I walked right into Panhead heaven, Accurate Engineering, and talked to Eric at the front desk. I introduced myself, and said I was there to seek an answer to a question from Bandit…..I could tell right away I was gonna like these guys. Eric’s got this big old black eye, with stiches….Rides a Buell, and has a mohawk glued to his helmet.

Eric says “Whats the question….and who is this Bandit?….You may need to speak with Berry.”

I shoulda seen this one coming….Boom, the lights went out. I awoke strapped to a chair in the back room, surrounded by Berry and his crew, including Molly the shop dog, who sat there growling and drooling, waiting for Berry to turn her loose on me…..

Berry started things off. He still had his welding helmet on and a pair of vise-grips in his hand he kept opening and closing….he asked, “OK, if Bandit sent ya, he gave ya the password, what is it?”

…..Jeez, I could just envision the big guy chuckling to himself back in Calif……I had to think quick here…..”Bonneville!!” I hollered. Eric and Foy dropped the jumper cables and put the Rattlesnake back in the shoebox, then went back to work, lookin’ mighty disappointed. Molly just wimpered and jumped up to lick my hand….

Berry said,” “Well why didn’t ya say so, what can I show ya?”

Sorta. He was still leary. I almost expected to hit the proprietary Information wall. I hold a DOD Security Clearance, and deal with it every day. Plus I could understand Berry’s concerns….he didn’t know me from Adam, and I was asking questions about why he was the best. Hell, I’d be careful with what I said if I were him too, but he didn’t have to worry about me. I’m nobody, who just happens to enjoy the engineering details!

We literally talked while he was welding on a set of rocker arms. Things were busy, and he had just made some personnel changes. ”You picked a great day” he said as he shook his head. So we just started BSing as he kept welding

Come to find out we had some things in common. He was working at the H-D dealership in Fairbanks, Alaska, at the same time I was working up in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. We had both run the haul road… He’d spent some time out near Bandit in Mojave / Boron, and I’d spent time out at Edwards AFB / Rosamond. I work on airplanes, so had he….he used to race bikes, I race now. I thought we hit it off pretty good. I really enjoyed talking to Berry.

Back to Bandits question….in general, I would almost have to list every component of the motor. Numerous parts are Accurate Engineering Proprietary parts, designed from the ground up.

The real answer is within Berry and his crew. These guys are true craftsman. They literally touch, inspect, and massage every part that goes into these engines, and bring it up to Accurate Engineering standards. It’s these standards, specifications, and tolerances that make these engines run hard for a long time.

In other words, there is really no one single answer…..it’s the whole package.

I was told that you may be able to use the Delkron case to build an original pan, but it would be cost prohibitive.

There was an “Outlaw 120” Panhead sitting in the lobby, ready for shipment….beautiful piece of work….I’d love to hear one run.

These guys really have a cool place. It ain’t no “Boutique”….that’s a good thing. Don’t get me wrong here, the lobby has a lot of the magazine articles on the wall from bikes Berry and crew have done, and is sorta respectable. The first shop area is well organized, with motors on a long bench in different stages of assembly, parts shelves in the center….an assembly area.

The area behind that is the manufacturing area. Welding (Tig) rig, mills, etc…..this is where it really happens. Berry apologized for “the mess.”

I said, “Hell man, that just tells me your hard at it!”….I hate those shops that have all the claims to fame, but look all clean and sparkly…..just doesn’t ring true with me. Berry’s place rings true….this is a real shop.

From there, I saw Berry’s eyes light up….”Have you heard about our Crocker stuff?” he asked. I said I had heard some rumors of a comeback, but no hard facts. He smiled, kinda grinned actually, and says, “I’ve got some stuff to show you!”

We walk over to Foy’s worktray, and Berry picks up an original Crocker Hemi Head rocker arm and hands it to me…..I’m thinking to myself, “Wow, this is a part of history.”

Berry just laughed and said, “Yeah, I literally get goosebumps! You shoulda seen me when I had the ACTUAL ORIGINAL DRAWINGS in my hand….the real deal!” He was like a kid in a candy store…..then proceeded to stick out his arm…”Look, Frikkin goosebumps just talkin about it!”

Jeez, I had recently watched (on American Thunder) Dale, from Wheels Thru Time Museum, drop out of bidding on a Hemi Head Crocker at like $230,000……and here I was holding parts from one in my hand! Plus I had a “new” part under development….trip thru time! Then to now! Right in my hands….

I asked Berry if there was anything he wanted to say about it…”All new castings and parts, reproduced from original prints, with upgraded mettalurgy…..coming soon to an Accurate dealer near you!”

