It's late August in S&S Cycle's new training center in La Crosse, WI, and the pristine service area still has that new-shop smell. The fresh digs are a long ways off from the engine company's mothership in Viola, where the scent trends toward countryside mixed with machine shop coolant.

Technical instructor Jon "Opie" Olson is leading an inaugural class of two technicians through one level of S&S' Dealer Training and Certification program. Boxes remain unpacked. A virgin solvent sink gets its first greasy part. A brand-new milling machine sits unwired. Things are moving forward.

Olson talks fuel injection in the center's classrooms where students use laptops during instruction.

Flash ahead to Oct. 1, 2005, the official opening of the S&S Cycle Customer Support/Dealer Training and Certification center, and things are in full swing. Under the guide of Olson and other technical personnel, S&S' audacious program is aimed at improving its dealers' expertise in tuning and servicing the company's high-performance engines and Big Twin products.

The center features new machining equipment, dynamometers, service bays, tools, computer equipment and classroom space that will be used to train technicians in five different levels of certification. Dealers whose technicians complete the program will receive factory certification identifying their shop as a qualified S&S tuning center.

The program is particularly geared for shops equipped to tune fuel-injected motorcycles.

New machine tools give the center full-service flavor.

"As our products have gotten more technical throughout the years and continue to get more technical, we saw a need to train our dealers on how to use and utilize our products. We clarify a lot of misconceptions about the products," says Olson. "We teach people how to use them and service them and do well with them."

After techs complete the training courses and become certified, their dealership is listed on the S&S Cycle website. Customers seeking service on or questions about the company's products are referred by the website and customer service lines to the certified dealers in their areas.

Training starts at the Authorized S&S Dealer level of certification where technicians complete three courses covering carburetors, ignitions and the company's Quick Set Up kits via a DVD. The next level is the Sidewinder Center, a three-day on-site course on engines, focusing on the company's Shovelhead-style, Evolution-style and Twin-Cam-style engines.

Dealers whose techs complete the VFI Tuning Center program, the next level, are eligible to purchase, sell, install and maintain all of S&S' variable fuel injection products. The fourth level combines the VFI and Sidewinder programs.

Finally, the Proven Performance Center is the highest possible level of certification and allows the dealer to act as an S&S warranty center. These centers are picked by S&S based on regional need, dealer facility, staff and reputation.

"When a retail customer has a problem, with confidence we can send them to one of our dealers knowing their capabilities, having trained them," says Olson. "Send them there and the problem will be solved."

But wait, won't the training — along with the price of a dyno — cost a dealership a fortune? Well, yes, but Olson and S&S say the whole deal will eventually pay for itself. With the inevitable growth of fuel-injected bikes, it's an investment for the future.