Bending the Wraith into corners is an otherworldly sensation . Check out the bike ’ s muffler mounted under the engine , kind of like the setup Buell pioneered decades ago .
But while it ’ s smaller than the 132ci X- Wedge motor , it tends to be a little bit more reliable on the dyno and not so prone to overheating .”
The Wraith I spent a day on while carving corners through the scenic Alabama hill country was powered by the air / oil- cooled 132ci ( 2,163cc ) triple- camshaft S & S X- Wedge OHV 56- degree V- Twin with a forged one- piece crank . The crankcases are carved from 6061 aluminum billet and feature dedicated attachment points to suit the Wraith ’ s monocoque frame design , into which it ’ s solidly mounted as a load- bearing chassis component .
The motor is claimed to produce 111 hp at the Wraith ’ s rear wheel , peaking at 4,500 rpm . Its immense grunt of 143 lb- ft at just 2,500 rpm is what really grabs your attention when twisting the throttle . This mechanical package also incorporates Combat ’ s stacked- shaft 5- speed gearbox in a housing bolted directly to the back of the X- Wedge motor to create a unit- construction entity .
Both technically and visually , the
Top : Watching the girder fork ’ s action while riding over bumps is an experience like no other . Middle : The Wraith ’ s unusual rear suspension places the shock within the swingarm . Bottom : Another one of the Wraith ’ s strange features is this quad-disc front-brake setup using Aeronal rotors with Beringer calipers .
Wraith has always been dominated by its frame design . The latest generation Wraith has been reimagined by the company ’ s head of design , Andrew Reuther . It retains the silhouette from its Confederate days , right down to its signature girder front suspension format .
Nesbitt ’ s original model featured a dramatically curved 4- inch carbon tube composing the spine frame , to which a pair of CNC- machined aluminum bulkheads were bolted to create
32 | OCTOBER 2023 | AMERICANRIDER . COM