Vintage-styled everything is in right now as people can’t get enough of trying to relive the better parts of the past. Motorcycles are no exception, and there is a new motorcycle on the block that wants to take you on a time warp. The Janus Gryffin 450 doesn’t just look like the off-road racers of the 1950s, it’s also built a lot like how old motorcycles used to be. Janus practically mills its bikes out of raw metal and you can have this beauty in just about any color you can dream up.
Retro is still hot right now, with everyone from car enthusiasts to motorcycle riders wanting something modern that looks like it came from the past. Most of these vehicles merely just look the part, but Janus Motorcycles goes even further than that. Janus beats its motorcycles into shape from flat pieces of metal and has Amish artisans crafting seats from raw leather. Most of a Janus motorcycle is hand-built and capped off with brilliant paintwork.
I won’t sugarcoat it: These motorcycles are expensive for the performance you get. However, the experience is unlike anything else I’ve ever ridden. Janus has been on a path of growing the capabilities of its motorcycles and now there’s a new bike on the block. The Janus Gryffin 450 begins production this month as the firm’s bigger off-road-oriented option.
One Step Into The Past, One Step Into The Future
I’ve written about Janus Motorcycles before at the old site, but not for our audience here.
The Janus story started with two men, Devin Biek and Richard Worsham. Biek was obsessed with mopeds while Worsham had an eye for architectural design. Before Janus, Biek ran Motion Left Mopeds, a shop that initially specialized in the repair and restoration of vintage mopeds. Over time, Biek would develop moped performance modifications and embark on customization projects. He was also fascinated with how the expansion chamber exhaust increased the performance of two-stroke moped engines. All of Biek’s handmade performance parts helped edge old mopeds closer and closer to 70 mph, wild for tiny engines.
Worsham joined in on the moped madness in 2008 and, in 2010, the two came up with a dream to build something of their own rather than just messing around with existing mopeds. That first motorcycle was inspired by the 50cc Grand Prix motorcycles of the 1960s and the 1970s and built around a tuned Puch two-stroke.
The guys needed help getting this design into small-scale production and shopped around for fabricators. Perhaps oddly, help would come from Goshen’s Amish population, who had previous experience with building bicycle frames and racecar chassis. In a stroke of luck for everyone, the fabricators were looking for a new partner.
That first motorcycle was called the Paragon and, while Worsham and Biek planned on building a half-dozen of them, the project was so ambitious that only one was ever built. Still, the Paragon became quite a sensation and people begged for something like it to go into production.
Janus Motorcycles was founded and its first bike, inspired by the Paragon, was the 1920s-style two-stroke Halcyon 50. Janus started producing 250s in 2015 and then in 2021, the company smacked the motorcycle world with an even bigger upgrade.
The Janus Halcyon 450 has a 445cc single making 30 HP and an honest top speed of around 90 mph.
I got to ride this motorcycle in 2022 and it was one of the best experiences I had on two wheels. It was everything I loved about motorcycles, but in a package that made me feel like one of the biker pioneers of a century ago. When I rode that motorcycle down the farms of Indiana it was easy to feel like I had taken a time machine back. The only things that broke my illusion was my Power Rangers-style gear and the occasional modern car on the oncoming lane. Even better was the fact that the motorcycle had a realistic 90 mph top speed, allowing highway travel without pinning a poor engine against a wall.
The other awesome part about Janus Motorcycles is how they’re built.
I toured the Janus facilities and got to watch as fenders were bent into shape from flat sheets using a tree stump and an old panel-forming machine. I watched as the frames were bent by manual tools and welded together from raw tubes. In another building, I watched as a woman painted and striped tanks by hand and as axles were milled from blocks of metal. Seats, saddlebags, and jackets hung from the shop after getting crafted by the company’s Amish partners.
Not everything is made by hand. Janus uses off-the-shelf parts for lighting, instrumentation, brakes, and that engine, but the core is all made locally in Indiana. I loved that ride so much that I had to replicate it. Sadly, the price of a Janus — we’ll get there in a bit — is high enough to be out of my range. So, I bought a Royal Enfield Classic 350 to get an experience that was close enough.
