Stark Drive Torque Max - $1999

Vs

The EVELO Aries Mid-Drive is priced at $3,499.

An excellent review on The Evelo Aires Here: https://electricbikereport.com/evelo-aries-mid-drive-electric-bike-review-part-1-pictures-specs/

Stark Drive Torque will be launching on Indiegogo August 20, 2019 at 12:00 PM EST.

Sincerely

Stark Drive Team
Stark Drive LLC

Title says it all, the first backers will get the early bird Stark Drive Torque.

Stark Drive Torque can be configured in dozens of ways including fingerprint recognition or even up to 1000W engine. The first Mid Motor Torque Based Folding electric bike

Stark Drive Torque:

Stark Drive Torque Max:

We are really excited to be launching what has proven to be one of the biggest challenges our company has undertaken to date.

Sincerely

Stark Drive Team
Stark Drive LLC

Hello,

we are pleased to announce a review by the respected online publication in all things electric: InsideEVs.com.

https://insideevs.com/reviews/362810/stark-drive-electric-fat-tire-bicycle-review/

It worth noting that all we had available to send to them was the Block 1 or Version 1 of Stark Drive Torque, there have been countless improvements to the Block/Version 2 Model which we talk about in earlier blog posts with photos. When designing a bike from the ground up including the frame, there are always challengs that must be overcome and we have worked to improve every aspect of the bike and will continue to do so for our upcoming August Launch on Indiegogo.

Sincerely

Stark Drive Team
Stark Drive LLC

I wanted to bring you a short video update on the process behind how we manufacture Stark Drive Torque filmed on location in beautiful Hong Kong. As you can probably tell during the video it was incredibly warm and humid there and my frame was built for colder weather so please excuse my attempts to wipe the sweat off my forehead during the video.

Stark Drive has been featured with Japanese based Bouncy.News below.

https://bouncy.news/46785

We are pleased to have been covered and look forward to delivering the most affordable mid motor torque based folding electric bikes in the world launching August 2019!

Register today to get the launch email for torque drive electric bike at www.starkdrive.world.

With just weeks till our launch of Stark Drive Torque on Indiegogo, we are super pleased to have been reviewed by the respected publication Computerbild.de here:

https://www.computerbild.de/artikel/cb-Tests-Freizeit-Stark-Torque-Check-Klapprad-23654963.html

For all you german speakers there has been a video review done here below:

And for those that do not speak german, the article seems to translate very well when using any online translation enabled browser such as Google Chrome.

Just a note that this review was done of our block 1 prototype and we have already improved and enhanced Stark Drive Torque to block 2 which has a number of feature improvements and upgrades as can be seen on our blog post below:

https://starkdrive.bike/blog/stark-drive-torque-manufacturing-and-development-part-1/

https://starkdrive.bike/blog/stark-drive-torque-manufacturing-and-development-part-2-battery-factory/

https://starkdrive.bike/blog/stark-drive-torque-manufacturing-and-development-part-3-fingerprint-recognition/

https://starkdrive.bike/blog/stark-drive-torque-manufacturing-and-development-part-4-coatings/

Stay tuned to our blog for further updates about the manufacturing process of Stark Drive Torque that we will release in the coming days.

We want to extend a thank you to Christian Hensen at computerbild for taking the time to review the EU legal version of Stark Drive Torque - the most affordable mid motor torque based folding electric bike in the world.

Sincerely

Stark Drive Team
Stark Drive LLC

When we produced the V2 prototype of Stark Drive Torque (SDT) and Stark Drive Torque Max we knew it was something special and wanted it to stand out. Therefore decided to go for hydro graphics instead of simply painting the frame as we have done in the past.

On our visit to our coatings partner, we spent some time discussing what we were after as well as how we wanted torque to be perceived as the number of types of hydro graphics designs are literally infinite, at his factory, on hand he had over 2500 styles with a warehouse and access to an additional 100.000 styles

The process to apply a hydrographic is not especially difficult but that does not mean that it does not take exceptional skill, especially when the shape is as complicated as the frame for SDT. On our first attempt in fact, the shape and size was somewhat underestimated and resulted in an incomplete coating. As you will see below in our video we had to then clean, dry and repaint the bike base coat so that it could be coated again with the design. The second attempt was much more successful as you can see from the final photos.

When we go into mass production, those whom opt for a hydro graphic coating instead of painting, the process will not be done by hand, instead it would be done by machine to ensure a consistent result and accurate repeat-ability.

