Latest / JUSTRIDE Podcast / Could This Be The Future Of Motorbikes? - CEO of Avenrà | JUSTRIDE Ep.8

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Could This Be The Future Of Motorbikes? - CEO of Avenrà | JUSTRIDE Ep.8 · JUSTRIDE Podcast

• Main: we all ready? Yep. All right. back to Just Ride, where we talk all things motorcycling, the present, the past and where it's all heading next. The future. The future. Now today's episode is a big one. We're joined by Paul Cummings, CEO of Averna, of Venra. I didn't know I'd get that wrong. That's the first strike. keep it. In the first attempt. Yeah, thank you. So. Avenra, a UK based electric motorcycle company, launching its first bikes in June 2026, which we're all excited about. We'll talk about that later. But this isn't just another EV conversation. Avenra is trying to rethink what motorcycling looks like from performance and accessibility to safety with tech like the Hello Perception system, aiming to take ride awareness to a completely new level. And whatever you're into and whether you're into electric bikes or not, this is the kind of conversation that matters, because like it or not, the industry is changing. Paul, welcome to Just Play. Thanks for having me, gentlemen. You're very, welcome. Before we get going, we've just come back. We were so late tonight on the podcast, we've all had a go on the new Evo. In fact, some of us have got helmet hair. apart from Scott. I left mine on the bike. Yeah, we literally spent what about an hour? Yeah, I think it was. Riding the Evo, which is that is at the top of the range bike. Yeah, that's the one you were kindly brought up from the head office today, which we didn't know about until this afternoon. And when I told the guys we were going to be riding one of your bikes. they were like, So it was fantastic. So we do appreciate you. What we're going to do, we're going to talk about how experiences of that tonight. We took some video tonight. And it was my first time on it as well. All the time. First time on electric vehicle. Yeah. Motorbike. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah, there's no Tesla's in this conversation. There's no Tesla's in this conversation or hybrids. But before we get going then Paul, mean what, know, starting a motorcycle company in 2026, that's not a small decision. Why now? Well, it kind of all came about initially because I fancy the bike. Right. So I've four or five years back. ⁓ got to that stage in life where was, know, kids are grown up, everything feels a bit settled. I was an early adopter into EV car. So I'd already seen, you know, what the benefits of those can be and how they can perform. So, yeah, it was a case of head out and try and find another bike. ⁓ But there wasn't really anything that Felt straightforward to be getting back onto. As I've had some experience with electric car, it was then just a case of just trying to find something on two wheels that match what I've got used to. And there wasn't anything. So it was kind of a case then that if the product doesn't exist, I can't be the only one that wants one. So let's create it. ⁓ And it is beautiful. Thank you very much. Yeah. So, yeah. Why 2026? Mainly it's it's been a long journey to get to this point. ⁓ Getting the EU GB type approvals, all of that stuff that you'd never think about unless you tried to take on something like this. ⁓ But yeah, it's been a long journey. got the approvals through in September last year. And then was just hit the ground running and, you know, see if we can turn some people that are against EV, especially on two wheels. Understandably so in some situations, people like the noise and the vibrations and everything else. It's not going to be for everybody. But for those that enjoy that instant talk and you know, the simplicity of just jumping on a bike and twisting the throttle and away you go and you can put smile on your face at the same time. It's which we've all experienced tonight. Yes. Yes. And we're still smiling. Yeah, we are all somewhat of another. I think the thing I mean, I've when I found out this afternoon I was going to be able to ride this bike. I was I got a bit giddy in the office and I was like, you know what I'm doing tonight? And and I told everybody and it didn't disappoint. That's the great thing. We did not disappoint. I think it's given us all a flavor and we all want to experience it again. And we know that Paul explained to us before we went out on the bike this evening, it's been dialed down a little bit. we have... because we were going to be riding I think, well, maybe because he was going to ride it early and maybe the producer also over there was going to ride it. But it was, I think it's just really ignited our, well, I really... I want another gore. I really want another gore. Yeah. And to be honest, was the same. ⁓ Having been around cars, sort of my whole life really, ⁓ working for Vauxhall, Peugeot in my previous life. When EV car first came around, ⁓ I didn't think it was something that was going to stick. ⁓ I wouldn't say I was anti-electric, ⁓ but I wasn't particularly excited about it until I drove one. And I share that sentiment because we've got an electric car and never thought we'd own an electric car. And it's now I won't go back to petrol. Yeah. You know, and you got instant talk, the instant speed, you know, a bit like what you get out of the sorry, the petrol engine motorcycle. You know, you've got that acceleration if you need to get somewhere with the V, you've just got instant talk, which keeps going and going and going. Yeah. So I was really wondering how that was going to feel on the bike tonight. I mean, he was most of the power. ⁓ But for me, it was just like, like the electric car and then just just go on and on go on. know, so I found that quite, I can see the point. I can see why you've gone right. If you use electric car, well, why not have a bike that does that same kind of thing? Just instant power. Because when you, if you only use to a car and you've got gears, as soon as you go and do electric car, you just don't have that. You just get in. the vehicle. Yeah, I think the only disappointment this evening is because we were all on comms and Paul wasn't. Yeah. So all we heard was lots of squealing and laughter. And you would have heard all of that. was absolutely none the wiser. Yeah. Until I think you jumped off and gave me a hug. So Paul was on the back of my bike for most of tonight, which I was thinking, hang on a minute, CEO of Venmo was getting on