1999 Excelsior Henderson Super X The Other American Cruiser
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- Here is a brief overview of the most recent Excelsior Henderson Super X. It is a tragic story of what could have been a pretty promising motorcycle.
www.zachosport...
ridermagazine....
stores.superxp...
Some important background information on these incredible bikes. From the ground up, these bikes were a brand new design. These are NOT clone bikes in anyway. For the most part they were well made and well designed bikes. The biggest issue had to do with excessive clearance on the transmission bearings (bushings) inside a number of the gears. The transmission manufacturer installed the wrong size on some bikes and delivered some transmission cassettes with the gears that ever so slightly wobbled and caused the circlips to fail. This allowed the gears to move around on the shaft and potentially lock the rear wheel. This was quickly diagnosed and remedied. This occurred on a number of bikes that got out the door. Not all but enough to warrant having the tranny checked out by someone familiar with the fix (like Atlantic EH LLC over in Elkton Va.). The vast majority of bikes that you see on the road have likely had this fix especially if they have more than a few thousand miles. The bikes you need to be aware of are the brand new bikes that were never sold. They will need the transmission bushings checked and if necessary, replaced. Not a terribly expensive fix on these bikes as it simply requires removing the primary cover to get access (no need to split the case). I would not be afraid to buy one of these if you can get it under $12k. These bikes (once properly prepped and with the tranny fix), are impressive bikes that are reliable and will run strong for many years. They're essentially metric cruisers and have many parts that will swap with well known metric cruisers. The entire fuel injection system, to include the Sagem computer, is period Triumph and everything is still available. The same goes for the entire ignition system as well. Everything's still available but you'll need cross referenced part numbers to other manufacturers (this is available for most of the high wear items and other consumables). Because of the Hanlons and the tireless efforts of the initial owners of these bikes (originally a tight knit community of mostly old world Harley guys), back in the early 2000's, ALL of the issues have been solved, including alternate cross manufacturer part numbers. So it should be possible to keep these bikes running well for many years. To get ALL of the information you need to know about these bikes you must check out the Excelsior Henderson Riders website h-t-t-p-s-:-/-/-w-w-w-xhmotorcycles-com (remove the hyphens), and or call Atlantic EH over in Elkton, Va. (h-t-t-p-s-:-/-/-stores-superxparts-com ) Jamie over at Atlantic has been involved with rebuilding and servicing these bikes since the first ones rolled off the assembly line in 1999. Once you buy one and make these contacts you're going to meet several hundred serious motorcycle people who are some of the most helpful people you've ever met. They love to ride and keep the these bikes running and will make sure you have the info to keep you riding as well. You will be welcomed into one of the more exclusive motorcycle clubs (several gatherings of owners occur in various states every year and until recently a few hundred owners would get together every year for Rolling Thunder and ride into D.C. as a group). - BlueMax1910
The Hanlon Brothers, founders of the Excelsior- Henderson company would have continued to succeed long after 2000 if the principle investor hadn't become so anxious to pull out his funding. (if you'll recall there was a boom in industry between 2000 & 2008). Dan Hanlon informed me that after several years in court, he had succeeded in recovering a lot if not most of the intellectual property that was illegally seized by the investor (who'd taken the company in receivership) but because so much time had slipped by, the company's future in re manufacturing bikes is very much in doubt.
I'm from Belle Plaine Mn. I personally don't have a Super X, but I have friends that do. Wish I had one. Put some miles on one 20 years ago. Nice riding bike, but I agree the vibration was a bit much especially at idle. The Hanlon Brothers made a valiant effort, wish the company could have kept going.
Had they been able to keep building the bikes, they would possibly have all the kinks taken care of in a short while.
Beautiful bike's...
The early bikes (I'm not certain but I believe before S/N 1000) had a different crankshaft. This was updated (and has a different P/N), to change and correct the balance for much reduced vibration. Some of the old Harley guys liked the earlier bikes because of the vibration. It wasn't excessive but some of the younger riders preferred the latter design because they were smoother running.
@@revelationakagoldeneagle8045 - The Excelsior-Henderson owners groups have over the last 23 years, gotten ALL of the kinks out on our own. These bikes are now dependable cruisers. See my reply below.
Thanks for the video. I just bought a 2000 Super X and it rides much better than my 2003 HD Heritage. Found a company that still has parts and tons of information about the brand.
What company? Buying one soon myself. Thanks.
I worked for a dealership in Pennsylvania that were selling these. I loved this bike
I have a Virgin Brand new Super X.. Still in the crate.. zero miles... It's the first two tone painted one they made. It's got a unique VIN because it has RC in it which was ONLY available to employees (road crew) It's even been hand signed by all the employees that built or involved in the design. The crate is signed too.
Cool. You should busy it out and drive that sucker!!
Is this bike for sale? Would love to find one with the big three fixes done. It's surprising how many of them have low miles but none of the corrections made.
Hi. I like super X, and i'd like to buy it someday. The main question is where I can buy some parts?
Parts are readily available through Atlantic EH in Elkton Va. Almost every part is there at reasonable prices.
Parts must be a bitch to source
😂 there's more parts than bikes. Assemblers were the problem. Not the machinists and fabricators. Same thing with jeep. Chrysler took it away from AMC. They weren't sure how many parts that were going to need. I bought a caliper for a 1991 Jeep Wrangler last year.I picked it up at Napa. The box had about a half an inch of dust on it.😂 Napa had the original Mopar caliper.
Being from Minnesota theses bikes were WAY overpriced
Wait till you see the price in a year or two. 25 years from now. In mint condition. No accidents. Low miles let's say under 5,000 mi. A quarter of a million😊🤞
Good overview of the bike and it's hard to fault your summary since you're not a fanatic and nailed so much of it. The paint: that isn't silver. It is in fact the Excelsior Green / Metallic Oyster two-tone. The only color option that had silver was the Henderson Blue / Silver in 1999. Oyster was the complement color on the green and Sunburnt Red bikes, as well as the entire color of the 2000 Touring Limited Edition. Transmission: it wasn't any of the gears that were the problem. It had to do with excessive clearance on the transmission bearings (bushings) inside a number of the gears. The transmission supplier got it wrong on some bikes and the gears wobbled, causing the circlips to fail. This would allow the gears to move around on the shaft and potentially lock the rear wheel. The same transmission gear set was on the Yamaha XV1600 of the time. Yamaha had a factory recall on all of those bikes to fix the same issue. Unlike the Yamaha, removing the E-H transmission is only a few hours and can be done in the frame. The Yamahas needed the cases split. Air cleaner housing. The issue was not the plastic backing plate. The problem was the support bracket underneath that held the throttle body and air cleaner. They failed from vibration which twisted the intake manifold. That twist would cause the intake o-rings to gap, leak and cause the lean condition you described. A new bracket could have fixed it but, the easy solution was the exposed air cleaner kit you see on that bike. Rear hub bearing failure: my theory has been that it was more caused by the belt being run too tight and damaging the hub. None of mine have had a hub failure but I run the belts loose.
I have 5 of these bikes: a Jenny, two Deadwoods, number #26 and a green/oyster. I've had 'em since 2001. My wife thinks the transmission bushings in my head are loose, and my circlips have failed. But I have been a huge fan of these unique American bikes!