Just got through reading your builds - Pash, 03 (others)
Had contact with NRHS (email),seem decent guys. Their recommendation was not what I planned but interesting - involves a 1250 kit and reworking of my lightning heads, price wasn't crazy unless shipping and taxes kill it.
Anyone know an economical way of shipping out to the states?
Anyone know the tax liability for the reworked head coming back into the country (probably not straightforward)?

Made the decision to go full US gearing, so if anyone has a Buell US front pulley in good nick sitting on a shelf, I have beer tokens with your name on them (fair price paid).

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Today my pet mouse Elvis died ..................He was caught in a trap
There are two types of people in this world, those that can extrapolate

Obviously up to you what you do but consider buying XB heads in the states, getting them shipped to NRHS or Hammer (the original brains behind NRHS) - this is what IIRC Steely did.

Also, have a think if there are people in the UK that can do this work. A quick call to Tubbs would be recommended to get his pitch.

If I was doing my S1s again, the only thing I would change is the piston type (maybe a 1250 kit) and cut a matching squish band in the head.

The sad thing is that there are others that have done a bolt on but have not contributed to this thread... I would suggest a PM to neilc and steely and a phone call to Maz, to Tubbs, maybe Powerglides, maybe Matt's Machine Shop...

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08 Specialized Langster

Wise words Pash, they will be my next step, it was only my ignorance of what is available in the UK that is making me look to the States. Had a happy 17 year relationship with this bike, care enough about it that whenever I,m out of my comfort zone I tend to rely on 'professionals' to fill in my gaps in knowledge, experience and skills, just wasn't sure who that might be in the UK.

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Today my pet mouse Elvis died ..................He was caught in a trap
There are two types of people in this world, those that can extrapolate

Update - The guys from NRHS were friendly and as helpful as I could have hoped for, their prices were not extreme but shipping costs and potential tax liabilities knocked it on the head.
Made contact with a few people (as recommended) and ended up shipping the bike down the Tubbs for assessment of what the bike is currently putting out (getting my baseline). The rear wheel figure was extremely disappointing (mid 70s) as I had bolted on every go faster bit I could get my hands on (Pro air filter, Mikuni, race ignition, headers, can, etc.....). After lots of dyno time, Tubbs managed to perform miracles and got my RW figure into the mid 80s , we agreed this was probably as good as I could hope for from a stock 97 motor. As any significant BHP increase from here would involve significant expense, I decided to leave it there, unless the parts came along at a bargain price or the top end needed major work. Had Tubbs do a few extra bits and bobs, new belt fitted , etc...... including fitting a 27T pulley (as recommended), many thanks.
After ~ 500 miles back on the road, the starting, running have been spot on, not happy with the gearing - it is too low geared for my tastes. I try to ride in a mechanically sympathetic way and find the full US gearing means that on my favorite roads I am at the top of my rev range in top gear, nearly all of the time. I plan on changing back to 1/2 US gearing as before.
Thanks to all who contributed to this thread, the journey has been an education.

P.S. a 27T pulley will be up for grabs when I finally get round to getting it off the bike if anyone is interested.

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Today my pet mouse Elvis died ..................He was caught in a trap
There are two types of people in this world, those that can extrapolate

XB cylinders, pistons and heads with the Pro-Race exhaust will take you to 95+. I was at 95 but we ran out of jets hence was a little leaner than ideal. I've since gone up a size so we should be seeing a little more...

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08 Specialized Langster

Just keeping my eyes open for a bargain step up to the next level Pash, currently trying to pm a guy on BWB over an unused 1250 kit, worked TS heads and new 535 cams.

keeping my eyes open for a complete XB top end to cannibalise.

options are open, happy to buy and put on the shelf until the right time to fit
Not in a mad rush, the bike is running sweetly.

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Today my pet mouse Elvis died ..................He was caught in a trap
There are two types of people in this world, those that can extrapolate

Although there are plenty of people who haven't had issues with 1250 kits, there are some that have hence my choice to stick to tried and tested stock components...

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08 Specialized Langster

47cc more... just as well strap an FS1E on the side

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Feros Ferio

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'98 M2 Razorback, it's a keeper.

It sounds very promising to me, ~75rwhp is par for the course for a standard Lightning spec motor and squeezing ~85rwhp out of it is really good IMO. That's going to be about 93-ish at the crank so for a wheezy old ditch pump motor, that's good going. I have no personal experience of the 1250 kits, I do know the earlier kits with the Nikasil cylinders gave a lot of people a lot of trouble and I don't think it is possible to buy them any more. I guess the iron linered 1250 kits are more reliable, but I don't really know from experience, I don't think there are enough people here to give us the feed back on that. I've taken the view that a 3 or 4% increase in displacement isn't going to be a great bang for the buck, but I suppose others will disagree. As you've found out, most "bolt ons" for these motors contribute not a great deal to power out put. But as Pash has demonstrated, a carefully put together motor has the potential to perform very well indeed without recourse to ultra exotic components. And you have to be wary of building a grenade anyway.

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Try doing this to yer fueller...........

Mine made 94 @ rear wheel...... Bored +60 wiseco pistons, mikyroony, race ecu with octane booster

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A '99 M2 That isn't a Lightning spec motor though, is it

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Try doing this to yer fueller...........

Not sure, I think it's a bit "softer" in the cams, I run a V&H too

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Cams are .497s on Lightning and Thunderstorm (tuber) engines

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08 Specialized Langster

Now we know

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Last year I joined a group for anti-social people
We haven't met yet.