American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 240 July 2019 | Page 18

Surflex 70th Anniversary
Italian clutch specialist Surflex
first started manufacturing
friction plates 70 years ago,
and this year sees the company
celebrating its 70th
anniversary as one of the
oldest clutch component
manufacturers in the world.
The company makes a wide
range of OEM fitments, and
offers distributors and dealers
access to one of the most
comprehensive make and
model programs in the world -
a program that goes back
decades in terms of fitments
for many of the more hard to
source applications, as well as
state-of-the-art clutches for
late models.
Though best known for its
Japanese and European brand
street and off-road products,
the company also offers a
large range of replacement
and upgrade steel and friction
plates, kits and clutch baskets
for Harley-Davidson and
aftermarket V-twin
applications.
Manufactured in-house, using
asbestos-free proprietary
friction material blends, some
including Kevlar or carbon
fibers, the range includes
applications for most 883 cc
and 1200 cc pre-Evo, Evo and
Twin Cam Sportsters and most
of Harley’s Big Twins, Buells,
and V-Rods - in fact, Harley
applications right the way up
from 1941 - the Harley models
that were current at the time
the Surflex factory began
production.
From the start, the Surflex
vision was to provide "the
whole range of components
and assemblies and to
undertake all processes in-
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house at Surflex, from design
to machining. Indeed, as soon
as the company was founded,
a permanent research
department was opened, which
over the years has developed
many important technologies,
including organic and sintered
material for linings."
Surflex offers three groups of
friction materials - organic,
semi-metallic and sintered -
which means it is able to offer
a solution "tailored for every
single use in, a really vast
range."
"More than one hundred
mixtures are available in order
to meet specific requirements,
such as race, touring, cruiser,
enduro or trial use, in bikes of
any displacement. Some are
designed to work dry, others in
an oil bath; in one-plate, multi
plate or centrifugal clutches in
contact with steel or aluminum
components, where abrasion
must be reduced to the
minimum level."
www.surflex.it
AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - JULY 2019