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Wink Eller’s Project X-Wedge

Article And Photos By: Chris Callen

Originally Published In The December 2012 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

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At the young age of 17, Wink Eller set off from his home in North Carolina to pursue his dreams of being part of the So-Cal scene. He was a big fan of salt flat and dry lake bed racing and had been reading all the mags and studying the players. Then one day he just decided to load up the old Pan and just go be a part of it all. It’s been more than thirty years since Wink set out on that trip. He now has a list of accomplishments that range from becoming a member of the historic “Gear Grinders” to earning over 40 land speed records. He has mentored an entire generation of racers new to the sport, has built some of the fastest bikes on the planet and still to this day wakes up every morning thinking about his next strategy to make another pass.

Now I’m lucky enough to have become friends with Mr. Eller over the years, and a lot of his recent story I know first hand. He’s one of those guys that you can burn through an hour with on the telephone before either one of you ever gets to the reason you called in the first place. He is a motorcycle nut down to the last fiber in his being. Even off the salt his own personal FXR has over 250,000 miles on it and he’s had two others like it with similar mileage. In a nut shell, Wink is one of the senior members in the traditions of 2 wheel racing, riding and the culture that surrounds both. So when S&S decided to back Wink in the X-Wedge project, we signed right up. Many of you will remember the previous articles where we followed along as Wink began construction on this beast, but it all lead up to Speed Week. Wink admits to himself that it was just a real disaster. The original plan was to finish the bike in enough time to take it out to the S&S facility and have some good solid test and tune hours with the chassis Dyno. Unfortunately, Wink got sick and ended up having emergency surgery that would put him severely behind schedule. It ended up cutting out all the test and tune time, leaving him to scramble to just get the bike done before he had to leave for Speed Week.

This is where the electronic demons that Bonneville is so famous for started to go to work on Wink. At first, he worked furiously to try and get things figured out. He was the first on the salt each morning and the last off, but as he tells all the young racers he has mentored over the years, sometimes the best thing to do is just step back and regroup. He had worked too damn hard on this bike to rush getting it out and make unsuccessful passes or possibly break something. Eventually, the problem would be diagnosed, but it was so late in the event that he and his wife Dee packed up their gear and headed for home. Back in the shop, Wink had everything he needed to square this bike away. He got on the phone with the S&S guys and Dee downloaded a new EFI map. Just like that it went from running like complete shit to running like a top, literally in a matter of minutes. Wink says that it’s a real learning curve and he still marvels at how much technology has come along with the V-Twin motor. He’s spent countless hours keeping up to speed on the latest innovations, and even in the header system on this bike he has 3 weeks into its construction. Wink studied where the most effective placement of the 02 sensors would be. Ultimately he found that in their newest system, Harley-Davidson has it figured out right so that’s the model he used as well. This was all to make sure the Daytona Twin Tech closed loop tuner would have close to perfect data to make its adjustments from. He went on to admit though, that if someone would have told him 20 years ago that he’d be hooking up a laptop to his race bike, he couldn’t have fathomed it. These days that’s really started to replace the Dyno for optimizing performance on these bikes.

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So with the bike dialed in and plenty of time to spare (Ha ha), Wink headed off to the BUB Motorcycle Land Speed Trials. Low and behold, the first pass his X-Wedge made was 168 m.p.h., significantly in the event that he and his wife Dee packed up their gear and headed for home. Back in the shop, Wink had everything he needed to square this bike away. He got on the phone with the S&S guys and Dee downloaded a new EFI map. Just like that it went from running like complete shit to running like a top, literally in a matter of minutes. Wink says that it’s a real learning curve and he still marvels at how much technology has come along with the V-Twin motor. He’s spent countless hours keeping up to speed on the latest innovations, and even in the header system on this bike he has 3 weeks into its construction. Wink studied where the most effective placement of the 02 sensors would be. Ultimately he found that in their newest system, Harley- Davidson has it surpassing the existing record of 144.

The problem with this was that run happened at the very end of the day; the salt was perfect, but the sun was coming down and there would be no time to back that pass up and make it into the record books. The next day the rain canceled racing and the day after the track was still in pretty bad shape. Wink went back to the drawing board, knowing he had plenty of motor to break the record. He slowed it down, geared it down and made a record pass of 157 m.p.h., almost identical in both directions. Now Wink is just at the beginning of a four year plan for advancing this project through the range of speed he believes he can get out of it. His ultimate goal even beyond getting the 200 m.p.h. hat is to eventually set the record on the fastest conventional 2 wheeled pushrod blown motorcycle. With S&S and Baker behind him, along with all of his sponsors, he thinks this motor will have more than enough performance to get him there. In the end, the hours, the money, the success and the failure is all what it’s all about for Wink. This is his true passion and I’m sure he’ll be doing it for as long as he can take breath in on his own. Look for more coverage on this project in the next couple issues as we continue to follow Wink to El Mirage and other tracks to see how far he can push his X-Wedge creation.

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Project X-Wedge Tech Sheet

Owner: Wink Eller

City: Orange, CA

Fabrication By: Wink Eller

Year: 2012

Model: LSR

Time: 4 Months

Value: $75K and Going

ENGINE

Year: 2012

Model: S&S Cycles X-Wedge

Builder: Wink’s Custom Cycles

Ignition: S&S/Daytona Twin Tech

Displacement: 132ci

Pistons: S&S

Heads: S&S

Cam(s): S&S Easy Start

Carb: Fuel Injected-Del Fi, S&S Turbo Charged

Air Cleaner: Spectro

Exhaust: Wink’s Custom Cycles

Primary: Barnett Belt Drive w/ Lock-Up Clutch

TRANSMISSION

Year: 2012

Make: Baker Direct 5-Speed

Shifting: Pingel Ent. – Air Shift

FRAME

Year: 2012

Make: Rolling Thunder/Wink’s Custom Cycles

Rake: FXR Geometry

Stretch: 2”

FRONT END

Type: H-D Showa

Builder: H-D/Wink’s Custom Cycles

Extension: None

Triple Trees: Accutronics

WHEELS

Front Wheel: PM

Size: 17”

Tire: Dunlop Racing Radial

Brakes: PM

Rear Wheel: PM

Size: 17”

Tire: Dunlop Racing Radial

Brakes: PM

PAINT

Painter: Orange Co. Plating

Color: Dormant Blue

Type: Powdercoat

Chroming: None

Graphics: None

ACCESSORIES

Bars: Wink’s Custom Cycles/Niedwick Machine

Risers: None

Hand Controls: PM

Gas Tank(s): T-Rod’s Speed Shop

Front fender: Biker’s Choice

Rear fender: Biker’s Choice

Seat: H-D Badlander

Foot Controls: Wink’s Custom Cycles

Oil Tank: Rolling Thunder

Taillight: None

Headlight: None

Speedo: S.C.T.A.

Photographer: Chris Callen

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