The Gryffin 450
This month marks the start of another motorcycle built around the new Janus 450 engine.
The Gryffin 450 starts with its engine. It’s the same air and oil-cooled 445cc 30 HP plant found in the Halcyon 450s. This engine is technically a Honda design, sort of. Shineray in China took the Honda XR400 engine design, made its own engine out of it, and then SWM of Italy got its hands on it, pumped up the bore and added fuel injection. So, it’s basically a Honda engine put through a game of Telephone.
Janus tells me that it puts its engines through extensive testing and Janus motorcycles have racked up tens of thousands of miles around America. So, it seems the company cares about building products that’ll last the long haul, even if it doesn’t have the resources to build its own engines.
Janus designed a new frame to go around this engine. This isn’t a frame with any high-tech magic, but one designed to resemble the off-roaders of seven decades ago. The same goes for the relatively simple suspension setup.
There’s a leading-link front fork offering up 5.5 inches of suspension travel and dual-shock setup in the rear offering the same suspension travel. That’s connected to a 21-inch front wheel and an 18-incher taking up the rear. Stack the custom-fabricated tank on top, the enduro-style bars, and those tall fenders and you get something that looks like it came from the 1950s or 1960s. There’s more, from Janus:
Janus Senior Design Engineer, Charlie Hansen-Reed, led the design on the project. “The Gryffin 450 is a close sibling to our Halcyon 450, but with some key changes that really make it excel off-pavement. The longer suspension travel, wheel size, lower [32-inch] seat height, and larger fuel tank will be really welcomed by our off-road riders.” He adds, “and trimming another 30 pounds off our already featherweight 450 chassis will be a huge bonus for trailering, van-lifers, and for any adventuresome rider’s peace of mind and confidence.”
Still available to customers will be the whole range of color options, pinstripe options, and other various aesthetic and functional items that differentiates Janus’ manufacturing process. Additional new options on the Gryffin 450 roadmap include motocross footpegs, headlight cage, pannier racks, highway bars, a skid plate, tire selections, and a pillion seat.
All Gryffin 450s will include hand-formed and beaded fenders, hand-formed and welded stainless steel exhaust, hand-welded chassis and forks, Brembo brakes, hand-painted graphics and pinstripes, and hundreds of permutations of color, pinstripe color, graphics package, leather/canvas bag options, and other customizations.
All of this comes in a package weighing in at 330 pounds dry. In my experience, Janus motorcycles are insanely flickable and are a total ball to take on a curvy road, if you can find one in Indiana. That seat also looks to be on the thin side, which could be bad for long rides, but I’ll have to ride it myself to see for sure.
Earlier, I said that Janus motorcycles aren’t exactly cheap units. Indeed, if you wanted the smaller Gryffin 250, you’d have to bring $7,495 to the table before any options or customization. The Gryffin 450 is almost double that at $13,495.
Expensive, But Unique
Now, if you’re about to shake your head and swear off Janus, I totally get that. As I said earlier, even I can’t swing that much money for a 30 HP boutique bike. That’s why I bought a Royal Enfield and still paid less than half of the price after taxes and fees.
But Janus does something you can’t get from most of the big firms. The company’s customization options are practically endless. You get an entire palette of paint and trim finishes, including getting the whole frame painted in a primary color if you want it that way. If you don’t like the colors Janus has on offer, you can also request custom paint.
This comes on top of the already hand-built nature of these motorcycles, where even the axles are works of art. You shouldn’t see this as competition for big motorcycle makers or even individual motorcycles like the Suzuki DR650, because it’ll never make sense if you do that. These are just too expensive and not powerful enough to compete. Instead, a Janus is supposed to be like buying a custom-built motorcycle, but without forcing yourself to hack an old Honda apart in your shed. Boutique motorcycles are niche machines.