the back of my bike and you did, as soon as you got on you. we know it's we banged helmets yes it's gonna be like we can be banging helmets on but literally I was trying to the smoothest of changes I think it was alright it was yeah it was very sedate actually now he tells me ⁓ but that's inches your back so you're back on the motor trade how did that shape what you're building now think it's, I've always had a, just personally, a real love of anything that's got an internal combustion engine. That's where it all started. I mean, my grandfather worked for Ford for all of his life. I got to know him around a car and around an engine, helping him with his Capri. Yeah, you don't see many of those. I stepped out of the Capri and I remember you used to... It used to be taking ages to clean it. I had a big bread. You know, the black felt thing with the plastic, the vinyl roof. Yeah. What a car. Unbelievable. Yeah. So that's kind of what got me into the motor industry and then working directly for the manufacturer, especially when the V started coming around for car. You we lived and breathed. That's what all the training was around. That was going to be the future. And as I say, probably like a lot of people. EV didn't excite me to start with. I think part of that is because it felt forced. None of us like being told what we have to do. And I think that's the view that a lot of people take still now that this has been forced upon me. It's all about choice, it? When it comes to anything. I don't want to be forced into electric. I'm happy to move if it's right for me. ⁓ But yeah, that kind of set the foundation really. More so probably getting a better understanding for how those systems work. ⁓ One of the reasons I loved internal combustion engine was not just from the noise and the power and everything else, it's just that intricate detail of how this system actually operates, really digging into it and understanding not just that it works, but how does it work? So with the invention of the electric car and all the training that we did, I kind of sat there and wow, this is clever. ⁓ And ⁓ when it came to putting a bike together, everybody's made a petrol engine. No, it's not cool. few people have dipped their toe in electric but haven't really come up with anything that you know excites me. So that's what kind of where this came from I'm the target market ⁓ and yeah hopefully you know as people start getting on these machines they'll get off of a big smile and think actually you know what electric isn't so bad it's it's not being forced on me you know it's just another option. So how did I mean how how did you start you know so you know I mean my mind I'm thinking you know did you buy a push bike and stick a washing machine engine to it or something and a battery just to see how it works I mean what what you know what research you know what was the starting point for you? Pretty much to be honest yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah it was to understand the fundamentals of You know what needs to happen on that machine for it to move you off down the road. Once the theory kind of worked out, what we didn't want to create is just another boring commuter where, you know, it's just an appliance. Yeah. The reason that we ride motorcycles isn't because we have to, you know, we've all got a car. ⁓ The reason we get onto two wheels is Because it's fun. It's the passion. Yeah, passion of wheels. Yeah, you go for a ride You want to you go for a ride? You don't when you're going a car you go from A to B Not everybody I know there's people like they got cars that they'd right right around on a Sunday, but on the motorcycle. It's a D F why do you mean because you're glad it's the passion of it? That's you just go there and back to see how far it is, don't you? Yeah ⁓ And yeah, so really how it came from that initial idea, which we talked about earlier on being the the midlife crisis thing. I'm far too young. I guess. Well, yeah, you won't understand. Another 10, 20 years, you might. He's not. Yeah, it was either a case of get another motorcycle or get a girlfriend. obviously I'm married. yeah, good choice. When I spoke to the wife about it, know, of the two, she said a girlfriend, but I couldn't afford the four. So yeah, it was, it was a motorcycle for me. But how we kind of came around this final product was initially probably more from an ego point of view is I wanted to try and create our own battery packs. our own controllers, our own hub motors. ⁓ Were you trying to source all of that in all of that kit as well? All of the technology that went into it? It's everything ground up. You had to find and develop. That was the initial plan. ⁓ But when we actually sat down and costed it all up, it was going to make probably the bike 30, 40 grand just to cover the R &D. ⁓ The other problem that we quickly came across is with the speed that certainly battery technology is moving along. By the time you've put all that money and resources R &D, you've got a finished product. You've then got to get the approvals in place before you can even think about putting it on the road. By then that tech's out of date and you're starting from scratch again. So we quickly binned that idea off and thought, you know, there's no point inventing the wheel. So let's find top tier battery manufacturers, motor manufacturers, controller manufacturers, and get the best that's already out there, that's already approved. So utilizing the industry then to bring the product together then really? Pretty much, Yeah. So the battery pack that we've got on it is a cow pack, C-A-W-L. They're one of the top tier battery manufacturers. It's an NMC chemistry battery, which is the latest tech as far as lithium goes. Obviously further down the line, we're going to be looking at solid state, ⁓ which is the next gen of batteries. So yeah, it's yeah, was really a case of finding out who the right people are to talk to to get the technology that we need. I think what I, this evening, have a new opportunity and thank you so much for allowing us to have the opportunity to ride it this evening. