Michael Czysz: reaching the future

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Michael Czysz is something of an enigma in the motorcycle world. Often criticized for failing to live up to his lofty ambition, he nevertheless pushes ahead with ideas that are so far beyond conventional practice, they seem unbelievable, fantastical even. That’s made him the target of mockery for people more interested in reliving the motorcycle’s past than they are in realizing its future. His very public failure’s haven’t helped. There was the MotoGP bike that never raced, then the ambitious electric racer that broke down. But today, he won and in winning fundamentally altered what a motorcycle can be. Two weeks ago, we visited Michael at MotoCzysz’s Portland HQ just as his team was putting the final touches on the 2010 MotoCzysz E1pc. Here, in his own words, is Michael Czysz.

Click below for the feature:
Michael Czysz: Reaching the Future

  • http://socalbuellriders.com SoCal Buell Riders

    We could use more enigmas like Michael Czysz.

  • http://rohorn.blogspot.com ROHORN

    That article confirmed a lot of things. Thanks for running it.

    ‘Til his bike becomes profitable, it is just another hobby bike, just like the ones he scorns. Nobody makes a profit on prize money anyway – that’s what sponsors are for.

    Said it before – I’ll say it again: BOTT started with “hobby level” bikes and resulted in “serious hobby level” bikes like the Britten. TTXGP (both real and conterfeit) is no different.

    His opinion of the competition sounds extremely vain and conceited. Yeah, they are crude, but without them, he wouldn’t have a race to enter. If he wants the competition to try harder, all he needs to do is to run at the mouth some more.

    Need to visit nearby UQM some time soon…

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Wes Siler

      No one’s suggesting Czysz could make a profit on the lowly sum of 10k, that might cover his team’s flights or something equally trivial. I included that to highlight how ridiculous it is.

      I though it was pretty clear, but the E1pc is being used to prove technology that MotoCzysz then sells the rights to. That’s real profit.

      • ROHORN

        Got it – and I agree.

        I’m looking forwards to what the future has in store for this sport.

  • Ben

    “They’re delivering bikes to geeks that aren’t riding them much more than in women’s bathrooms”

    At least he has a sense of humor

  • stjohn

    He’s right, up to a point, in that you don’t want to blow it on a bad first impression, but you need to start somewhere. Aircraft, motorcycles and automobiles are all examples of hobbies or science projects that were eventually industrialized. I wish him luck, but until the batteries’ basic energy-density issues are solved, he’s going to be hard-pressed to realize anything close to his minimum standards. Meanwhile, all the hobbyists and tinkerers are going to evolve the process, with or without him.

    In homebuilt aircraft circles, there’s a saying: “It’s better to build and fly a good airplane than to dream about a perfect one.”

  • bryce

    That was great, thanks Grant & Wes. I think we should lock him & Eric Buell in a room and see what kinda crazy shit they come up with.

  • piccini9

    Maybe he and Erik should be competing to get a real bike to market.

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Wes Siler

      Or maybe they’re both running race efforts? You can do cool things without being Honda, maybe cooler things because you aren’t Honda.

  • Anders

    Congratulations to him and his team for a great victory.

    Can’t agree with him on everything else though. So nobody should do anything unless they do it his way with his budget? Nobody else has any vision or ideas but him?

    He’s also down on the same series that has given the electric sport the spark to get going and gave him the chance to reinvent himeself. It wasn’t the FIM or TT that invited electric motorsports into the fold. Kind of foolish to criticise the very people who you then want to team up with in some kind of organisation.

    HP started in a garage, Wright Bros started in Bicycle shop, Panasonic’s very first product was a plug. Even the Apple 1 of ’76 was built into a wooden desk and launched for the first time at a HOMEBREW club for inventors. Accoring to Czysz none of them should have got out of bed.

    Dude, Cysz, I can’t be more pleased for what you have done, enjoy your deserved victory, celebrate your industry but don’t go pissing on everybody else just because they have a different way of doing things from you. That’s just being a dick.

