Remember That 300 Horsepower Turbocharged Motorcycle, Well It's Being Crowdfunded

It's certainly one way of starting a business these days.

By: Jonathon Klein

Mar 17, at 10:11am ET

Comment

Starting a business these days seems almost like an impossible task. You've got onerous governmental regulations, small business loans drying up, and just the general hardship of seeing your vision executed has left many to abandon their dreams. Combining all that with attempting to build a rideable machine only furthers those challenges. Just ask Damon Motorcycles.

So it's not hard to understand why many startups these days are looking outside the normal avenues of starting a business on the right foot.

There are a few different pathways to do so, i.e. venture capital, personal loans, crime...But the folks over at Langen Motorcycles out of the United Kingdom, the motorcycle shop that's planning to build a 300 horsepower turbocharged naked superbike, are aiming to use crowdfunding to get its business off the ground and consumers listening to the sweet, sweet sound of a squirrelly wastegate.

That's certainly one way of doing it, and they're already pretty close to their stated goal.

Photo by: Langen Motorcycles

"Our reputation & success is driven by a tailor-made programme, offering fully bespoke, premium machines enhanced by the dependability of an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)," states the crowdfunding campaign on the site, Republic Europe, adding, "Building on the success of our first model, we aim to deliver our new innovative models to global markets - turbocharging the business & brand."

The funding round aims to secure 300,000 euros, which is around $326,000 at today's exchange rate. But according to the company's profile, Langen's already sold over $2.5 million worth of its first motorcycle model since 2020. And that's just through 32 of the 100 motorcycles delivered, and with 81% of its allotted production reserved.

Photo by: Langen Motorcycles

Langen then states that its "Second model targets global markets which we believe could as much as 28x larger than the UK market (according to our calculations based on new motorcycle registrations in 2023 in key markets including the EU, US and China.)" That second model is the aforementioned turbocharged motorcycle called the Lightspeed, which we've covered before.

Testing on that model is still ongoing, as it requires quite the regimen given its high-horsepower delivery.

As for what happens next for Langen Motorcycles, that's still yet to be seen, but based on the fact that the company's already been able to secure 70% of its intended goal, it seems more than likely it'll be able to do just that. But as we've seen before, it's hard to build a profitable business, especially a startup in the powersports industry. There's a lot to overcome, a lot of hurdles to jump through, and even more things you just don't think about. What Langen has going for it is that its scope is fairly small, and demand for a bespoke motorcycle appears to be unaffected by the current state of the world.

Here's hoping I can one day set my hair on fire riding a Lightspeed.