Type Private Founded 2011 | Headquarters Goshen, Indiana, USA Number of employees 4 | |
Industry Motor vehicle design and manufacturing Founder Devin Biek and Richard Worsham Area served USA, Netherlands, Great Britain, Brazil, Russia Products Motorcycles, motorcycle parts | ||
Janus motorcycles past and future
Janus Motorcycles is an American manufacturer of small-displacement motorcycles in Goshen, Indiana. The company was founded in 2011 by Richard Worsham and Devin Biek, and has been delivering motorcycles since 2013. Worsham and Biek got started repairing, restoring, and tuning vintage, pedal-type mopeds through Biek's company, Motion Left Mopeds, a manufacturer of aftermarket performance parts for vintage two-strokes. The moped business led to their interest in small, lightweight bikes, and helped develop business relationships with local component vendors.
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Models
The company's first model, the Halcyon, is a hard-tail motorcycle with a long, low tank, sprung seat, and wide handlebars, and 6-speed gearbox. Optional leather saddlebags and other upgrades were sold with the bike. It has a TIG-welded, rigid, double-cradle tubular steel frame, based on the Norton Norton Featherbed. The engine was a water-cooled 50 cc two-stroke based on the Derbi Senda engine, which Janus said had 10 hp (7.5 kW), allowing a claimed top speed of 55 mph (89 km/h). It has front and rear drum brakes. Apart from the engine, forks, and hubs, everything on the bike is manufactured within about 20 miles of the Janus shop.
Janus announced a second model, the Phoenix, in 2014. It uses the same frame and powertain as the Halcyon, but but adds full suspension, a Dunstall-style tank, and café racer seat.
The difficulty of meeting pollution limits with two-stroke engines led to replacing the 50 cc Derby engines for the Halcyon and Phoenix with a 250 cc Chinese-made Lifan four-stroke single imported China. Janus said the two models reach a top speed of about 70 mph (110 km/h) with the 14 hp (10 kW) at 7,000 rpm and 11.6 ft·lb (15.7 J) @ 5,500 rpm engine. The company says the bikes' curb weights are about 250 lb (110 kg) for the Halcyon and the Phoenix 265 lb (120 kg) for the Phoenix .