I describe the process in the videos below however basically these work as follows:

1. frame is prepared with a base coat of paint of any color, this base coat would then show through any transparent sections of the hydro graphic.
2. hydro graphic design is prepared and released from its backing
3. Component is slowly dipped into the hydro graphic bath so that the design wraps around the component
4. component is removed carefully from the bath such that no overlap of patten transfers
5. component is washed and sprayed with a final coat to seal in the design

The process is arguably faster than regular painting and gives you the ability to add some very wild and unique designs to your bike. we will be offering a limited number of these during our launch of Stark Drive Torque on Indiegogo when we launch in August 2019.

The final result you can see below, it looks quite striking:

SIncerely

Stark Drive Team
Stark Drive LLC

Fingerprint Recognition on an Ultra Affordable eBike

One of the coolest features we have worked hard to include for the upcoming Stark Drive Torque (SDT) platform is fingerprint recognition technology. This is a feature that is normally found in ebikes that are several times the cost of our planned pricing for SDT. Fingerprint recognition would allow you to forgo having to carry around a key for the bike in order to use the electrical assist features and also enable you to share the bike with friends and family whom have registered their respective biometrics with the bike.

The power system on SDT instead of being controlled solely with the key can now be controlled simply by using your fingerprint to turn the bikes power system on and off at your leisure. As always all of this tech is hidden from sight inside the bike frame, something we were able to accomplish due to our use of the new Bafang line of Torque Mid Drive motors which house both the motor and controller right inside the drive system located centrally weighted on the bike. This left us with a lot of room in the frame to add features such as biometrics to control the bike.

We are not the first to include such tech on our bikes. A notable ebike already on the market by Van Moof already includes this tech but for a base price that is triple the cost of SDT. As always our company's mantra was and still is to make accessible the best technology that the electric bike revolution has to offer at a cost that makes it accessible to anyone that wants to own it.

Stay tuned for our next blog posting talking about even more unique features that will be available on the upcoming SDT!

Sincerely

Stark Drive Team
Stark Drive LLC

The whirlwind visit to our various factories in china also included a visit to our exclusive battery manufacturing partners whom we have been working with since the launch of the original Stark Drive back in 2017. This factory has been manufacturing ebike batteries for over a decade and has a great deal of experience when it comes the technology behind a perfectly designed and long lasting battery pack.

A battery pack is not simply just a bunch of cells connected in series and parallel and in fact has a lot of circuitry and software that continually senses the state of the battery pack making sure that the cells do not discharge past their safe limit and that the cell charging cuts off to prevent any over voltage situation for the cells, which can prematurely shorten the life of the pack.

Volts

The battery cells for Stark Drive Torque (SDT) will be imported from Japan and will use the best high capacity cells available which currently include cells from Panasonic, Samsung or LG. We use 18650 cells of varying capacity in order to achieve the rated Ah rating that on the pack. We will be offering three battery capacities for Stark Drive Torque that include 9Ah, 13Ah and 18Ah which will operate at the matching voltage to the bike. It's interesting to know that as you increase the bike systems voltage from 36V to 48V and so on, that you need to add a the equivalent corresponding number of cells in series to achieve the desired voltage. For example, if you needed to achieve a total of 36V using our cells, you would need 10 cells in series, conversely, if you wanted to get up to 48V you then need 14 cells in series.

Remember though that the actual voltage of your battery will be both higher and lower than the nominal voltage during the discharge cycle. To get the full voltage of a battery when fully charged, multiply the fully charged voltage of each cell (4.2 V for li-ion) by the number of cells. So a 10s battery pack is actually 42.0 V when fully charged. The fully drained voltage would be approximately 3.0 V multiplied by the number of cells in series, which would be 30 V for a 10s pack. Our protection circuitry to prevent under voltage cuts the battery off at 27V meaning that the bike stops working as an electric bike when it drops to near this voltage and in fact if you leave your pack sitting over the winter not having charged it the battery would then go into protection mode and the default charger that we ship with Stark Drive will no longer charge the pack and a special charge is needed. In actuality, most li-ion cells can be drained down to 2.5 V, but there is very little energy left between 3.0 V and 2.5 V and it is healthier for the cells to stop discharging at 3.0 V.

Amps

In order to get the desired Ah rating on the pack, you then have to take groups of these series connected cells and connect them in parallel to reach the desired rating. It then becomes the physical space inside the battery housing that determines what the total Ah rating is on the pack as there is physically only so much space available inside the battery housing. If you wanted a 17Ah battery pack at 48V you would need a housing that is roughly 40% larger than the equivalent 36V pack.

