!
"At first, meeting the restrictions of the EURO 4 regulations impacted drastically on the power and noise characteristics, but by careful development of the internals and fuel injection software, the package we have created restored the 'feel' and sound as well as delivering a powerful result, enjoyable riding experience, and improved fuel consumption".
www.laugejensen.dk
