How Janus Motorcycles Got Its Start In Goshen, Indiana

A lot of retro motorcycle fans have probably been curious about Janus Motorcycles, the small motorcycle manufacturer based in Goshen, Indiana. The company sprang into existence in 2011 and has quickly generated a lot of buzz in the industry. This is in no small part due to its bespoke designs.

Janus bikes have a straight-backed, classic frame that blends modern performance and convenience with a timeless silhouette. It's a design style that hasn't been at the forefront of the industry for quite some time but that many riders have been yearning for. There's a certain romance to the nostalgia of Janus' bikes. They look like they've popped out of a black-and-white photo featuring windswept riders wearing brown leather bombers and mischievous grins.

This unique yet classic aesthetic has garnered a fair amount of attention for the company. Janus was featured by the New York Times in 2019, the Halcyon 250 was chosen by Motorcyclist as one of the Top 10 Guilty Pleasure Motorcycles in 2020, and the company won the Indiana 'Coolest Thing' Contest in 2022. Many see them as some of the best retro-style motorcycles on the market. But where did Janus Motorcycles come from, and how did these critically celebrated designs become the focal point from which it built its now thriving business? Well, it all started in a moped shop.

Janus Motorcycles was founded by Richard Worshom and Devin Biek. Worsham had always dreamed of building and designing motorcycles. He moved to Indiana from Virginia to study at Notre Dame. This was where he met his friend Biek, who was already running a successful moped shop that catered to the university's students. The two got to know each other, bonding over their mutual love of two-wheeled vehicles and then devised their plan to start their own motorcycle company. The idea was simple: build small-engine motorcycles with modern amenities that look like they were made in the 1920s and '30s.

According to a feature from Road Dirt, Worshom had been studying history and literature at the time, and this led to the name Janus, which stems from the Roman god of beginnings, transitions, doorways, time, and duality. Janus was known for having two faces, one looking forward and one looking back. It's not hard to see why Worshom and Biek thought that a god with two eyes on the past and two eyes on the future would be an appropriate name for their retro-inspired company. This Greco-Roman naming scheme has carried over to the model names of Janus' motorbikes as well. All three models have been named after mythological flying creatures: Phoenix, Gryffin, and Halcyon.

It wasn't enough to simply build these bikes, however. Worshom and Biek also had to find a way to make them street-legal and accessible to consumers. A profile on the company published by Revzilla states that the first few bikes Janus produced were powered by small, 50cc motors, which wouldn't clear EPA regulations or California Air Resources Board (CARB) certification. These were sold to collectors, and all of the profits from them went straight into buying parts for their next projects.

At this point, they began searching for a motor that could bring their bikes to the streets. They needed something small and air-cooled in order for it to work in their narrow-framed motorcycles, powerful enough for the streets, and clean enough to get the green light from the EPA. They started out working with Clevland CycleWerx, which met all of the technical qualifications, but Janus quickly started shopping elsewhere after experiencing a series of problems with the transmission. The company discovered a 229cc motor from a Chinese manufacturer based on the Honda CB125–a popular engine in many classic Honda motorcycles. Not only were these engines already EPA-certified, but their structural designs made them an even better fit for Janus' bikes.

According to Janus' website, the company's first aim is "to provide riders with a fun, exciting, safe, and reliable riding and ownership experience. Most of the time, that means we make everything we can as close to home as we can. In other cases, that means bringing in the best components for the job." Most mechanical components are imported, and some more technical pieces, like tires and brake lines, are domestically sourced. The frame and most of the other solid parts are now made in-house by Janus. It didn't start that way, though.

Goshen is located in Elkhart County, home to a predominantly Amish community well known for its various crafts, including hand-made machining work performed in workshops that use gas-powered tools and are disconnected from the electrical grid. It seems that these workshops were where a majority of Janus frames were built when Revzilla published its feature back in 2019. Now, however, it appears that Janus is no longer outsourcing. The Janus site lists the "wiring harness (including wire), frame, fenders, front forks, tank, seat pan and vinyl/leather, air box, battery box, swing arm (P &G), handlebars, exhaust, brackets (number plate, tail light, etc.), gas cap, [and] axle" as components of every Janus motorcycle that are made in-house.

The final piece of the puzzle that got Janus Motorcycles to where it is today is its ordering and distribution practices. You probably won't find many of these bikes sitting on dealership lots. Most of them are sold via the company's website. There are a variety of pre-builts to choose from, but there is also a page that allows you to build your own custom Janus bike.

You start by choosing between the Gryffin 250, Halcyon 250, and Haycyon 450 models. The site then takes you to a page where you can select the primary paint color and the colors for various secondary details. You also get to pick the finish for the seat and battery box and can choose to upgrade multiple components at an additional charge. These include the tank, exhaust, engine fins, handlebars, headlight, mirrors, saddlebags, rear seat, and more.

It's easy to see why this is appealing to the kind of enthusiasts who would go for a Janus motorcycle in the first place. That level of customization allows riders to feel like they're getting something that's truly theirs — a ridable bespoke piece of art rather than an off-the-rack vehicle.