So, if you have the kind of money that a Janus commands and want something you won’t get from the big guys, I think you’ll like what you get. Janus says it’s taking orders for the Gryffin 450 right now and deliveries begin this month. So, don your vintage gear, slap those goggles on your face, and have fun. I sure hope to ride this green machine.
(Images: Janus Motorcycles, unless otherwise noted.)
Cleveland Moto talks about the company all the time. One of the guys on that podcast has one. Also Janus will have a flat track bike in the near future. Janus Gryffin 450 Flattrack Team! – Janus Motorcycles
As a former Ducati owner, I guess I’m biased a bit, but those prices seem downright reasonable for a low volume moto with that many handcrafted parts on it.
The vintage styled stuff isn’t for me. But I will say this bike looks absolutely gorgeous. I wouldn’t mind taking it out on some mellow trails!
I was aware of Janus, but I never bothered looking into them. I ended up listening to an interview with the founder on the May 1st release of the “Moto’s and friends” podcast. He seemed like a really nice guy who really has found a niche, and cares about quality…
A person who cares about quality would have picked a better crate engine. Not just the cheapest option you can get your hands on.
But it depends on your definition of quality.
Have you heard about all the brand new Toyotas with engines that are blowing up? Even companies with reputations for quality are fully capable of making turds. Sounds like they tested these pretty thoroughly and the design has been around for decades. It’s really the rest of the bike you’re paying for.
I stand by my opinion (you know what they say about opinions). Choosing a single cylinder, that has the appeareance of a parallel twin, is fakery, and solely done as a cost cutting measure. This is a poser bike, and the company is a poser company.
Their welds look like something I could do, and those are the welds they chose to put on their webpage. The welds on your bike, should you choose to buy one, will be worse.
Nuts and bolts appears to be sourced at the cheap isles in your local hardware store. Do me a favor and right click on their product images and select open in a new tab to see the shit show in full resolution.
Just bought a new bike after years of hiatus, and honestly just picked up where I left the last time. I just woke up one morning and bought a new bike that was cheap and looked fun.
(full disclosure, we have decided to spend the last years of the ICE, doing some slow, partly greenlane, motorcycle touring, while we switch all other energy consuming devices to electric as it should be)
Doing my purchase reasearch retrospectively, as one does, I can see that I am without a lot of modern features I was not aware existed:
I am without traction control.
I am without cruise control.
I am without ride modes.
And my forks are down side up 🙂
I do however have a nice two channel Bosch ABS that might come in handy when I least expect it and there is a USB plug for charging that may also be handy at times.
My girlfriend did her purchase research prior to purchasing, as they do, and she has all above mentioned features.
Be aware of what you are getting of pure driving joy with bikes like these, but also be aware what you might be missing because you are getting all nostalgic.
Janus was born from Motion Left Mopeds, a popular, albeit super niche manufacturer of exhausts, intakes, and other accessories for 40-50 year old 49cc runabouts. As the number of mopeds in the wild gets smaller each year, and the club/social scene around them slowly disintegrates it seems like a logical move to shift to manufacturing a new product, similar in spirit, but more practical in execution.
I hope they do well. The Paragon was great looking, and the bikes after that were definitely not my cup of tea. I’m a bit surprised they made it past those, but the new bikes look good again. Maybe when I seize the motor in my batavus go-go, I’ll look at a Janus (and a motorcycle license).
Amish racecar chassis?? Let’s hear more about that!
Right?!
I think it’s a cool product for a really specific kind of rich (like, suburban dentist rich) person. It would be cool if they went with a name brand engine, but at least it’s a reasonably vintage-ish style that should be dead simple to service.
I’d consider one as my motorcycle (the cheaper Halcyon 250), but I don’t think I’m even close to qualifying as rich, a specific type or otherwise.
I guess I’m being a little unfair to Janus’s buyers. For most people in America, bikes are for fun, and I could see having more fun on the halcyon 250 than a lot of other $7,000 bikes, even if those bikes are more feature rich.