    • kim

      Not only that, but it is also blinkered. He discredits his ambition to being a visionary by failing to accept the possibility of others.

      Agni sadly didn’t improve on last year, but given the relative budgets of both bikes and that they had used off the shelf components, they were not as far behind as Mr.Cysz philosophy suggests they should have been.

      Today was a great day for electric motorsports and along with the TTXGP, this is carrying all the hopes of the serious petrol heads.

      To love racing is to love the march of being better.

      nb. Agni, be better next year!

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Grant Ray

      Anders, I think you’re reading too much negativity into Michael’s comments. His tone gets very passionate during all day sit-downs, but unfortunately, that can’t always translate to the written word.

      His issue is two-fold. First, contemporary business dynamics being what they are, he can’t build what he considers a 100% dedicated racer for the sole purpose of winning the TT because he ultimately has investors to report to. So he and his team build projects like the E1pc utilizing solutions that can be universally used by other industries on a larger scale. He’s working within different constraints because the solutive sky isn’t the limit in terms of building for the win.

      Second, from my understanding, he believes that those who take on the role of manufacturer, something very different and much more evolved than homebrew, should be doing more, testing more, creating and redefining more.

      Look at it this way. We can all say “great job” to folks making crazy electric bikes in garages all day, but if they went to market as a proper manufacturer, we’d never buy their products because we’re too spoiled buying cheap high-quality goods with no risk. Czysz knows this and as such considers manufacturers using components like off-the-shelf motors, as opposed to proprietary solutions, to actually be detrimental to the future of electric motorcycling.

      It’s not that he’s a dick. He’s just a life-long rider and racer who really really gives a shit about the future of motorcycles. Make sense?

  • bryce

    I agree…grassroots racing doesn’t have to mean no money and the be all end all of racing doesn’t always mean a production motorcycle immediatly follows. You’ve got to invent the wheel before you can sell tires for it

  • http://www.moonlakevintage.com james

    Are these cordless bikes all running the same motor size or limited to battery amounts? Or is more “run what you brung”? Most the time the biggest usually wins in a pissin’ match. Lets say second and third place had less battery capacity less money to spend and smaller motors but were a more efficient second place. Or did a bike builder have more money to buy newer, bigger motors or more batteries stacks. More batteries more power? What is the parameters of this competition? Let say Honda said they wanted in, and goes balls to the walls. Motors, high tech batteries advanced frame and wind tunnel testing… then what happens to these guys.

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Wes Siler

      It’s a “run what you invent” type deal.

      Honda couldn’t just show up and buy better batteries, they don’t exist. If they wanted a bigger motor, they’d have to buy it from Czysz. See where this is going and what the point of Czysz and other people innovating in this field is? He’s an inventor. He invents stuff, patents it and, in the future, people that want to use it will have to purchase rights to do so from his company. Would getting him to pose in a white lab coat with beakers full of bubbling fluid help get that point across?

      It’s like how Yamaha created specific five-valve head technology that was so good, Ferrari bought the rights to use it in their engines.

      Eventually Honda will turn up and want to make electric performance bikes. To do so they’ll buy IP from Czysz and others.

      Here’s the full rules if you’re interested:

      http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2009/11/how-the-fim-stole-electric-mot.html

      • http://www.moonlakevintage.com james

        Oh I think Honda, Toyota, GM, Chrysler, BMW have plenty of electric technology since they been experimenting heavily with the electric car since 1950 and actual produce differnt types of electric and electric hybrids . I don’t think Honda Toyota Nissan Fiat BMW and GM have to ask to use Sizz’s IP permission to produce their current electric cars…Besides if they wanted to use his ideas, they team of lawyers that are bigger than his. Listen I’m not against electric bikes I have a cordless weed whip that I love but I also have a 2 stroke Lawnboy that just rips. And the Lawn gives me 100% until it runs out of gas, then I add more premix and in 1 minute it starts and give me 100% again…the cordless weed whip? slowly loses power until it hit 0% then hang it on the wall charger and use it again in 24 hours. And therein lies the problem.

        • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Wes Siler

          Are you just trying to be trollish with the weedwhacker stuff? If so, can you knock it off?

          I used to write about cars for a living, so I’m pretty familiar with what’s under the hood of a Tesla, A Chrysler Envi, a Chevy Volt, the Nissan Leaf et al. It’s nothing like as advanced as what Czysz is putting out, he is a leader in this field regardless of company size. His motor is half the size of a shoebox, lightweight and puts out a level of continuous power that’s simply unprecedented, regardless of its size. If they want a motor like that, they may turn to Czysz for the technology.

          I’m really not sure what your criticism here is, a guy shouldn’t do something because he’s not a huge taxpayer-funded auto conglomerate? Real world changing innovation is, for once, happening in motorcycles, we should all be over the moon about that.

        • gildas

          Back in the Wrights days it was not Krupt or the other massive insutrial conglomerates of the time that invented AND licensed the plane… Fuck, the Wrights had the same problem as Czysz an had to built a motor from the ground up. NO one built a motor with the power to weight needed to put a plane in the sky. So they did the same as Czysz and built the engine with the highest power to weight ratio ever seen – IN A BIKE SHED.

          And made a fortune with all the IP.

          History repeats itself.

  • monkeyfumi

    The more I read, the less I like the guy. For someone who idolises John Britten, he seems to be the antithesis.

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Wes Siler

      So you don’t like a guy because he’s ambitious, successful, creative, not afraid to speak his mind and fucking loves motorcycles and is devoting his life to making them better? I’m not sure John Britten would agree with you.

      • monkeyfumi

        I have no problem with his ambition, success, creativity, or love of motorcycles.
        I can remember reading about his original bike when it first surfaced, and being thoroughly impressed.
        Then I started to get sick of hearing about “Americas Moto-GP bike” that had acheived diddly-squat race wise, let alone entered in the world championship. He changed tack, and is now getting results, congratulations to him.
        As far as “not afraid to speak his mind”, there is a thin line between confidence and arrogance. Perhaps it is just because it is written, and without the verbal emotion, but the article left me feeling that he falls in the latter.
        You obviously know the man personally and feel different. Fair enough.
        John Britten built quite possibly the most innovative bike of the 1990′s, in a shed, from an isolated country (in motorcycling industry terms) on an absolute shoestring budget. I just don’t see that in what I have seen of moto czysz.

        • Erica

          I know Michael pretty well, and i can tell you that the first time I met him I was surprised at how humble and real he was. He is incredibly passionate and respectful of other people, even if in print it doesn’t come across so. Just recently when I went to a screening of ‘Charge’ the movie on the TTXGP he was joking with me about not letting anybody notice if I fell asleep during the film, because he definitely would be. The film was great, and interesting, but like all of us would be, he’s self critical and hate watching himself on film. Michael is a great guy. Don’t jump to conclusions because emotion can’t be conveyed in print.

  • Milk and Juice

    10% of 1’30″ is 9″ not fifteen (Laguna Seca lap times).
    Reading this comment wasted the other six seconds.

  • Chris Y.

    I don’t really want to be a stickler (and really off topic) but companies like Honda ALSO do have own IPs (come on man, you used to work for Jalopnik!). I doubt that Honda or Ducati or whatever, if they entered the race that they would use Czysz’s IPs. Will they be as competitive as Czysz? That’s a different story, and I guess that’s also why Czysz are pushing as hard as they can right now.

    But you know, Czysz does kind of seem like a Soichiro Honda at the Isle of Man TT right now. Designing ground up machines using engineering and thoughtful design… what a concept!

  • TeeJay

    Many of my friends, colleagues says I am an achievement oriented guy. Still, I will not understand Americans.

    “His very public failure’s haven’t helped. There was the MotoGP bike that never raced, then the ambitious electric racer that broke down.”

