A statement regarding the “Doodle” incident

Earlier this year, we invited the YouTuber Doodle on a Motorcycle to visit, help with a supervised motorcycle build, and then go for a ride. On that ride, she experienced a severe wobble at speed, lost control, and went down. Thankfully, her injuries were limited to a badly damaged knee—nothing broken—but it was still a serious crash. 

This was the first time we’ve heard of any Halcyon 250 rider experiencing this.

We are conducting our own internal investigation on the crash that Doodle experienced, have conducted a survey of Halcyon 250 owners, and are consulting several external resources. We will obviously act accordingly based on our findings. The safety of our riders is our utmost priority. Our review and investigation in this crash is not complete. However, it should be noted that our early findings about the crash are that the “cause” was what one accredited crash investigator called a perfect storm of the road conditions (grooved pavement with a raised bridge surface), environmental conditions, rider weight, and bike weight. Our early returns on our owner survey corroborate our inclination that we do not have an inherent issue with our Halcy0n 250.

Doodle documented the experience, since that was the purpose of her visit, and she later released a video about it. We knew it would be difficult to watch but wanted the truth represented. Not long after, Yammie Noob, who has criticized Janus in the past, released another negative video about the incident, framing it as a problem with our motorcycles.

Motorcycles are inherently risky, and while we take safety seriously, crashes can happen on any bike. Wobbles, or “tank slappers,” can be caused by many factors and are not unique to Janus. We’ve built over a thousand bikes without reports of similar issues, and we continue to monitor, investigate, and improve where needed. If there ever were a safety defect, we would issue a recall, as we have in the past. Owner safety is always our top priority.

As for critics who say bikes like ours shouldn’t exist or that small manufacturers shouldn’t build motorcycles—that’s exactly why we do what we do. We believe there’s space for motorcycles that are light, approachable, and different, even if that challenges conventional expectations. That might make some folks 

We are currently working with Doodle and both Janus and Doodle are still planning to complete the original mission—take an awesome 250 down Route 66!