Check out the LLS v.1 on
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=67835389

Its one pic, but soon they’ll be more. ITs won the Donnie Smith ride in bike show twice.

Not to knock any custom builder’s out there, but let me make a clear distinction between a small-batch manufacturer and a custom bike shop.

A custom shop will make a one-off creation based on their own personal artistic expression or by what their customer desires. There is an art form to this type of work and it’s been around since the beginning. This would be similar to automotive coach builders, who take oem parts, chop ‘em and re-arrange ‘em into their own creation. Custom.

However, once a coach builder moves away from taking custom orders and begins to manufacture in small volumes, it becomes a different type of business. Think Lamborghini. They still build each supercar by hand, but as far as I know, they don’t do too much custom work at the factory.

Confederate doesn’t build custom bikes either. All Hellcats look the same. No flashy paint, no mods. They are series built in small batches, but all of the batches are the same until the model changes. I’m not saying this is how everyone should do it, this is just how we do it. The Wraith will be made the same way. Only 250 will be made and all 250 will look the same.

Critics may say the Wraith doesn’t look like other bikes, or it’s ugly (I’ve yet to meet someone in the professional design community who thinks it’s ugly). But Confederate doesn’t really poll the public to see if our designs are pretty. We have a philosophy here, and that philosophy is what fuels the designs. That philosophy is why I joined the company.

While I’m on the subject of the Wraith, I would like to challenge the critics to back up their words. You line your bike design up and I’ll bring the Wraith. Come on, it’ll be fun! Be prepared though, you might be slightly impressed that a bunch of slackers from the Big Easy could engineer something so primitive and exquisite. If the board track racers of the ’20′s would’ve known how to put a knee down, this would have been their machine of choice. I extend an open invitation to any open-minded motorcycle enthusiast to visit our factory and see it for them selves. I’ll show it to you myself.

All in all, the most significant differentiating factor between custom bikes and small-batch manufactured bikes is that the design process required to tool up for a run of high-quality manufactured bikes involves considerable testing, r&d, and capital investment. Unfortunately, this alone is enough of a deterrent to a lot of custom builders.

I’d like to add — manufacture just about anything including a wide & varied range of motorcycles or motorcycle parts. Case, I agree, it is absolutely crazy that the US has not had other motorcycle brands in so many years.

However, prior to WWII must have been a great time ! ! …to have so many home-grown, high quality (relatively-speaking) motorcycles to choose.

(that also includes the automobile…..a trip to the Auburn Cord Duesenberg museum is worth it if you are passing through Indiana.)

Here’s to living during a time that is poised to go through that industrial/information revolution part II.

http://acdmuseum.org/

http://www.emachineshop.com/