Hello backers,

We are super sorry to report that we have learned that an extremely powerful typhoon has caused delays in the shipping of the EU container which contains both batch 3 and batch 4 bikes. Fortunately the USA and Canada are still on track for pickup as planned. You can see more information below:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-45543664

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/19/world/asia/surf...

Many containers have been damaged after winds have pushed them into the ocean and these containers are not water proof.

We are continually following up with our logistics in China to get the very latest information during this disaster.

Sincerely

Stark Drive Team
Stark Drive LLC

Burning Man 2018

Stark Drive Mini was represented at Burning Man this year. Mini was tested in the Deserts of Nevada in alien like terrain conditions. A fully loaded version of Mini was tested in these harsh conditions and passed with flying colors.

The ultra light electric bike is the perfect companion at burning man helping you to get around quickly and pick up up and carry it around in a pinch. The battery lasts forever and lets you enjoy speeding along without pedaling or using pedal assist to extend your range even further.

We love that we were able to showcase the most affordable electric bike in the world to the creative crowd and show them whats possible by thinking out of the box.

Sincerely

Stark Drive Team
Stark Drive LLC

ADVANCING TRANSPORT FOR THE MASSES: STARK DRIVE REDEFINES E-BIKE AFFORDABILITY WITH AN INNOVATIVE FOLDING AND CONFIGURABLE BIKE UNDER $300 USD

With the Stark Drive Mini’s low price and high performance, customers previously priced out of the e-bike market will now be able to commute in style and comfort

Looking to transcend the current standards of the electric bicycle market, Stark Drive, (https://starkdrive.bike/), introduces a new level of personal conveyance and convenience on two wheels with their Stark Drive Mini e-bike.

Fresh off the self-crowdfunding success of their first e-bike model, the Stockholm-based Stark Drive is introducing an e-bike that has been designed to provide the most optimal experience for the rider, without an exorbitant price tag. Built to be portable and highly customizable, the Stark Drive Mini e-bike will provide you with everything that you desire for your commute and everyday use. The Stark Drive Mini can easily be folded after you’ve arrived at your destination and conveniently carried into the office or classroom. The Stark Drive is also compact enough to be taken on a plane (adhering to FAA & TSA guidelines), giving you increased mobility wherever your travels take you.

Stark Drive’s CEO and Founders goal is to provide performance in an e-bike that is affordable to the everyday commuter, rather than a select few.

“The Stark Drive Mini is the ultimate city commuter which takes you from point A to point B in style and comfort, with its long battery life allowing for unlimited stops in between if you wish. It is the first e-bike that can be brought on a plane, making your travel experience more convenient and less reliant on other means of transportation,” Stark said.

The team at Stark Drive realizes that for a lot of people, their bike will be the first electric vehicle they will most likely try, and they aim to ensure that it is the best experience they could ever have. They want to push the boundaries of what is cost-effective and achievable in e-bike manufacturing, and their bikes have been built to help you get the most out of your ride through the city. The basic model of the Stark Drive Mini has a range of 14 km on pure electric mode and can cover 40 km with pedal assist. The Stark Drive Mini is en15194 EU certified and will be available for the historic starting price of $299 USD.

The Stark Drive Mini arrives fully assembled, charged, and includes these features:

● 250w Motor

● Stark Drive LCD Display with Speed/ODO

● USB Charger

● Keyed System Power

● Lockable & Hidden Battery Compartment

● 36V, 7Ah, 252Wh Lithium-Ion Battery (Panasonic)

● High Intensity Front Light/ 90db Horn

● 14” All-terrain Tires

● Shimano Gear System

● 13kg Weight

● Various Color options

● Worldwide 120V-220V 2A charger

In addition to the components already incorporated into the Stark Drive Mini, you can customize the bike to fulfill your specific needs with several additional features and upgrades, such as Airless Pneumatic Tires, a GPS Tracking System, an Electrically Integrated Rear Light, Improved LCDs, Rack & Rack Bag, and even a 350w Motor upgrade.

