A New Motorcycle Brand, Vanguard, Is Growing In Brooklyn – Robb Report

If you are going to call your new motorcycle brand Avant-garde (vanguard.nyc) and build vanguard bikes, then Brooklyn seems like a suitable place to set up shop. Vanguard was co-founded in 2013 by Edward Jacobs, lead designer of Confederate Motorcycles from 2005 to 2011. Its business partner is former management consultant François-Xavier Terny, a supply chain management expert who served on the Confederate Board of Directors. When Vanguard begins producing bikes, it will assemble them at a facility in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

The company unveiled a running prototype of its first model, the $30,000 Roadster, in December at the Manhattan International Motorcycle Show. It plans to begin production in 2018 and eventually offer two additional models built on the same powertrain platform as the Roadster: the Cruiser and the Racer.

The Roadster is powered by a modified SS X-Wedge engine, a 117 cu in V-twin that Vanguard projects will generate 110 lb-ft of torque. It is a stressed member engine, which means it is also a structural member that improves the stiffness of the bike and helps keep the weight down to 550 pounds. In addition to the engine configuration, distinguishing features of the prototype include a unified crankcase, integrated exhaust system and a tablet-sized digital instrument cluster that, among other functions, displays video of a reversing camera.