    We are talking about a private experimental staff. Even being there is a success. Further, not being in the motoGP, absolutely was not his fault. Dorna made a stupid mistake with the 800cc bikes – soon there will 1000cc again…

    I think the question of the financial success of motorcycle racing is a completly different issue. Not only for him, but for the whole sport…
    MC’s vocation & enthusiasm is just adorable, I’d say we need more guys in the world like him.

  • http://www.bottpower.com Hugo

    Excellent interview and his comment about intellectual property makes a lot of sense.
    There are a lot of companies who can built bikes but that is what makes you comparable and in the end replaceable which is what a company doesn’t like ;)
    Another interesting comment is about the C1 MotoGP bike; it made 200hp which is what the BMW S1000RR is making in street trim. I think the Honda V5 made somewhere around 240hp at the end meaning the C1 needs 20% more power to be competitive if they want to join MotoGP next year or so…
    Czysz for sure has a lot of interesting ideas and he knows how to market himself because money is important and necessary to develop new and innovative stuff.

  • Gerard

    I have not the least bit of scorn for Czysz’s words, because he’s right. This is 2010 and the public’s expectations are ultra high thanks to the capitalist world in which we live in. Turn up with something that looks home made, regardless of the love, inventiveness, or whatever that went in to it and all but a few ‘sport diehard nerds’ will think it’s a bit of a joke.

    The viewing public expects a level of polish, and in the motorsport world, that’s thanks to the multimillion dollar race teams people turn on the tube to watch. Being a professional in the design sector, and once having worked in the moto world, I should know better, but most every other electric bike looks like a school science project when compared to the E1pc. If I think that, the uninitiated looking for ‘speed and eye candy’ will probably think worse.

    People mention Britten. I remember being in the design studio of a major moto brand at the time and everyone was blown away by the bike and the man. But look at those pics, even now, and you will see a finished product. It might not have always worked like one but visually it was ‘out of the box’ and that went a long way to getting people excited. It if looked like a barnyard job, I can assure you, regardless of the tech, we would not even be talking Britten now.

    I guess to have the drive, ambition, vision and perfectionism to not only pull off something like the E1pc in 2010 but to drum up the money to fund such a beast for years on end, you need to be what some people might perceives as, a dick. If that’s the price people like Czysz has to pay to literally change the world, I think it’s a pretty small one.

    My hat off to him. I shall continue to watch in awe of what he’s doing.

  • http://plugbike.com/ skadamo

    Nice work highlighting Czysz’s struggle between over reaching and nailing it… Making a quick buck vs innovating.

    My disagreements (which stray from the topic of this article so feel free to skip it):

    Electric racing can and is happening. I think electric racing was exciting at Infineon TTXGP. It was slower than ICE but there were good battles and that is what people want imho.

    Yes, sexy and insanely fast is a huge selling point. No doubt. But it’s one of multiple factors that can combine to make an exciting race.

    I will need to read this article a few more times.

    Also, I think he is wrong about the market worthiness of current electric motorcycle products.

  • http://www.voidstar.com Julian Bond

    What really makes me sad is that last paragraph. As an engineer, Michael knows that aeros are important. And he knows what you have to do to make aeros work. But he’s choosing not to do it, because he thinks the public won’t look at it and say “that’s the hottest bike I’ve ever seen”. So instead he’s quite deliberately building a conventionally shaped bike with some nice detail styling elements because the real money is in the IP of the technology, not the look.

    Now I happen to believe that even the most hidebound, traditionalist m/c rider thinks Bonneville streamliners are cool and that he is just plain wrong about that. Even while I can completely understand his reasons. After all it’s a lot to bite off just completeing an IOM lap. Even more completing a lap faster than anyone else. Without trying to re-invent basic 2 wheeled design at the same time.