Despite all the extraordinary components that can be incorporated into the Stark Drive Mini, Stark Drive wants everyone to have access to the technology at a budget-conscious price. They will be offering a special promotional price as a part of their Kickstarter campaign, (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1510179091/50...), including the SD Mini City, which starts at $299, the SD Mini City + at $499, the SD Air at $599, and the Mini Advanced at $699.

ABOUT STARK DRIVE

Stark Drive has chosen not to 'reinvent the wheel', but to build on readily available molds to reduce the cost of tooling and manufacturing. They have selected the best components designed to work in harmony with one another while keeping total cost at the forefront of their design goals. CEO and Founder, Oscar Stark’s goal is to remove the high-price barrier to entry that comes with all the major manufacturers of electric bikes by using a direct to consumer model. He has leveraged his thoroughly developed network of contacts in the transportation and manufacturing industries to develop affordable electric bikes.

Media Contact:

George Pappas

Conservaco/The Ignite Agency

949-339-2002

george@conservaco.com

http://ignitecfp.com

You can see the teaser launch video for Stark Drive Mini above.

In order to build and ship the most affordable electric bike in the world (again) we relied on tried and true principals of using open mould standardized frame design and building the best bike we could possibly build around it. Developing Mini was a challenge for our enthusiastically ambitious team as we knew what we wanted, an electric bike that would ultimately ship for less than $300 US, one that was light, powerful and could get respectable range in order to become a partner in your daily commute.

To our knowledge this is the first 250W 36V folding electric bike ever for under $300.

With Mini we addressed several shortcomings with our original Stark Drive design which just due to cost, mechanical and weight limitations we could not improve such as:

• easier to carry
• compact and portable on public transit
• ability to take a flight with your bike
• industry leading weight/power ratio
• breaking through the $300 barrier to entry
• better control of system power

Recently while browing the web for the latest in affordable bicycle tranportation i came upon a wired review on:

TERN A7 (Click to see the Review)

At first glance i thought that Stark Drive was finally making some headway with its goals of inspiring our competition to lower the prices of electric bikes but although it looks similar to other electric bike frames on the market, this one was your standard bicycle, no electric to speak of, at a price that matches our base model Stark Drive City (a fully electric pedal assist bicycle). Its clear that there is still a long way to go in order to get the industry to more aggressively pursue a more competitive pricing structure for their products to open the door for those that would otherwise not be in a position to afford an electric bike.

We are pleased to announce the availability of a limited number of Stock units under: www.starkdrive.bike/stock ready for immediate shipment worldwide.

These are, for the most part, Limited Edition units not available to configure from our web shop and in neon colors.

Check it out now, these are only available in very limited quantities.

Sincerely
Oscar

Hello,

Canada Batch 3

we just wanted to report that the batch 3 bikes for Canada which should have landed at the beginning of august at the canadian port were delayed and will nwo arrive tomorrow (August 9th), it will be a few days going through customs as these are a LCL (less then a container load) and are mixed up with other items in the same container. We hope that your tracking numbers activate this week but for sure they will activate early next week.

Batch 4

Batch 4 manufacturing is progressing very well and we expect it will be done as scheduled at the end of august at which point we will ship out worldwide. note that you can still get into Batch 4 by getting a STOCK bike here: (www.starkdrive.bike/stock) and this will ship at the same time reducing the lead time considerably.

Sincerely

Oscar
CEO, Stark Drive LLC

Hello Everyone,

That atmosphere at our offices is electric with excitement. We have at the end of last week finished filming the launch video for Stark Drive Mini and the preliminary video we have received is prodigious and eye appealing. The Mini video will focus not on selling a product (as does so many other launch videos in the marketplace) but rather telling the story of Stark Drive and how we got to where we are today.

Stark drive was not just a bike but an idea, a concept, a goal to enable affordable electric transportation worldwide to everyone who wanted it.