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't, from a weird point of view, and I know we chatted about this a little bit earlier, it just felt like a bike. It didn't feel any different to another bike. Apart from I thought somebody stole my foot pegs. Yeah, so there is that sort of memory thing isn't it about clutches and all of that and obviously rear brake and there's no gears to go through. is brakes at the front. It's literally twist and go. Twist it and it obviously Don't you mean squirt and go? But it just felt like a bike and that was really pleasing to understand straight away that from a weight perspective, it was very neutral. It was very balanced. It it felt very grounded. It didn't feel like it was going to do anything that I wasn't expecting, which was, it was just a pleasure to ride. It was lovely for me as well. When obviously when we got to see it for the first time, you could have put that in the line of, of petrol engine bikes and it wouldn't have been out of place because he, just didn't, the design and the spec of it. the way it looked was on point, it was perfect. The first thing I noticed this evening when we got to see the bike is obviously the rear hub. Because the rear hub obviously it just brings you into a traction straight in because you're curious as to what is at the back here, which is the motor, which is generating obviously the drive. And it isn't big, it's very slim. It doesn't look out of place. And then obviously the battery and the technology where the battery is is providing the power to that motor. It just looks very sleek. Yeah. And I think that that's the thing. The design of it is really good. It looks sexy. I remember researching on the website first of all, and I thought, this is a flipping decent looking bike. And when I saw it in the flesh, I thought... Will it look the same or, you know, is it slightly different? mean, there's there is. Wow. Yes. In that picture. Yeah, that looks great. That'll be on website tomorrow. We'll sell you these pictures and I think that I think the Osmo we had one of which is still attached to we've the other stuff in the Osmo. Yeah. ⁓ no, we've got another attached by the cameras attached to the bike. I think we had loads of different angles tonight of it. But it I mean. you know, we'll drop this in the podcast, but it just looked like you wouldn't think that was an electric bike. No, no, no. Very, very sexy bike. So I remember, you know, other manufacturers have dabbled in electric bikes and enough. Yeah. I saw. I remember seeing some of the early ones and they just looked, being honest, ugly, ugly as anything. And that does not that does not. Is that the differentiation you want? were going for having worked in the most motorit obviously. Yeah, I mean, the the styling is very deliberate. ⁓ What we didn't want to do again, go back to electric car. A lot of the early electric cars all looked a little bit zany. ⁓ You know, there were electric, so they had to look a bit different. When you talk about motorcycles, you know, we buy them with our heart more than the head. Yeah. It's got to look right. It's the pausing factor. It is, When it comes out, like Andy's new bike and that, it's the posing factor. You want it to look a certain way. So when you buy a bike, that's the design you're looking for. You're looking for something that's sexy, that basically puts a smile on your face. And then when you go for a ride, you go, yeah, I picked the right bike. Yeah. It's watching yourself in shop windows as you're on pass. Yes, exactly. Yeah. I never do that. You stopped the other day in front of that shop window. I went, are doing? It was Tesco's. I was just checking out what was in the shop. That's all ⁓ I mean some of the best feedback that we've probably had on these bikes was only a few weeks back So we've got a matte black version of that bike as well And I was using that for the weekend, you know a test ride. It was a nice weekend. Yeah and I took it out was on my way back and probably only five minutes from home pulled up a set of traffic lights and There was a of young lads, probably 13, 14, with their mum. I was out in the front of the lights, obviously it's not making any noise. And one of the young lads goes, oh, nice bike, I'm like, thank you. And then his brother, or I presume it was, he's like, oh my god, is that electric? Really? Yeah, yeah, it is. What, like a Tesla? was like, yeah. I'll give it some. Yeah, yeah. I tell you what, vroom, vroom. But from all the feedback that I've had personally on it, that's probably some of the best because we weren't trying to sell it to him. You know, we weren't paying somebody to review it. It was just an honest, you know, as kids do. whatever pops into their head, it just comes straight out of their mouth. you know, for a couple of lads to think that was cool. ⁓ Do you do you think that riders are resisting electric motorcycles? I was the industry just not made them sexy enough until now? I think, be honest, it's a bit of both. ⁓ I think the industry certainly isn't helping ⁓ unless you want to spend 35, 40 grand. on an electric motorcycle, you're going to end up with a commuter bike, which is great if you're riding around the center of town. if you actually enjoy riding the motorcycle, you want to get out on a Sunday afternoon for a couple of hours, just you and the road and your thoughts, you're not going to want to do that on a Twist and Go moped. Again, it's... As much as the industry isn't helping things, think we're now currently with motorcycles in the same position as we were six or seven years ago with car, but it's the unknown and none of us like the unknown. You know, why fix something that's not broke? And I'll be honest, when we put posts out on Facebook, Instagram, more so Facebook to be honest. We get a lot of positive, but we also get a fair bit of negative. These people have never ridden it. They've probably never ridden electric motorcycle, probably never driven an electric car. ⁓ But every single person, hand on heart, has jumped on one of those bikes, has come back grinning. The standard response is, wow. I don't know what I was expecting, but I don't. didn't quite expect that. It's quite interesting because I think you get the naysayers don't you in all sorts but I I remember that once upon a time there was the debate about which was better diesel or petrol cars and everybody's like petrol's better, petrol's better and then diesel started making torqueier engines and power throughout the rev range and everybody was like diesel are better and now it's gone full circle, petrol's better and people have got their own opinions and the same with EVs and I mean Andrew drives a Tesla and we take the mickey out of him. But it's an awesome car. and I haven't actually driven an electric car so this bike is the first electric vehicle that I've ever been on or been in as it were so So the experience to me as a first time