    But somebody has go to do it. If it’s not Michael, maybe it’s Craig Vetter. Or the Monotracer/Ecomobile guys. Or something. Somebody needs to do for Motorcycles what the Lambo Countach did for sportscars way back in 1974.

    • Ian

      Julian, welcome to the world of commercialisation. It’s all about compromises and Csysz’s goal isn’t solely to lap the island quickly.

      How much would anyone gain from building a bike that, taking your example, was a Bonneville Streamliner that could do nothing else but average 100mph at the Isle of Man? Sure I think streamliners are cool but I’m not about to buy one to ride to work on, or even just use on a weekend.

      Isn’t it better that the new technologies are developed in context of how they can be put to good use?

  • nick

    “How can you not think that’s the future of something?”

    I thought this reading Wes’ PS article yesterday. Czysz deserves a ton of credit for creating a beautiful, unique and performing moto.

    Great coverage!

  • http://twowheelsplus.blogspot.com/ Anders

    I admire his attitude and I hope he can keep the faith and vision alive. The Apple comparison is to the point. Too many companies live by the rule of “just good enough”, not moving the world forward. Not making things better.

  • http://muthalovin.com the_doctor

    Mike Czysz is so much better than Elon Musk. For one, his name is badass. Second, he is not nearly as scuzzy.

  • Duncan Domingue

    I, for one, do not disagree with Czysz’s stance on the TTXGP. I believe he meant that competition is good, but the TTXGP was drummed up too much and expectations were too high, leaving spectators with a negative first impression. Possibly run races at smaller tracks, or on weekends without high profile races, but keep the fledgling technology out of the general public’s eye until it is viable.

    • Anders

      I don’t think Michael would have turned up or built his bike or moved the tech forward or created a buzz if this was a race in a car park. Nor would anybody else.
      TTXGP has made this whole thing real in a way that has galvanised an industry. Public will stay with it. They know like all of us here, that this is the future slowly unlocking a new door that we are all going to go through whether we like it or not.
      The X-prize has $10m purse. But that has not generated anywhere near the excitement this has.
      Profile > Investment > Innovation > Results > Profile > Investment > Innovation > Results >
      Profile > Investment > Innovation > Results >
      Profile > Investment > Innovation > Results >
      Profile > Investment > Innovation > Results >
      …. that’s how we get where we need to get fast.

  • Ninjah

    For those of you who take offense at Czysz’s “dickish” attitude to his competition in industry and on the track, put yourself in his shoes:

    You’re a major player at the forefront of the biggest evolutionary step in motorcycling that will happen in your lifetime.

    You’re scared that your racing competitors will not take safety standards seriously. One catastrophic accident and outsiders with no electric background may impose uninformed restrictions on you that will affect your engineering solutions.

    You’re also scared that your industry competitors will push uninspiring, unattractive, weak bikes out the door early in an attempt to make a profit (which is happening). The public could be turned off from electric bikes before you can develop and offer bikes that are on par with modern ICE motorcycles.

    Personally I think his worries are more paranoid than justified. The benefits of electric drive are clear and proven. Considering costs, weight, and primary uses, motorcycles are a more practical electric drive vehile than automobiles right now. Accidents and shoddy products are bound to happen, but it will not stop this shift from happening.

    Hard to call a guy a dick if you understand where he’s coming from.

    • Anders

      He would not be where he is if it wasn’t for the very people that he’s disparaging. His achievement is not because he raced by him himself. He needed a field to be measured against, hell he needed a field even to have a race.

      @Grant
      Two points to make.
      If their was no racing series, then their would be no electric Cysz. To say that EV’s shouldn’t have a racing series having directly benefited from it is a little conceited.

      Second.
      If we could measure mph/$ then the slower teams may also be building some impressive IP for all we know. Its easier to move forward where money is no object compared when money is tight.
      It was obvious that the Cysz bike was built without compromise, but the bike that came second wasn’t far behind. On an mph/$ basis it might well be whipping Cysz by a huge margin.

