Part Four: The Best Tool for the Job

We use an imported motor. We get a lot of questions about it! So, let’s dig in. Our motor is imported from mainland China, which is incidentally the same place your smartphone, toaster, and components for your neighbor’s Harley Davidson, or your other neighbor’s Honda may have come from. Some of it is very poor quality; much of it represents the best design and technology the world produces today.

How does this fit into Janus Motorcycles’ mission? First and foremost, we spend every day working hard to make a one-of-a-kind motorcycle that makes our riders insanely happy to ride and own. We think that’s best accomplished by simple, beautiful, affordable, motorcycles that are easy to ride and own. What’s the best motor to accomplish that mission? Something simple, affordable, and dependable. Where do we get that? Not the US, yet….

The motor we’ve chosen to power our motorcycles is a simple, beautiful thing. Our ultimate goal in sourcing our engine was not the bottom line, but to source a small-displacement, reliable, and easy-to-maintain engine that meets all emissions standards. In fact, it is easily the simplest four-stroke motor on the market, making it a cinch to service and maintain. Give it regular maintenance (like any other engine) and it will run and run and run. Why wouldn’t we choose that for our motorcycle? It’s a perfect fit.

To say that we love and believe in these motors is an understatement. We have pushed them to the limit for the past two years (hitched to sidecars on the interstate for hours on end, raced around flat tracks of the Midwest, burnout after burnout till the rear tire is destroyed and the header glows orange) and we have yet to damage one. That’s not to say that we wouldn’t be excited to see a US engine that would fit the same requirements of our lightweight, classically-styled motorcycles. Rather, that we are still waiting for that day to arrive! Small motorcycle engine manufacturers in the US are an elusive breed.

We test each and every motor we put in our motorcycles, and stand behind its longevity like our livelihoods rely on it (because they do). Don’t quite trust us or the motor? Come try one and talk to us at our Discovery Days. Or read some reviews. Give us a call (574-538-1350) and talk through the motor and its maintenance with Richard. Take advantage of our smallness—really.