Im happy that somebody is building these, and happy for them that somebody can afford to buy them.
As Veblen goods go these bikes seem to be a fairly straightforward proposition.
“from Goshen’s Amish population, who had previous experience with building bicycle frames and racecar chassis.”
Im really wanting some names of bicycles and race cars built by the Amish.
I remember when i was a kid the local machine shop / ag machinery / speed shop always had a bunch of Mennonites sitting around discussing the finer points of Hilborn fuel injection and GMC blowers.
Once when I was in in the morning to buy some stuff and the Mennonites weren’t there, I asked the owner about it and he said that they were just there for the air conditioning.
The leading link fork is an interesting move, it provides uniqueness in a new bike and makes it look like a 4 stroke Greeves. For the well heeled it could be fun but it’s a little too nice to be dropping into a bush on the trail. I would sooner buy a used 250 or 400 that I won’t feel bad about scratching up.
$13.5k for a Harbor Freight engine?
Someone call the ambulance, we have a 3rd degree burn in need of emergency treatment.
I love that these exist.
I also love that they’re not made from unobtainium. Prices that, while higher than mass-market, aren’t crazy.
Sadly little on the motorcycle market these days makes me want to change my current fleet of motorcycles. And this isn’t any different, but I’d happily wave to one.
Not my kind of thing, too much of it rubs me the wrong way, but pleased to see they are still in business, so somebody must love them.
You could spend about that much and get a BMW /2 series out of the 60s. It’d have a shaft, an Earles fork that doesn’t look like a shop project and parts support from BMW. If you want, the frame will even have all the lugs and stuff to bolt a sidecar to it right from the factory.
It’ll be nice to look at; more Bauhaus than “built in a shed”.
Your opinion may vary and that’s fine. Not a fan of how this Janus thing looks. It reminds me of an uglied up XR600 or something.
Or spend less than half of that on a Honda that’s been thoroughly overhauled by your local shop.
But if you do that, you have something that doesn’t lift the front of the frame when you apply the front brake, doesn’t lift the back of the frame when applying rear brake and doesn’t rock to the side when revving at a stand still.
Where do I get /2 parts from BMW?
The lead picture for this gave me about a 70% flashback of a neighbor’s mid-60s era Honda 305 Scrambler. And for the money, I’d find a used CL77. Or two. To ride on the street…
Having destroyed several chains and sprocket sets hustling up and down volcano-situated trails, years ago, I second Dudeoutwest’s BMW advice.
I had that scrambler. I loved it and miss it. Sadly 14 mikes one way in northern WI to drive to university gets old fast at 10 degrees F
Welp, thanks Mercedes, for introducing me to yet another thing that’s sure to jeopardize my marriage…
I showed the wife and she gave me the shocked face and said it’s really cool looking. So, there’s a chance. It’s 0.02%, but there’s a chance.
Good stuff, Mercedes! As a person with several old bikes, I appreciate Janus’ effort.
For those of you wondering about the original bikes to which the Gryffin is an homage, do a GIS for “1950s desert sled” which is what they were called at the time.
Maybe it’s the Honda-sourced engine, but what I’m seeing most here is an early 1970s Honda CL450 scrambler. At that time (60s, 70s) the big manufacturers would often have a single bike that could be equipped as a street bike or as a scrambler. Street models had exhaust pipes that left the engine, turned toward the ground, and were routed under the engine and to the back of the bike in the traditional manner. This was not the hot ticket for off-road adventure because the downpipes reduced ground clearance and were more easily damaged, so the scrambler versions received high pipes like we see on the Janus.
Funnily enough, the pipes were often the most visible difference between the street and scrambler models. I have a 1967 Yamaha (street) that could be converted to the scrambler simply by changing the exhaust and possibly adding an original, optional skid plate under the engine. That’s it. From the factory the wheels, tires, etc. were generally the same.
Side note: there’s probably a “Gryffin door” joke in here somewhere but I shall not look for it.