      I’m on board with the argument of business dynamics, but building a motorcycle equivalent of a Bugatti with that kind of price tag, is probably not as exciting for the average guy as a Brammo or the Mavizen.

      Last year TTXGP ran a class for budget machines. Sad to see that they didn’t run it again this year. Might have been impressive to see what limited budgets can deliver.

      “Czysz knows this and as such considers manufacturers using components like off-the-shelf motors, as opposed to proprietary solutions, to actually be detrimental to the future of electric motorcycling.”

      That is complete crap. So is WSBK has nothing to offer in terms of IP compared to MotoGP?

      Innovation comes in all kinds of ways. IP is in software, in integration, in methods, in manufacturing, in servicing as well as components. Giving people an open platform too try something seems to be a great way to work out what works and what doesn’t.

      Innovation isn’t just in the individual components but also across the system as a whole. Who knows how much smart thinking their was in pulling together the drive train that was only 8 miles per hour slower and probably a several dump trucks of money cheaper then the Cysz.

      Almost all new inventions stand on the shoulders of others. Whatever secret sauce Cysz added, the DNA came from home brew inventors elsewhere.

      He done good, but having re-read the piece, he did put down the movement that made him what he is, and offered vision other then “my way or the highway” and that is a dick thing to do.

      But he’s the TT winner and nobody can take anything away from that. I certainly admire him for that.

      • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Wes Siler

        Anders, you make some pretty surprising assumptions.

        Czysz isn’t just in a HP for money game, the technology he develops has more to do with integration, battery hot swapping and general solutions for a mainstream product. That’s sort of why racing is a weird fit for him. Probably half the time/money/effort he spent on this bike wasn’t spent in making more power and dropping weight (which is what wins races), it was spent developing all the above, which racing helps him test. If he was simply out to win races, the E1pc wouldn’t look like this, would be considerably faster and probably have cost half as much to make. Is there a better way I can explain this to you?

  • Sean Jordan

    I think the word you wanted was “bite”. :)

  • Stacius

    That was a great article.

    Whether you think Michael Cyzsz is ‘a dick’ or not is really irrelevant, for the sheer fact that he actually is doing something.

    I notice none of his critics haven’t moved the sport forward in any way, nor have they taken an idea, raised the money, built it, put their name on it and let it out to succeed or fail on its own.

    The Ep1c is not some off the shelf component bike. This Ep1c is not even LAST YEAR’S bike.

    We weren’t talking about a viable electric motorcycle industry even five years ago!

    And if (as one poster pointed out) 20 years of progress has been made in one year, then by 2015, we’d have parity between electric and ICE engines.

    If you look at the great strides made in materials and nanotechnology over the last few years, you’ll realize this is ENTIRELY possible.

    Like him or not, Czysz is here to stay.

  • http://www.moonlakevintage.com James

    “Anything that won’t sell, I don’t want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.”
    Thomas A. Edison
    “Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.”
    Thomas A. Edison
    “Discontent is the first necessity of progress.”
    Thomas A. Edison
    It the BATTERY that needs to be re-invented not the electric motor, not bikes aero, not the cool paint job….. that was the gas/cordless weed trimmer analogy… oh, thank for the insult. Can’t we talk like adults, poopy pants.

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Wes Siler

      I don’t see many Edison brand light bulbs out there, but I do see a lot of GE brand ones.

      Czysz is selling his IP, should I put “Bajaj” in bold in the article for you?

      Batteries are being re-invented, but they’re not the only thing that goes in an electric motorcycle. The whole point of this is that you can’t just shove some batteries into a GSX-R and hope for the best, to create a real product you need to holistically reconceive the motorcycle around those batteries, that’s what you’re seeing here.

      • eric

        Nicely put, Wes.

  • eric

    Nice interview, Wes. Yeah, in print, Czysz sounds a bit arrogant, but at the same time, it’s obvious that he knows what he’s talking about. I also agree that things like Zero’s frame failure, for example, or a major injury/death due to poor safety considerations would be disastrous if the general public perceives e-bikes as dangerous or uncompetitive. Still, I think he may be a little harsh; we’ll have to wait and see.

