S&S Cycle - S&S Performance Parts 2025 L - Volume 67

Introduction

Back in the early 1950s, there was no catalog full of hop up parts for your motorcycle. Making your bike go faster came from cutting parts off and figuring out how to tune the engine better. It was the latter that George Smith Sr. excelled at. Smith knew how to tune, and how to make a bike fast. S&S Cycle History

Smith had a 1939 61ci knucklehead which became a 74ci and finally an 80ci by swapping out larger wheel, rods, cylinders and pistons. Following the formula, more cubic inches requires more gas to run fast, Smith made up a set of twin carb heads and bolted on a pair of Riley carbs. The result of this labor would become the “Tramp” and the terror of Halfday Drag Strip in suburban Chicago. Smith won enough races to gain recognition and a following of people that wanted him to work on their bikes.

Smith and a good friend and fellow drag racer, Stanley Stankos, were in demand back in 1958 with everyone wanting the pair to make their bikes faster. Soon enough a company was born, S&S (Smith and Stankos) started selling their first part, light-weight aluminum pushrods. They were filling a need in the market with good old American business sense.

Stankos decided he liked his upholstery business more than the motorcycle industry at the end of the first year and Smith was encouraged by his wife Marge Smith (whose maiden name was Smith) to buy Stankos out and continue running it together. Marge was an integral partner in the growth and development of S&S fielding tech calls and handling product sales. Smith continued racing and coming up with new performance parts and in 1966 drew up his first carburetor. He knew the stroker engines he was building needed more fuel and knew that he had to make the carburetor the way he wanted it to be. Working closely with Leo Payne it took about a year and a half, but the first S&S carburetors were born. Refinements of that racing carb brought about the first street carbs—an area S&S would specialize in throughout the growth of the business.

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