Hello Backers,

We are both excited and frustrated over here. Excited because there is definitely progress being made with the deliveries, frustrated because it seems that in some cases customs clearance is taking an inordinate amount of time. I suppose from one perspective this is not unexpected considering its right around christmas and Black Friday (which at least in sweden turned in to Black Week) spending has surpassed all time highs meaning that even more must be imported into the respective countries further delaying any items already arriving.

EU Bikes

These bikes arrived on the 18th to the EU to the distribution location, however after sitting there for over 10 days, late last week the logistics partner decided to move them to Hamburg to do the actual customs import, the first customs clearance was to clear at a higher level whereas the final clearance from within the EU actually determines values and collects all duties and taxes (which we have already paid). We have pasted a bit of the conversation with our logistics contact below where we are clearly very frustrated at the delays because they only here from one of us whereas we are hearing from hundreds of people every day.

We dont have a finalized date for when these bikes will clear EU customs but please know that everyone has paid the EU DUTYS and TAXES and this information is already in the hands of our logistics partner so once they clear customs they are shipped directly with no delay.

USA / Canada

The bikes can be tracked at the following link:

http://homeport.apl.com/gentrack/trackingMain.do?trackInput01=TRLU5577796

We expect this import to go much more smoothly. ALL UPS tracking numbers have already been added to the backers accounts so as soon as its clears customs it goes directly out by UPS to the final backers.

South Pacific / South America

Your bikes have been shipped many of you have already contacted us after receiving your BL for the delivery and most of you have already been emailed from the local logistics departments in preparation to receive your bikes. The same in south america. If you have any questions about this fire us off an email.

Sweden and Northern Europe Bikes (Iceland etc)

Seems the only thing going according to schedule for us is the Swedish delivery. We received the call last Wednesday about the arrival of these bikes to the port and the delivery is currently set for the 15th of December. Once we get them, we will reship those that require reshipping to the final backers after we confirm that the duties and taxes we prepaid are compensated. Along with this shipment comes the prototype Stark Drive Mini which is the next phase of our Master Plan You can read about by clicking on the link.

We know the updates have been somewhat sparse recently but thats not because nothing is happening, quite the opposite, we are trying to coordinate the delivery of hundreds of bikes, checking addresses, phone numbers, status of taxes paid and in rare occasions fixing addresses where people have moved etc. Please know that we are finally after months of delays in the home stretch for batch 1.

Sincerely
Stark Drive Team

Hello Backers!

Super excited to announce that the bikes for Argentina (we just have a few backers there right now but I think its going to explode after they start talking about the most affordable electric bike in the world) and they left on their boat journey to the port in buenos aires. We are hoping its a quick and uneventful journey as the bikes will still have to travel to their final destinations once they arrive. Below you see a video of these loaded onto the carriers container.

We are also excited to see that the Nordics is once again taking a leading role in environmental change in that the gift that has been designated the gift to give in 2017 for christmas turns out to be Electric Bikes. Now there are a lot of choices out there from the affordable to the very not so affordable on the market but our hope is that even if the spending budget is not so huge people will be able to afford to give the gift of Stark Drive.

25% GOVENMENT REBATE

Swedes are somewhat luckier as the government has decided that if you purchase a two wheeled electric powered device such as an electric bike or a moped then you qualify for an additional 25% Rebate paid effectively by your taxes. How exciting is that. This makes the base purchase price of Stark drive under 300 USD, IT'S UNBELIEVABLE!

We think this is great! It will allow people to upgrade Stark Drive with the extra funds or even back one for a friend so you can enjoy the picturesque cityscapes together.

As of now, all batch 1 bikes have been shipped, now we are onto batch 2 and beyond!

Stark Drive Mini

Our plan is still to launch Stark Drive mini on kickstarter early next year, they will be arriving to stockholm in December and then we need to work some movie magic to get a good promotional video, the positive is that by the time we launch Stark Drive Mini on kickstarter, Stark Drive will have been tried and tested by hundreds of backers to (hopefully) fantastic reviews. We want to once again thank the people that believed in us and helped us to relaunch when Indiegogo/Mate decided they wanted to keep electric bike prices high and not allow competition in the ebike market.

Sincerely

Stark Drive Team
Stark Drive LLC

Hello Backers,

Firstly, we would like to apologize, its been a bit too long since our last blog update but that does not mean that things have not been moving along. As was talked about in a previous post the bikes for the USA, Canada, and South Pacific have finally been loaded and sent to the shipping terminal to be shipped out to all the backers in these respective areas. When we talk about dates, these are the dates we have received from our counterparts in China, and sometimes they tend to be inaccurate by a few days due to numerous issues that pop up along the way. We had originally stated that the USA and Canada bikes would be loaded for the 15th, the reason they were not was because the carrier (whom has been paid in full) at the last minute decided that he wanted to add on an extra 25% to the price for what they called Duty fees. It took a day to sort this out as there are no Duty fees for electric bikes when they enter the USA. This was frustrating for us as it would mean an additional cost to our backers which is totally unacceptable.