    I for one am really excited about the future. I can’t wait to see a production version of the e1pc. That’s a bike I’d shell out my hard-earned greenbacks for.

    I just thought of something; Wes, you’ve ridden the Brammo & Zero, and have seen the e1pc up close. Is there any significant vibration at the bars of an e-bike? Given that there aren’t any reciprocating parts, I would think that there would be considerably less vibration on an electric bike. As someone who has hands that don’t respond very well to vibration, particularly high-frequency vibes, this is a significant question for me.

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Wes Siler

      There’s no vibration on any of the electrics I’ve ridden and no vibration through the Mission One’s throttle. I haven’t had the chance to turn the E1pc on, but there is probably some vibration and general NVH on it because it’s a whacked out crazy race bike pushing the limits of its components.

    • Grant Ray

      eric, there’s no buzziness, if that’s what you’re asking. However, I’ve only ridden electric bikes around Brooklyn and Manhattan or Glen Helen. So I still felt tons vibration from all the potholes and ruts. I can’t say how an electric bike feels on nice smooth roads, but I bet they’re pretty velvety.

      • eric

        Thanks, grant and Wes. Buzziness is exactly what I was wondering about. Every inline 4 I’ve ever ridden puts my hands to sleep in a matter of minutes, even my old seca II, which has rubber mounts.

        Sounds like an e-bike is in my future…

  • Tom

    I’m just ducking all of the comments to say to MC, great job. You have been an engineering idol of mine for many years. American engineering is alive and well and it’s proven beyond a doubt with this bike.

    In the words of a dear engineering professor, “Your loudest voice is your design’s success.”

    In the words of Han Solo, “Great kid, don’t get cocky.”

    :)

  • Chris Y.

    I don’t really understand where these comments about MC “being a dick” are coming from. I agree with most of what he is saying- his ideas on IP are the simple truth of the matter.

    I wonder if MC has ever been in places like China or Canada though. There have been electric scooters/mopeds cropping up in these places everywhere you look (especially China- they seem to outnumber cars and bicycles combined!), proving that at least for some countries, the idea of a electric motorcycle is far from farfetched. A performance motorcycle might be a tougher sell, though ultimately racing performance motorcycles is what helps improve the breed.

  • Dr. Gellar

    If Michael Czysz, and MotoCzysz in general, are the antithesis to anyone…it would be Harley Davidson.

    I amazes me that MotoCzysz can come out and create motorcycles as awesome as the E1pc (the C1 and the 2009 E1pc are pretty incredible too),and they get so much crap along the way. That Michael and company have critics is fair I suppose, and yes, they have certainly had their share of set-backs and egg in their face. But when it comes to developing world-class level, state-of-the-art road-racing motorcycles, no other American motorcycle company or manufacturer even begins to come close to what MotoCzysz is doing. Not Buell, not Roehr, not Fischer…and certainly not Harley Davidson and all the Harley-clone companies.

    The simple fact that MotoCzysz is out there doing what they’ve done, producing the likes of the C1 and the E1pc and the associated technology with both…even in failure, they’ve earned my respect.

  • Klorenz

    MC definitely talks out of his butt on a few occasions in the article. Michael makes a few points that have no foundation whatsoever and are completely assumption laden. He states that, nobody has a bike ready for commercialization (and therefore shouldn’t be selling them). He goes on to draw comparisons to support his claim by referring to the iPod and iPad (technology with with a much greater foundation). I hope I don’t have to tell you how flawed of a comparison that is, but if need be, just ask. In any case, the not commercially ready = shouldn’t be sold, is also unfounded. Last, but not least, Micheal’s “Steve Jobs owns Bill Gates” tangent, is for lack of a better word, retarded and I write this sitting behind the screen of a MacBook. MC, thanks for doing the work you’re doing, but really?