This Hand-Built American V-Twin Made Factory Cruisers Look Fat And Lazy

For a long time, cruisers have rigidly followed a singular template: long, low-slung, heavy motorcycles dripping with chrome. These are motorcycles meant for leisurely cruising that prefer the open road to corners. This stands true for even the sportiest big-engined blue-blooded American cruisers like the Harley-Davidson Low Rider S and the Indian Chief. There is, however, a hand-built cruiser that is set to turn this cruiser ethos on its head. This bespoke boutique cruiser is more than just a style statement; it’s got the substance to back its sleek, sporty design as well.

Read Also

2 month ago

The Performance Car That Quietly Nails The Formula

64 autotech

You may think Buell, but you’d be well off the mark. This creation belongs to ARCH Motorcycle, founded by custom motorcycle builder Gard Hollinger and actor and passionate motorcyclist Keanu Reeves. ARCH Motorcycle was created with one shared focus — build a performance cruiser with no compromise whatsoever. ARCH started as a one-off custom motorcycle and evolved into a boutique bike maker determined to change the definition of high-end V-twin cruisers. And they largely succeeded.

This American Cruiser Was Built To Break All The Rules

The traditionalAmerican cruiserformula has worked for decades, so there has been little reason to mess with it. Big V-twin engines, relaxed ergonomics, substantial proportions, and an emphasis on effortless torque rather than outright cornering ability are all part of the appeal. But building a cruiser around performance first requires looking at that familiar recipe very differently.

Read Also

1 month ago

A beating British heart: Nissan Formula E Team heads to London finale with a bedrock of local talent

35 autotech

Instead of simply extracting more muscle from a big V-twin, this hand-built machine attacks many of the traits that typically hold heavyweight cruisers back. Excess weight is trimmed wherever possible, premium components replace more conventional hardware, and the riding position is designed to give the rider greater control when the road gets twisty. Even its construction has more in common with an exotic, low-volume machine than something rolling off a mass-production line.

The result is still unmistakably an American V-twin cruiser, just one created with a very different set of priorities. It has the presence, torque, and character expected of the breed, but combines them with an obsessive focus on weight, handling, and craftsmanship. And the transformation starts with the enormous V-twin sitting at the center of it all.

A V-twin Heart That Goes Far Beyond The Iconic Thump

Arch Motorcycle

The ARCH KRGT-1 uses a massive air-cooled 124 cubic-inch S&S V-twin motor in keeping with custom American cruiser build tradition, but that’s where most of the similarities end. It certainly looks the part but is surprisingly sophisticated for an old-school V-twin platform. Traditional V-twin engines are slow-revving iron lumps that focus on delivering low-end grunt and that characteristic V-twin rumble. The ARCH’s motor goes beyond, offering fantastic performance. It pushes out a healthy 115.3 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheel. What helps it deliver impressive performance is its low weight — 50 pounds lighter than its nearest American competition. The only power cruiser that truly competes with it is the rather unconventional Italian V4-engined Ducati Diavel RS.

The beauty of this engine lies in the way it breathes. While most cruisers feature a bulky right-side-mounted intake setup, ARCH introduced a proprietary downdraft induction system that sits between the two halves of the split billet fuel tanks and is fed by two scoops sitting behind the headlamp nacelle. This solved two problems. With this setup, ARCH optimized the high-RPM airflow going into the combustion chambers and packaged the system better by keeping the V-twin engine profile narrow, allowing the rider to tuck farther into the motorcycle than on most traditional cruisers.

This setup gets a custom two-into-one exhaust setup with a high-flow carbon-fiber end can. While big motors have a tendency to vibrate themselves apart, the KRGT-1 uses specialized drivetrain isolation dampers that smooth out the vibes without excluding that low-frequency rumble that American V-twins are loved for.

A Bespoke Build That Helps Shed Weight

Via RideApart

Traditionally, cruisers have always been lumbering beasts. To counter this, ARCH turned to aerospace-grade aluminum and carbon fiber. Manufacturing the KRGT-1 starts with over 1,200 pounds of raw billet aluminum and CNC machining it down to just 120 pounds of frame parts, fuel tank, swingarm, and bodywork. A striking example of this radical trimming is the two-piece fuel tank. Each half of the fuel tank starts as a 260-pound block of billet aluminum. After a 15-hour CNC milling process for each side, the structural outer shells are hand-welded together. Overall, just making the fuel tank requires over 60 hours of labor, and that’s before finishing and painting.