user was really positive. And yeah, there was a few differences, within seconds I'd adapted. And I wasn't looking for gears or clutches. It was like, is so easy. You did initially ask for where was the clutch. Well, I did, yeah. And then you started squealing with, ⁓ he's got it. He's got it. It's good fun. Good fun. And I think that's it. I mean, I remember. learning to ride my first bike and thinking I've got to learn gears, I've got to learn clutches, the brakes are different because obviously you know when you're a kid you ride a push bike and you've got your two brakes up front and then you think oh I've got a brake on my foot and this is going back to like being a kid. It's just so simple to ride. I mean who would you say this who's the perfect market for this bike? Well we're not looking necessarily or at least the initial plan wasn't to take your more traditional rider off of their petrol machines and stick them on electric. I mean, you're never going to take a guy out of his V8 Mustang and stick him in a Tesla. The main idea and drive behind this brand is to bring people onto two wheels that either have never been on them or used to have a bike. as a late teen, early twenties, and then of course, family and life gets in the way. It's to make it as simple as possible to really get to experience what we do. You know, that freedom it gives you, it's something that you don't really get from anything else. Even going out for a drive in the car on your own, it's not the same. So yeah, I'd say probably our target market. is those people that probably already adopted to electric car, ⁓ they already drive a Tesla or an e-tron during the week and want a bit of me time at the weekend. You can just unplug it, twist the throttle and away you go. Yeah, I think it's important to say it isn't just a city bike. You know, if this is a bike you can go and have a bit of fun on. Yeah. So for as much as it may benefit, you know, urban riding, you big cities where there may be ⁓ restrictions on emissions and things like that. This isn't really, this will certainly help in those situations, but you can go and take it out into the countryside and have one on it as well. We were watching Scott Ryder and he was twisting it. Yeah, I said to Andy, I was chatting with Andy after and I said, I'd love to take that up to TT. Full power up to TT, not full power like, probably full power, you wouldn't have had any power left. But to take it up to TT, because... for me when I rode it and obviously where we went it was so light I was expecting this heavy machine yeah that was gonna be hard to move around now don't get me wrong some petrol bikes are very much the same when you're trying to move them around the weight distribution is you can tell when they when you've got my stance in trying to move them they're heavy but when I wheeled it back off the driveway I was like ⁓ this is a lot lighter than I was thinking that's a really good point you think the misunderstanding from traditional riders is that hang on It's full of batteries. It's going to be really heavy. It's not going to be maneuverable. Yeah, I didn't think that tonight from right now. I changed my thoughts on it completely. Yeah, I think so. And. We've deliberately designed this bike so that where your engine would normally be, there's a battery pack. Yeah. You know, where your fuel normally goes, that's where the charging point is. Yeah. So from a weight distribution point of view, you know, we're pound for pound which is why. So the center of gravity of the bike is probably perfect then because obviously the weight of the engine and then obviously the fuel tank with the fuel in it will put it in that range where the bike is balanced and that's where I thought tonight was it's very balanced what we were thinking about. The way you move it around it was like it was on point it was perfect. And this is the Avenra Evo. Yes. Tell us about the Avenra Evo that we were riding tonight. What would you sum it up as? in terms of electric bike? As in comparison to a petrol, you mean? Just in terms of what was the inspiration for that style of bike? Well, again, it's probably just my personal taste that created that bike. I've always liked that sports bike. Yeah, super sport type of look and feel. There's certain styling elements to. the machine that you've all seen tonight, that, you know, there's only so many ways you can style a motorcycle. Some of the best in the world are the Italians. I got that feeling. Very Italian. There's a few influences that have gone into this design without receiving any letters from any lawyers. We saw that. We all off camera went, ⁓ that looks like it. No, we didn't. No, we didn't. So yeah, really when we set out to To put the Evo together and the one because they're they're an identical machine. Yeah to look at It was really a selfish point of view that if I was walking into a showroom to buy a motorcycle Which one would I? Naturally, yeah, it's sort of moved towards and it was that so give us some stats about the bike we rode tonight I mean, ⁓ what's the like the naught to 60 speed or time? Well, on the Evo, straight out of the box with the Hypercore 850, which is what they come from factory with. depending on the state of charge of the battery and the weight of the rider and such like. But we've recorded 3.9 seconds to 60. That one this evening has got the Hypercore 1200 controller on it. Again, we've had to wind the power down on that because we kept upsetting the battery management system with the amount of amps it was trying to push through. But that one's around about this sort of three and a half, four seconds. And what's the top speed? Officially, 109 miles an hour. OK. Again, with full state of charge. Personally, obviously on a private road. Private road. Indicated I had 124 miles now out of it Wow I get head down bit of a tailwind but you know it it can perform like a proper machine That's not that's not slow is it? you know, it's gonna need a 70 exactly Yeah, and and with the the the setup because obviously we know with you know with traditional petrol bikes, know, the engine size and the power output means that you have to ride it on different licenses. What license do you need to ride this? Well, believe or not, even that bike that we've been out on this evening, you can ride that on a CBT. Wow. Really, really nowhere. I think that's game changer. Yeah, that's a massive on a CBT. Now, whether the regulations catch up or not. you know, in the next few years or not. We're still