Evil Twin

EVIL TWIN

Bad-assed when not broken

Traveling at more than 130 mph on an unfaired motorcycle produces an unrelenting windblast, making it rather difficult to identify a change in audible mechanical clatter emanating from between the knees. A sudden loss of power and tightening felt within the engine, however, provides a pretty strong clue that all is not well, prompting a quick tug on the clutch lever and coast down.

When the boss issued my orders at the weekly editorial meeting to acquire dyno and dragstrip performance for the Confederate Hellcat, it was also suggested I take along some spare Autolites, as J.P Burns reported the bike's engine-built by R&R Cycles to Confederate

spec-was prone to fouling sparkplugs. Sure enough, midway into the first pull on our dyno, the engine went off song, fouling the rear plug. Subsequent troubleshooting was cut short when the starter solenoid decided to go bye-bye.

Following a call to Confederate, the bike was taken to a local service shop that has experience working on Hellcats. The starter was replaced with a more reli able unit that Confederate began using after our testbike was assembled, and the ignition system was found to be the culprit causing the inter mittent misfire Burns had experienced.

Seemingly ready to rumble, I picked up the bike and headed to our desert test site. I had a hell of a time trying to complete a full quar ter-mile pass without missing a shift. After several aborted runs, I finally succeeded only after reaching down and changing up from sec ond-to-third and thirdto-f ourth using my left hand! It was during the subsequent top-speed pass that the rear cylinder overheated and damaged itself along with its piston and rings.

With deadline fast upon us, the bike was returned for major repairs. The ductile-iron barrels were replaced with aluminum jugs running steel liners (another mid-life Hellcat update) and

fresh pistons. The shift linkage was also modi fied to the latest spec, offering greater leverage for more positive action. After witnessing the bike's 134 horsepower and astounding 150 foot-pound torque production on our dyno, I was eager for another go in the saddle.

When performing top-gear roll-ons, the Confederate pounded out impressive 3.0-sec ond showings from both 40-60 mph and 60-80 mph. Geared fairly short, the Hellcat had no trouble reaching peak revs in fifth gear, netting 148 mph top-speed on the radar gun. I didn't miss any shifts running down the strip for a best pass of 10.59 seconds at 127.85 mph. All very impressive. The Hellcat leaps off the line

unlike anything I've rid den on the street, posting a 1.09-second 0-30 mph and reaching 60 mph in 2.8 seconds.

Riding this hot-rod around town took me back 25 years to a time when testosterone ruled my thinking and Saturday nights were spent rum blin' the boulevard in a jacked-up Nova looking for any excuse to paint the pavement with posi-trac tion stripes peeled off my BF Goodrich 1/A radials. It's a shame Burns rode the bike when it wasn't running properly. Loud seems a lot less obnox ious and engine vibes much more tolerable with the knowledge that the beast is capable of flying its fat back skin in the face of `Busas and the like for a good city block.

Were our tribulations any indication of what Hellcat owners can expect? Confederate does back its bikes with a 12month/unlimited-mileage warranty, and it aims to tend to customer-owned bikes with the kind of urgency our unit received. Speaking of which, the bike we rode was the very first `Bama-built Hellcat following the Katrina catastrophe, which would explain most of our problems, assembled out of whatever parts could be scrounged up to make a deadline for use in the upcom ing action film Rogue starring Jet Li. Perhaps Confederate gained a few new customers while on the Jet set. -Don Canet

Don Canet