The Janus Experience

In 2017 Janus Motorcycles launched the Gryffin 250, a knobby-tired “scrambler” addition to our 250 line which at that time included the more street-oriented Halcyon and Phoenix models. This first iteration of the Gryffin was essentially identical to the since discontinued soft-tail Phoenix model except that it featured the above-mentioned knobby tires and high-routed exhaust…

Richard has been working on a book about the very different kind of lightweight, leisurely motorcycling we champion at Janus Motorcycles. Well, that book is now available on Amazon! Part treatise, part manifesto, part handbook, the Rambler’s Companion will fit on your shelf, bedside table, or motorcycle book rack! As our technological advances provide greater…

At Janus Motorcycles we catch a lot of flack. A lot of modern consumers believe that engine size is directly proportional to value. In this view the biggest engine should be the most expensive and the smallest the cheapest (we’ve been hearing this argument since we launched our handmade 50cc two stroke over a decade…

By Tom Neel 9-11 of 1974, I walked into the third officially opened Kawasaki dealership in the country, and bought my first new motorcycle. It was a Kawasaki KS125, green, with a black stripe on the tank. That was 49 years ago. The KS125, like most enduro motorcycles of that era, was powered by a…

by Mark Zweig Of all the bikes I’ve owned over the last 53 years—that’s 300 plus—three of my top 10 motorcycles are 250s. The truth is that for 90-95 percent of the riding I do (or will ever do) at this point, a good-running 250 does everything I want it to do. The first of…

Janus Lightweight Motorcycles – What are the benefits of lightweight? Janus 250s weigh about 260 pounds. That’s nearly 150 pounds lighter than the lightest traditional mass-market motorcycles. The Halcyon 450 weighs 365 pounds. At 30 hp, that’s nearly identical to the power-to-weight ratio of a Sportster 883! Our Motorcycles are truly featherweight, and provide a…

We’ve just released our latest episode of “Why We Ride: The Janus Motorcycles Podcast”! In this episode, we speak with Rob Brooks of Road Dirt Magazine. Rob has been a writer and educator for decades, and a lifelong motorcycle rider. In 2019, after contributing for years to a variety of motorcycle magazines, Rob, with several writers & photographers…

What a pleasure to host Rob Brooks from Road Dirt Magazine, an independent motorcycle magazine that is filling in the gap left by many of the bigger motorcycle industry publications in recent years.  Rob is a seasoned rider with a love of all things two wheels, but we think we got him hooked on the…

As the founder and lead designer at a very small motorcycle manufacturer that often gets called “retro”, I’ve been pondering what that term means for quite some time. I believe there is more to be said on this, but here are some thoughts on the term and why our motorcycles look the way they do…

“Who said size doesn’t matter?” by Mark Zweig The big motorcycle makers have most riders these days thinking they should want the biggest bike with the biggest engine they make. Those are also typically the most expensive motorcycles these manufacturers sell. No doubt, some of those monsters have some impressive stats in terms of horsepower…