Most celebrity motorcycle brands work the same way. Famous person writes a check, builder does the work, famous person’s name goes on the tank. Photo op at Sturgis. Done.
Keanu Reeves walked into Gard Hollinger’s shop in 2007 and asked him to customize a Harley-Davidson Dyna Wide Glide. Five years later, the only original part left on the bike was the Harley engine. That project turned into a conversation. The conversation turned into a company. The company - ARCH Motorcycle - now builds some of the most technically ambitious American V-twins on the planet, starting at $85,000 a piece, with a 90-day bespoke build process for each machine.
This is not a celebrity vanity brand that happens to make motorcycles. It is a motorcycle company co-founded by a celebrity who actually rides. The distinction matters, and the engineering backs it up.
Keanu and Motorcycles: Decades Before ARCH
Reeves has been on two wheels since his twenties. Not as a weekend hobby - as a daily rider, a canyon carver, and a collector with real knowledge of both European and American machines. Paparazzi shots over the decades show him on Nortons, Harleys, BMWs, and various sport bikes around Los Angeles.
In a 2018 Esquire interview, he described the appeal in terms any rider would recognize: “It makes me happy. When I am riding, everything else falls away.” He has cited riding as his primary stress relief throughout his career, including during the brutal production schedules of the Matrix and John Wick franchises.
In 1988, Reeves went down hard in Topanga Canyon - he ruptured his spleen, left a scar from sternum to navel, and spent time on the pavement thinking it was over. He got back on. He has had several minor incidents since. He kept riding every time. That is not celebrity image management. That is a rider’s stubbornness. Anyone who has been down and climbed back on understands it at a level that does not need explaining.
What separates Reeves from most celebrity riders: he talks about motorcycles with mechanical specificity. In ARCH interviews, he discusses frame geometry, rake and trail, and engine tuning like someone who has actually spent hours in a shop watching parts get machined. He is not reading a press release.
Gard Hollinger: The Builder Who Made It Real
You cannot tell the ARCH story without Gard Hollinger. Reeves gets the headlines. Hollinger is the engineer, designer, and builder who turned ideas into production motorcycles.
Hollinger ran a custom shop in Los Angeles building bespoke machines. His background is industrial design, and his approach was more engineering-driven than the typical chop-shop aesthetic. He built bikes from the ground up around specific performance targets, not just visual style.
When Reeves showed up in 2007, he did not want a catalog bike with his name on it. He wanted a ground-up custom designed around his riding style, body dimensions, and preferences. That build took roughly five years. During those years, Reeves was not a passive client writing checks from a distance. He was in the shop regularly - involved in design decisions, testing prototypes, riding development mules, and providing the kind of detailed riding feedback that only comes from someone who actually puts in miles.
By the time the custom was finished, only the original Harley-Davidson engine remained from the Dyna Wide Glide that started the project. Everything else had been designed and fabricated from scratch. Both men realized they had built something bigger than a one-off. The engineering, the manufacturing processes, and the design language they had developed together had the bones of a production motorcycle.
ARCH Motorcycle Company was founded in 2011. The Porsche 911 served as a philosophical reference point - a machine you can drive daily but that performs when you push it.
The KRGT-1: ARCH’s Flagship
The KRGT-1 - “KR” for Keanu Reeves, “GT” for Gran Turismo - launched in September 2014 as ARCH’s first production model.
Engine:
- S&S Cycle 124 cubic inch (2,032cc) V-twin
- 45-degree cylinder angle
- Pushrod-actuated overhead valves
- Approximately 120 horsepower and 120 ft-lbs torque at the rear wheel
- Fuel injection with ARCH’s proprietary mapping
Chassis:
- ARCH-designed perimeter frame, CNC-machined from billet aluminum
- Single-sided swingarm - a genuine rarity on American V-twin cruisers
- Ohlins 48mm fully adjustable inverted forks (front)
- Single Ohlins lateral shock (rear)
- Bosch two-channel ABS
- Dual ISR six-piston brake calipers
Dimensions:
- Seat height: 27.8 inches (adjustable per customer)
- Dry weight: Approximately 538 lbs (earlier models); current spec approximately 596 lbs dry
- Fuel capacity: 5 gallons
- 6-speed transmission
Notable design elements:
- Fuel tank with CNC-machined knee indentations, shaped to each buyer’s ergonomic profile
- Single-sided swingarm showcasing the rear wheel and final drive
- 2-into-1 exhaust with carbon fiber muffler
- Every KRGT-1 tailored during the order process: seat height, handlebar position, footpeg placement all set to the individual rider
The KRGT-1 sits in unusual territory. It is a V-twin cruiser by engine type, but its chassis - billet aluminum frame, Ohlins suspension, ISR brakes, single-sided swingarm - belongs on a European sport bike. The result is a machine that looks like American muscle but handles like something lighter and sharper.
We have worked around S&S-powered machines, and that 124ci V-twin is one of the best aftermarket engines available for American motorcycles. Reliable, torquey, and smooth by air-cooled V-twin standards. ARCH’s implementation - the fuel mapping, exhaust tuning, integration with the billet frame - pushes it beyond what most builders get out of the same powerplant.
Price: Starting at $85,000. Each build takes approximately 90 days.
The Method 143
ARCH’s second model debuted as a concept in 2018 and moved into limited production. It pushes further into performance-cruiser territory.
Key differences from the KRGT-1:
- More aggressive riding position - lower bars, further-forward footpegs
- Steeper frame geometry for quicker steering
- More angular, aggressive bodywork
- Carbon fiber used more extensively
- Single-sided swingarm retained
- Same S&S 124ci engine with revised tuning
The Method 143 is closer in spirit to a cafe racer than a traditional cruiser - if a cafe racer weighed 530 pounds and displaced two liters. It represents Hollinger’s vision of a performance American V-twin freed from tradition’s constraints.
