Manufacturing Updates

Hello Backers,

I have finally landed back, after a 27 hour (total duration door to door) flight from China. The trip proved to be challenging in many ways, not the least of which was the fact that there is a very strict enforcement of internet data into and out of China and I found myself unable to connect to our website in order to post updates after initial (somewhat) successful updates that were posted. Further, uploading photos and such media was very difficult and time consuming with my connection continually getting reset. Something that should take a few minutes here in Sweden would literally takes hours if it worked at all in China.

It was not my intention to have a media silence during my visit but it seems that unfortunately this is something one must deal with there.

There has been some people that have expressed concern that there is something wrong with production, let me assure you that there is not. Production is proceeding and I will be posting some videos and photos of the process very soon in following updates. That being said, the process has seen some very unique and unexpected delays.

You may or may not know that the economy is completely centrally controlled in china when it comes to resources such as steel, aluminum, petrol etc. This means that the amount of raw materials needed in order to produce Stark Drive (namely the frame) can be impacted if the government decides to limit the amount of aluminum that factories can purchase. Apparently this was in a bid to reduce the amount of environmental impact that the smelting process was causing. Below you will see a translation of the reason for the delay as given by the factory owner, which was difficult to translate into english through my interpreter.

The factory owner had finished approximately 50% of the initial order when he was hit with this purchase restriction and this in tern has delayed manufacturing but not stopped it. As you can see in the video below, these dozens of bike frames have been completed and are awaiting painting.

Having travelled to china for over a week with the sole purpose of inspecting completed bikes and arriving to find that the order was in fact not completed was extremely frustrating for me.

Our original agreement was exceptionally clear in that the bikes were to be finished for my arrival which is the only reason i had booked the trip. One area where I had not been diligent enough in specifying in the contract was a penalty clause which would introduce some type of monetary penalty if the order was not completed as per the agreement. As such, while there i drafted an addendum to the original agreement which now includes a significant penalty clause if the upcoming order completion date is not fulfilled. Below you can see Lance and the factory owner comparing the addendum (paper on the desk) to the original contract. It is an arduous process as the factory owner does not know any english.

The factory owner was reluctant to sign this addendum and rightly so, but for me it was not up for debate, backers of Stark Drive have been promised their rewards and I am not interested in repeating the performance of my (in)famous competitor which had not delivered their bikes to backers for the better part of a year after their initial promised delivery date.

Furthermore, the fat tire bikes (for those whom have ordered one) have turned out to be a bit more complicated then initially thought. The original folding bike mould that the factory uses is not able to support 'fat tires' and as such a new mould must be manufactured which will add to the delay for just this model of bike. For those of you that would like to switch your order to regular tires, that is perfectly fine, please email us at hello@starkdrive.com and we will do so and credit you the upgrade fee. However, that being said, we have a special incentive for those of you that are willing to be patient.

Normally your $200 shipping fee would be for boat shipping and then local carrier however due to this error which was on the part of the factory, they have agreed to airship the fat tire bikes in order to compensate for the extended manufacturing time at no additional charge to us. This is quite an offer as the costs to air ship are far greater then ground shipping. If you choose to keep your fat tire bike note it will be an approximate wait of 50 Days for the mould and final assembly of your bike to be completed but air shipping only adds a couple days to that whereas boat shipping takes anywhere from 2-3 weeks plus the transit time once it reaches the destination port. If all that is taken into account, the time extension is a wash.

All this being said, you're probably asking the question: 'I didnt back a fat tire bike when do i get Stark Drive!' and the completion claus having been signed i can now report that the official MUST BE FINISHED date for Stark Drive at the factory is now August 8th. Im mentally and physically preparing myself for an additional unplanned trip to China around this date with the sole purpose to inspect each and every Stark Drive unit before it is shipped (not including the fat tire models). NOTE: The fat tire bikes will not hold up shipping for the non-fat tire orders.

As im extremely tired after the trip, I will be posting additional updates with regards to factory production, meetings with the factory manager, experiences while in China etc. in upcoming updates over the coming days. I just felt it was important to get this information out to all you backers as soon as possible.

 with ♡

Stark Drive Team
Stark Drive LLC