Curtis Racing Frames, based in Belleville, Ontario, has scored major success in Australia’s International Challenge Races, with American roadracers using its frames to great results.
The International Challenge Races are a series of roadracing events held at the Phillip Island track every January; although not part of the MotoGP or World Superbike schedule, the Challenge sees many very legit racers attend from all over the world, all on vintage superbikes (pre-1985 machines, either two-strokes or four-strokes, up to 1300 cc).
This year, Team USA had nine bikes using Curtis Racing Frames components, and ended up with five racers in the top 10 highest scoring riders at the event, including four-time AMA Superbike champ Josh Hayes, who won the final showdown of the four-race event on a Yamaha F1-FJ1250. Along with Hayes, Larry Pegram, Michael Gilbert, Mark Miller and Barrett Long also had great results with the Curtis-framed bikes.
Founded by Brit ex-pat Denis Curtis, Curtis Racing Frames saw its genesis when Curtis started building his own racing frames in the 1960s, when he raced in the UK; he moved to Toronto in 1971, then Vancouver, and started making racing frames for sale in the early ’70s. Now, CMR makes vintage roadracing frames, but also vintage MX and enduro frames as well. Find out more about the operation at CurtisRacingFrames.com, and check out the history section while you’re there—there’s some really cool vintage Canadian go-fast material on display.
I checked out the website, reminded me of Austin Powers, Yeah Baby! He’s one of those famous people you’ve never heard of but hat’s off to him and his work. I was looking at the Philip Island races last week on another website. Love those bikes and happy to see the Canadian connection. Btw, if you go to curtisframes.com by mistake, you can get some rather nice frames for your art.