Confederate Motorcycles is getting very close to starting production of the Wraith. Brian Case, Confederate’s chief of design, pointed me to an article in the LA Times where they ran prototype number four through a short road test. Although Confederate would have preferred using a production model, the Times was a bit impatient so the prototype was used instead with somewhat predictable teething problems during the test. Troubles aside and since dealt with, the Wraith looks to be a very desirable motorcycle with a design you simply will not see anywhere else.
The fuel is underneath and oil is in the backbone. Power is from a counter-balanced Jims 120″ motor and Brian designed the vertically stacked 5-speed billet-aluminum semi-unit transmission. The Times review makes a point of the lack of vibration, amazing what a bit of counter balancing can do.
Brian said he afterwards took the Wraith for a 150 mile run up the California coast and it ran great all the way, including a few impromptu races with sport bikes and a Lotus Exige.
The Wraith will be in a class Confederate is calling “Luxury Sport.” Sounds about right. According to Brian, everything is working as designed and after a good thrashing of prototype number five to find and iron out any remaining problems, production will begin. They’ve got 32 already spoken for so if you were planning on putting one in your garage you’ll need $55,000 and a place in line. Better give them a call.
Link: LA Times
Related: Confederate Motorcycles Rebirth
Related: Confederate Motorcycles Photo Gallery
Trey says
Wow, still one of the sexiest bikes on the market (or rather, soon to be on the market).
Trey
Jack says
“Confederate” states somewhere its name is to symbolize a rebellious attitude towards the American motorcyle design philosophy & yet it chooses to bow to LA Times before its truly ready for the “first ride review” ? wait…The LA Times ? Sure, its a leading newspaper, but for a debut moto review?
disappointing video clip since it didn’t have Tom boy standing on his hellcat
Lad'a says
Nice bikes. But aren’t they too expensive? I’ve seen better bikes for better price.
todd says
Something I learned in my stint of designing high-end furniture; you can’t claim it’s “Luxury” just because it’s expensive.
-todd
hoyt says
I’m tired of the hype that is confederate.
thank you John Burns
Brian Case says
Yeah, me too. I really wish people would get over the name and talk more about design. But aparently, that’s all there is to talk about since so few have ever ridden a Confederate. Bavaria has been a pretty wicked place historically, but nobody seems to be bothered by the name when they drive their BMW today. Ferdinand Porsche was friends with Adolf Hitler. So what’s in a name?
Maybe we should change our name to something more acceptable to a wider audience. We could even change some of our designs so that more people like them. If we went to Wall Street and got a bunch of marketers and acountants on board, that’s what they tell us to do for sure. Maybe come out with a line of tough macho colorful bikes named after different breeds of canines. Or large bears. Then we could put our logo on everything from doggy hats to bobble heads. That stuff seems to sell really well!!
wendell says
Just remember poor old VonDutch spinning in his grave…..
hoyt says
Brian
I don’t understand why Confederate would not take the press releases serious enough to ensure the bikes would perform better for 2 significant reviews. Then, your comment posted on this site was “No big deal…” in regards to the CycleWorld article. No big deal?
In addition, the Wraith has been a work in progress for years and yet Confederate conceded to an impatient LA Times, regardless if you were in the area. Fly her out to Birmingham when the bike is ready if she can’t wait.
I don’t expect Confederate to succumb to any motorcycle publisher as though they were gods, but CycleWorld is somewhat of a big deal, right?
Don’t get me wrong, I want Confederate to succeed for many reasons. Somewhere at the top of the list, would be to see more small batch manufacturers with fresh designs. (and I’m stoked to see the new engine for the Renovatio, particularly since there will be fresh ideas about radiators).
The price of Confederates & Ecosses kills me. I’m not expecting price points near a Ducati, but mid 50’s to mid 60’s and up? c’mon.
Brian Case says
We take press very seriously. The LA Times wasn’t the only reason we rushed the bike out there. Alan Cathcart also rode it while I was there, and will be releasing his impression shortly. Fortunately, the prototype ran very well that day. Cathcart is the perfect test rider for early prototypes because he has ridden so many prototypes from practically every company around the world. His impressions have been invaluable to us.
Cycle World isn’t a big deal because most of the things they wrote wouldn’t turn off our type of customer. We didn’t think it was all that bad, really. Pretty funny, actually. Seems to me, Burns would be more at home on a scooter. And again, they did blow the motor. If you read this month’s, they tore apart that Victory too. We asked them to run a comparo with our bike, because no one ever has, but as you can see we weren’t included in the “American Muscle”.
We lost our entire factory, lost everything in fact, and still came back last year to make 20 Hellcats, with many mid-year improvements. After the Hellcat production was up and running, we were still able to completely re-design the Wraith for the new unit-BigTwin in 3 months. The first streetable proof-of-concept was finished December 2nd.
I rode it all day today in Birmingham, and I’m very happy with it. If we could afford to make more of them, we could lower the price. For now, we’re staying small-batch and the people who can afford them will have something that performs well and very few people have. I really don’t think it’s that expensive compared to many custom bike makers.
hoyt says
What about comparing a Wraith against: Ecosse, American Cafe Racer, & a Big Twin Racer ?
dial-up John Burns….
wendell says
What about comparing that bike against mine in all the world press? I’ll ride mine to wherever they are going to do it, let whomever ride it, write their drivel, then ride it home.Let me know when and where and I’ll be there. WJ
Brian Case says
I say bring it on. Although, I would get someone other than Burns to ride any of them. Someone who actually finds beauty in a big ol’ air-cooled muscle twin. Maybe we should assemble our own little ‘twin battle’ here at Barber.
hoyt says
cool. This should be a win-win for everyone as I don’t recall any type of moto journalism comparison like this before.
let’s head north to eastern TN & western NC afterwards
You won’t mind a Guzzi along would you?
curt says
No doubt the best way to promote the idea af a big twin performance bike would be to put them on a track and turn em loose. I would love to take part in something like that, there are a handful of talented builders out there that are working on this concept. Competition will make it grow.
Case says
Agreed. American Muscle Track Day. We can hold an un-official meet initially, just to see if anyone shows up. Keep the rules and regulations simple at first. We’ll get some sponsors to cover the track cost. We’ve had interest from Redbull, but didn’t have any events set up yet. I think we may have something here.
hoyt says
I posted links to the CycleWorld forum for those interested…(they are doing some construction to their forums starting tomorrow, so if you can’t get in, try again later)
http://forums.cycleworld.com/ibb/posts.aspx?postID=127634
if that link doesn’t work, go to:
http://www.cycleworld.com/
then click on “Forums” and then into “Motorcycle Talk” and then into the post “Hand Built Exotica comparison…”
My Guzzi remark was because that is my lone bike at the moment – to see these 4 bikes together on the track and street would be something else.
curt says
Case,
let me know if I can help. I really can’t think of a better way to promote the cause. I can’t imagine a magazine that would’nt want to be a part of this.
Brian Case says
I’ll look into it. Usually you have to book track time a year in advance. But we could always just agree to meet at an already scheduled track day, such as SportBikeTrackTime. Let them cover the cost of personnel and Ambulances (may need them).
Gordy says
I’ve been in the automotive systems design industry for a long time now, and experience suggests that they make some very strange decisions. However leaving that to one side, I like to see ‘different’ and ‘attitude’ and ‘enthusiasm’, so I wish all at Confederate the very best of luck.
DZL says
Where is the swingarm sourced? I looks very familar, Triumph maybe?
hoyt says
The new video on the Confederate website is good. Great job on the bike.
The swingarm is their own….I believe the very first prototype used a Ducati.