I really enjoyed the time at their shop. I appreciated Berry and Eric’s hospitality during a busy time. The next engine I buy…..I know who I’m calling! These guys are passionate about their work.

Oh Yeah….and if ya wanna get Berry going, ask him about his “Enola Gay” story. It’ll have ya saying, “No frikkin way”….but Berry will have you believing in short order, it is a good story.

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Nobody else tested brake calipers up to now. We did it. Three 6-piston brake calipers had to prove that they are better than the original Harley Davidson 4-piston caliper.The results were quite interesting.

Brake calipers are one of the main players when it comes to change parts for custom bikes. When a biker makes up his mind about new wheels, most of the times in connection with a wide tail, they usually go for brake discs with a matching design. Since the original H-D calipers are not exactly design award winning, they are exchanged too, on such an occasion. High gloss polished calipers take their place, mostly upgraded ones, calipers with 6 pistons have to do the job now, more pistons-better stopping.

That’s what one would expect theoretically, a 6-piston brake should better decelerate than one with only 4 pistons. Is that the reality? The amount of pistons does not automatically qualify for a more effective brake. There are things that are a lot more important to the problem. The ratio of amplification of the hydraulics, a reasonable brake fluid routing (which transmits the pressure of the lever to the pistons) and the mechanical accuracy of the brake’s interior and its fine tuning.

For example: Pistons that are too loose can lurch and finally jam, pistons that are to tight, can lock up, especially when it gets hot and materials expand at different rates. That means that you cannot identify a good brake from looking at it, the interior qualities are important.

That’s what we wanted to dig up with a road test.

The difficulty of testing is the fact that you have to come up with a procedure that is repeatable and measurable and creates the same conditions for every test sample. The best way to do this is within a laboratory using machines. Sounds really boring! Bikers don’t ride in laboratories and they are not programmable robots.

But if you want to do a test like this, you have to create an environment with people and bikes where all test subjects are treated equally. First, all tests have to be done with the same person on the same bike, with steady road and weather conditions. But how can we guarantee that the driver always applies the same force to the brake lever?

We came up with a simple and ingenious solution. We took a bracket with a thread and a variable bolt to restrict the lever movement to a certain amount. Then we installed a pressure gauge on the brake line, so we can limit the lever action to a value that creates exactly 290,08 PSI (20 BAR) working pressure in the brake line. So you can take all differences in brake design into consideration.

To record the dynamic characteristics of all test runs, we used a black box. This setup was created by Werner Müller, a well-known manufacturer of H-D aftermarket parts and designer of one of the tested brakes. The driver was the chief editor of DREAM MACHINES magazine, which was explicitly overseeing the tests to ensure everybody got the same conditions, including the warm up procedures for the brakes.

Four runs from 49.71mph (80 km/h) to an absolute stop were made with each brake. That meant, at a given point on the road, the brake lever was violently applied towards the limiter. Small deviations from these parameters due to human influence were mathematically corrected toward 49.71 mph, with the help of the black box, to get a usable result. The test bike was standard ‘07 Harley–Davidson Softail Custom with a single disc brake in the front.

Results

Reference was the original H-D 4-piston caliper. Some may think that’s unfair, a standard brake has no chance versus a 6-piston caliper. We believed that also, but read on and see for yourself.

As a matter of fact, we learned that the H-D standard brake was second best on this test. The fancy looking Performance Machine caliper was totally out of luck, despite that, the results improved with rising temperature, the overall readings were by far the worst (see graphs).

The French contestant from Beringer also did not impress us. Only one run out of four, the first one, was comparable to the H-D brake. With increasing temperature it encountered some fading indications.

The only exemption was the Müller 6-piston caliper, and that was significant. The Müller brake made the tire screach during the braking action. At 133,86 ft (40,80m) the Müller caliper created the fastest stop in the shortest distance. The longest distance was performed by the PM caliper at 209,32 ft (63,80 m) which is a different league. The Müller brake needed 2 second less (4sec) than the PM caliper (6sec), H-D and Beringer are in between.

CONCLUSION

What a surprise! Beringer and Performance Machine do not look that good in this comparison. Beringer made 3rd place which is not satisfactory, facing current technology. Really disappointing was the PM caliper, 17% less effective than the standard H-D brake. The Harley brake finished at 2nd place and did a real sharp job. Using aftermarket pads may even improve the results a bit. The only joker was the Müller brake, showing all its advantages. The Müller caliper brakes a lot more efficient than the competitors, mathematically by 15%. The distance to stop is way shorter and the time to stop melts down significantly.

A distinct 1st Place.

Swingarm brake kit from Muller.

Muller brakes on a Sportster front end.

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