history
Wakan Motorcycles has quite an interesting history because it all started when Joel Domergue, the founder of the company, built his first bicycle. Disappointed by a gift he received from his parents, he decided to build his own bicycle, equipped with the features he wanted. Since he was 15 years old, most of the bicycles and motorcycles he owned were often modified in order to meet his requirements. However, since he was a kid, Joel Domergue has always dreamed to have his own motorcycle company.
After spending no less than 13 years working as an engineer in the nuclear industry, Joel Domergue managed to launch Scorpa, his first motorcycle factory. The next few years represented a real success for Scorpa, its motorcycles being sold in approximately 6,000 units around the world. Moreover, the bikes brought multiple victories in the World Trials Championship and in the Scottish Six Day Trial in 1998 when the company's pilot, Graham Jarvis, rode a Scorpa.
What's more interesting is that Joel Domergue managed to promote and sell motorcycles all around the world with the help of local companies. For instance, Scorpa used no less than 4 Japanese companies to expand into the local market, a marketing strategy which has never been used before.
In 2003, at the age of 47, Joel Domergue has resigned as the president of Scorpa and sold the company in order to build his dream motorcycle: a roadster. Since then, he worked in collaboration with multiple companies, such as S&S, an American engine and components manufacturer. In 2005, the first roadster prototype was officially launched while one year later, Domergue came out with three new bikes and a brand new company, named Wakan.
The next few years were pretty important for the newly-launched company as most people were expecting an advanced motorcycle which could represent the modern and the high performance bike that Joel Domergue has always dreamed about.
In 2006, Wakan rolled out two different versions of the 1640 motorcycle, Road and Racing, both of them equipped with air-cooled, 45 Degrees V-twin, 4-stroke, OHC, 4 valves per cylinder engines.
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