a little bit stuck in the past for categorization. Certainly when it comes to electric vehicles, how they rate them is based on their nominal power output. So that machine out there, if you open the throttle wide up and run it for 30 minutes, the most power it will deliver Happily is 11 kilowatts Which classes it in the same band as a 125 okay? What the regulations don't take into account is your peak output so that's for the amount of power it can provide you for less than half an hour yeah Now of course that presents a bit of a problem from You know, we don't want to put someone that's hugely inexperienced on a bike that can perform like that one does. Yeah. Because it could end up in, you know, a of a disaster. So certainly on the Evo, the benefit we have with it being electric is we can configure that bike. Absolutely. So basically like a remap in there and you can remap. but to control the software so the output or the kilowatts is adjusted depending on the experience of the rider. ⁓ Ultimately, if someone walks in and wants to buy an Avenra Evo, as long as they've got the right license type and they've got it insured, there's not a tremendous amount that we can force on them to restrict it. ⁓ However, as part of the PDI process, there's four different modes that we can hard program in to force the bike to perform like a 50cc, 125, 400, and then unleashed. Yeah, that's really good because not the 16 and the four seconds for CBT would be like, how do you get away with that? I remember talking to you, you've been riding for 10 years, but you were like, what? CBT your 125 imagine that Cues of teenagers at the dog on my one one. Yeah, and yeah, I mean we call it the the guardian sentence Okay, so if you are having a 17 year old on the Likely hoodies mum dad might be helping to fund this The thought process is that when that bikes delivered it's set up in 125 for example, you know Three six months later once he's got the experience, you know, he's still here ⁓ He can pop it in To any dealer or you? Let me just put my pin in and then suddenly Yeah, and then we can just unlock it to the next stage. So the bike kind of grows with the rider. Yeah Because it's that duty of care element really. ⁓ yeah, because you put a 17 year old on a bike that can do whatever, no on a CBT, it just means that you're asking for problems. Yeah, but where you can, but it's not controlling them. It's just falling in with the legislation of what's currently in place. So it doesn't go outside the boundaries of what we already have for conventional motorcycles. Yeah. And yeah, I think that's a, I think that's a really good idea and a good way of keeping people safe as well. Especially when you just pass your test or you've just purchased. That's one of the things as a new rider, you want to buy that doesn't look like a one to five. Yeah. And I think you've smashed it there by the way. to be honest with the target audience either being that young inexperienced rider or the older inexperienced rider. There's plenty of nice looking machines out there that are one, two, five, know, a lot of the Aprilia range. They're a really nice looking machine. Problem is, as soon as you jump on, fire them up. twist the throttle, there's no denying you've got one, two, five. Yeah. Whereas on our machine, yeah, you know, it could be anything. And it probably is because it might be set at the 50 cc output. It might be unlocked. Yeah. Unlocked. Yes. Ready to be looking for cheat codes on that. Yeah. do get this? Just quickly as well, think the maintenance aspect as well because obviously you haven't got things like your chain to be tight. you've got a... I won't go there. Filling your engine up with oil and stuff. These were all mistakes, by the way, as a CBT rider. was making it the time. Well, I mean, as far as the powertrain goes, there's only one component that actually moves and that's the rear hub motor. ⁓ Everything else is static. Right. ⁓ So from a reliability maintenance point of view. you know, very, very little to actually go wrong on it. There's only three, four, if you include the charging controller, components that make up the whole power train. Obviously, when you compare that to internal combustion engine, you've got thousands ⁓ of opportunities for that to go wrong. I think when I was looking at the website as well, for as much as you can dial down the power of the mortar. ⁓ particularly for inexperienced people, for any rider. But I think the beauty for the brand as well is it also comes with other really, really valuable bits of kit. things like the vest, which it'll come with. And then there's obviously security features that it can come with. So to protect your asset, if you're purchasing this, tell us a little bit about those things. Yeah, well, that's one of the biggest things. ⁓ Again, just... from a personal standpoint is I like to sleep at night. ⁓ To put a 17 year old, so my son's 19. ⁓ Couple of years ago to have put him on that, I wouldn't have slept ⁓ until I knew he was back in safe. ⁓ Riding about on two wheels is dangerous. necessarily because we're going to do anything, but someone else might very well do. So one of the key things right from the start is if we're going to be potentially allowing people to use a machine that could hurt them, we need to do everything that we possibly can to make sure if the worst happens, they've got the best outcome. So it doesn't matter whether it's a Venera 1 or an Evo, They all come standard with RST Avenra airbag jackets. They're the censored variety as well, not the tethered one. Is that the in motion I noticed? That's the in motion, yeah. So again, when we're first looking at it, you can get the tethered version for the airbag jackets. My gut feeling was, you know, if something happens. Everybody always talks about in the event of an accident, know, milliseconds make such a difference. If you've got to wait for your tether to fail before your bag deploys, you know, that could be the difference. So, yeah, don't know which model it is. Every single one comes with a bag jacket. Well, that's a big differentiator from the research that we've done. We're the only manufacturer that provides an airbag jacket standard. I have an emotion a bike so I have basically because emotion provide that ⁓ Yes, the technology and I just branded out obviously ⁓ But it is everything is app based you can control it. Obviously I take it from the tech on the bike So obviously the dash or the cockpit ⁓ Just the way that set up you can see all of that