Putting Excelsior-Henderson on the map!

[Sidecar]

Hi folks,

happy new year to y?all - quick introduction: my name is Mark and I am a pleased EH owner since 2016. I found my EH SuperX #1645 on craigslist at Robinson Motorsports with 37 miles on the odometer. The bike was never titled at the time. We kept and rode the bike in Florida for a few years. As a German citizen with a permanent habitat in Schleswig-Holstein, I imported the bike in 2022 into Germany following the (corona induced) sale of our vacation home in Florida.

Naturally, we wanted to ride the bike here but having a Non-EU vehicle - which was never formally introduced into the German market place - titled and registered has proven quite difficult to do. Certificate of homologation is the key word. In contrast, we also brought over a Harley-Davidson which was easy to title and took very little time and efforts.

Well, that is now the past, my befriended garage managed to obtain the desired document and the SuperX was successful plated in October `23. I am told that my SuperX seems to be one of the very few - if not the only one - currently registered and titled in Germany. Now, I am looking forward to spring as wintertime offers little joy riding a motorcycle.

All the best and ride safe! PS: If anyone sells or knows someone who would be willing to sell his Examinator Diagnostic Tool, I would be happy to purchase such device.

Mark

[Donkey Hotey]

Welcome Mark,
It's great if you find and want an Examinator tool but, it won't do much for you that an OBD2 reader can't do. The only thing the Examinator can do beyond a standard reader is resetting the idle air motor and a few other baseline parameters in the computer.

The flip-side of that is that if you had the ECU updated with one of the new tunes, I think installing the Examinator may cause it to reflash the map back to factory. I've only ever connected the Examinator to bikes that I know have the original factory tune.

[wytfut]

Mark.... what a great story and a nice finish..... Germany's first X...
The EXaminator would be a dangerous tool to apply actual purpose too. There is a horror story I remember that happened in Sturgis I believe many years ago with one of those....
If you want one as a collectible.... cool!!   As Greg stated, its all going to come down to what tune your X has.
Nice "sticker" on your trailer....

keep us up to speed on your X...
Bruce

[Sidecar]

Re Examinator tool: @Greg&Bruce, got it!

My ECU received its tune at Atlantic EH, so I better stay away from the tool then. The bike was once in Elkton for some tune-up and improvements. My bike is pretty much stock but with EH bags, crash guard and sissybar & luggage rack (which had to be shortened to accommodate our license plate dimensions).

Mark

[Donkey Hotey]

What is the motorcycle culture like in Germany? Do you guys have bike nights at any of the local motorcycle shops or restaurants? Or bike hangouts you can ride it to on weekends? Have you taken it to any of them? Does anyone know what it is?

I'm sure here in the US, you learned that nobody knew what it was if you went to a Harley event. If you took it to a mixed bike event, everyone thought it was a Victory. I'm curious how it's seen in Germany.

[Sidecar]

Greg, our motorcycle culture is the same but also different - meaning that depending what riding preference you have or brand your own you may find similar minded folks and events. We do have Harley, BMW, Indian events in Germany but also many sizeable multi brand rallies and bike meeting places and gatherings. For my part, I am also a Harley-Davidson and a Boss Hoss rider. As I am quite injected in the Boss Hoss community I do typically participate in BH events.

Well there are no places like Daytona beach bike week or Sturgis bike week. The largest festival of comparable nature seems to me the bike week at Lake Faak/Austria (http://www.bikeweek.at/en/european-bike-week.html).

We do have a strong motorcycle history here in Germany and certainly in Europe with its many different brands. But not many brands survived through the years  and the community seems to have grown older.

I have ridden outside Germany in Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Austria, Italy, Spain, France and Portugal. The terrain and roads throughout europe differ as much as they do in the USA. To me, it's really the people and the places which make the difference and I found that american riders are the most welcoming and sweet people I met.

On the topic of Excelsior-Henderson I have to report back on my experiences as the bike hasn't run much on german roads (yet) and riding conditions aren't ideal this time of the year.

[Donkey Hotey]

Twenty years ago, I would ride a KTM to a motorcycle event and there would be a fair number of people who had no idea who made that. "Is it a Kawasaki?" They finally got into the street bike market and are better known here in the states. Buells are similar: not unusual to have someone say they've never heard of it.


I can show up at vintage / enthusiast bike event and still have people who have never heard of Excelsior-Henderson.


A former manager of mine was also an enthusiast. He spent five years in Germany, riding everywhere he could. He made it sound like Germans were far better schooled in various brands and were just another level higher of enthusiasm. That's why I asked. It would be a shame to have gone through all the trouble to bring it over there and not have it be recognized.