This is the Combat Motors F-117 Fighter, and I think it’s (probably) safe to say that it’s the wildest American-made motorcycle that money can buy.
It’s powered by a 1.9 liter X-Wedge engine producing 140 bhp, and it’s said to be capable of 160 mph. The F117 Fighter is a muscle bike in every sense of the term, producing 160 lb ft of torque at just 2,000 rpm.
The Combat Motors F-117 Fighter is powered by a 1.9 liter X-Wedge engine producing 140 bhp, and it’s said to be capable of 160 mph. The F117 Fighter is a muscle bike in every sense of the term, producing 160 lb ft of torque at just 2,000 rpm.
History Speedrun: Combat Motors
Confederate Motorcycles was founded in 1991 by Matt Chambers, a former trial lawyer from Baton Rouge who wanted to create an American motorcycle company that rejected modern mass-production in favor of design-driven, heirloom-quality craftsmanship.
The company was formally incorporated in 1992 and set up its first operations in New Orleans. Its first production model was delivered in 1994. Chambers and his small team aimed to combine American V-twin power with billet-aluminum frames and minimal (if any) bodywork, resulting in bikes that were both motorcycles and rolling sculptures.
By the early 2000s, Confederate had developed a cult following both in the USA and around the world. Models like the Hellcat, Wraith, and Fighter all had a distinctive design language that was rooted in an exposed structure and a desire to showcase engineering aspects of the motorcycles that are often hidden or absent altogether.
These original Confederate bikes were expensive, individually hand-built, and visually unlike anything from Harley-Davidson or the major European brands. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the company’s New Orleans headquarters, prompting a move to Birmingham, Alabama. Production resumed there in 2006.
In 2017, amid rising national tension around Confederate and American Civil War symbolism, the company announced it would rebrand as Curtiss Motorcycles, in honor of aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss.
This new Curtiss brand shifted toward electric motorcycles in partnership with Zero Motorcycles, ending the era of the hand-built V-twin designs that had defined Confederate. Well, perhaps it wasn’t quite the end.
This is the Combat Motors F117 Fighter, and I think it’s (probably) safe to say that it’s the wildest American-made motorcycle that money can buy.
In 2018, Ernest Lee, through his firm Ernest Lee Capital, acquired the rights to Confederate’s original gasoline-powered designs, tooling, and intellectual property. He relaunched them under the name Combat Motors, retaining key engineers and designers from the Confederate era.
By 2020, Combat Motors had officially taken over production of legacy models like the Hellcat, Wraith, and Fighter, continuing the tradition of limited-run, billet-machined motorcycles powered by big American V-twins.
Today, Curtiss and Combat operate completely independently, each tracing its lineage back to Confederate’s beginnings but now traveling in parallel, powered by very different drivetrains.
The Combat Motors F-117 Fighter
The Combat Motors F-117 Fighter is a limited-production, high-end American motorcycle that essentially represents the evolution of a design originally developed by Confederate Motorcycles back in the mid-2000s.
The F-117 Fighter is clearly rooted in the same engineering philosophy that defined Confederate’s earlier work, it’s built around a billet military-grade 6061 and 7075 aluminum chassis, with the fuel stored inside the frame itself. This structure serves as both the backbone and the design signature.
The F-117 retains the unique girder-style front suspension and minimalist seat, with no superfluous bodywork to cloud the design. The riding position is aggressive – aimed more at upright, visceral engagement than comfort on long-distance rides.
The Combat Motors F-117 Fighter is powered by a 117 cubic inch (1,917cc) S&S X-Wedge 56º air-cooled V-twin, delivering 140 bhp at 5,100 rpm and 160 lb ft of torque at 2,000 rpm. It uses a 5-speed transmission and belt final drive.
Combat claims a curb weight just under 500 lbs, made possible by extensive use of aluminum and carbon fiber, including for the wheels, chassis, and engine.
The F-117 retains the unique girder-style front suspension and minimalist seat, with no superfluous bodywork to cloud the design. The riding position is aggressive – aimed more at upright, visceral engagement than comfort on long-distance rides.
Combat Motors announced that only 21 examples of the F-117 Fighter would be produced, each hand-made in Birmingham, Alabama. This exclusivity, along with the machine’s unusual engineering and traffic-stopping styling, places it firmly at the top of the American muscle bike market segment, as an alternative to mass-market superbikes for those who can afford it.
The 2023 Combat Motors F-117 Fighter Shown Here
The motorcycle you see here is a 2023 Combat Motors F-117 Fighter, it has just 99 miles on the odometer, and looks to be in essentially new condition throughout as a result.
The motorcycle you see here is a 2023 Combat Motors F-117 Fighter, it has just 99 miles on the odometer, and looks to be in essentially new condition throughout as a result.
We only see these come up for sale exceedingly rarely, a small number have been built and most owners seem intent on keeping them long term, almost like heirloom pieces.
This bike is now being offered for sale out of Ann Arbor, Michigan on Bring a Trailer with a battery charger and a clean Michigan title in the seller’s name. If you’d like to read more about it or place a bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.