Alabama has built some of the country’s most beautiful and functional cars over the last fifteen years, but did you know that since 2006, the state has also been home to the coolest motorcycle company in the world?
Confederate Motorcycles moved to downtown Birmingham after Hurricane Katrina decimated the company’s New Orleans factory.
The company builds just one bike at a time, and the nearly $70,000 price tag reflects the careful, artisan handcrafting for which they have become known.
Inspired by the masters of sleek, modern design while maintaing a penchant for the rebellious spirit, Confederate Motorcycles founder and CEO Matt Chambers has spent the last two decades working with some of the industry’s foremost motorcycle designers to develop bikes that are more than avant garde, they’re breathtaking.
Bare, functional, scrupulous clarity, what we have hence dubbed skeletal minimalism, organically influenced by Bauhaus school precision hybridized by the primitive element was chosen to communicate non-materialism with cool sophistication at once made hotly expressive. The dark side negative energy of Caravagism, symbolizing the rebel’s unique existential rebellion of humility against pride in order to defend who he is, was chosen to illuminate and inform “letting go,” the cornerstone principle of cultural individualism. These mindful, soul felt priorities meant there would be no covers. The motorcycle would exist au naturale as a rolling sculptural showcase for the best hand-craftsmanship.
Last summer Confederate Motorcycles announced the release of their newest cycle, the X132 Hellcat Speedster.
Designed by Pierre Terblanche, the former Design Director at Ducati, the Hellcat is the epitome of an American machine, blending beauty, power, and an almost tangible air of independence.
“The X132 Hellcat Speedster represents a return to the tradition of the Hellcat, which is a stripped down American hot rod motorcycle,” Terblanche said in the press release for the bike. “A dragster for the street that is powerful, beautiful and most of all, a thrill to ride. We looked at each and every component and asked, ‘How can we make this better?’ From the front fender all the way to the rear tag bracket, this is essentially an all-new motorcycle. The challenge was improving performance, reliability, and practicality without diluting the iconic simplicity and sensuality of the Hellcat. I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.”
Confederate Motorcycles will only build 65 X132 Hellcat Speedsters, a testament to the company’s dedication to artistry and quality.
In a recent profile by The Bitter Southerner, Dan Carney compares the company’s approach to that of craft breweries, who have carved out niches for themselves in an age of mass-production.
There may be a parallel for Confederate in the beer industry. The Wall Street Journal reports that sales for behemoth beer brands like Budweiser and Miller Light are tanking, punished by the rise of craft beers like Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada and New Belgium, whose Fat Tire Ale drove the company to 60 percent sales growth over the last five years.
“The microbrewery thing gives me hope” that Confederate can thrive, Chambers says. However, he doesn’t view Harley as a Goliath to be toppled, but rather a fellow rebel spirit writ large.
According to Carney, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, David Beckham, Tim McGraw, Bruce Springsteen, and Steven Tyler can all be found straddling Confederate Motorcycles.
Each bike’s 132 cubic inch V-Twin engine case is carved, with the aide of a computer guided laser, out of a solid block of steel, just down the road from where the fires of Sloss Furnaces once burned, partially powering the steel and iron industry boom that gave birth to Birmingham’s nickname, “The Magic City.”
The company’s rebellious spirit fits right in among the other entrepreneurs choosing to make the Yellowhammer state home.
You take a look at the company’s website, and tell me that the world’s most beautiful motorcycles aren’t #BuiltByBama. I dare you.
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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
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