Stark Drive Torque - Launching Summer 2019

Hello,

well the public has spoken, Mini bikes that are ultra affordable are not the 'in' thing. We see that and are responding by following through with our Master Plan which we laid out back in 2016.

Although I personally still believe that the Mini bike is the ultimate short range city commuter and i should know, as i use mine every day, it seems that people want power, speed and size. We are responding and will be launching two new models in 2019:

Stark Drive Torque 36V⁣⁣

Stark Drive Torque Max 48V (Fat Tire)

Both of these models come with a powerful Bafang Torque based engine which drives these bikes and makes them much more capable and responsive to their hub based motor brethren. These torque based motors sample the pressure that you apply to the pedals hundreds of times per minute in order to deliver power instantly when you need it, not after your rear wheel rotates the required number of times to 'sense' that you are moving.

Torque based electric bikes are the future but the problem (up to now) has been that the future has been out of financial reach for many with just the motors alone costing more than the original Stark Drive that we launched in 2017. We have been working tirelessly with our factory and especially their suppliers in order to find a way to bring the price of TORQUE to a level that everyone can afford.

It pleases me to tell you know that we have in fact achieved this goal!

While others may be touting hub based fat tire bikes with higher voltage, nothing compares to a torque based model in terms of performance, speed, maneuverability and power.

Above you see the video of our upcoming FAT tire version of Stark Drive Torque. Its based on a systemwide 48Vs and comes with an ultra powerful 1000W bafang motor that you might confuse with a motorcycle, or so we have been told by the lucky few that have had a chance to try it.

We have upgraded everything on Torque from the front shocks to the brakes to the entire wiring system which is now plug and play making upgrades as easy as assembling lego. No more need to dig out the controller and find the correct wire. Torque wiring is all color coded and only fits one way so there is no confusion or mistakes when the DIYer wants to add features to their bike.

We have already tested the new cabling system for a lucky few that have received our prototype Stark Drive at 750W which has been provided to a lucky few in the USA.

Stark Drive will of course come in two flavors as there are still strict ebike regulations throughout most of the world limiting the maximum watt power output on electric bikes and we will offer a 250W Torque based model for these unlucky countries that have these ludicrous limits placed on them.

The good news is that even at 36V 250W Torque is very powerful and when you dial up the assist to the max you can get to where you want to go quickly without any fear of being limited to gentle rolling slopes or flat terrain. For the lucky ones that plan on offroading with Stark Drive Torque or can take advantage of more power in their region our 48V 1000W motors will give you limitless power and speeds up to 83kph (in our internal unscientific testing). The motor is so powerful it needs vents for cooling.

As always Stark Drive ALWAYS comes with a front light and horn by default for safety, this is not an add on feature that some others might charge you extra for.

On top of this we have seen fit to add a few additional features not seen in this first prototype of Stark Drive Torque above.

Fingerprint Recognition

This has been a feature offered by a few in the marketplace at price-points nearing the $10,000 mark but we have found a way to add this feature and still keep Torque affordable. It will allow those that choose to include this in their bikes the ability to unlock the engine and start using the immense power with the touch of a finger. Further, you will be able to code several different fingerprints into the system so that you can share the bike without needing to provide a key to everyone.

NFC

Version 2 of Torque will also include the opportunity to unlock your bike using NFC so anyone with a compatible mobile phone will be able to unlock it by placing it in the cradle. This is a cool feature but it also has enabled another feature in conjunction with it.

Wireless Charging

Torque will allow you to charge your compatible mobile device wirelessly by just inserting it in the cradle so you never need to worry about running out of power. Don't have a mobile phone that supports wireless charging? Don't worry we have not forgot about you, Torque will also have a USB output on the bike computer so that you can still charge your phone when the need arises.

USB Powerstation

We have redesigned our powerpack from the ground up to make it more capable and useful instead of just sitting there in the bike or at your desk when removed from the bike, we have added a high output USB port allowing you to use the battery pack as a powerstation to charge any USB device capable of being charged through USB. We have also added a fuse that acts as protection in the event of an unforeseen spike in current and increased the capacity of the battery pack from 17Ah up to 21.5Ah. As always we use high quality cells made in Japan to ensure maximum life and power delivery to your bike.

Improved Components (Braking, Shocks)

With the power that torque offers and our goal to improve performance, we have upgraded the front shocks on Stark Drive Torque from a spring system from a coil spring which was used on Stark Drive to an air spring system (pressurized air in a chamber). Air springs are infinitely more adjustable as you can change the amount of compressed air in the shocks as well as adjusting the damping using the selector on the shocks from 9 pre sets. The adjustment can go from 120kg to 240 kg and air springs are lighter as well.

Braking

We have also decided to upgrade the braking system on SDT with disk brakes that have a larger surface area for the pads that actually stop the bike. With the speeds that can be achieved on SDT braking is even more important and a reliable and efficient braking system is baked into every bike.

Stark Drive APP

We have always had the intention of integrating Stark Drive with a mobile based app and with our partnership with Bafang we have developed an app that supports both iPhone and Android and is only compatible with the Bafang drive systems. This app will support real-time access to ride data, real time health data such as your heart-rate and amount of calories burned as well as access to the navigation data that is collected by the computer built into the Bafang motor.

Stark Drive Torque Designed Inhouse

There are a lot of players in the electric bike market and many of them simply take a commonly available 'open mould' and add a few components here or there and call it their own bike. We should know, thats exactly what we did with Stark Drive and Stark Drive Mini. The reality is that these bikes are available, at normally a fraction of the price, on sites such as Alibaba. Of course not Stark Drive as we are generally priced lower than whats offered there which has always been our goal.

We wanted to do something different with Torque so we started from the ground up and designed our own Frame to harness the power of the Bafang engine. There is not an 'open mould' and you will not find it anywhere else.

China

I will be travelling to China in the spring to inspect, test, and evaluate Version 2 of Stark Drive Torque which will include all the aforementioned upgrades and will be reporting the progress back to all of our upcoming backers with video and commentary on the entire process.

Delivery

When we launched Stark Drive, our team had everything planned out and we were ready to deliver right from the starting gate but as we had mentioned in our past BLOG UPDATE there were conspirators in our midst which delayed the first deliveries of Stark Drive by approximately 6 months. We still got the original Stark Drive out to our first backers in a reasonable amount of time considering the issues we faced with our former partner and have been improving deliveries ever since. Stark Drive is now a STOCK item letting anyone that wants one get it in just a few days. We dont believe in making people wait to enjoy the fun and convenience of Stark Drive. The process to produce and deliver stark drive is not rocket science from order to completion of production only takes 45 days and from there we ship. We will be following the same procedures for Stark Drive Torque.

Thank you for all of those that supported us to help bring us to this point and we hope that when people want an affordable electric bike, they think Stark Drive.

Sincerely

Stark Drive Team
Stark Drive LLC