see cleveland motorcycle . cleveland cyclewerks type private industry motor vehicle design and manufacturing founded 2009 2009 founder scott colosimo headquarters cleveland ohiocoordinates 41 29 13 n 81 43 44 w 41.487 n 81.729 w 41.487 ; 81.729 usa area served canada japan south africa switzerland usa products motorcycles motorcycle parts revenue 1 872 000 2011 1 number of employees 4 1 website clevelandcyclewerks.com cleveland cyclewerks is a privately held motorcycle manufacturer that designs and assembles small displacement retro style caf racers and bobbers at its headquarters in cleveland ohio relying on offshore manufacturing in china by cpi motor company of taiwan for most components including frames and the honda derived engine used on all models . 2 the company was founded by scott colosimo jarrod streng and curtis ray in 2009 3 who sought partner factories in china after being turned away by us parts suppliers and government seed money sources . the company aims to fill a gap in the motorcycle marketplace for inexpensive yet stylish motorcycles that riders find technologically accessible easing customization and maintenance . 4 contents 1 scott colosimo 1.1 customization 2 founding 3 products 4 announced plans 5 notes 6 external links scott colosimo edit scott colosimo grew up in parma ohio where he began making custom cars and motorcycles in his parents garage when he was 15 years old . 5 he attended the cleveland institute of art graduating in 2004 with a degree in industrial design . 6 7 8 his first job after graduating from college was at johnson controls where his quest for perfection was detrimental ; colosimo said i couldn t just draw a door handle on a car when the whole car was screwed up . i d want to draw the door and the seats and the dashboard and then fix the whole company . it always got me into trouble when i worked for someone else . 5 after johnson controls colosimo worked as a designer for dirt devil together with his friend jarrod streng . 5 while employed by the vacuum cleaner company colosimo built custom motorcycle parts surreptitiously after hours in the company facility discovering that he could build a caf racer style custom bike that attracted as many admirers as a 30 000 harley for one tenth the cost . 5 after colosimo and streng were laid off from dirt devil they continued to pursue their interest in bikes . 5 in 2008 colosimo became an adjunct professor at cia teaching transportation design . 9 customization edit colosimo s personal motorcycle is a custom motorcycle a hardtail bobber he built himself based on a 1954 bsa m21 a 63 mph 101 km h workhorse of a motorcycle with a big lazy 591 cc 36.1 cu in a single cylinder side valve engine developed from bsa s world war ii m20 military service bike . 10 11 he had bought the 60 year old machine sight unseen on ebay and then rebuilt the unsafe and worn out bike having to repair previous ill conceived chops or customizations of the frame . 10 he removed the rear suspension making it a hardtail and installed 19 inch 480 mm yamaha xs 650 wheels a custom exhaust forks from a suzuki gsx r1000 front disc brake rotors from a suzuki gsx r600 and a rear rotor from a suzuki gsx r750 . 10 the use of enormous sport bike brakes designed to stop motorcycles with more than ten times the horsepower and three times the top speed was intended colosimo said to create a visual contradiction explaining that you do a double take to see what kind of bike sits behind the massive rotors . let s just say it only takes one finger to stop this bike 10 colosimo said his custom m21 with nicks and scrapes and some crash damage is meant to be not only admired to be ridden and ridden hard . 10 founding edit around 2008 and 2009 after colosimo and streng found themselves unemployed they decided to start a motorcycle manufacturer . 4 working out of a friend s garage in ashland ohio 3 they pooled their money 15 000 and used various stock parts to make a 250 cc prototype in a mansfield ohio factory . 5 they ran into roadblocks from investors government agencies and local organizations in cleveland who told them their enterprise would fail . 3 colosimo said they went after millions in grants from the us government hoping for money aimed at assisting development of green vehicles since we re using small displacement engines we re getting close to 100mpg but the familiar technology of the ubiquitous honda engine design did not qualify for seed money since it was not ultra green technology that no one s heard of some sort of wizardry . 4 one of the design goals was technological simplicity enabling the rider to maintain and customize his or her own bike colosimo saying they re nice and simple and you can take them apart you can understand them . 4 similarly us parts manufacturers initially expressed interest in filling cleveland cyclewerks orders until they found out the parts were for a motorcycle and then backed out telling colosimo well is this for motorcycles we can t do parts for motorcycles it s too risky or citing insurance policy restrictions preventing them from making motorcycle parts . 4 suppliers also reacted to colosimo s youthful appearance telling him you look like you re 16 and where s your dad 3 after six months of frustration streng and colosimo went on what he called a short world trip to investigate manufacturing outside the us . 4 when curtis ray invested in the new company he brought with him a familiarity with manufacturing in china having relationships with factories there and knowing a trusted facility where production could begin . 3 colosimo spent six months in china developing the manufacturing process and quality control . 