type of stuff to see if you're connected Because of car play or Android auto like that was one thing that got me when you put it on to the ⁓ onto the normal display of the car play. It was brilliant. I was like totally gobsmacked. I couldn't look at everything and try and ride the bike as well. I just think it's a fabulous idea that we're in a situation where, as standard, we all go and buy machinery and then we've got to think about buying a jacket and all the other bits of safety equipment. So as a new jacket is a huge amount of money normally, you know, to get that as part of the deal, I just think that's fabulous. Fabulous. Like I said, safety is not sexy at the end of the day. I mean, so this type of thing gives people peace of mind as well. And it's what I found from a few of the more inexperienced riders that have ridden our machines. ⁓ Whenever we send someone out on it, we give them their bag jacket to take with them. And the amount of extra confidence, it's quite a heavy jacket, but not in the sense that it's uncomfortable. You know, it makes you feel safe. And yeah, certainly the more inexperienced riders that have jumped on, put that jacket on initially, ⁓ this is heavy. But when you're on the bike, it gives you that extra confidence that, you know, should someone pull out in front of you, you've got half a chance. Can I ask you another question about actually riding the bike? So one of the things that really surprised me this evening was having ⁓ a hybrid vehicle in the family. when you take, it's very much like driving a go-kart. When you take your foot off the accelerator, you've got that engine breaking. And that didn't happen on the bike tonight. And that was one of the pleasing things that I... you as soon you wound it off, didn't, it still kept motion. There was no restriction. And I think you said that that can be adjusted, can't it? Yes. Yeah. And to be honest, that's what we found along the way to be one of the most beautiful things about electric power trains is you can configure it to within an inch of its life. Throttle response. know, we can smooth that out. We can increase it. You can have your fast response, can have your eco response. Regen, that machine that's out there at the moment, that's got the Regen turned off, but you can have it set up so that in essence, like with your Tesla, you can do the one pedal drive or the one hand drive. So as soon as you lift off the throttle, it's like putting the brake on. It really is, you know, not every Avenra is gonna be the same because you might want... it to flow when you let off the throttle, whereas you might want the regen. So you've got customization there, so you can basically set the bike up as you would want it, depending on what type of riding you're going to be doing for that day. however you want it setting up, and again, one of the things that's going to be the case at launch, ⁓ when the customer comes to do the road test, and we do all of those as a mobile sort of test ride, So we'll take a bike out to the customer, let them out. We'll then take some feedback from them when they come back. How did you find the throttle? You know, what works for me might not work for you. We can tweak it. The customer can take it back out again. Yeah, that's better. ⁓ no, actually, no, I want it more responsive than that. And we kind of create the profile for the customer before they've actually even placed an order so that when that order goes through and their bikes delivered. that bike is set up absolutely. Well, I'll tell you now, I would be crazy mode all the time. Full send. That is like a really bespoke experience compared to anything I've heard of, it? Where profile is configured by the dealer essentially. yeah. And at any point you can, mean, whilst there's not a lot of elements to service on our machines, we do still have an annual service schedule. Predominantly, obviously there's battery, software updates, safety checks, but more so it's to refine the bike to the rider. So you might find after 12 months of using it, you come in for your service and you might be, know what, as nice as it is that it just flows when I the power off, I could do with another couple of miles range. Can we put a bit of regen in? I'm handing the bike over to my son. Can we tweak the power back down or can we adjust the throttle response? Yeah, those annual visits are probably more so going to be, you know, those personalization. Is it sorry that the sort of the dealer experience I've noticed from from Georgia, who's your brand manager, isn't that she's been pushing quite a lot of LinkedIn that you're signing up dealers left, right and center. It looks like it nearly every day there's a new dealer. What is it going to be the dealer structure like and where do people go to? You mentioned about test riding these and. I know you're about, you're gonna be launching in June, which we'll come Can I jump in on that as well? Yeah. Can I jump in on that? Because I think you'll find they'll come to you. Yeah. So that's really important. They'll come to you. But there is a dealer network. There is a dealer network. So we split the country into 15 territories. There'll be one dedicated authorized dealer partner, ADP as we call them, per territory. So they'd be the main guys to handle the actual sale. ⁓ You know, if you've got any problems, you can pick the phone up and actually talk to somebody, see someone face to face. Over and above that, we're also just about to start rolling out an ARC network, which is a authorized referral center. ⁓ So this is gonna be golf courses, gyms. hotels, shopping centers. Just really so we can get the bikes in front of people. They can sit on them, know, do what they need to do. There's no pressure selling from an ARC. It's literally completely hands off. So the bikes there, if you like it, pop your details in, we'll get a bike out for you to ride. You can have it for an hour, you can have it for a day, you know, whatever you want to do. If it's right for you, then. one of the 15 ADPs. And you can tell you've been in the motors trade because you are bringing all of those things. you worked for the... I worked at Virtum Motors for five years. At the head office, weren't you? And all the kind of campaigns, all the kind of... How would you track somebody through in terms of getting, you know, father over? is like boring business talks. It's interesting to hear that approach, obviously, like golf courses and the gyms and stuff, you want to get people who will see it. Yeah, think