Making a Motorcycle: Aluminum Fuel Tanks

Both our Phoenix and Halcyon fuel tanks are the product of many hours of deliberation, design, and iteration. They draw from classic motorcycle designs in their inspiration and our own vision for how our motorcycles should look and feel. And they’re also the product of the constraints we operate within. Janus Motorcycles is a small production shop. Our smallness dictates that we make our motorcycles in small volumes, with our hands and simple production methods. Our production (not custom) operation dictates that each tank—while hand-built—is nearly identical and reproducible (without the use of exceptionally expensive or time-intensive methods). How do we produce a beautiful product within these constraints? Like this:

Our tanks are cut from sheet aluminum and bent, formed, and welded into shape by our skilled team. Then they’re finished and pinstriped carefully.

We’ve come to realize that we’re walking the line between “production without personality” and one-of-a-kind customs (which are—by definition—un-reproducible). In other words, part of what you pay for when comparing a Janus Motorcycle to an off-the-line mass-manufactured brand is the human element in each of our limited-run motorcycles. And part of what you save when comparing a Janus Motorcycle to a one-off custom bike is that we’ve standardized (while not sterilizing) a good portion of our processes.

We’re very proud of what we’re able to produce using simple production methods, our hands, and creative design. Sometimes, we’ve found, constraints actually improve creativity and inspiration.