You are probably familiar with Confederate. A cost-be-damned designer/manufacturer of high end, v-twin powered machines. The latest is the Confederate P120 Fighter Combat model pictured here.
From its machined-from-billet chassis to its unique double wishbone front suspension system, the Confederate P120 Fighter Combat emphasizes unique approaches to both engineering and design. Performance? The P120 is as close to “all motor” as you can get. The minimalist design is dominated by a 120 cubic inch (1,966cc) v-twin putting out a claimed 160 horsepower and 135 foot/pounds of torque “at the rear wheel”
If you think the frame is designed to be spare and light, notice the carbon fiber wheels. This bike can undoubtedly move out, but state-of-the-art Brembo brakes squeezing “carbon/ceramic/aluminum-matrix” discs bring things to a stop. Confederate describes the ride as “informed, pure and explosive”. The specs would seem to support this conclusion. The price? Don’t ask, because Confederate won’t tell you on its web site (you have to call). Only 50 examples of the P120 Fighter will be built.
MD Readers Respond:
- I don’t know WHAT you’re readers are on about mate: thats a brilliant looking bike and to slag it off for practical reasons is idiotic. After all almost any motorcycle is less practical than a car (other than if you live in California where you can get through traffic quicker), and most people don’t buy their bikes for practicality anyway. How many motorcyclists tour on their bikes? Most just ride short distances and for that this is brilliant. The visible quality of the engineering on it is astounding. And if bikes were made purely on practicality then there would be no cruisers, no sportbikes, no motards, and no nakeds: just tourers and sport-tourers and who would want to live in that world? Neil Hodgson, British Superbike and former World Superbike racer plans to get one of these and he definitely isn’t a poser by any means. Aroon
- Fascinating concept, interesting reader comments. While I agree with the thoughts regarding ergonomics and functionality, not to mention safety, I remain unable to look away from the photo. I want one. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t ride the thing for the joy of riding, and there’s no way on earth I’d invest the sort of dollars Confederate products command, but it is a really cool piece of gear. A bit of perspective: I’d rather have one of these than a Bimota. The more I think about it, the more I think it’s neither art nor motorcycle, but fits neatly into the “gear” category. Wes
- The Confederate Introduces P120 Fighter looks neat, but I would be willing to bet that a production 600 could smoke it. Richard
- Interesting bike. Unless I win the lottery or suddenly become Jay Leno & can afford a bevy of motorcycles I’ll stick with my CBR. Thanks for the review of the truly unusual. Jim
- Words can’t adequately express how impressed I am with Confederate’s new offering! Gosh, this bold design really moves the state of motorcycle design exactly . . . . where? This looks like the same old stone-age motor wrapped in pseudo high-tech parts designed to hide the ugly bits that it needs to actually run . . . sort of. There’s nothing here that the Teutel’s couldn’t have built if they knew how to operate a milling machine.
I’m sure that this new model will be a big success. They will doubtless sell all 50 to wealthy posers, desperate for attention, who can appreciate the true “beauty” of a bike that can only be ridden 50 miles at a stretch but is better used as an object of contemplation. Good for them, and for Confederate, but for the rest of us this sort of mechanical masturbation seems pretty irrelevant. Patrick
- OMG, what can I say. That thing is just SO wrong on SO many levels. Someone at Confederate needs [to be] pee tested. Rich
- The P120 is without question the baddest looking thing that I’ve ever seen. Thomas
- Though they can be beautiful, motorcycles by definition cannot be considered art. For this reason, I believe the P120 is an awesome work-of-art, but probably deserves an ‘F’ as a motorcycle… Love the motor/brake/suspension combo, but with nothing to hold on to the bike with your legs and not much of a saddle, how can you take advantage of the performance??? Might as well mate a liter-sized motor to a trials chassis.
Granted, I don’t have the money. But if I did, and if I am wrong or Confederate fixes the assumed issues, I’d buy one. Hopefully they’ll take my advice by the time I earn my first million. Maybe their target customer isn’t so much an actual motorcycle rider, but someone who buys on visual impulse, like a couple of my ex-girlfriends… For now though, it should make for some great YouTube videos of guys falling off the back. Shawn
- Hideously bad ergonomics?
Check.
Left leg mangling open belt drive?
Check.
Right leg burning unshielded exhaust pipe?
Check.
Porcine 460lbs dry for a minimalist bike?
Check.
Pointlessly weird styling touches?
Check. Check. Check…
And here I was hoping the cratered economy would finally put an end to the massive V-twin poseur, totally unrideable and ugly as heck bikes … Nicholas
