Wakan back to life as Avinton Motorcycles

Seven years ago diminutive French manufacturer Wakan Motorcycles introduced its own Wakan 1640, a gritty naked sportsbike designed around a S&S-sourced 1640 cc V-Twin encrusted in a deliberately minimal frame. The idea behind this model was to emulate whatAC Cobra did with its cars, which was installing a muscular American engine in a small and light chassis typical of the European school.

The resulting bike, the Wakan 1640, had a look that was definitely appealing, but then the years went by and - after a short sequence of prototypes - the news about Wakan became less and less frequent, with the latest updates reporting of a desperate search for investors which, unfortunately, did not generate great interest. For a while we believed that Wakan was yet another case of newborn motorcycle manufacturer doomed to fade into obscurity, but luckily the end of the story is different from what we had imagined.

Wakan in fact is with us again with a new name, Avinton Motorcycles, and a new model called ‘Collector’, which is more or less the same bike that we had the pleasure to meet a few years back. The engine is the once again the 1640 cc air cooled S&S 45-degrees V-Twin, with the current specifications claiming a power of 120 hp at 5,750 rpm, 163 Nm of torque at 4,250 rpm and a weight in running order of 195 kg. The air intake on the fake fuel tank is still there, with the fuel that finds its place under the saddle.

The Avinton Collector is available in three variants: ‘GT’, ‘Race’ and ‘Roadster’, plus the Avinton Collector Cult, for which buyers can choose more or less any sort customization (to get an idea of what they are capable of, just take a look at the special ‘Italia’ version presented at the 2012 EICMA exhibition in Milan, featured in our photo gallery).

Avinton Motorcycles is currently looking for distributors all over the world: and only time will tell if this new incarnation of Wakan will be successful or not, but we certainly hope so because the bike is as fascinating today as it was seven years ago and we would like it to be made available to those who will fall in love with it. Check out the official website of the French manufacturer for more info.

Photo | Avinton Motorcycles Facebook Page via TWOWHEELSBLOG