Excelsior Super X
| Manufacturer | Excelsior Motor Manufacturing & Supply Company |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Schwinn Bicycle Company |
| Production | 1925-1931 |
| Successor | none |
| Engine | air cooled IOE 746 cc (45.5 cu in) V-twin |
| Transmission | 3-speed, chain |
| Weight | 450 lb (204 kg) (estimated) (dry) |
| Fuel capacity | 3 US gal (with a 1.2 gallon reserve) |
The Excelsior Super X was a motorcycle manufactured by the Excelsior Motor Manufacturing & Supply Company from 1925 to 1931. It was the most famous Excelsior motorcycle manufactured by that company and was the first American forty-five cubic inch motorcycle.
Arthur "Connie" Constantine, Assistant Chief Engineer at the Harley-Davidson Motor Company, drew up plans for a mid-sized V-Twin to compete against the Indian Scout. When he presented the unauthorized project to co-founder Walter Davidson, he was reprimanded for wasting the company's time.
Constantine resigned his position at Harley-Davidson and offered his services and his project to Excelsior. Both were accepted, leading to the introduction of the Excelsior Super X in 1925. The design proved to be competitive in motorsports in its first year despite competing against motorcycles with engines of greater capacity.
The Super X effectively replaced Excelsior's other mainstream model, a sixty-one cubic inch V-Twin, which was discontinued during the first year of Super X production. The smaller motorcycle was believed to be a more suitable companion product for their Henderson four-cylinder motorcycle.
The design of the Super X was a considerable departure from its predecessors at Excelsior. Where earlier Excelsiors had an enclosed primary chain transmitting power from the engine to a separate gearbox, the Super X had the engine and transmission together in a single crankcase, using a helical gear to power the transmission directly from the engine. The Super X also marked the return of leading-link forks on Excelsior motorcycles, which had earlier switched to trailing-link forks similar to those used by Indian but with coil springs instead of Indian's quarter-elliptic leaf springs.
The Super X had originally been envisioned as a competitor to the Indian Scout which was, at the time, powered by a thirty-seven cubic inch V-twin engine. Indian's initial response to the Super X came in 1927, when they enlarged the Scout engine to forty-five cubic inches. This defensive move was followed a year later with a more decisive attack, the introduction of the 101 Scout. The new Scout proved to be a formidable competitor both on the racetrack and in the marketplace.
In 1929, the Excelsior-Henderson concern restyled both its motorcycle offerings, the Excelsior Super X and the Henderson Four, for a more contemporary look. These "Streamline" models had tanks that hid the top tube of the frame and wide front fenders with holes for the forks to pass through.
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