that's ⁓ Again, you might notice that a lot of our ADPs so proper dealer partners are Car dealers. That's what I noticed not motorcycle show. Yeah Initially that was very deliberate because we weren't Trying to tempt people off of petrol bikes. Yeah, we're trying to bring people onto two wheels that otherwise wouldn't have been ⁓ If you're walking into an established motorcycle showroom, you've already made the decision that you're buying a traditional motorcycle. You're probably not going to go in to buy a petrol bike and come out with one of ours. The thought process behind premium car dealers is that's where our customer is. So you could be in there at a weekend having a look at an e-tron or something for the family. And then what's out there in the corner of the showroom, know, under the spotlights, there's a bit of fun for the weekend. Yeah, there's the Evo sat there and it just then, yeah, hopefully sells itself. And you think, ⁓ yeah, that's quite nice. Do you want to have a? And the price point of me, obviously, can afford an e-tron. You have two Evos. But what is going to be the price point of launch? know you're launching June. I talk us through that in second. But what's going to be the sort of price point for the both bikes? So the one. ⁓ being the lower powered one. That's gonna retail it for treble nine. The Evo, is the sort of the halo model, that's just a pound short of 10 grand. We've also just had back from CapHPI, I don't know if you're familiar with those guys. All of the finance houses, insurance companies, all pull data from... this company called Cap HPI. Most people have heard of HPI, the HPI bit for your car checks and things like that. When you're purchasing a vehicle on a PCP, for example, so you'll have that bigger balloon payment at the end, but it brings your monthly payments right down. That monthly payment that you make is dictated by what the vehicle is likely to be worth at the end of your three year, four year. ⁓ The people that set that amount are cap HPI, right? So as part of this whole process, you know, we've had to send all the technical stats off, have an inspection on the machines by the guys from cap. They look at not only the machine, but your brand as a whole. And then they try and work out. you know, what's this machine going to be worth in three, four, five years time? ⁓ They've got to get it right because all the finance companies, dealers, everybody uses that data. ⁓ We got our guaranteed future values back. For six weeks ago. ⁓ Being an electric motorcycle, new brand, you know, it's a bit of an unknown. So we were expecting maybe 35 % is the estimate that we were working on some of the other players in the market with electric bikes. That's about three years old. probably have about 35 % of their value left. So if that was to be the case on the Evo, it might be worth three and half grand. When we actually got the numbers through, Evo is going to be worth 57 % still. And the one at 52%. So is that just because obviously now they're at future technology, the intelligence side of these motorcycles, obviously they're environmentally friendly from obviously there's no fumes or anything else. is that why it's so high? They take Everything into account, to be honest. They look at not only the technology that's in the machine, so, you know, is it still going to be in one piece in three years time? That's what makes up a lot of the valuation estimate. But it's also you can have the best product in the world, but if nobody likes your brand. the brand is very good. Thank you. It is. like to. So that was quite pleasing when that came through. the biggest plus on that is it means certainly on a PCP deal, ⁓ the monthly payments are much, much smaller because the bike's gonna be worth so much more. So each one guy can get three now. He can get three. All of his kids. absolutely. Can we go back to safety? Because safety and technology, what really got me quite excited is Halo. Yes. Do you want to kind of explain the halo perception system that they're looking to kind of build? I know it's not coming out yet, but something you're looking to build, is it? Yeah, it's something that's in the works at the moment. halo again, it goes back to, you know, put in. Flesh and blood on them, quite a dangerous product. Yeah. And that's not just us. You know, anybody that builds motorcycles, you're going to get, unfortunately, people that come unstuck and get hurt. I've personally probably only got four of my nine lives left. And most of those came from when I was on two wheels. We'll talk about when the pub later on will have a pint you can tell us on. But yeah, it kind of reinforced that, you know, if someone is buying one of our machines, need to make sure If the worst happens, we can sit back and say, we literally couldn't have done anything else. So Halo, in its most basic form, is an accident avoidance system. ⁓ So it will continuously monitor what's going on around the bike. ⁓ will, for 99 % of its time, that's all it will do. It will just keep an eye out and see what's going on. ⁓ where Halo sort comes into its own is, if you imagine the scenario, it's Sunday afternoon, you're riding down an A road, ⁓ car's out waiting to come out from your near side, ⁓ sun's behind you, you can see the car perfectly, do we know if he's seen you? ⁓ That particular scenario from the data that we've pulled, that's the biggest. cause of Kilda seriously injured. So that's what we focus on. With Halo, as the riders coming up to the car, obviously it's detecting that the vehicle's there. It's looking for any feedback from the rider to suggest that you're already all over this. If you are, it will stay happily sleeping. When it gets to the point that it wants to intervene. It uses some quite clever calculations to work out a balance of the likelihood you've been seen to the likelihood that a collision is going to occur. obviously the two will go like that. As you're getting closer to the car, it's when it really starts to get clever. It doesn't just look to see that there's a vehicle there. It then looks for the very subtle clues from either the driver himself or the vehicle as to what is likely to happen next. ⁓ And we talked about connected vehicles here. I know there's a lot of things going on about trying to get vehicles to be connected to the vehicle, certainly with power two wheels. This isn't, no. ⁓ So no, this is purely based on the... intelligence is on the bike itself. So we're using radar, ⁓ lidar, HDR cameras ⁓ to build that perfect view