The Velos is peppered with cool details like a clear cam cover made from billet aluminum and helicopter canopy material . It fits any Thunderstroke motor and retails for $ 525 at Barnstorm Cycles , where other Audette-produced Indian parts are available . The ignition coil cover between the cylinders perfectly matches factory detailing and costs $ 235 .
way through college via a job with Mossberg , a local manufacturer of military and police shotguns , where he learned to use CNC machines and manual Bridgeport mills and lathes .
Audette graduated with honors with a bachelor ’ s degree in mechanical engineering and landed a job at Sikorsky , a nearby helicopter manufacturer . After two years of making titanium swashplates and spindles for Black Hawks and then working as a lead on the CH- 53E Super Stallion helicopter , he became frustrated with the corporate environment and left .
Having conceived a girder fork for his 2016 Indian Scout as a postgraduate senior project , in 2017 he applied for a job with the only manufacturer still using such a front- end design : Confederate Motorcycles . The Alabama- based company was in the process of transitioning to all- electric Curtiss Motorcycles , and
Audette became lead engineer on its first prototype e- bike , the Zeus , which was unveiled at the 2018 Quail Motorcycle Gathering .
“ Electric motorcycles are fun because you ’ re literally reinventing the wheel ,” he said . “ It ’ s satisfying from a purely creative aspect , but they have a very different soul and feeling than what I love about motorcycles .”
Independence Days In 2019 , Audette returned to Connecticut and established Audette Motorcycles to manufacture his personal idea of what the ultimate all- American V- Twin sportbike should be .
“ I like to ride the backroads on Sunday mornings when everyone ’ s at church and the cops are in the church parking lots ,” Audette said . “ That ’ s the best time to go riding because no one is on the road and I can just tear it up . I ’ d always wanted a motorcycle that was purpose- built for that , something that had monstrous power with handling to suit , so I decided to create the Velos in the hopes there would be customers out there looking for the same thing .”
With the support of his future wife , Jackie , Audette laid out the foundations of the Velos (“ arrow ” in Greek ) in their rural Connecticut home . They have since established a production facility in Canton , Connecticut .
I was invited to ride the prototype Velos and see the first of two customer bikes sold so far . Pricing for the Velos starts at $ 87,000 , but the version I tested with a heavily modified motor and other upgrades costs $ 105,400 . It ’ s a high- performance hot rod with minimalist styling that exemplifies two wheels and an engine tied together with metal .
Bikes with V-Twin engines always look prettier from their right sides , but the chunky and purposeful Velos even looks handsome from the left .
AMERICANRIDER . COM | OCTOBER 2023 | 39