The billet aluminum swingarm is another bespoke creation. It weighs half of what traditional swingarms do, while offering good levels of torsional rigidity. By replacing cast iron and stamped steel with milled aluminum components, the KRGT-1 manages to shed considerable weight. That makes it significantly lighter than the usual Harley heavyweights. The lower weight not only helps it accelerate better, but also translates to a lighter, more reactive chassis.

This weight reduction helps a lot in how the KRGT-1 behaves. Reducing weight higher up in the frame helps lower the motorcycle’s center of gravity, making low-speed maneuvering easy despite the extended wheelbase. Using billet aluminum parts ensures that the subframe and structural body panels have minimal flex, giving the motorcycle a feeling of solidity and reducing the heavy chassis flex associated with traditional cruisers.

Track-Spec Cycle Parts Help Shed The Traditional Cruiser Stereotype

Arch Motorcycle

Typically, production cruisers like the Harley Low Rider S and Indian Chief focus on style rather than substance and often skimp on suspension and brake parts, using basic non-adjustable forks and a single front disc brake. The KRGT-1 heads in the opposite direction by using top-shelf cycle parts usually reserved for high-end sport bikes. The ARCH KRGT-1 uses fully adjustable 48mm Ohlins USD forks and a custom Ohlins rear monoshock, ensuring the motorcycle displays sophisticated and planted handling characteristics without compromising a lot on ride quality.

For braking, the KRGT-1 uses dual radially-mounted 6-piston monobloc calipers with floating discs from Swedish brake specialist ISR. Even the wheels are ultra-light BST carbon fiber ones that help reduce unsprung weight. By reducing unsprung mass, the suspension can react quickly to road undulations, rather than having to overcome the heavy inertia associated with typically heavy cruiser wheels. The ISR monoblocs deliver a fantastic feel, allowing the rider to brake deeper into a corner without upsetting the motorcycle’s dynamics. These refinements ensure that the large-capacity cruiser turns in with surprising agility, is stable around corners, and delivers reassuring levels of stopping power and brake lever feel. While a typical cruiser starts scraping its floorboards and wandering off-line in corners, the KRGT-1 impresses with its ample lean angle thanks to high-set footpegs, and its composure, allowing the rider to carry proper speed through corners.

Tailor-Made Ergonomics

Squarespace Superbowl Commercial Via Youtube

It’s ironic that cruisers are traditionally looked upon as symbols of customization and personal expression, yet most production cruisers come with a standardized one-size-fits-all template. ARCH’s philosophy goes beyond billet aluminum and carbon fiber components and top-shelf cycle parts. The boutique bike maker ensures that each of its KRGT-1s fits its buyer like a tailor-made suit. During the build process, the customer is offered a custom ergonomic package in which foot control positions, handlebar placement, seat profile, and even suspension damping rates are tuned according to the rider’s height and weight. ARCH even goes beyond the traditional cruiser’s lazy feet-forward riding position, instead opting for a more aggressive semi-forward riding stance that has the rider actively engaging with the motorcycle in corners.

Furthermore, this personalized approach and semi-forward stance also helps eliminate physical fatigue associated with long rides on high-performance motorcycles. The rider sits in a neutral, commanding position, with every control touchpoint — from the custom adjustable levers to the CNC-machined foot pegs — placed precisely to the rider’s comfort level, immediately offering a more natural and comfortable connection with the machine.

All this bespoke engineering does come at a cost. With an eye-watering price tag of around $85,000 (and that isn’t even Arch’s most expensive motorcycle), the ARCH KRGT-1 seems like an outrageous proposition when placed alongside assembly-line production motorcycles, especially something like the Ducati Diavel RS, which costs less than half the KRGT-1’s asking price. Justifying this price tag comes down to the way the KRGT-1 is built. Think of it as a two-wheeled equivalent of Pagani or Spyker. These hand-built supercars cost millions of dollars yet consistently attract an ultra-exclusive clientele. With the ARCH KRGT-1, you are paying for hand-assembled motorcycles, with hundreds of hours of CNC machining, along with the best components money can buy. Each motorcycle can take anywhere from 90 days to 4 months to produce. The KRGT-1 is a lot more than just a high-end production cruiser with a ton of accessories slapped on it. It’s a handcrafted piece of functional art that makes factory cruisers look fat, heavy, and lazy in comparison.