Avinton Motorcycles

Avinton's roots trace to Wakan, a boutique French motorcycle marque founded around 2006 by nuclear-engineer-turned-motorcycle-builder Joel Domergue, who had earlier co-founded the trials bike maker Scorpa in 1993. Wakan built striking, large-displacement V-twin machines but ran into serious financial difficulty, and in 2011 businessman Cedric Klein acquired the company's intellectual property and relaunched the marque as Avinton with new investors and backers. Avinton has continued the Wakan tradition of producing small-series, design-driven muscle bikes - powered largely by big American S&S V-twin engines - built by hand in France for a niche, high-end enthusiast market rather than volume production. The brand has built a reputation as one of Europe's more distinctive boutique motorcycle makers on the strength of that limited-run, craftsman approach.