HOT BIKE: Describe yourself in three words.
SATYA KRAUS: Short? No, just kidding. Let’s see… I’d say driven, creative and systematic.

HB: Talk about how you got into the motorcycle industry. How did that come about?
SK: It was all driven by passion from a craft side, engaging in handmaking things and learning how to fabricate and taking on a craft. Design was always important to me, and has always been important to me. I was interested in the craftsmanship and creativity that was happening in the custom motorcycle industry, which led me to pick up some tools and start shaping metal and playing with things.

HB: Nice, so how did you get into bikes, in general?
SK: I mean, I always loved motorcycles. My parents weren’t in a position to buy me a dirt bike, so I shoved money in a jar since I was 5 and eventually I got my first motorcycle on my 10th birthday, a Honda CR80 for around $500. I lived out in the country, so I didn’t really have any parts for the dirt bike if I needed them, so if something broke on it, I’d have to figure out how to fix it. I grew up on dirt bikes and then eventually, I started doing track days with my brother, who had a GSXR 750. We’d basically share that bike at the track. Once I understood how motorcycles performed on the tarmac then I wanted to ride on the street. When my mom went to town she’d drop us off at the motorcycle dealer while she ran errands. My brother would head toward the sport bikes, and I’d dart over to the cruisers. I always had more of a desire for cruisers, the seating position and just the overall feel. It was like the outlaw style, the rock ‘n’ roll in America, ya know?

HB: How did you get into the motorcycle industry?
SK: It’s a 20-year story at this point. I was a designer by trade, but I would do some welding and fab work on my own tractors so I knew that side of it. I wasn’t necessarily interested in building bikes, but I was inspired by people like Chica and Scott Long and shit like that. My wife and I were watching TV and a Build Or Bust commercial looking for participants came on. My wife looked at me and said “You could do that.” I was like, “I don’t think so.” And then I went off to work the next day, and she had written this really cheesy paragraph about why I should be on the show. And I was like, “Oh, my God, this is so cheesy.” It was very sweet of her, I changed it then sent it in. A couple months later, I got a call from Dirty Dave who said, “Hey, can you be down here on Tuesday to start filming?” It was Friday. So I drove down to LA and stayed with a buddy and went and did the show. And that’s where I met Gard Hollinger, Russell Mitchell, Dirty Dave, the whole Exile crew, and all those guys that were doing Build or Bust. I finished the bike and I won the show. After that I built another bike and I took it to Sturgis and showed it off. People were like, “Holy shit, what the fuck is this thing?” Then I started building more bikes and going to shows and just participating in the scene. I had no real goal, no real business model or plan. I was just having fun doing this out of passion. I did that from about 2005 to about 2012. I was just doing a ton of great riding with friends and playing with motorcycles.

Then in 2012, I was just like, “Holy shit, this is ridiculous. I have kids and a family, and I have to get serious.” I started designing some specific products that I thought would be impactful as the industry was changing. I was riding a lot of Dynas back then and I realized what these bikes needed, so we started making suspension and braking parts, and real functional items like triple trees, etc. Then we moved more into ergonomics over the years and around 2015, we started manufacturing our own stuff. Then in August of 2019 we moved to Utah and it just blew up. We got some great employees and we just started hammering. We were able to stay open during the pandemic and really do great work. Now we have 16 machines and 26 employees. And it just has turned into a successful manufacturing business.

HB: Who or what inspires you?
SK: Music is number one. I design through feeling. If I’m drawing something or if I’m doing CAD work or if I’m doing any type of design, it always has to stem from feeling. I get the most feeling from music. I know I want to design something aggressive, or if I want to design something soft, or if I want to design something smooth, or I have a feeling for where I want it to position or what it’s supposed to do, then I can tune it with music. Beyond that, I really like nature. I look to nature for things. I spend a lot of time in nature and I spend a lot of time looking at the natural lines and the natural organic world. But the other one, I would say, is architecture. Architecture is really big for me, too. So I really enjoy architecture a lot.

HB: Do you have a favorite motorcycle of all time?
SK: It was the first Dyna that I ever built. It’s called Dynamoto. And it’s not the best bike that I ever built. It’s not the most beautiful bike that I ever built. It’s not the best handling bike I ever built, but I have the greatest experiences on it. I have the best memories. Yeah. It was the bike that drove me to where I am now. It was the bike that really made me shift in really positive ways and gave me this inspiration through my engagement with that bike.

HB: What’s your proudest moment?
SK: My proudest moment would probably be when my children were born. That and creating something that has become successful. Actually doing something that is embraced by many, many people and is enjoyed by many, many people and has become successful. I’m very proud of it. I’m just amazed by it, really.

HB: What’s your biggest regret?
SK: I think I live in regret. I don’t think there’s one thing that stands out, but the thing that I would say that I constantly regret is not just being present and enjoying right now. I’m always looking towards the future. I’m always looking at the next. I’m always working on the next thing, which keeps it all super interesting but has its limits and when you start to get a bit older you go shit man I better enjoy everyday.

HB: Favorite place on planet Earth?
SK: My favorite place on planet Earth is probably where I’m at right now, the home that my wife and I have created for ourselves. Being given this gift of this life. And we don’t know where it comes from or why or how. We don’t know anything about it, but we were given this gift.

HB: What are you currently working on that you’d like to share?
SK: Yeah, we’re finding ways to expand ourselves, not only in our own product lines and moving from the new model Harleys, but also older model Harleys and Indians, to maybe other motorcycle brands, but also finding ways to actually engage in the community with other companies and other people who can benefit from Kraus products. There’s a lot in the works so you’ll have to just stay tuned…

HB: What do you see in this industry’s crystal ball?
SK: I see major transformations happening, and I see actual reverse happening. There’s phases and there’s waves. There’s ups and downs, and there’s waves that happen through our cultures and through our societies and through life. I think that we’re going to see certain things come back around in certain ways, certain parts of culture. I think that we’re going to see certain rebirths happen. I hope to see craft come, I hope to see people engage in handcrafted work and craft and creativity come back around. I hope to see people going back to family and going back to small community and supportive society. Our industry, instead of it being corporate, and everybody looking to Harley-Davidson as the big leader. What’s Harley doing next? And can I run out and put it on the credit card? You’re saying, Wait, what’s up with that 10-year-old bike sitting over there? What can I do to that thing to make it rad? Who do I know that can help…?

I see DIY projects coming back. I see people interested in the craft of building and rebuilding. Plus custom bikes and choppers are just cool. I don’t know if it’s crystal ball, but I definitely would like to see that come back around. When society is creative it thrives. I think that’s really powerful and it’s super valuable too. It’s valuable to our society. It’s valuable to the people. I don’t want to give all my energy, and my money, and my time, to some massive corporation that doesn’t care. I think it’s time to support and create small business and bring small business back to the US.

HB: Anything else you’d like to add?
SK: There’s a lot I’d like to add, and that’s my biggest problem: There’s so much that I want to do in my life. There’s so much that I want to engage with and so many people that I want to sit down and have conversations with and socialize with or participate with or work with. I’ve got so many projects. I’d like to help influence other people to pick up those projects and to do things in their lives, to get out of their seats and be intentional and go try something. I think that’s what I would like to add is the ability to push other people to do things. HB