We finally managed to fix this issue by politely reminding them that we are fully ready to move to another shipping carrier and they could refund the nearly 30.000 USD that they were paid for the shipment. After this and showing them quotes from other carriers, they finally agreed to ship the bikes as originally agreed. This is unfortunately how things work in China and we are learning as we go. Fortunately for us, there are literally dozens of other carriers that were more then happy to take this shipment for us and this is what was ultimately our key negotiating point.

Below you will see photos with descriptions of what you are looking at, the shipment to the USA and Canada are not on the same boat as are the shipments to the South Pacific. The South Pacific (cook islands, fiji, new zealand, australia etc) were sent the following day (Today actually) on a boat that is destined for these locations. From what we have been told by our carrier, the shipments to the pacific islands will first arrive in New Zealand, which has regular ferry service to these islands and go from there. Very important: All of you backers on the islands have been contacted already but just to make sure, you need to be there at the terminal to pick up your bikes as our shipping agreement only covers delivery to the port.

Some might ask why we have not air shipped to these islands instead of boat shipping, quite simply try as we might, no airline carrier would take these bikes with the batteries in the box due to what they term hazardous goods due to the high energy storage capacity of the batteries. We have certification of the packs that they are safe and that they are built with the highest quality Japanese battery cells however this didnt seem to matter to the carriers.

Furthermore, we dont have very many backers in the South Pacific ( as of yet anyways) and the costs for sending these via air were astronomical.

EU SHIPMENT

We were originally told that the EU bikes would arrive to the distribution center on the 15th of November and you can see below in the tracking window that was sent to us by our carrier that they are nearly there, they will in fact be there on monday. It seems that the customs clearance took longer then was estimated by our carrier. This is normal and its not something that we can control. As promised however, once they get to the Netherlands to the distribution center, we will finally receive tracking numbers for each box and from there they will go to the end backer.

If you have not paid your customs and duty fees for your bike, they will be held at the distribution center until you do and if it is not paid within an allotted time, they will be sent to EU and then additional shipping fees will be charged to get the bike to you.

We have a record of everyone that has paid, there is no need to confirm and we will contact any backers that have not paid, no contact means no problem.

USA and Canada Shipments

We dont have much information on these right now as the waybills are being completed for each bike by the carrier, once we do we will post another update however the good news is they are now in the process of being sent to California for import. We have paid for everything including import costs and transfer to local carrier and ultimately door delivery for these bikes. Once they land in California and are transferred to the local carrier, we will have tracking numbers for each individual bike which we will update on your account. It will take approximately 3 weeks from what we are told for the bikes to get to California.

There are no customs or duty fees for USA backers however Canada backers will have these costs added onto their shipments and this will be charged by the local carrier (Local carrier is UPS from w we are told right now).

100% Committed To Affordable Electric Bikes

We at Stark Drive certainly hope that everyone knows by now that we are not after fat profits and overcharging people whom are interested in electric bike technology, in fact quite the opposite, our margins are razor thin on these bikes as we have eliminated every single middle man in between the factory and the end user, this in itself comes with complications as delivery times can draw out as we dont maintain any 'stock' or 'warehouse' so to say. Every single bike that is backed on our website is custom built for the backer and this takes time. When someone backs a bike, the configuration goes and aluminum is literally smelted and formed for each individual bike. Besides the vehicle industry, i do not know of any other company that has attempted to control every single point of manufacturing from raw materials to end customer.

For the first backers of stark drive, patience is the key. Please understand, we are not after profits, we are not a scam, we are simple a small group that is trying to shake up the industry in order to get what we think is awesome tech to the end backers and ultimately our goal is to reduce GLOBALLY the prices of electric bike technology so that the industry is FORCED to follow our lead.

AN ALTRUISTIC GOAL IF I HAVE EVER HEARD ONE

Once again, we want to express our thanks and gratitude for all of you who trusted us with your funds in order to make our dream possible.

Boxes ready to be shipped

Boxes Loading onto Container for USA and Canada

Boxes Loaded (Took a while, its Dark out!)

Sample Tag which identifies each bike.

South Pacific Bikes Sent the following day.

Tracking Info for EU Bikes.

How they are Packaged.

