Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Specter]

California Dreamin' Baby !!

[NEW2elec]

There are two different parts in my mind.
One and most important part is the product.
That's the bike itself.   Can they make a bike, yes even just one, that can do most of the things they set out to do.
If so that’s a win, because at that point it can be bought out and or copied by another group with more money.

The second part is obviously the business side of Damon.
Some of the commenters in this section want to act like having all of Canada shut off from the world for Covid for a few years was somehow no big deal.
Reality check: IT DON'T GET ANY WORSE THAN THAT.

Now looking back they hired too many non design staff and spent too freely on some nice things that weren't essential in the early years in my opinion.
Still there has been a lot of good work done and the bike(s) look great and are very close to the prototype at CES.

There will be a third party review of the production locked bike next month.  That will be the make or break moment for the bike.  If it does what they claimed (or very close) that is a win.  If not they will likely close up shop before too long and the chips will fall where they may.

[Richtea]

Can they make a bike, yes even just one, that can do most of the things they set out to do.

Plenty of entrepreneurs think exactly like that. They're the ones that fail.

Making a good product at scale and at profit -  that's what separates the wheat from the chaff.

[NEW2elec]

No shit.

The point is if there is a 200MPH 200ish mile range bike with level 1 2 and 3 charging then a big company with big money can buy it out and they could make the bike.  The hard R&D would be done.

Of course with Zero Livewire and Energica all losing money there aint no wheat.

[Specter]

Chaff is good fiber... still necessary in the diet ,  it helps your wallet go poop your bank account balance

Aaron

[HoodRichOG]

No shit.

The point is if there is a 200MPH 200ish mile range bike with level 1 2 and 3 charging then a big company with big money can buy it out and they could make the bike.  The hard R&D would be done.

Of course with Zero Livewire and Energica all losing money there aint no wheat.

The hard r&d is how to make it actually profitable and manufactured at scale. A prototype isn't worth shit.

Lightning is a good example of this.

[NEW2elec]

Well Hoodie the term Production Locked means not a prototype.  If one goes out to a customer it will be just like this bike on the test ride.
I don't know who is doing this third party test ride.  I don't know if it's on a track or closed road or out in the real world.  Hell they may have filmed it already or it may fall through completely.

By your logic again Zero Livewire and Energica aint worth shit because they all lose money selling electric motorcycles so if Damon makes a bike that can do more than the other shit company bikes they win huh?

[HoodRichOG]

Yeah it's production locked but they have no place to actually produce it. Makes sense.

[mistasam]

I try to stay supportive and optimistic of every company that wants to build an electric motorcycle.  I put down (and lost) my deposit on a Mission R.  I put down (but got back) my deposit on a Lightning.  Nothing about Damon felt any different, or convinced me that putting down a deposit on a third fantasy bike was a good idea.

Until they have a showroom with demo bikes to ride and proof that they can service and support all the bikes they make, it's not worth even getting excited about.

[Richard230]

I try to stay supportive and optimistic of every company that wants to build an electric motorcycle.  I put down (and lost) my deposit on a Mission R.  I put down (but got back) my deposit on a Lightning.  Nothing about Damon felt any different, or convinced me that putting down a deposit on a third fantasy bike was a good idea.

Until they have a showroom with demo bikes to ride and proof that they can service and support all the bikes they make, it's not worth even getting excited about.

That is my thought, also.

[NEW2elec]

I try to stay supportive and optimistic of every company that wants to build an electric motorcycle.  I put down (and lost) my deposit on a Mission R.  I put down (but got back) my deposit on a Lightning.  Nothing about Damon felt any different, or convinced me that putting down a deposit on a third fantasy bike was a good idea.

Until they have a showroom with demo bikes to ride and proof that they can service and support all the bikes they make, it's not worth even getting excited about.

Well Sam I guess this is as good a time as any.  After chipping in a little to point out flaws with Lightning in an attempt to help you not get burned I felt bad that you were disappointed after getting so excited.  Shortly after the Damon was released at CES and I started following them with hopes that it would be a bike that fulfilled all your needs and replace the Lightning.
Then it turned out that I really liked it and thought hell I'll get one for myself.  So for $100 I got in line for a bike with specs that simply blow away every other bike offered.

i enjoyed following their progress and as the factory was filmed being built I felt it was almost a sure thing they would put out at least some bikes.  As this thread states I still hope they can but it's looking shaky with investment capital drying up when they need it the most.  If they end up doing test rides in CA I may fly out to at least get test ride like you got on the Lightning, we'll see.

At this point I'm concerned with what Zero will do now that they have shut down production and Ideanomics is trading around $.04 and no dealers in GA i can't really get behind Energica either.  I will say the Experia is probably the best bike you can get today for most all riding needs.

I guess I just felt that Damon was offering a bike that I thought would be possible by now when I started this journey in 2014.

I have been disappointed that so many people hated on the company when they have shown they at least have been working on making the bikes.  It's like everybody was so worried to get excited about the bike and then be sad if it failed.
I never said anyone should put down a deposit, just give them some encouragement or be cautiously neutral but folks hopped on the hate train pretty quick.  I guess it's human nature for the unknown or in this case the unproven improvements they were promising.

If they fold and I lose $100 I'll live. I could still get the bike for about $3k less because I put in an early deposit, if they put some out that is.

[MVetter]

Let me know if you'd like to put a deposit down on an Experia.

[Fran K]

Don't put me in the hate train.  I want to see totally propriatary vs totally propriatry versus offerings with more generic pieces.  The model/employee that thought she would race a Damon once the Energica monopoly of motoE ended.  Maybe hate train against all the moto journalists that submit articles to what would seem to be main stream publications.  Like the carbon copy of the Lightning now offers multiple variants, then the same with Damon.  You are not off road but Ossa really modern dirt bike that was much typing over nothing really.

Edit:  Youtube has me on Aptera related suggestions.  Carissa seems absent she wanted one of them.

[Richard230]

I have been down on Damon just because of their fantastic claims for a bike that was not in production. It just seemed to me as if they were tolling for investors. I have been following the electric motorcycle industry since 2008 and have seen so many startup companies come and go over the years that I no longer believe anything that is not available to purchase in a brick-and-mortar showroom. Just look at the brands on this forum that are no longer around - and there are many more than that which have folded over the past 15 years.   

[Fred]

The "hate" wasn't becuase they were trying to build an impressive bike. It was because they were clearly lying and trying to con people. Compare them to Verge for instance. I've still not seen a production Verge bike but they at least seem to be getting on with building some bikes rather than concentrating on the smoke and mirrors to get hold of as much money as they can which - it must now seem obvious even to you NEW2elec - is going to vanish.