The S3 Trials company - Behind the scenes in girona
Retrotrials was lucky enough to be invited along to S3 parts HQ in Girona , Catalunia to have a look at their operations behind the scenes and speak with their owner Michel Kaufmann. Michel is a Swiss Trials Champion as well as an an industrial scientist. This therefore put him in a strong position to be able to create this technical company and manage each step of the operation himself.
S3 is a company owned by Michel Kaufmann and his wife Olga Pibernat.
Michel offered to show me around giving an explanation of the company ,what it does , produces and the riders it helps.
With Michels consent and knowledge the visit was recorded and has now been typed up to form this report. As usual its typed up word for word , so you get it exactly correct and not just an interpretation of what was said.
Over to Michel. Retrotrials' questions are in blue
S3 was created in 2009 after which we have established ourselves to provide production machine quality components which are used as the OEM original equipment . The majority of our business is supplying cylinder heads and barrels to the motorcycle industry as original equipment. We supply to Japanese companies as well as many European and other Worldwide companies.
With Michels consent and knowledge the visit was recorded and has now been typed up to form this report. As usual its typed up word for word , so you get it exactly correct and not just an interpretation of what was said.
Over to Michel. Retrotrials' questions are in blue
S3 was created in 2009 after which we have established ourselves to provide production machine quality components which are used as the OEM original equipment . The majority of our business is supplying cylinder heads and barrels to the motorcycle industry as original equipment. We supply to Japanese companies as well as many European and other Worldwide companies.
A photo from the rafters of S3 looking down on the main room. The offices and quality control / tech room is at the front of the room . At the left are some engineering areas. At the rear of the large room is the water recycling area.
Please can you explain how you go about recoating the nicosil cylinders.
The first part of the process and production line is the chemical attack to take out the aluminium oxidation from the aluminium surface. The aluminium has a very good capacity to make a layer of protection. With contact with oxygen the surface becomes aluminium oxide . We take this oxide out to obtain a good adherence . The first part of the production line is for this process .
The first part of the process and production line is the chemical attack to take out the aluminium oxidation from the aluminium surface. The aluminium has a very good capacity to make a layer of protection. With contact with oxygen the surface becomes aluminium oxide . We take this oxide out to obtain a good adherence . The first part of the production line is for this process .
The machines automatically adjust themselves to ensure the correct chemical balance. The next part of the process is that we put the cylinder on the rack and coat it with silicone carbide. The liquid is kept at a constant 63 degrees with PH control and self dosage with all other components to ensure the correct solution. The cylinder stays in the solution for half an hour and this creates a wall of material on the cylinder wall. Everything is computer controlled.
Does the coating adhere to the outside of the cylinder as well ?
No . We out some plastic protection on the outside of the cylinder to protect it from the coating here. The white silver that you can see here is the nicasil.
The rest of the cylinder has turned a to rough black finish
Yes absolutely. That will be cleaned later.
No . We out some plastic protection on the outside of the cylinder to protect it from the coating here. The white silver that you can see here is the nicasil.
The rest of the cylinder has turned a to rough black finish
Yes absolutely. That will be cleaned later.