3 aware of the hostility to chinese imports that undercut the prices of us goods colosimo said they could claim that their motorcycles are made in usa but that d be bullshit . just because we bolt a few parts on doesn t make it true . 4 he alludes to us electric motorcycle makers whose production is in taiwan and china yet they advertise their bikes as us made because final assembly like attaching the tires and handlebars is in the us . 12 for 2010 a building year cleveland cyclewerk s aimed at 1 000 to 3 000 in us sales as they tested small production runs stocked parts supplies and arranged distributors and dealers . 4 their goal had been to offer six motorcycle models in 2011 rather than just two with a target of selling 12 000 motorcycles in the us that year . 4 colosimo said the bikes are aimed at new first time motorcycle riders as well as finding other markets . the approximately us 3 000 cleveland cyclewerks bikes fill a gap in the marketplace between us 8 000 new motorcycles which are priced too high for many potential customers and used motorcycles from the 1990s which lack a warranty and dealer support . 4 another market is female riders colosimo citing examples of husbands and boyfriends who purchased a harley davidson sportster for their wives and girlfriends to ride only to find those bikes were too large and heavy for them . 4 cleveland cyclewerks said that more than 30 % of the buyers of its heist model are women despite industry data showing women make up only 11 % of motorcycle buyers overall . 13 the low 24 inch 61 cm seat height and light weight are given as reasons for its attractiveness to women . 13 another unanticipated segment colosimo has found is the step down market that is riders of bagger cruisers costing 15 000 adorned with 30 000 in chrome who complain i m afraid i m going to scratch it and so buy a heist as something they can ride to the bar without worrying about someone dinging it or scratching it . 4 products edit tha heist hardtail bobber . tha misfit caf racer . cleveland cyclewerks debuted their first motorcycle tha heist a 272 pound 123 kg dry weight hardtail bobber in february 2010 at the indianapolis dealer expo . 3 14 their second motorcycle is tha misfit caf racer . 2 both motorcycles have a 12.5 horsepower 9.3 kw 229 cc 14.0 cu in ohv single cylinder engine made by lifan group using an engine design derived from honda s cg series . 2 14 the definite article the is stylized as tha in the model names . 2 announced plans edit in 2011 cleveland cyclewerks announced that their next model would be a supermoto style dual sport called tha hooligun . 4 12 the company has been reported to be renovating a 60 000 square foot 5 600 m2 factory near cleveland s gordon square for its us headquarters and for motorcycle production starting in late 2012 . 8 15 in 2016 colosimo said they would be moving to assembling more motorcycles in the us beginning on a limited basis for the next 12 months . we will have us epa and us manufacturing approvals in place by 2017 . the goal would be to move at least some motoryccle manufacturing from china to the us while continuing some overseas production in order to keep prices down . 16 notes edit a b cleveland cyclewerks ccw referenceusa infogroup march 2012 a b c d ets hokin gabe may 16 2012 2012 cleveland cyclewerks tha misfit review retrieved july 5 2012 a b c d e f g crowe paul april 9 2010 cleveland cyclewerks the kneeslider retrieved july 5 2012 a b c d e f g h i j k l m siler wes december 6 2010 who the hell is scott colosimo hell for leather a b c d e f putre laura october 21 2010 chop shop clevelander scott colosimo pulls off dream of building a motorcycle co. fresh water image media group retrieved july 10 2012 scott colosimo interview on youtube conducted by cleveland institute of art in 2011 suttell scott april 26 2012 cleveland cyclewerks works to attract riders crain s cleveland business blog a b schoenberger robert june 16 2012 cleveland cyclewerks to move motorcycle production to cleveland from china cleveland plain dealer retrieved 2012 07 05 about us cia now ; cia faculty scott colosimo founds motorcycle co. cleveland institute of art october 25 2010 retrieved july 10 2012 a b c d e cleveland cyclewerks bsa bikeexif february 7 2012 retrieved 2012 07 05 duckworth mick ed . 2012 motorcycle the definitive visual history dk publishing penguin publishing isbn 9781465400888 retrieved 2012 07 05 a b siler wes february 23 2011 cleveland cyclewerks hooligun an affordable supermoto hell for leather a b carpenter susan june 9 2012 niche motorcycle makers rev up sales to women the los angeles times retrieved 2012 07 05 a b burns john january 28 2011 cleveland cycle werks heist riding impression a chinese bobber from ohio cycle world retrieved 2012 07 05 shingler dan may 7 2012 cycles full circle ride crain s cleveland business 33 19 3 issn 0197 2375 kurylyk zac september 26 2016 cleveland cyclewerks moving to us production canada motoguide retrieved september 26 2016 external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to cleveland cyclewerks . official website v t e motorcycle marques of the united states current alligator atk birmingham motus boss hoss brammo cleveland cyclewerks confederate electric moto fischer harley davidson highland indian marine turbine technologies motoczysz rokon victory z electric vehicle zero motorcycles defunct ace american ironhorse bi autogo big dog buell california cleveland 1915 1929 crocker cushman cyclone excelsior excelsior henderson flying merkel henderson hodaka iver johnson mustang penton pierce arrow ridley