The ARCH 1s
The 1s (pronounced “one-ess”) is ARCH’s sport-focused model. The most performance-oriented machine in their lineup.
Key features:
- S&S 124ci V-twin with sport-tuned mapping
- Most aggressive frame geometry in the ARCH range
- Lighter weight target than the KRGT-1
- Ohlins suspension with sport-calibrated settings
- Carbon fiber bodywork
- Single-sided swingarm
The 1s takes ARCH’s philosophy to its logical end: the best American V-twin available, wrapped in a chassis that can actually use all of that power through corners. It targets riders who want S&S torque that can stay with sport-touring bikes in the canyons - not just look impressive parked at a coffee shop.
If you have ever ridden a big V-twin through a tight canyon road and wished the chassis could keep up with the engine, the 1s is the machine that answers that complaint. Most American V-twins are built to go straight and look good doing it. The 1s is built to turn.
How ARCH Builds a Motorcycle
ARCH’s process is closer to bespoke watchmaking than motorcycle manufacturing. A small team of machinists, fabricators, and assemblers works from their Los Angeles facility, building each bike by hand.
The build process:
- Customer consultation - rider measurements, preferences, intended use
- CNC machining of billet aluminum frame and components, done in-house
- Engine assembly - S&S provides the base engine, ARCH handles final assembly and tuning
- Ohlins suspension configured to rider weight and riding style
- Carbon fiber bodywork fitting
- Final assembly and quality control
- Dyno testing and road testing
- Delivery and rider fitting
Each bike takes roughly 90 days from order to delivery. Annual output is likely in the dozens, not hundreds. This is not mass manufacturing dressed up as bespoke. The CNC machining alone - cutting each frame from solid billet aluminum rather than casting or welding tubes - is enormously time-intensive. The result is a frame with no welds, no casting voids, and tolerances measured in thousandths of an inch.
ARCH Among American V-Twin Builders
ARCH operates alongside a handful of builders in the high-end American V-twin space:
Confederate / Combat Motors - Another bespoke American V-twin operation at a similar price point. More radical styling, similarly limited production.
Custom one-off builders - Shops like Exile Cycles and others build individual machines rather than repeatable production models. ARCH differentiates by offering a production-quality product you can order and receive with consistent specs. For more on those custom builders, our piece on Exile Cycles builds covers their approach.
What separates ARCH from the field is engineering investment. Billet frames, Ohlins suspension, ISR brakes, Bosch ABS, single-sided swingarms - none of that is standard in the American V-twin world. Most boutique builders use tubular steel and off-the-shelf suspension. ARCH’s move is to bring European sport-bike engineering to an American V-twin powertrain. That combination remains genuinely unique.
Keanu Beyond ARCH
Reeves’ motorcycle life extends well past his own company:
The Norton collection - He is a documented Norton enthusiast, photographed on Commandos multiple times.
Harley-Davidson history - He has owned and ridden multiple Harleys over the years, though ARCH is now his primary platform.
The John Wick connection - The films include motorcycle action sequences that Reeves performed himself. Thirty-plus years of daily riding translates directly to on-screen capability.
Riding community presence - Reeves shows up at Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride events, motorcycle shows, and riding meetups as a participant, not a spectator. Riders who have met him at events consistently describe the same experience: he asks about your bike, knows what he is looking at, and rides away on his own machine instead of climbing into a waiting SUV.
This is why the motorcycle community respects Reeves differently than most celebrity riders. He does the miles. He gets cold, gets wet, splits lanes, and pulls into gas stations with helmet hair like the rest of us.
What ARCH Means for Custom Culture
ARCH answers a question that custom motorcycle culture has been wrestling with for decades: can an American V-twin be a modern, precision-engineered performance machine without losing what makes it compelling?
The traditional answer - from choppers, bobbers, and most Harley customs - has been to lean into character over technology. Strip it down, make it loud, accept the handling trade-offs that come with heritage frame geometry. That philosophy has produced some of the most beautiful motorcycles ever built. It is the foundation of everything we build around.
ARCH says something different. The V-twin engine - its torque, its sound, its visual weight - is worth keeping. But the chassis around it should be the best engineering available. Not the best for an American cruiser. The best, full stop.
Whether that resonates depends on what you want from a motorcycle. If you want raw, stripped, built-in-a-garage energy, ARCH is not your machine. If you want to see how far the American V-twin can go when you remove every engineering compromise - ARCH is the answer, and it costs about what you would expect that answer to cost.
For more on builders and motorcycle culture, we have the full map. The best biker movies and Ghost Rider motorcycle guide cover other places where Hollywood and two wheels intersect. And whether your build budget is $85,000 or $940, riding is riding - throw on a Bobber Brothers hoodie and go turn some wrenches.
Sources
- Robb Report - Keanu Reeves and Gard Hollinger Reveal Their New ARCH KRGT-1 - KRGT-1 launch details, design philosophy, and pricing
- Motorcyclist - Keanu Reeves, Gard Hollinger, and ARCH Motorcycle Company - in-depth feature on the founding story and engineering
- Rider Magazine - ARCH Motorcycle 1s First Ride Review - first ride review of the sport-focused 1s model
- Bike EXIF - Riding the Arch KRGT-1 - technical review covering chassis, S&S 124ci engine, and Ohlins suspension
- Autoevolution - ARCH Motorcycle KRGT-1 Specs - detailed specifications including weight, dimensions, and drivetrain
- S&S Cycle - manufacturer of the 124 cubic inch V-twin engine used in all ARCH models
