Metisse Motorcycles

[Orson]

Did anyone else see the article on the Metisse street scrambler?

They've manufactured their own version of a British parallel twin that pumps out 94 hp  

Unfortunately, they want $26,000 for it  

I love the bike, but at those prices...I don't love it that much.

Sheesh...that's Bimota money.

[R Doug]

I can't tell if this a modern classic or a novelty piece.

One thing is for sure, it's darn good looking.  

[buls4evr]

 Rickman Metisses have been around for a long time in kit frame form. You can put virtually any kind of single or parallel twin engine in that frame. They have always been very $$$$ to build but quality is excellent and they are elegant. All you need is the proper motor mounts and you are good to go. The biggest problem for a road bike in the states is that the frames did not used to have numbers as they were considered competition only. Sort of like building a hot-rod car to get a frame/motor match. If you live in the right state you could build your own and it would be a very light streettracker or street scrambler.

[Orson]

The article stated that the Rickman Brothers sold their company to this new guy.

They must be getting up there in years, as they motocrossed back in the 1950s.

The Rickmans sold them as kit bikes, using other people's engines, but this new guy has gone and built his own parallel twin. He must have some money.

At $26,000 a pop, he plans on getting it back too  

[chornbe]

The article stated that the Rickman Brothers sold their company to this new guy.

They must be getting up there in years, as they motocrossed back in the 1950s.

The Rickmans sold them as kit bikes, using other people's engines, but this new guy has gone and built his own parallel twin. He must have some money.

At $26,000 a pop, he plans on getting it back too  

See? Again... how anyone expects this bike to sell at that price is beyond me. Make it $8k and recoup it in the long haul. These are called investors. Investors (the right kind) know about risk and long market returns.

Just nutty.

[Orson]

He might not build them until he gets an order in hand.

I can't imagine how much it costs to design and build your own engine.

I'd guess one million Dollars, but that's just a WAG.

[buls4evr]

 Sort of flies in the face of building kit rolling chassis like Rickmans did. The fun of it was putting an existing engine in one and knowing that it would work really well. Building your own engine is financial suicide....and why would you do it when you can buy Rotax engines all day long or Yamahas to a certain extent? This group will sell at least 2 however. 1 to Jay Leno and 1 to Brad Pitt. Only guys like that have the desire and cash. I hope they decide to keep on selling rollers to all the vintage guys though. One of the prettiest bikes on the planet is a Metisse with a 500 Triumph twin... Make mine in BRG please!