So... Got up this morning and Brian messaged me that he had a meeting later and wanted me to come over for a quick tour whenever we were ready..... I was BORN ready!!! My GF and I checked out of the hotel and drove all the way next door!
I gotta say, that my GF was super patient with us geeking out during the tour and I really appreciated it. I'll be sucking up for a while
We grabbed coffee and then headed over to Brammo and Adrian started the tour while Brian had a quick meeting. The last time I was in this building was in 2009, just after the TTXGP at IOM.
He showed me all of the pretty trophies they've collected over the years. Seeing the different podium finishes with the trophies does it no justice. It's truly something else seeing all of them in their front entry. He took me to the engineering offices and introduced me to a few people, one of whom I worked with on an IOM Race bike in 2009. The engineering crew has grown quite a bit compared to 2009.
Brian joined us and I had to stop taking photos. He showed me around the engineering office and I got to see the innards of the Parker motors and the vehicle electronics. There's also some great concepts and designs in the works. I can't say much, but they've definitely listened to their owners about wants and needs.
He showed me different batteries they've used and tested. I got to see the insides of some of the Valence batteries they used on the original Enertia, as well as some of the new packs for the Enertia Plus and Empulse. The BMS electronics are pretty slick... ingenious actually. They really thought of a lot. I got to see the battery lab, and found out that all cells are tested at least once for capacity, IR (AC), IR (DC) and a few other things. This is in addition to the testing at the factory they get their cells from. They also destructively test cells to see their limits, so they can stay FAR from these limits. They definitely qualified these batteries before they go into any bike.
Then he showed me some of the 2014 stuff. There are some nice tweaks they're doing on the bikes, and they'll be mostly based on the 2013 bike. I got to see one of the Icon/Brammo/Eboz bike.... So pretty!
We went into the assembly area where I saw the last two Empulse bikes to come from the Ashland Brammo address (the VIN numbers are getting pretty high!) They're moving Production to the old Walmart building in Talent, OR quickly so they can start back up quickly. Then they're moving all of the Offices over there and should be completely moved over by Mid November. It's a HUGE building (saw it from the highway). Wonder if Brammo will be hiring?
I also got to see their race bikes, which were being prepped for the next (and last?) race of the season. They had a front fairing from the RR bike on the TTX and it looked pretty neat. Custom fairing mount that connects to the standard R/E1 steering head, so there's definitely a place to attach a front fairing on these bikes!
I also saw the fairing for the 2009 TTR they ran at IOM. Brian says its an RS250 and it will fit the Empulse with minor modifications.....would look pretty sexy with a full fairing IMHO. Who's first?
Brian had to go (and so did we), and Adrian took me to Adam for a quick intro. They seemed keen to listen to feedback I had along the way and thanked me for coming by. We headed out and I took some shots of the employee bikes sitting outside..... next to Craig's Loaner Tesla Model S. These guys are absolutely devoted to electrics.
I left out the driveway with a shit-eating-grin on my face. It was a blast and I really thank Adrian, Brian and Adam for the great time.
