When Curtiss Motorcycles launched the “Warhawk”, they were yet to depart from their vision of making full-blown exquisite electric-powered motorcycles. This was their final chapter in America’s darling configuration, the V-Twin that was used during the days when the company was called “Confederate Motors”.

Last year they were re-branded as “Curtiss Motorcycle Co.” and will be switching to electric powertrain supplied by Zero Motorcycles. And the fruit of this partnership has just been showcased at the 2018 Quail Motorcycle Gathering – the 2020 Curtiss Motorcycles’ “Zeus”. Yes, it is still in its concept stages and is sure shares all the designs of a post-apocalyptic machine.

Unveiled at the most prestigious custom shows in the US, the Zeus is the first step in Curtiss Motorcycle’s shift towards a new breed of personal transportation. Although in its concept form, it highlights many design inspirations from its Confederate past. The round plexiglass view near the fuel tank is retained here albeit something there to actually view.

But don’t fool yourself here because the Zeus is purposefully built away from the traditional motorcycle designs. “Today’s electric motorcycles appear to have been designed around traditional ICE motorcycle packages, proportions, and styles.” Curtiss Motorcycle’s Director of Design Jordan Cornille. “This has led nearly all of them to have faux gas tanks and other aesthetics that we believe to be dishonest to the technology that they carry.”

With all future Curtiss products including the Zeus, the makers have redefined the package and layout of the motorcycle. The new electric components are arranged to be advantageous over ICE components in terms of weight distribution and rider ergonomics.

Like the Warhawk, the Zeus uses aircraft-grade billet aluminum monocoque frame construction that is bolted rather than welded giving it an industrial cynosure. It still has Double-wishbone, parallelogram fork and Race Tech monoshock springs the aluminum swingarm handle the suspension.

The carbon-fiber BST wheels come wrapped with Pirelli rubber. Beringer 230 mm discs with four-pot, radial-mount calipers at the front, and a single, 240 mm disc with a dual-pot caliper at the rear take care of braking duties. The Zeus also gets equipped with an iPad/tablet dash mounted unit and LED lighting throughout including an SW Speaker headlight up front.

The Powertrain is sourced from its technological partner, Zero Motorcycles, and includes “E-Twin” dual Zero mills fed into a single output shaft. The motors combine to belt out a whopping 290 lb-ft of peak torque, and that is instantaneous torque friends, and 170 hp. The motors draw on Curtiss’s proprietary 14.4 kWh “T-Block” battery pack, whose capacity should increase by the time the bike sees production in 2020.

Being an honest electric motorcycle, the Zeus was being developed for many years exploring what that meant. ”Curtiss design DNA is organic, pure, and simple minimalism." Production of the Zeus will likely begin in early Fall 2019. And Curtiss are parallelly developing products for all pocket sizes which will have a great selection of genres, forms, power, and range that will satisfy the needs of every rider out there.