Australian Motorcycle News — January 30, 2018

44 amcn.com.au

exhaust, settling to a 900rpm idle with none of

the clackety rattles of other American air-cooled

V-twins, and it’s relatively quiet too.

The bike exudes quality and togetherness – like

the Fighter, it no longer feels like a collection of

parts but is more homogeneous, more refined. S&S

doesn’t fit any vibration-sapping counterblancers,

but the triple-camshaft X-Wedge motor is pretty

smooth by air-cooled V-tw in standards, w ith no

undue vibration at any revs, in spite of being solid-

mounted for extra chassis stiffness.

Thanks to refined fuelling delivered by the

Delphi EFI, it’ll pull cleanly off idle with acres of

grunt and very satisfying acceleration. Just crack

the throttle in any gear and the Confederate

surges forward irresistibly, but controllably.

Engine mapping is ideal, without too vivid a

throttle response; wheelies aren’t an issue with the

long wheelbase. Impressive acceleration comes

from the huge torque at almost any engine speed.

It peaks at just 2000rpm, but holds hard and strong

all the way through to the 5800rpm rev limiter –

which you have no business ever approaching.

The engine’s happy zone is between 2000-

3500rpm, so you’re best off shifting up at around

4000rpm as shown on the bike’s only instrument,

a round black-faced Motogadget analogue tacho

behind the steering head. It’s ver y café racer,

containing a small digital panel showing road

speedandthefuellevel,witharedignitionlight,

green N-for-Neutral, and that’s all.

Surfing that oh-so-strong torque, you must

remember that while 3000rpm in fifth gear is

already 160km/h, it takes ver y little time to get

there. The light-action hydraulic Bandit clutch

(surprising, because of the torque it handles)

is barely troubled accelerating out of even the

tightest turn pace, it’s best to keep the revs dialled

above 2000rpm where peak torque is delivered

to avoid any transmission snatch. But there’s

a plateau in the torque curve from there to the

5100rpm power peak, where the 2136cc motor

delivers those 150 horses at the rear wheel.

The action of the five-speed gearbox is quite

positive, swapping ratios more smoothly than

on the Fighter, which made a clunk when

downshifting from second to first through neutral.

But with so much torque, two of the five ratios

remain completely superf luous – you can start

off in third gear without slipping the clutch very

much, and the Bomber will go almost any where in

top gear, with hugely impressive roll-on capability

from any where in the rev range.

This is a great bike for close quarters traffic

combat, using the S&S engine’s meaty response to

zap past cars or trucks. But while you might expect

all that from such a big-cube motor, the fact that

this level of performance is delivered with such

ENGINE ROOM

LIKE THE P51 Fighter, the

Bomber is powered by

an air/oil-cooled 2163cc

(132 cubic-inch) triple-

camshaft S&S X-Wedge OHV

56.25-degree V-twin motor

with two valves per cylinder,

a forged one-piece crank

and hefty fl ywheels.

The engine was tailored

for this motorcycle by the

Wisconsin-based company,

with crankcases featuring

dedicated attachment

points to suit the Bomber’s

monocoque frame design.

S&S incorporated

Confederate’s own

cassette-style stacked-shaft

fi ve-speed gearbox (which

Confederate employed

some 23 years ago, well

before Yamaha supposedly

invented it on the R1),

mounted in a housing bolted

to the back of the motor in a

tight unit construction and

using Andrews gears.

A short 44mm-wide

belt primary drive is on the

left-hand side, matched to a

multi-plate dry clutch, and

with fi nal drive on the right,

by chain, because of the

torque on tap.

The no-fuss start-up,

by Big Twin standards,

comes from the S&S Easy

Start cams, reducing

cranking compression

via an innovative feature;

both of the exhaust cam

lobes boast a spring-loaded

compression release where

the valve would normally be

fully closed.

This lobe holds the valve

slightly open at cranking

speed, releasing some

compression and making

the engine easier

to crank.

Once it starts and reaches

800rpm, the compression

release lobes then retract

and the exhaust valve

closes fully, as normal.

Clever!

FA-13 COMBAT BOMBER

1. The mid-mounted footpegs
   hinder lean angle, but when
   your exhaust looks like that –
   who cares!


2. From this angle it’s easy to
   understand how the C-Bomb
   can claim the highest torque-to-
   weight ratio in the business

You must remember 3000rpm

in fi fth gear is already 160km/h

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