Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128377
L....M_o_to_C_zy-=--s_z _ business plan in place for an entire range of street and race bikes - our next model to follow the C I will be the C6, which will be a 600cc four-cylinder supersport - just wait until you hear that engine! But all that's in the future. What we're focusing on now is building an American superbike company with a product quite unlike any other, that works a whole lot better than any other. This is what I want to be known for: the guy who built an American motorcycle company, not just a single bike." Michael Czysz has earned fame and fortune as the creator of unique high-end homes, sufficiently classy and functionally individual to fuel the lifestyle of the rich and famous - and now he's seeking to apply a similar precept to motorcycle manufacturing. Even just for trying such a madcap venture, with the cards so firmly stacked against him and so many demands on his time from day job and family, earns quite some kudos. But when the end result is as innovative and dynamically effective a clean-sheet design as the MotoCzysz C I a bike which looks so good and runs so well, yet 2 1/2 years ago existed solely in the recesses of its creators mind - well, that's just amazing. It's an American Dreambike - a dream that came true. eN its assured handling lets you keep up speed in turns, all the more an issue when you're lacking power from the motor. Though the front suspension was a little stiffer than on the RI I'd warmed up on prior to testing the C I, I didn't bother to stop to fix it, even if I'd already had it demonstrated to me that this would be the work of a moment. Instead, I had fun trying to make the front tire chatter, especially in the section of the Speedway infield course where there are acres of tarmac runoff. The result? Total failure. The 16.5-inch front Michelin GP tire just stayed locked to the tarmac, the front Ohlins shock absorbing track irregularities smoothly and without fuss. Really, the MotoCzysz C I felt like the ultimate no-worries-mate motorcycle. I wonder if Michael has any Aussie family heritage, rather than the Czysz family's Czech/Polish Central European antecedents?! Okay, so it works! Baby got born, and is up and running. What now? "You've just discovered for yourself that this whole concept is now proven to work," says Michael Czysz, sounding like a proud dad. "Now we need to advance engine development towards a raceworthy status that will also lead to production, and I've hired a team of engineers with a specific experience in high-performance motorcycle engine development to help me do that. We now have funding in place up to and including the third and final round of investment, which will result in 48 the C I taking part in at least one shakedown race in 2006, then racing a full season in 2007 - though whether in World Superbike or the USA depends on homologation numbers." But what's the timescale for the startup of production that will lead to the MotoCzysz being qualified for Superbike? "I don't think anyone has the ability to raise $100 million to start a motorcycle company in the USA right now," Czysz says. "Not just because of the economic climate, but because of ExcelsiorHenderson, Cannondale and especially Indian, which has left potential investors real sour. And I also don't want to have to service a $1 OO-million debt, because that way you're forced to make decisions you don't want to make about the quality of the product. "So we're going to use the revenue of the company to build, and that means building slow, but staying out of debt," Czysz continues. "One year from now, in 2006, we're going to manufacture SO motorcycles as a first run, all racers like this one. I believe we have 50 buyers out there who are interested in spending $100,000 to buy a track-day bike or a collectors item, or even one they can get a license tag for in Russia or Peru - they'll all have a headlight, just like this one! Then the following year, 2007, we'll manufacture the first 150 street versions, bringing the price down to somewhere between $55,000 and $65,000 each, bUilding production up to 3000 bikes a year in 2009. We have a MAY 11,2005 • CYCLE NEWS Pretty from any angle: Mota Czyz hopes to produce a limited quantity of 50 machines by 2006, at a cost of $100,000 per unit. Future plans call for 150 "street" units by '07, as well as the development of a 600cc version of the bike.