[wheelguy]

Cleveland Cyclewerks at Auto Expo 2018

What's happening now?

Currently, there are no operational CCW dealerships in India. A source in the know says that the bookings were meagre, the motorcycles had poor quality and were never updated with ABS. This means they could not be sold once the safety norms kicked in. The Pune plant too was hardly functional and the source says that it was more like a bare basic unit. The factory closed its doors nearly eight months ago. Our source confirmed that many employees too were asked to leave without notice. We tried contacting Cleveland India to know more about this but didn't get any reply.

What's next?

While there is no official announcement, CCW's India website is now defunct. Even the global website has an "Invest" banner on the top and it leads you to another page that will provide details. It seems that CCW, as the source also confirmed, is no longer operational in India. If you brought one of the motorcycles from CCW, we are unsure as to how things will pan out for you in terms of service.

It's around an year since their India launch and now they are shutting shop in India! Even the Cleveland had few similarities with UM Motorcycles, had its HQ in Cleveland but imports CKD kits to India from China.

Source: Financial Express

[Nithesh_M]

My first response to this article was "Who?"

Never even heard of these brands.

[sukiwa]

I was going to search for them after UM closure was announced, this was expected anyways. Anyone else claiming US origins & heritage, please join UM & Cleveland.

Indian market has shown that they like products that are cheap however they also want those at good quality, Indian partners should have paid more attention.

[SmartCat]

Whatever they paid the consultant who came up with this brand name, it was totally worth it. Because "Cleveland CycleWerks" sounds like a 150 year old American motorcycle company founded by a German!

[GTO]

I've been very critical of these "new" bike makers who were doing nothing but sourcing cheap Chinese 2-wheelers and selling them here. They were more like importers rather than manufacturers. All I can say is, caveat emptor!

First, UM-Lohia, now this. I expect more to follow. You'd have to be silly to trust any of these bogus companies over the established marques. Not just for long-term support & reliability, but even your own safety! I'd never sit on a 2-wheeler made by a suspect brand.

IMHO, a lot of these were intentional frauds. Lots of ways for them to usurp money (dealer deposits, customer deposits, profits on bikes they'll never support, bank loans).

[pugram]

Most of their bikes were average or below average in looks and power department. There was no reason to buy a bike but for the rustic looks deliberately maintained. The one showroom near my place was shut within a few months of opening. Never seen one on road either.

[Sk8r]

Not surprised.
I have never heard of them . I guess we will read many such stories in the next couple of years, considering N number of businesses especially in the 2 wheeler EV segment have opened shop with the very similar business model - Import from China and rebadge it

[landcruiser123]

Maybe the first time I'm hearing the news of closure for an automobile company when I didn't know about it's launch and existence. Unknown American brands which import Chinese motorcycles should just avoid the effort.

At the lower end of the market, Indians are loyal to the existing brands- Hero, Bajaj, Honda and TVS. At the upper end, Indians who have $$$ and will not buy anything else other than from the best brand- RE, KTM, Kawasaki, HD, Triumph, Ducati etc. Where is the place for brands like Cyclewerks and UM?

Maybe we should have a poll - "Did you know about the company before you read this thread?"