Kyrgyz by the The Kraus Motor Co. is the kind of motorcycle I’d love to see the US chopper scene producing a lot more of, it’s a fascinating combination of modern and vintage technology with serious emphasis placed on engineering.
The Kraus Motor Co. is based in the mountains of Cazadero, in Northern California, they take great pride in being unique with their designs and as Kyrgyz can attest, they know their way around the metalshop.
Kyrgyz is powered by a low-mounted 1965 Harley-Davidson panhead, the frame was all fabricated by hand and upon completion was nickel-plated. The unusual BMX handlebar choice seems to work quite well within the design, the lack of levers is due to the use of Kraus Motor Co’s patented “twist-brake” on the left hand side, allowing a far more minimal aesthetic than almost any other handlebar I’ve yet seen.
Interestingly the bike does have rear suspension, allowing 2.5″ of rear travel, I’ve included a close up of the rear hub below for those interested in a closer look. It reminds me a little of the softail system used by Zero Engineering although the Kraus system is far more subtle.
Although it’s obviously very unusual, I like the Kyrgyz, it always fascinates me when smaller companies roll up their sleeves and get into the engineering side of things rather than just producing shiny stock-framed S&S choppers.
If you’d like to see more from The Kraus Motor Co. click here, they have a few other builds that are well worth a look.
Photos by Mike Chase and Frank Sander
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
