Curtiss Motorcycles electric cruiser, ‘The One’ you’ve been looking for?

CURTISS Motorcycles have presented what can only be described as a steam-punk cruiser, and it’s a perfect example of how looks can be deceiving, ‘The One’ may be much more than first meets the eye. 

The key for Curtiss is making this bike look like a work of art, as well as ride like one. If you take a minute to really study the features of ‘The One’ in all of its glory, you may be fooled thinking it’s going to be an extremely heavy, slow cruiser. When in reality, it’s a modest 193kg - still heavy, but not exceedingly so for a cruiser - but you may have guessed they’re looking to save weight, there’s carbon fibre all over the place. 

Cruiser Motorcycle Review | BMW R18

What stands out instantly for me is the chassis. ‘The One’ features an aircraft-inspired Triple Load Path monocoque, making use of the low-slung ‘power pak’ as the backbone for the frame - keeping the centre of gravity low, but resulting in a flex-free, slim and lightweight chassis for the core. 

This ‘power pak’ has radially-arranged fuel cells, which are submerged in non-conductive coolant to maintain a safe operating temperature for the battery unit. Power is converted from the motor to the rear wheel through a maintenance-free toothed belt drive, with no gears or clutch, and all kept comfortable on the road with fully-adjustable suspension, modular carbon fibre, with adjustable RaceTech monoshock front and rear. 

A huge feature is the adjustable rake angle, which will give personalised dimensions of ‘The One’ depending on what you opt for. The adjustment of the rake between 27º to 31º will therefore subsequently adjust the wheelbase (62” to 64”), ground-clearance (8” to 6”) and seat height (29” to 31”). Further, the footpegs and handlebar are adjustable, giving the rider the ‘perfect fit’.

Now, the motor itself is centred along both the horizontal and vertical axis of the chassis, and Curtiss claim it to be ‘the most power-dense motor in the world’ - which is a massive (if not gargantuan) statement to make.

What power have you got to play with on Curtiss Motorcycles ‘The One’?

It’s interesting here, as the motor is capable of providing a peak of up to 217 bhp, and torque of 369 Nm - but, instead, they limit it to 120 bhp (peak), 87 bhp (steady) & 199 Nm (peak), 162 Nm (steady). 

The reasoning given is “future-proofing”, so perhaps they aren’t too keen on pushing the motor to its limits just yet. They do note that fully adjustable tuning will be available through cloud-based software updates, so it can assumably be made use of in the future without visiting a dealer.

The price-tag for a work of art like ‘The One’ is a lofty $81,000 USD, around £59,000 depending on exchange rate. Fairly expensive, but it’s a limited run of 100 being built in 2021. Curtiss models ‘Two’ and ‘Three’ are thought to be on the way for 2022 & 2023 respectively. 

I can only hope they up their model-naming game after the third edition, it sounds like a Playstation.