Features and Upgrades

Just as we have with the frame, we have redesigned the battery pack for SDT from the ground up adding both a protective fuse to prevent any damage to the cells no matter if they are in use or during charging as well as a unique USB (fast charging) out enabling you to use the battery pack independently of the bike as a high capacity powerbank no matter where your adventures may take you be it a ride through the city or an excursion off road.

Fingerprint recognition

As we are adding fingerprint recognition to the bike, we are reworking the battery pack keying system so that the key can be removed with the bike on (not the same style as the original Stark Drive). This means that the bike can be left on and the bike can be activated by any previously registered fingerprint meaning you can share the bike with the family or friends. There is a USB port built into the frame to access the fast charging capability on the battery pack as well as one located in the bike computer, one can never have enough USB ports when on the road. The battery locks into the frame just like it did with the original Stark Drive so its protected from theft.

Battery Factory Walkthrough

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit the production floor at our battery manufacturing partner in China. In this video i go through the various stations and talk about the process that is occuring at each step. The packs being made here are not for Stark Drive but the processes would be the same.

Hope you found this summary informative and something that peaks your interest for our upcoming launch of Stark Drive Torque.

Stay tuned for my next blog post where i talk about both the painting process with a visit to our painting factory as well as a preview of the working fingerprint recognition on SDT.

Sincerely,

Stark Drive Team
Stark Drive LLC

This is the first of a series of posts where I will give some insight into the design and manufacturing process for the upcoming Stark Drive Torque(SDT) - Thin & Fat Tire that will be launching on Indiegogo August 2019 (www.starkdrive.world - to sign up to get the best pricing when we launch).

Challenges and opportunities....

The road to development for SDT has had its share of challenges as we have gone all out this time to design our own custom frame design as well as our ultimate and most important goal being keeping the price as low as possible for the base model of SDT. We were also not satisfied in simply building a torque bike but wanted to add features that are not available on even similar looking bikes in the industry and we wanted to offer premium features that can be configured a-la-carté while still keeping the pricing at a fraction of others with the similar features in our industry.

Iteration is your best friend...

The first prototype of SDT which is currently on its way to the US for reviews by independent reviewers was an excellent first try at making this ultra affordable mid motor drive. The biggest feature on this prototype was the Bafang Ultra Max mid motor drive which we felt that due to the size of the fat tire bike was a must have and we could not compromise on power as it was related directly to the final user experience. Of course this motor is not cheap and it took a lot of negotiation with our supplier to keep true to our company's mantra of the most affordable electric bikes in the world. An interesting note is that just the motor alone on SDT Max costs more then the entire original Stark Drive which we launched in 2017. Of course performance follows price and this motor is a beast in term of performance, torque, and speed.

160Nm Torque

The torque on SDT Max is double that of our hub motor brethren, with for example, a hub motor 750w offering a poultry 80-85Nm torque. Not only that, the motor is must more responsive measuring the amount of pressure you apply to the pedals instead of sensing when the wheel is turning which makes it near impossible to go uphill compared to our torque where no hill is a challenge. Another benefit of the torque based motor is that you no longer need a throttle which is simply not allowed on an electric bike in many parts of the world as it changes the class of the bike to something similar to a moped with all the legal requirements that follow, complicating the use of the bike.

Frame Factory Visit

On my visit to the frame factory i got a first hand look at our two prototype frames and we discussed fine tuning and enhancements to the V2 prototype frame. Arguably one of the most important components on any bike, we wanted to get the frame perfect so that anything we attached to it would function at its best. We have designed this frame from the ground up and of course registered it internationally so that unlike the many other electric bike companies in the marketplace that simply take 'open mold' designs and pass them off as their original creations, we have done something different and i would say better then what anyone else is offering in the marketplace.

Frame Assembly Process

Here is a quick description of how a typical frame manufacturer builds the frames on your bike, be it electric or non. Its an intensive process with several steps and most importantly the precision to get every bike perfect requires an extensive amount of tooling which one of the highest costs associated with designing a frame. As each frame is different, an entirely new tooling process must be configured to ensure that every bike meets quality control standards as per the blueprints for the bike. As these prototype bikes are not in 'mass production' as of yet, they have been hand built at considerable amount extra effort and time.

I hope that this sheds some light onto how we designed Stark Drive Torque and check back here for the next installment where i will go into more details on our battery pack and how we have engineered the best battery in the marketplace for stark drive with features not found on comparable electric bikes in our class.

Sincerely

Stark Drive Team
Stark Drive LLC