Left : Wraiths are now being built at Combat Motors ’ new facility in Hurricane , Utah . Right : Ernest Lee ( left ) is the mover and shaker behind Combat Motors . Beside him is Jason Reddick , who has helped assemble all Confederates since 2008 . David Brown and Jay Etheridge are also part of the team .
for American V- Twin cruisers , both dynamically and visually . It handled and steered extremely well , with suspension giving good feedback and excellent ride quality by cruiser standards of the day .
Confederate experienced a few hiccups before delivering the 36 handmade customer examples of the Wraith . Hurricane Katrina , which struck New Orleans in 2005 and demolished the factory , forced the company to relocate to Birmingham , Alabama , where motorcycle patriarch George Barber offered rent- free space .
Nesbitt felt compelled to stay in New Orleans to help with the cleanup , so Brian Case took on the task of bringing the Wraith to production . But just as he did so , Case and Chambers had a falling out , resulting in Case leaving to start Motus , a motorcycle company that used essentially half of a Chevy V- 8 engine for power but eventually went out of business . Case currently works as executive director of Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum .
Despite the setbacks at Confederate , customers enjoyed the thrill of owning and riding the most distinctive- looking series production motorcycle in the world . I had clocked up more miles on the Wraith in California , including a visit to the famous Rock Store where I gave Jay Leno his first acquaintance with the Wraith .
Fast- forward to the present day , and we have the Gen 3 version of the Wraith in production but now under the Combat name . The Wraith remains an iconoclastic creation of the company ’ s free- thinking former designer JT Nesbitt , who conceived it as a minimalist return to the roots of motorcycling ’ s evolution but using high- tech materials and technology .
It ’ s powered by an S & S X- Wedge motor , which the Wisconsin- based engine specialist has discontinued because it ’ s unable to meet Euro 5 emissions regulations . For this reason , just 11 new Combat Wraiths will be built , and Lee says the model will be on hiatus until late 2024 so it can be redesigned to incorporate S & S ’ s new twin- cam 124ci motor .
“ It ’ s essentially a power- up clone of the Harley- Davidson Sportster motor done right ,” Lee explained . “ It differs from the X- Wedge engine by being slightly smaller in capacity , plus it only has two camshafts , not three .
If the bike you ’ re riding entices Jay Leno to check it out , you know you ’ re riding something special .
AMERICANRIDER . COM | OCTOBER 2023 | 31