Cleveland CycleWerks Falcon 01 and BLK First Look

Build an electric motorcycle, make it easy to ride, make it fun, and make it affordable—not for hedge fund billionaires but for real working-class people. That’s what Cleveland CycleWerks’ Scott Colosimo is proposing to do with the company’s very first emobility platform, the Falcon.

Cleveland CycleWerks is a brand probably better known for its cool, low-displacement and low-cost Chinese-made gas-powered models—a niche brand in a niche category that has actually done quite well for itself, stretching back more than 10 years. CCW’s small size means there’s a level of nimbleness the big boys don’t have and, with that, Colosimo says the time was right to shift its business model to electrics.

The Falcon will come in two versions: the Falcon 01 and the Falcon BLK (Founders Edition). The models can be slotted into the ebike and emoped category, with top speeds of 28 mph for the Falcon 01, as well as operating as a motorcycle with top speeds of 85 mph. Of course, how you register it will decide its capability. It also depends on your state’s laws (which can vary widely for ebikes and mopeds, and are always changing).

The Falcon BLK will be first off the line, and will cost $15,000. It’ll be hand-built and limited to just 20 units—because Colosimo says CCW has never done bikes in the US before and it wants to get it right. The plan then is to build 60 units of the Falcon 01, then go into full-scale production. The first 80 bikes, says Colosimo, will all be hand-built in Cleveland, to allow them to get the US supply chain smoothed out, and get manufacturing timing down. Then the hope is to ramp up production and get the cost down in the next one to two years to $5,000.

The Falcon BLK rides on a short 48-inch wheelbase with a pair of 17-inch aluminum wheels on either end. There are two swappable battery packs, for a 100-mile range. The fork is a standard non-adjustable inverted unit, but the rear coil shock is fully adjustable. Power is dispensed via an air-cooled radial flux motor ranging from 750W to a 13kWh peak, though that can be limited depending on the settings: Ebike Class 2 is limited at 20 mph, emoped is limited to 27 mph, and emotorcycle can go 65 mph and higher, with a special boost-like Angry Pixy mode doling out some serious grunt (Colosimo likens it to electric nitrous). An integrated LCD display has smartphone connectivity via Bluetooth, and the braking system, for now, is a basic single-disc, two-piston arrangement, though CCW says future bikes will offer a futuristic Hemispherical Brake (with tool-free pad changes) setup thanks to a partnership with Sphere. There’s currently a programmable regen function onboard as well.

The Falcon 01 meanwhile, will have a 50-mile range with its single, swappable pack (though it does have the option for a second pack which will give it twice the range and power). It’ll be limited to ebike Class 2 status (20 mph) and emoped (27 mph). Like the BLK, the 01 can use a smartphone as the control center (via Bluetooth) or you can opt for that integrated display. Brakes, suspension, and wheels are all the same as well. Both bikes come with a 7-amp charging standard, with a faster 12-amp as optional. The beautiful thing is the battery design allows for an 80 percent charge in just 45 minutes, and that’s on a regular household outlet.

Both Falcons bring a sleek, spartan design, plus a surfeit of body parts, unnecessary gizmos, and head-scratching tech, and, most of all, practicality and (relative) affordability. For Cleveland CycleWerks it was also the chance to embrace domestic manufacturing processes, which in the Midwest have long been valued but are in danger of petering out. So it’s partnered with both local and foreign countries for parts, while designing and assembling the bikes in Cleveland, more than 60 percent of parts content being from the US, including the chassis, swingarm, and motor. The plan is to operate on a small scale while leveraging the expertise of high-tech partners to reduce suppliers, parts, weight, and hopefully cost, and change the whole industry dynamic. With a small company and a small team there are advantages—it means CCW is more nimble and can control more aspects of the design than the big boys. For example, when it came time to spec’ing the battery and motor, Colosimo says CCW was able to design it and then source it. CCW, he says, designed almost every component on the bike.

Colosimo is fiercely proud of the company’s Midwest manufacturing roots and its simple beginnings. So why electric? Colosimo cites a number of reasons but number one is the changing demographics in the moto world. Number two is simply acknowledging the global changes in transportation designs. But the company’s aesthetic approach to vehicle design hasn’t changed he says: “The number one sin at Cleveland CycleWerks would be the day we release an unattractive product. Our industry is obsessed with more power, more speed, more expense, more weight, more tech…and we just want fun and affordable bikes to ride, and that is exactly what we produce. One simple word. Fun. This is really what it comes down to. We also believe that affordability is of utmost importance.”

The lightweight street-legal electric space looks increasingly crowded, with new designs like Cake’s Kalk INK, Super73’s S-series, and even Ubco playing in the arena, though in slightly different corners of it. Either way, Colosimo is undeterred; he’s looking at the fun aspect as well as the US-made angle for CCW—but without all the flag-waving. He also knows that affordability for electrics is key, but so is solid build quality, all without adding needless layers of tech (read: complexity). Eliminating complexity includes cutting through the barriers of even getting on a motorcycle, hence the Falcon’s ability to operate as three types of vehicle, thus breaking down barriers to accessibility and ownership.

It’s an intriguing concept and Cleveland deserves even more props for switching up—or at least shifting—its previously gas-powered business model. Yes, it’s still making gas bikes, but a hard launch of the new Falcon will definitely signal a big pivot for the company. As Colosimo puts it, “The three things that bring about change in transport are tech advance, price parity, and performance parity.” Specs may change and the final numbers will be released soon (preorders are being taken now), but he’s hoping to address all three with the Falcon platform.