Every time I go to Indy, I’m amazed by booth after booth of identical Chinese-built scooters and ATVs and 2008 was no disappointment. There were 60 or more distributors of mainland-Chinese motorized products, with the same 10 or 15 models duplicated in many of them.
The exceptions are what is interesting. I finally got to meet Dan Fischer of Fischer Motor Company. Some years ago, this racer and track-day junkie decided he wanted to design and build a light, fast and fun trackbike that would be priced competitively by using mass-production. The result uses a made-in-USA one-piece cast-aluminum frame, bodywork penned by designer Glenn Kerr, Öhlins shock and 90-degree V-Twin motor made in Korea by Hyosung. Dan tells me it weighs in at 399 pounds wet and will retail for a buck under $8000. How does he do it? Well, he hasn’t yet; he has a prototype and a manufacturing facility and is taking orders, but the first bikes have not yet rolled off the line. Fischer says they will soon, which means the dream of an affordable exotic American sportbike could happen in 2008.
If you’ve dreamed of having a custom chopper instead, the guys at Brass Balls Bobbers may have what you need. They offer an Internet-based custom-bike building service with the choice of three different frames and three different motors, including the 100-cubic-inch Indian Powerplus motor. Prices start at $16,995 for a basic (but still custom-built) hardtail bobber, buttressing the Brass Balls guys’ claim of “an above-average bike for the Average Joe.”
Different, but no less American than the other two companies is dirtbike-maker ATK, which had a large and untidy booth smack in the middle of the sea of Chinese manufacturers in the vast inflatable RCA Dome. Since buying Cannondale’s tooling in 2003, ATK has been building and selling motorcycles and ATVs based on the defunct company’s 450cc single-cylinder engine. But in the last year, according to ATK’s Ron Duval, they’ve had some time to re-think their strategy. “We’ve done our homework and are ready to move forward,” he says.
What they’re moving forward with are some interesting new powerplants. In addition to Cannondale-based motors, the Utah-based company now has some technology developed by Highland and Maico. Highland, a Swedish company that spent the last decade developing ultra-lightweight race engines, has two powerplants, a 450cc Single that weighs around 50 pounds and makes over 60 hp, and a ridiculously tiny 90-degree V-Twin that weighs some 70 pounds and makes 85 hp in a mild state of tune. They had the full suite of Highland’s prototype bikes that the Swedish company has been showing for some time, including a flat-track-styled machine and a dual-sport. They also showed me a motocross bike with the fearsome 700cc Maico two-stoke Single.
Whatever ATK does with these engines and designs, it was clear that it is a robust company determined to stay alive as the last American dirtbike manufacturer, using parts and technology from all over the world to produce a competitive product.
