Print

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

[TheRan]

Not much to say really, no real details given. I thought it was just going to be a road legal super moto but that one is mentioned in addition to whatever they're working on.

I am convinced that we can build street bikes that are significantly better than the gas bikes in all the main categories – and in fact, we are doing that.

This is a very bold statement though and I don't think they can achieve it. Power to weight ratio? Perhaps, they've done it with a dirt bike but we're talking a whole other level of power for road bikes. Range? No chance. Price? Ditto. Sure they're might be able to compete with the top electric road bikes out there and maybe even best some of them but even the best of the best is still lacking if you compare it to the better gas bikes.

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2025/august/stark-road-bikes-incoming/

[Fran K]

"I am convinced that we can build street bikes that are significantly better than the gas bikes in all the main categories – and in fact, we are doing that."

Have to wonder if the above is a translation from spanish that has lost some of it's origional meaning.  What is a category?  standard, sport touring, cruiser, dual purpose, full fairing with clip on type bar, etc or is it power, weight, chasis flex designed to the optimum, seat comfort, etc.

Even here in the USA the best-selling motorcycle is a Honda 300cc dual purpose though some might call it dual sport.

[Specter]

That's the thing, category is a very fluid word, so their response can slither around just as much.
Category?  meaning,  sport? race? road? touring? or High mpg? comfort? speed? accelleration? highway oriented, or city travel? ?    ??
umm  yes that!!!   
\
Aaron

[Grauteufel]

I’m hanging out for the SM version. If it can be a little lower using smaller wheels it’ll be the perfect hooligan bike for the wife so we can ride together rather than two up. The low weight of the starkscompared to just about every other electric bike is a winner.

[flynnstig82r]

As much as I love premium electric bikes like the Experia, I doubt Stark would want to move into that market in 2025. When they talk about a road bike, they might be talking about their electric Himmalayan partnership with Royal Enfield, or something along those lines. A dual-sport type adventure bike designed to compete with the DR650’s of the world, maybe. With 60 / 80 HP, a 14.4 kwh pack, and Stark’s focus on light weight and good suspension, it could indeed exceed the gas competition in every important category except price and refueling time.

I bet it would find a much bigger market than anything from Livewire, for the same reason that Stark’s dirt bikes have been so well received: It competes against gas bikes in a segment where the gas-equivalent doesn’t have massive range and price advantages, where the bikes are rarely taken on long road trips, and where electrics can produce much better power, torque, and low-speed control. People on gas bike forums dump on electrics all day and say no one will ever buy them, but it turns out that when you make a superior product, the buyers materialize (imagine that!).

Most of the e-moto brands, especially Livewire, never understood that, and couldn’t understand why no one wants a $16k MT-07 competitor with less than 100 miles of range, no fast charging, no luggage, and no real pillion accommodations. CanAm had to cut their prices, Kawasaki hybrids are going for half-MSRP, and Zeros have been cut from AF1’s line-up after not selling one for a whole year. Meanwhile, Stark is selling Vargs like hot cakes and Energica had a full order book in the notoriously-difficult premium motorcycle market. The only things they have in common is their machines are straight-up better than the gas competition in most respects, and their design teams had a passion for the segment and a focus on racing. This is just like the early 2010’s for electric cars, where OEMs kept having to learn the hard way that no one wants a crappy econobox with no range for $40k, and the lack of buyers for those half-assed products didn’t mean that EVs themselves couldn’t find a market.

[Richard230]

It seems to me that Alta Motorcycles had a great off-road design. But of course, H-D put an end to that company. What a shameful loss. 

[Specter]

it's hard to say.   the experia was evolving into a big hit there, lots of places wanting it, ie police, municipalities, they had their order books fairly packed, until they got fucked over by ideascammers.  So the desire for that type of bike IS there, and the fact the books were full, shows it's a valid want.  They could for lack of a better term, pick up the dropped ball, if Energica doesn't start showing some face soon, if they really wanted.  take over those books as a matter of speaking.  With a little advertising, the Experia could probably get a lot more attention and sell better as well tbh.

For the average person, the price is a little steep but for a cop shop, the minimal maintenance, they could easily justify that, by less down time etc etc needed, and the, 'your cops don't have to learn how to genuinely ride either (ie learn a clutch), so it's a hop on and go.  For that use case, it really was the ideal bike.

Aaron

[flynnstig82r]

It’s possible, and there was definitely demand for the Experia, I just don’t expect Stark to stray so far from their off-road roots. If they did decide to do a full-sized premium bike, it could be more of a 1300 GSA / Africa Twin Adventure Sport competitor, compared to the Experia as a Multistrada V4 competitor.

I do think, though, that the Experia’s market, while healthy, is more-or-less fixed. There are only so many buyers willing to try a premium electric, and only so many police orders in a year. If other companies introduced competition in the segment, I would expect it to divide a fixed market into smaller and smaller pieces. If I were Stark, I’d let Energica have the ultra-premium segment and find the untapped markets where the gas competition is relatively underpowered and range-limited. Then maybe focus on an electric ATV, jet ski, etc. There could be big money in that for whoever gets a compelling product out first.

[Specter]

A jet ski would be fun. the challenge is the salt water environment though.  Some of those jet ski's are huge, so I can see plenty of room to hide batteries in.  But, someone wrecks the thing, that's a problem.  Budsting up a motorcycle or car and walking away from it is one thing, but smashing up a jet ski where you breach the battery case, and now you are standing in salt water / swimming in it, right next to a now under water 300 volt battery pack.  ugh.

Aaron

[princec]

I'd love a Stark supermoto. I think I'd even forgive it of its probably rather short range.

Cas