At the more 'normal' end of the spectrum people may consider the Harley-Davidson Breakout or the Triumph Rocket 3.Keanu Reeves' Arch Motorcycles launches sportier 1s With a 2.0-liter V-twin. The Confederate Hellcat is one, the Ariel Ace another, and potentially Arc's Vector electric bike, the Aston Martin-Brough AMB-001, and maybe Norton's V4SV would satisfy the same sort of customers. When you understand the cost, quality and craftsmanship that goes into one, it all adds up.Ĭost of ownership shouldn’t be any worse than a £20k bike, but spare availability will be more of a struggle, as parts will all have to come from the States – and some may need to be built to order.Īnd rivals? At this level of pricing there aren't many. A ‘used’ bike has never sold in the UK, so no-one really knows what price tag one would command.Īre the costs unfair? No – not really. At £90,000 it’s dramatically outside most rider’s remit, and even pre-owned ones are unlikely to be much cheaper.
Just don’t ever idle at traffic lights if you like your retina attached. Grab it by the scruff of its neck and it’s just the same. Trickle through town and it’s smooth, loud and effortless. It’s not without fault, but it’s an endearing chameleon. That deep scalloped seat is oddly comfortable too, the bum-stop supporting your spine to eradicate the backache that usually plagues the second hour of any cruiser ride. I’d like a wider span handlebar, but you could spec that when you order. But feel and feedback are communicated clearly, and even the 19/18in rim combo doesn’t dull that. Its flat profile puts you on the narrow shoulder at even the slightest of lean angles and with so much torque on tap it would be easy to get bitten. It takes positive bar pressure to hold it on a line though, and with no traction control or rider modes, you do have to treat the super-fat 240/40 rear Michelin Commander II with some caution. This really is a cruiser that can hustle – hard. How Arch have it all dialled-in to deliver stiff, sporty composure, while allowing a ride quality that’s astoundingly cosseting over bumpy British B-road imperfections, is extraordinary. What the occasionally active green dots mean is anyone’s guess, but you’ll only bother looking at the dash before speed cameras.īut, attractive as it is, it’s the riding that impresses most – and much of that is down to the brand-definiing arch of the frame, and the crucially well set-up Öhlins hardware. The gear lever is badly set on our test bike though, meaning that your natural foot position is at odds with its plane of action on upshifts - making toe-bleedingly hard work of what should be effortless.Ī quick glance at the Motogadget dash reveals that it’s really rather ineffective, but also that speed builds fast, and three figures arrive on the red-out-of-black dot matrix screen with ease. Not only is the fuelling oddly excellent for such a huge capacity air-cooled Vee, but the gearchange is crisp and positive, and the cumulative effect almost Diavel-esque in its penchant for egging you on to ride it harder. No, it’s not really ‘worth’ £90k (although you try building a clone cheaper) – but it is imbued with an intangible specialness that deserves to get the super-rich reaching for the build options list. £90k custom bikes are usually rolling art installations that are torturous in motion – but the Arch combines bling with an unexpectedly accomplished ride.
You might expect it to suffer surging fuelling woes, a soggy chassis and spine-compressing suspension. Preconceptions have a funny way of proving themselves accurate – but not this time. But there is at least one choice: The Arch. And if the first of them is to deliver a ride that doesn’t leave you spending the same sum again at the sadistic whims of your local osteopath, then the list gets shorter still. The list of £90,000 production bikes is short enough before you start adding any other stipulations into the mix. The Arch KRGT-1 may have been cracking asphalt Stateside since 2014, but the newest incarnation of this rather special naked motorbike is now available on UK soil – and if the shock of the price tag hasn’t already given you palpitations, then riding it will.
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