Photo: Damon
It's very hard for a newcomer to make a name for itself in the American motorcycle market. That's because the place is already occupied by a bike-making company deeply embedded into the public consciousness and a wealth of highly-regarded foreign ones.
But the world is changing thanks to electrification, and the sluggishness with which the established names react to these changes allowed a number of new names to rise.
One of the most promising of these newcomers, and a company to follow in the coming years, is Damon Motors. Coming from up north, in Vancouver, Canada, the company was born in 2017 and at the time of writing it already has two bikes in its portfolio, namely the Hypersport and the Hyperfighter.
Neither of the two rides is to be taken lightly. The Hypersport, for instance, was one of the world's best electric motorcycles by combined range last year. At the top of its game, meaning in Premier trim, the listed range was 200 miles (322 km), which for a two-wheeler powered by electricity is quite a lot.
The range was owed to a 20 kWh battery pack that needed just 45 minutes to get to 80 percent charge.
I'm using past tense here because soon Damon will make its bikes using new electricity storing hardware. Although the capacity will remain the same, at 20 kWh, the batteries will from now on be supplied by Molicel. That's a name you may know from the McMurtry Speirling Pure, but also several of the vertical take-off and landing aircraft that have come to light recently.
It's unclear exactly how the range of the bike will improve as a result of the change, but Damon says it will, together with power levels and charging times, all of which will be better than what competitors have to offer.
To prove the point, the bike maker went out to Thunderhill Raceway in California with a HyperSport running the new hardware. To make sure the test had the proper results, the electric bike was pitted against a 1,000cc motorcycle powered by an internal combustion engine.
For some reason Damon decided not to share the name of the bike used to benchmark the capabilities of the HyperSport. We do know, however, that the EV had no rider aids enabled during the run, while the ICE made use of the entire arsenal, including lean angle traction control, wheelie control, and cornering ABS.
The electric motor of the HyperSport, a 6-phase unit that's capable of delivering 201 horsepower and 230 Nm of torque more than held its ground during the test run. We're told the acceleration levels were comparable between the two motorcycles, and so were the top speeds: 168 mph (270 kph) for the EV and 169 mph (272 kph) for the ICE, placing the two motorcycle on equal footing in this respect (but again, there were setup differences between the two).
Not long ago, we included Damon in the list of North American bike makers worth watching this year, and this recent announcement did nothing but convince us we are right. There is only one problem with the HyperSport: it's very, very expensive.
Sure, one may say $40,000 is not all that much for a bike of these capabilities, but seeing how that’s about the price for an entry-level muscle car, I beg to differ.
One of the most promising of these newcomers, and a company to follow in the coming years, is Damon Motors. Coming from up north, in Vancouver, Canada, the company was born in 2017 and at the time of writing it already has two bikes in its portfolio, namely the Hypersport and the Hyperfighter.
Neither of the two rides is to be taken lightly. The Hypersport, for instance, was one of the world's best electric motorcycles by combined range last year. At the top of its game, meaning in Premier trim, the listed range was 200 miles (322 km), which for a two-wheeler powered by electricity is quite a lot.
The range was owed to a 20 kWh battery pack that needed just 45 minutes to get to 80 percent charge.
I'm using past tense here because soon Damon will make its bikes using new electricity storing hardware. Although the capacity will remain the same, at 20 kWh, the batteries will from now on be supplied by Molicel. That's a name you may know from the McMurtry Speirling Pure, but also several of the vertical take-off and landing aircraft that have come to light recently.
It's unclear exactly how the range of the bike will improve as a result of the change, but Damon says it will, together with power levels and charging times, all of which will be better than what competitors have to offer.
To prove the point, the bike maker went out to Thunderhill Raceway in California with a HyperSport running the new hardware. To make sure the test had the proper results, the electric bike was pitted against a 1,000cc motorcycle powered by an internal combustion engine.
For some reason Damon decided not to share the name of the bike used to benchmark the capabilities of the HyperSport. We do know, however, that the EV had no rider aids enabled during the run, while the ICE made use of the entire arsenal, including lean angle traction control, wheelie control, and cornering ABS.
The electric motor of the HyperSport, a 6-phase unit that's capable of delivering 201 horsepower and 230 Nm of torque more than held its ground during the test run. We're told the acceleration levels were comparable between the two motorcycles, and so were the top speeds: 168 mph (270 kph) for the EV and 169 mph (272 kph) for the ICE, placing the two motorcycle on equal footing in this respect (but again, there were setup differences between the two).
Not long ago, we included Damon in the list of North American bike makers worth watching this year, and this recent announcement did nothing but convince us we are right. There is only one problem with the HyperSport: it's very, very expensive.
Sure, one may say $40,000 is not all that much for a bike of these capabilities, but seeing how that’s about the price for an entry-level muscle car, I beg to differ.
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