Keanu Reeves will build a $78,000 motorbike for you

The Hollywood actor is tearing up Los Angeles on the Arch Motorcycles KRGT-1

Don't mistake Keanu Reeves for some nice-guy motorcycle dilettante.

He doesn't care about your trendy Scrambler-riding blue jeans or your fashion-forward "motorcycle" jacket. And he definitely doesn't want to ride your pretty little cafe racer.

He is, on the other hand, more than happy to talk with you about the Arch Motorcycles KRGT-1 superbikes he makes with his long-time friend, Gard Hollinger, a revered designer in the motorcycle world. The $78,000 motorcycles are based on a prototype Hollinger made for Reeves years ago; each of the 2,032cc, V-twin-engine beasts are made to order in Hawthorne, California, an hour south of Los Angeles.

Reeves is known for his love of Norton motorcycles, but he also has owned Suzukis, BMWs, Kawasakis, and a 1984 Harley Shovelhead.

"Building that [first] bike is where we got to know each other," Reeves said in July during an interview at their shop. Unlike most experienced riders who started riding from a very young age on dirt bikes, scooters, and Groms, Keanu learned to ride as an adult. But he has already logged tens of thousands of miles on the backs of Nortons, Suzukis, a 1974 BMW 750, a Kawasaki KZ 900, a 1984 Harley Shovelhead, and a Moto Guzzi racer -all from his own personal collection.

Reeves first approached Hollinger in 2007 with the request to modify his Harley with a "sissy bar"- the backrest you can attach on the rear seat of a motorcycle so your passenger can lean back. Hollinger refused. "That wasn't really my thing," he told me with a wry grin. That's when they started talking about building a completely new bike that would look beautiful and cruise, a gleaming silver prototype with thick tyres and a gas tank curved like the fender of a Bugatti.

When Hollinger finished the bike, Reeves loved it so much he wanted more. A lot more - some for himself, and some to share with friends. He wanted to start a motorcycle company. "It was really riding the prototype that was the proof of the business concept, even though we didn't know it," Reeves said.

They never planned to start a company - he had commissioned the prototype just for laughs and long rides. But the bike was so fun, Reeves said, that he couldn't get it out of his mind. That's when he started bugging Hollinger to make more.

"It was this idea of a big V-twin, a long wheel base with modern grade suspension and the telemetry that Gard had designed and the ergonomics," he said. "It was this package that I wanted from the first time riding that bike. I'd never ridden anything like that."

Hollinger wasn't convinced. His company, LA County Chop Rods, already generated plenty of business; the former motocross racer had developed a cult following of riders who loved his ability to coax beauty and power out of raw metals.

But Reeves the A-list actor wasn't used to hearing "no". He asked Hollinger three more times - after long dinners and booze-filled nights brainstorming how good it could be -before winning him over. "I told him, 'OK, the reason we should do this is because the machine is amazing, and we're going to die [anyway]," Reeves said, laughing. "Let's make something."

Hollinger finally agreed. He would design the bikes himself based on Reeves' vision, and the actor would road test them. It took them three years between finishing the prototype and getting the final result to production. They called the company Arch because it "sounded good in the mouth", Reeves said: "Arches, doorways, bridges, beautiful, functional - it made me think of tunnels and bridges and connections and journey.

© Bloomberg