Sincerely

Stark Drive Team
Stark Drive LLC

Hello Backers,

Our factory has been working in overdrive in order to catch up to our original schedule. They managed to get the fat tire bikes for Sweden in record time and these are now on their way via boat to us with an anticipated landing date in the harbor December 13th. The batch 1 EU bikes are well on their way to our distribution center with an anticipated arrival date of November 15th. After landing in the EU, the bikes will be inspected by customs and then assigned individual tracking numbers by our delivery partners which will then be uploaded to your accounts.

USA/Canada Deliveries

we are excited to announce we have finalized our shipping method for the USA and Canada. They will be leaving our factory by boat bound for California where they will be imported and then sent via UPS to each backer. Canadians note that you will be charged Duty on the bike as per Canadian Taxation law which you can confirm with Tax Canada. There is no Duty on electric bikes in the USA which is a good thing. Right now the factory is just finishing up the Fat Tire bikes for this shipment and the factory expects these to be compete November 15th and will leave shortly after that. Once the land in the USA, we will have tracking numbers available and these will be added to your account and to paypal.

South Pacific / South America Deliveries

we have hired a new logistics partner and they have already proved their worth by finding shipping solutions to parts of the world we were originally having issues with. We now have no problem delivering to South America (note that some destinations are significantly more expensive to ship to which we are absorbing for now but future backers will have increased pricing for delivery). In all cases, the backer will have to act as the importer for their bike. More instructions on this will be sent to relevant backers.

We now have solutions for New Zealand, Cook Islands, Fiji and more meaning that shortly your bikes will be sent out of our factory bound for your location. The same November 15th Date applies here for anticipated departure time. You too will act as the importer for the bikes meaning a visit to your local port.

Mate.bike Lawsuit for Tortious Interference in California

Our lawyer has last week officially sent the request for arbitration naming Indiegogo/Mate.bike as the defendants. Mate.bike chose not to settle with us when we sent them a demand letter for our losses due to their interference in our original campaign. This arbitration will be based on California law and can be held anywhere or even via teleconference. We will be claiming significant punitive damages for the pain and suffering caused to our team as well as the loss of good will from the part of our original backers as well as anyone else whom stumbled upon our campaign page on Indiegogo which surprising is still 'under review' 9 months later.

Sincerely

Stark Drive Team
Stark Drive LLC

Hello Backers,

We are super excited that finally the Normal Tire, and Fat Tire bikes destined for Sweden, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland. (Yes we are not sure why Switzerland was included in this shipment and not the EU shipment either but that is the way it is).

Included in this shipment are also our working prototypes for the Stark Drive Mini which we are launching next year at an unbelievable price of 299 USD.

For those of you in the USA/Canada, we have finalized the shipping method and the fat tire orders for these are still being finished at this point, they should be done and shipping by November 10th.

Australia we have a shipping solution, however not for New Zealand, Cook Islands, Fiji as of yet.

Batch 2 is Starting As of now and we are closing Batch 2 orders, Next is Batch 3.

Please see the photos of the First Fat Tire bikes, Loading of all Bikes on the Sweden bound shipping container, and more!

The original article in Swedish Can be found here:

https://www.aftonbladet.se/minekonomi/a/mG7dg/branschen-formligen-exploderar

Not at all an unexpected result and our opinion at Stark Drive is that its fantastic that a green form of commuting is receiving government backing.

Hello Backers,

We are super excited to announce that we have now hit 1000% of our original funding goal as of a few hours ago! What a ride its been and it nothing makes us happier then to see years of work come together to form a completed product that has and will be making thousands (and hopefully millions) of people around the world happy.

Our company motto was as simple as it was altruistic: Manufacture the most affordable and well equipped electric bike in the world.

Saying this proved to be much easier then actually accomplishing this goal with competitors out there not wanting a product such as ours on the market and trying their best to keep Stark Drive off the market.

Mate.bike Libel Lawsuit in Denmark

We can now confirm that our court date with Mate.bike for them slandering us publicly is set for March 21st 2018. I will personally be heading to Denmark to testify. We have also amended our original lawsuit to include them being FORCED to take down the inaccurate information from their website that they are the most affordable electric bike in the world. In that respect its not even only us that is much more affordable then Mate. There exists other brands such as Sondors, Wave, etc that are all more affordable.

Are there any danes out there(?) that would like to act as my translator as my testimony apparently must be in danish and unfortunately all I can do is Swedish.

Mate.bike DMCA Lawsuit in California

The lawsuit against Mate for Fraudulently filing a DMCA with indiegogo and having our original campaign taken down is also proceeding with a demand letter for compensation sent to Mate last week. They have till the 23rd of October to respond and if they do not accept our generous settlement offer we will be proceeding with forced arbitration as per California Law, which is actually quite good as CA has some very strong Business Competition legislation on their books.