The Gryffin door joke decided to just Slytherin, right?
It did now!
I was gonna call you an evil bastard for that one, but decided I’ll Hufflepuff and I’ll be nice about it.
These puns make me want to (raven)claw my eyes out.
Cool on its own, but the whole setup does makes me wonder if I’ll see Fred Armisen pitching them next.
My issue with all thing Janus has always been the price for Chinese Knock off engines. add in the Italians here and the concerns get doubly high for me at least. still a good looking thing, they are.
Chinese block with Italian fuel injection. At a premium price. Not for me.
Any bets on which system fails first?
Is it fair to be skeptical of some of those welds, too? Or have the robots just spoiled me for what a nice weld should look like?
there are so many other options, new and used, that all make more sense. and for the price? who financed this? a laundry operation?
SWM is involved which makes sense I guess.
I struggle with this whole retro thing. That is a cool bike, but it feels kind of contrived – it triggers our emotions by mimicry. One of the cool things about old bikes (and cars) is that we know there is history behind the thing. In this case, they want us to feel the history without it being there.
I wish them success and they are definitely cool and appear to be well-made. But I feel like I would be faking it to buy one.
I think the trend is not going away for a while. The biggest things in photography right now are “film simulations” so that you can take your highly advanced digital image and then make it look worse. I grew up on film, I wouldn’t go back, and I’m not sure there’s any difference between these “recipes” and Instagram “filters” that everyone started being proud to NOT use – #NoFilter. The prices of digital and much less capable cameras from 10 years ago are also on a steep rise. But, hey, I’ve got a watch that I have to wind every day, and now that I think about it I’m looking at my Nikon F100 and starting to miss my T140 Bonneville, so maybe we’re all looking for the “authenticity” we had before Pro Tools wrecked most of music.
I’m wearing my Timex Marlin right now, which I happily wound this morning…but at the same time, I marvel at my quartz watches for how durable and accurate they are, you know, for doing the actual job.
See: dual-clutch automatics.
I’m the last person to dismiss new tech, but I think both modern cameras and modern bikes have capabilities so far beyond the average consumers that I understand people wanting to “go back” in a sense. I question the financial decision of buying a janus just like I question the decision of buying a fuji x100vi just to shoot to jpeg on film simulation modes, but I totally get wanting a chunky mechanical object where it’s easy to understand how the input translates to output. Plus fuji’s film simulations look great (no comment on any crowdsourced “recipes”).
Agree totally with your first point. My favorite camera (this week) is a twelve year-old Nikon 1 with a 10 MP 1″ sensor that hadn’t learned to be complicated yet, so it’s just pretty fun at the basics. I also don’t want my things, especially my car, thinking for me – just do the same thing, every time, I’ll figure out the rest. I’m not yet there on film simulations, though. Maybe I’ll get there, but not yet.
Well put. While I think we all agree there’s just something about the purposeful, no frills nature of older motorcycles that makes them indefinably cool, it seems not entirely a function of the bike itself, but rather of our use of/connection to them. And maybe even, as you suggest, an idealized view of that.
So the idea that one could simply purchase all of that seems inauthentic.
Over the years, I’ve become a fan of “heritage-inspired” rather than pure retro. I like when vehicles incorporate callback design cues into contemporary things, rather than trying to copy something from the past just updating it to fit with current materials or whatever.
Cue the Fiat 500. Rented one in France and drove all over the south. Loved it and at 6’2” and heavier than i want to be was surprised at the joy it brought. oK it wasn’t the me of early 70’s lusting after real 500’s in Italy but close enough. akso French back roads are to die for
Does the vintage vibe extend to parking it on a piece of cardboard for the oil drips?
Kidding, of course.
There’s definitely a niche market for these, hopefully that market finds Janus.
The second best part of rebuilding the engine on my ’78 bike was no more cardboard sitting under it when parked.
I thought you were supposed to use a silver serving tray for the drips?
My Saab T-Shirt. I’m not leaking I’m marking my territory