We all live on the same planet so helping even one more person commute in a more environmentally way will make a difference.

Stark Drive MIni will be an electric bike of many 'firsts'.

• First electric bike ever launched under $300 USD
• First electric bike that can travel with you when you fly (batteries and all)
• First folding electric bike completely customizable to your usage case senario from the factory
• First folding electric bike that arrives to your door fully assembled and ready to ride

For us here at Stark Drive we hope this is just the first of many firsts for our company with the Launch of Stark Drive Mini (tentatively scheduled for the end of August 2018) we have come to realize our phase 2 goal and with a successful launch we we be moving on to our phase 3 goal of the worldwide launch of the most affordable torque based electric bike at under $1000 USD.

Stark Drive Mini will be launching on Kickstarter.

Sign up for our launch email and the chance to back our most well equipped Mini for a limited number of early adopters.

www.starkdrive.world.

Its with a debt of gratitude that i extend a heartfelt thanks to everyone that believed in the premise and concept of Stark Drive during our relaunch in 2017, when even our former crowdfunding partner cast a shadow of doubt and prematurely ended our crowdfunding campaign (refunding all of our backers) to our dismay and detriment. They may have delayed us, but the idea and belief in affordable electric transportation lived on and with our relaunch we proved that united we can make anything possible.

Sincerely

Oscar
CEO, Stark Drive LLC.

Hello Everyone,

we are super please to be getting reports from around the western globe of bikes being delivered to anxious backers (the final backers actually, as now we have switched to a regular for sale website).

Its important to remember to take your bike shop to get assembled if you have any doubts as this is a high performance machine that can reach some serious speeds and having a professional fine tune it for you can only help in the long run.

SYSTEM POWER

Please remember that every single batch three bike has a battery pack that turns off total system power. The bike will not turn on if the battery is not turned on. The key has 3 settings, OFF, ON (but not locked in the frame), ON (locked in the frame). the key can not be removed when the bike is on, this is a security feature. It can be a bit of a challenge the first time you try to turn the key as its placed under the bike but with some practice it will become second nature. its important to have it this way in order to reduce any foreign particles entering the area.

Without the key the bike will not turn on.

Insert the key and turn in order to enable system power and then the bike computer and all other power functions will work.

Batch 4 and Stock Units

Batch 4 is progressing very well and we anticipate that it will be done as originally anticipated at the end of august for shipping worldwide. Fortunately at the same time our Stock units seen here: https://starkdrive.bike/stock will also be done so its not too late to pick up Stark Drive and have it delivered in record time. Minor modifications can be made to these units if you contact us after purchasing. We hope to have these stock units located in warehouses in Europe and the USA to further reduce deliver time to just a few days after purchasing.

Sincerely

Oscar
CEO, Stark Drive LLC

Hello Everyone,

EU BATCH 3

we are pleased to announce that the EU Batch 3 bikes have cleared customs and are now just a few days away from their new homes all across europe.

If you are part of this batch then you can track the bike using your tracking number on your account.

BRAKE PADS

We now have replacement brake pads on our accessories section on the website, the first of these will begin shipping early september.

USA BATCH 3

We have been informed these have cleared customs but UPS has not recieved them in their warehouse yet. this will take a few more days and then you will be able to track the bikes using your tracking numbers.

Thank you

Oscar
CEO, Stark Drive LLC

just a quick note to anyone looking at Stark Drive in the USA and the ongoing trade tariff escalation between the USA and China.

Its good news for the time being with the latest tariffs not covering fully assembled electric bikes from our understanding of the recently imposed proposed list of tariffs from the POTUS:

Here is a list for you to investigate yourself :

https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/301/2018-0026...

We at Stark Drive sincerely hope that tariffs never apply to green transportation technology such as electric bikes as this will have an extremely negative impact on the development of this transportation field.

Thank you

Oscar
CEO, Stark Drive LLC