Mar. 10, 2008 – Aftermarket Digest

Scorpion Sports Launches Fem-TECH ScorpionExoWear

Scorpion Sports will release its first collection of women’s gear, Fem-TECH, in March, a company press release stated.
After releasing its ScorpionExoWear line for men in August, Scorpion researched a product line specifically for women. The company combined elements of ScorpionExoWear apparel, EXO-Tec armor, Kwikwick liners and EXO-Stitched seams to create the new line.
Scorpion’s Fem-TECH line will include entire outfits instead of individual garments. The line will include mesh, textile and leather garments designed for different riding styles.

Drag Specialties Announces New Regional Sales Staff

Drag Specialties announced two new regional sales representatives. Bill Pitt will cover the Southeast region and Kris Burget will be a West Region representative, according to press releases by Drag Specialties.
Pitt was formally the general manager for Thunder Road Harley in Danville, Va., and he spends a lot of his spare time building custom bikes and working on flat track bikes. Burget also is a big motorcyclist; he rides a 2006 Night Train.

Wolverine Adds To Its Board of Directors

Active lifestyle marketer Wolverine World Wide has appointed William Gerber to the company’s board of directors, the company said in a press release Feb. 12.
Gerber joins the board having served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Kelly Services, a staffing solutions company. Gerber also served as vice president of finance and corporate controller for The Limited. He is a certified public accountant and holds a bachelor’s from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.
Gerber also serves on the board of directors of AK Steel Corp. and Kaydon Corp.

Battery Manufacturer to Expand U.S. Plant

EnerSys, a manufacturer, marketer and distributor of industrial batteries, plans to expand its manufacturing facility in Warrensburg, Mo., the company said in a statement.
The plant manufactures EnerSys’ proprietary line of thin plate pure lead technology products, including Armasafe Plus, Genesis, Hawker, ODYSSEY and Powersafe.
The plant expansion will increase its manufacturing capacity 50 percent, necessitated by the growing demand from automotive, telecommunications, aerospace, defense and other industrial users.
“This plant expansion will allow EnerSys to support our customers by providing product support, customer service and dependable power,” said John Craig, chairman, president and CEO.
The plant expansion will take place over a two-year period, increasing the plant’s square footage from 365,000 to 500,000. It also will create about 180 jobs in the Warrensburg area.

S&S Announces Release of T-Series Service Manual

S&S Cycle released its latest service manual, this one focused on the T-Series engine.
S&S says previous service manuals referred a technician to some of the S&S instruction sheets for information not supplied in the manual. This new manual has eliminated the need to research information elsewhere and gives the home or shop technician all the information they need in one package.
“The inclusion of the instruction sheet information added quite a bit of work to the normal service manual production routine,” said Howard Kelly, S&S media and advertising supervisor. “It required a lot of time and effort from the product development and training departments to make this a comprehensive publication, and it couldn’t have been done without all of their extra efforts — it is the best manual we have produced at this point.”
The new S&S T-Series manual P/N 61-1002 will take a technician through the complete servicing of an S&S T124 or T124V, with extra information on the S&S oil pump and Variable Fuel Injection.
More information on all S&S service manuals, engines, high-performance components and apparel is available at www.sscycle.com.

Pilot USA Announces New Yoshimura Apparel Line

Pilot USA has reached agreement with Yoshimura to do an apparel line for the company.
The leather and textile garments feature a full range of jackets, riding gloves and pants for the sport rider. Additional items include sweatshirts and casual jackets. The Yoshimura logo will be a key design component on all the items.
“I’ve been working on this line concept for over six years and was happy to recently finalize this licensing agreement with Yoshimura,” Pilot President Josh Bennett said. “I know that riders will really like this line. It’s top-of-the-line in every way: great looking, premium materials, craftsmanship and attention to detail.”
Pilot will be marketing the new line through distributor Tucker Rocky, shipping a full line of Yoshimura apparel in early spring.

MC Advantages Distributing Crane Cams in Latest Catalog

MC Advantages has an agreement to distribute Crane Cams products beginning in the 2008 MC Advantages catalog.
“We’re glad to offer such a well-known brand of performance product to our customers,” said Kent Reed, general manager of MC Advantages. “Crane’s cams, ignitions and other products help us to round out a growing line of the most unique parts in the V-twin industry.”
The Crane Cam lineup includes a complete line of cams, tappets, pushrods and rockers as well as the industry staple HI-4 ignitions for V-twin engines.
MC Advantages is a distributor of high-performance V-twin parts based in Grimes, Iowa, serving dealers in the U.S. and abroad. MC Advantages distributes many brands, including S&S Cycle, Martin Bros., Spyke and Stampede.

Bazzaz Starts Delivery of Fuel Management Products

Bazzaz Performance in mid-February released the first shipment of the Z-Fi line of Fuel Control, Quick Shift and Traction Control products to distributor Tucker Rocky.
The Z-Fi is the first piggyback system on the market that can run up to eight injectors independently. This translates into ease of tuning and significantly better performance on applications like the Suzuki GSX-R1000 and the Honda CBR600RR. The Z-Fi also features gear dependent fuel trims.
Each unit comes with an application specific harness that makes installation a snap. The Z-Fi Mapper software and the supplied USB cable allow the user to make adjustments on the dyno or on the track.
For more information go to www.bazzazperformance.com.

Auto Brand Introduces Suspension System for UTVs

Rancho, a top performance suspension brand, has launched a new long-travel suspension system, a complete line of RS9000XL ProSeries coil-over shocks, and a line of Rancho RockGEAR accessories for the popular ATV/UTV markets.
The new products offer coverage of the 2007-08 Polaris RZR and Yamaha Rhino models.
Rancho, a Specialty Equipment Market Association award-winning brand in the automotive aftermarket, is the performance suspension, shock absorbers and accessories brand of Tenneco. (NYSE: TEN).
Tenneco is a $4.7 billion manufacturing company with headquarters in Lake Forest, Ill., and approximately 19,000 employees worldwide. psb