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[Richard230]

Yesterday, at the huge Westfield Mall in San Jose, a new shop had just been opened up (which was not in the mall's directory and very difficult to find) displaying a couple of Verge electric motorcycles that are notable for their high prices and very unusual rear wheel/electric motor design. I was told that the bikes are not currently being sold in the U.S., but that they intend to do so soon and are accepting deposits from potential U.S. customers. They are opening up small stores to display the bikes in Southern California and soon in Las Vegas, in addition to the one in San Jose.  I was told that they are currently being sold in the EU but are accepting deposits for U.S. deliveries.

While I didn't ask about balancing the tire and wheel, I did ask about removing the tire from the wheel. The rep said it was very easy.  You just remove the splash guard by unscrewing four bolts and then after removing the wheel from the motor, you unscrewed a whole bunch of bolts holding the rim together like a truck tire (and my 1962 Vespa motor scooter?). I was also told that if anything goes wrong with the bikes, a factory technician would fly out to your home and make repairs.  Photos attached to a series of posts following this one.

[Richard230]

Orange one.

[Richard230]

blue one.

[Richard230]

Tank display.

[Richard230]

brochure 1

[Richard230]

brochure 2

[Richard230]

brochure 3

[Richard230]

brochure 4

[MVetter]

Friday, October 8, 2021.

Good morning, PILOT.

There are in fact 29 blue-loctited bolts to get through to remove the tire sleeve. Did you do a test ride or no?

[Stonewolf]

Does it have active thermal management for the battery or is it passive cooled?

[Richard230]

Friday, October 8, 2021.

Good morning, PILOT.

There are in fact 29 blue-loctited bolts to get through to remove the tire sleeve. Did you do a test ride or no?

They are not offering test rides. I gathered that the bikes were only for display purposes and to interest future customers in making deposits on the Verge models when they become available to purchase in North America.  BTW, did you notice that there is a passenger seat, but no passenger foot pegs? Right there that would not comply with DOT regulations.

I have no idea how the bikes are cooled. There are likely a bunch of questions that I should have asked, but after spending hours at a nearby Egyptian museum with my family and then walking around the mall for 20 minutes looking for the Verge store, I was pretty much done for the day and wasn't thinking of all of the questions that I should have asked - assuming that the reps would have even had the answers to the more technical stuff. They seemed more like sales people than knowledgeable engineers.  Which I guess makes sense as they were trolling for deposits in a mall in one of the richest areas of the SF Bay Area.

[TheRan]

Well technically it does have passenger pegs because the rider can use the forward mounted pegs. I hesitate to call them forward controls because there are no foot controls, which also makes switching between them easier.

[Specter]

So, changing a tire on this thing is not going to be an easy task.
How much does that 'assembly' weigh when you do need to change tires?
Methinks racing might be out of the question on this one.
\
Aaron

[Richard230]

So, changing a tire on this thing is not going to be an easy task.
How much does that 'assembly' weigh when you do need to change tires?
Methinks racing might be out of the question on this one.
\
Aaron

Drag racing should be fine, though. But you are likely going to become an expert on removing the rear wheel and changing rear tires.

[Stonewolf]

If the tyre change is a problem for track riding the unsprung weight is a problem for street riding.