A Brooklyn-based electric motorcycle startup has just announced itself, with a focus on mixing old-school craftsmanship with a simple electric powertrain and an interesting AI-enhanced spin on rider assistance.
The brainchild of designer Taras Kravtchouk, Tarform threw a party in Brooklyn to celebrate the launch of its first two models – a flat-bar scrambler and a tightly designed café racer. Both bikes are electric, but the company has given out no details on power, range, torque or battery specs, so we've got little to go on at this stage.
What we do know is that they look terrific, echoing many other modern retro designs we've seen recently, with twin shock rear suspension, single seat units and a conspicuous lack of fenders or mirrors that'll likely not survive the journey to production. The creators describe the design approach as "nothing but the essentials."
Signature design elements include CNC-machined handlebars, what looks like large cooling fans either side of the motor, round LED headlights and tidy LED tails. Indicators are built into the bar ends in a nice touch that's also going to be difficult to wrangle into meeting the highway code.
There's also a nicely bezeled circular high-resolution dash, which allows Tarform to display rider assist information in a novel way. Cameras around the bike feed in through an AI-enhanced system that watches what's happening in traffic and warns the rider of risks, functioning like a basic radar screen to replace the mirrors.
While that's the extent of the detail that's available to this point, Tarform has opened up pre-orders and announced pricing: US$28,000 for a "Founders Edition" unit to be delivered in 2019, and $18,000 for a "production vehicle" – production of which will begin in late 2019 if all goes according to plan.
Check out a short video from the company below.
Source: Tarform
I have to agree on the muddy bum fender design. <shakes head> The turn signals will likely be modified (made visible) before it's allowed on the road, too.
There are a couple of Zeros which ride up and down my street. When I'm sitting out in the bushes with the bees buzzing around me, pulling weeds, I can hear the silent motorcycle coming at 50mph from at least 1,500 feet off. Under 25mph, they can still be heard from over 200' off. At speed, their drive train whines. At all speeds, you can hear their tires. No self-effacing deer is going to miss one coming down the road, Rustin. ;)
I love the idea of the safety tech, wondering if it will make mainstream soon. Every little bit helps out there.
"We had to redesign every part." (in order to justify our pricing model)