Batch 2 About to Close

for those of you on the fence about Stark Drive, you should make up your minds quickly as we are about to close batch 2 meaning that it would be a significantly longer wait if you decide to back Stark Drive after we close this batch. It would be no earlier then Spring 2018 delivery.

Stark Drive Mini (14'' Tires)

We are going to receive some finished prototypes of Stark Drive Mini with the batch thats headed by boat to Sweden, if all is up to par as we expect it will be we will be producing our promotional launch video and launching early 2018. Anyone out there in Sweden that wants to be part of the video and does not mind heading over to us? Contact us at hello@starkdrive.com and you can be a star.

Note in the photo below the upgraded pedals which use a much higher percentage of total pedal weight in metal instead of plastic. Note how well the wiring is routed as well as the protective sleeves they are placed in to protect them from ware and keep them looking neat. These are some of the fine touches we like to add to Stark Drive to not only make it utilitarian and dependable but also beautiful.

As promised here are the videos of Stark Drive Mini in Action. It may be Mini but it totally Maximizes your ability to get around.

Hello,

If you are one of the lucky backers in the first batch heading to the EU listen up. This will affect your delivery.

For those of you that are going to receive your reward in the coming weeks you will be contacted soon to cover the customs and import costs for your Stark Drive as per our FAQ here:

https://starkdrive.bike/frequently-asked-questions...

You need to cover these as fast as possible otherwise your reward will be held at the distribution location and if held long enough, returned or distributed to another backer.

We tried to get around having to do this (as our competitors have, but hey at least your bikes are at the distributor in the EU when we ask for these funds, unlike some competition) and instead having the delivery carrier charge these funds directly to the receiver but apparently that is not going to work for our logistics partners EU based partner.

If you are contacted you should consider this a GOOD thing, it means your bike is about to arrive, you just need to submit the customs fees (which we are going to pay for you in advance) so that your bike is clear to leave the distribution location and come out to your home.

That being said there is some really good news!

Due to our tight relationship with our logistics partner and the fact that they know about the delay we have experienced they have given us a break on the import costs. You see as we have a warehouse in the EU, they are well within their right to charge import taxes which would be around 31%

we are super excited to report that we have gotten away with about 10% off this amount with some extremely complicated mathematics.

thats right folks you heard it here first, we are getting away with a very modest amount of taxes for your new Stark Drive.

We will be sending out the bills to all the receivers and a paypal account or bank account to send the funds to. You need to pay this immediately in order to not hold up your delivery. we have tied our computer systems to the ones at the distribution center so once we confirm payment they will know about it.

This discount is currently only for the first batch im afraid, mainly due to the delays.

Thank you

Stark Drive Team
Stark Drive LLC

Hello Backers,

we are super excited to announce that the Prototype Stark Drive Mini has now been complete and can be seen in testing below. Our aim for Stark Drive mini was four fold.

1. We wanted to make an electric bike that went toe to toe with any other small electric bike our lovely mates out in the industry might have
2. We wanted to make the most fully featured electric bike with price being super important
3. We wanted a starting price at under $300 US
4. We wanted it to be super light and portable so that you can easily take it on public transit.

Stark Drive Mini will be as configurable as Stark Drive is with available upgrades to the motor, battery and a host of accessories that will be available when we launch it on kickstarter early next year (2018).

The starting price will be $299 USD + S&H

The goal is to make electric bikes more available then ever before. We dont know of any purpose built (note: not frakensteined together) electric bike in this price bracket. Especially one that is as handsome as Stark Drive MIni.

It will be available in White, Matte Black, and more exclusively Blue and Red.

Since we are using the same manufacturing partner and there are no longer any chances for lovely competitors to file fraudulent DMCA claims against us, we will hold our schedule for production this time.

See some photos and videos below. (videos coming later)

As always, we are super appreciative of all of our hundreds (soon to be thousands) of backers out there and you should all give yourselves a pat on the back for altruistic attitude on life and helping to bring affordable electric transportation to the masses.

USA / CANADA / SOUTH PACIFIC DELIVERIES

We are waiting on word from our logistics partners for the delivery schedule for these deliveries. If anyone out there knows of an easy way to get our bikes to New Zealand and the Pacific Islands (such as the Cook Islands) we would love to hear from you. Our logistics partner in China has never shipped there before so its hard for them.

We already have a quote for USA and Canada but our logistics partner is waiting on a second which they say could arrive faster and at a better price. We will update our blog as soon as we have news in this respect. Australia is not a problem for us currently.

Batch 2 Deliveries (orders after June 6)

We are getting a lot of questions about when these are going out. As the first batch was a bit delayed (ie going out now) we anticipate that batch 2 will go out end of november. We will convey the latest information to you from the factory as we know it.

A heartfelt ❤ thanks

Oscar
CEO, Stark Drive LLC