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Remember Curtiss Motorcycles? After years of doing business under the Confederate badge, the company owners changed the name to Curtiss in 2017 (after aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss) and announced they would be focusing on electric powertrains. They had a crowdfunding campaign in 2018, they introduced some new prototypes and concepts in 2019, and then we haven’t heard much about them since. The last we can remember hearing from them was in 2021, when Curtiss announced its new One platform.
Confederate sold hundreds of very cool bikes before changing its name, but it was never exactly been known for its financial successes, and now we see Curtiss is trying to raise money again. This time, it’s baiting potential investors with the opportunity to buy some of its prototype bikes if they buy in.
At first, this might sound interesting, because some of those machines had unique engineering and they were certainly stylistically bold. But let us also remember that these were electric prototypes. Who knows how viable that electric powertrain (some were adapted from previous-gen Zero designs) is in the real world? These bikes would look great on display, but their rideability might not be what a buyer would expect.
Furthermore, we see these interesting lines in the press release, telling us company management is pursuing “the restoration of one of America’s most storied legacy motoring brands.” Uh, are they talking about the Curtiss brand? The only storied Curtiss motorcycle I’m aware of is the V8 that Glenn Curtiss built in the early 1900s to set speed records. Maybe there were a few others he made and sold, but we’re not talking a marque that anyone would recognize here.
Reading onwards, we see that the prototypes are said to be “inspired by the work of original founder and pioneer Glenn H. Curtiss.” So Curtiss was the founder of Confederate, before it changed its name to Curtiss? An email to the PR representative for clarification has not yet been returned.
Anyway. The whole PR thing is here, if you really want to invest your money in this. By the way, if you preferred the original Confederate V-twin bikes, the people at Curtiss sold those designs and the Confederate brand to another company, that has since rebranded as Combat. Now, you’re probably just as confused as we are.
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