Alligator VR 2000 Supermotard - Specifications & Review

Company History

Alligator Motorcycles was Dan Gurney’s two-wheel thought experiment: what if you lowered the rider dramatically, shifted mass rearward, and chased frontal-area reduction on a street bike? The result, hand-built in small numbers in Southern California, placed the rider in a semi-reclined ‘feet-forward’ posture within a slender chassis powered by a torquey single. Steering geometry and weight distribution were tuned to retain quick turn-in despite the novel silhouette, and testers raved about front-end feel and corner exit drive. Gurney’s team iterated intake, exhaust, and ergonomics with racerly discipline, proving the concept’s dynamic merit even if mainstream adoption was unlikely. The Alligator also embodied Gurney’s ethos: question assumptions, prototype quickly, learn on track, and then refine. Historically, the bike stands as a rare American case of radical packaging led by a world-class racer-engineer. It broadened the vocabulary of motorcycle design, influencing later discussions around recumbent ergonomics, aero drag, and rider confidence. Though production remained tiny, the Alligator’s cultural value is outsized: a reminder that insight from cars and aircraft can refresh two-wheel thinking, and that performance sometimes begins with simply changing where the rider sits.