of what's ahead. So it might anticipate there's a car about to pull out and thinking, well actually the rider hasn't applied the brakes yet or come off the throttle. And therefore what I mean would it would it do that for you? Would it see it? Well, it will initially like most accident avoidance systems. Yeah, a light at you. Yeah, perhaps it born in through. Yeah handlebars If It still looks like something bad's gonna occur And it will do that from Using I guess 360 which the better tech we're working on. Yeah at the moment Not only does it know the cars there It's also looking at the driver. Yeah. So it's looking for his gaze vector. Yeah. So, know, has that driver actually send me? It looks for my new movements in the wheels. Yeah. Changes in body position all to suggest whether that driver is just about to pull out. I experienced that on when the Tesla went in to get repaired. I had the latest Hyundai Santa Fe and it had this eye monitoring system looking at me eyes and literally I was looking down at something and it was bleeping about and you remember I was in the car at the point the problem I had there was there was so much bleeping and there was too much bleeping I couldn't turn it off but I remember it like I was like as soon as I looked down there for longer than so many seconds it bleeped at me I found that quite quite weird but this is the other way around isn't it is looking at the driver yeah this is looking at everything else and hoping that you know the two humans are aware of each other. ⁓ And it kind of steps in as your halo. So once it has figured out that that vehicle is starting to move or the driver intent in the car is indicating that he's going to be pulling out, ⁓ it will then go into its preparation stage. So it will pre-charge the brakes, get the airbag jacket ready. ⁓ It will start winding off the power. If the likelihood of a collision continues to increase, it will then start increasing regen, wind the throttle off even more, apply the brakes, sound the horn, preload the front suspension to do everything that it can to make sure, you know, even if it's shaving two or three miles an hour off. you know that can make a difference. Which can make a much, I Mike Albert talks about the whole ability to brake and applying a brake at a certain speed but if you've got something that's helping anywhere to shave a bit of speed off there's the likelihood of you surviving something if it doesn't pull out. So that's quite, it is quite fascinating to hear. I was going to ask a question about you know so we've got the situation of a vehicle pulling out of a junction but I would imagine that's doing the same thing if it's if a vehicle's going to go across and cross in front of you and cut across. in front because I was thinking about we all that's when I get a little bit more cautious when you've got a car indicating to go across your lane and you're approaching them and you're thinking have they seen me and you're trying to make particularly if you've got the sun and things behind you so that's really interesting to hear. Yeah it's like having that extra pair of eyes. Up to that point Halo pretty much, with the exception of the iTrack, ⁓ is working like any other system that's available on car currently to try and avoid the accident where Halo really comes into its own is once the worst has actually already happened. That was my next question. Talk us through the emergency response system. Yeah, so ⁓ this really has been the... This part of the system has been the main reason for pushing it forward. ⁓ So this car's pulled out. You've impacted with the vehicle. You're now off your bike on the road. Best case scenario is there's a car following you. He's going to stop. You can have a look. Try and pop your visor up here. Right, mate? ⁓ yeah. No, you're not. Going to call an ambulance. You can wait for the ambulance to come out. Yeah. So on and so forth. With Halo, as soon as that collision has occurred, you've not even hit the ground yet. It's already starting to record the data that it can pass onto the emergency services. So Halo functions with Gen 2 of the airbag jacket, which also has impact sensors down the front, the side, and on the back. G sensors in the helmet. also sensors in the gloves as well. So it's like having a triage nurse there with you straight away. That will then contact our emergency team immediately to say this is the location, this is the rider, this is how old he is, this is how much he weighs, this is his blood type. Granted some of that stuff, the... the rider will have to put into the app. Initially, I was going to ask if it's connected to all of that. Yeah. But it will then feed back not only that he's been hurt, but also whereabouts on the body, what sort of forces are involved. It will monitor oxygen saturation through the gloves, pulse rate, and it will feed all of that data back in real time. which then gets passed on to the emergency services and it will also make a triage recommendation based on all the data that it's collected to say, you know, this guy's not in good shape. Don't bother sending an ambulance. This needs air ambulance. This is the likely injuries. make sure there's a specialist around. Isn't that quite some cutting edge technology there? Yes. Yeah. I mean, how, mean, you know, To me, this sounds like this is future stuff. know, this is like, you know, I mean, I remember, you know, driving my first car and, you know, at a manual handbrake and nowadays it's got automatic handbrake and, and, and cars are getting better and better each year. And now hearing some of this stuff is could come to bikes is, is, I could be amazing. I mean, I, I, I've got a system on my car, which I think a lot of cars now with the parking sensors that If it detects something, it beeps at you, then it brings up a warning light. And if you still keep driving, it absolutely applies the brakes. And when it first happened, I thought this is really invasive until I nearly stowed it into a brick wall. And I think I'm really pleased I've got the system. How does it work? I'm interested to know that. I mean, obviously you get the airbag as standard, but how are you doing it with the gloves and the helmet to bring all that together? That's that's. Yeah. So once. Halo becomes a thing. We've finished all the testing. We've got all the approvals on it. The jacket with the impact sensors, that will still remain standard equipment. The gloves and the helmet will be optional. However, the only way Halo is going to work absolutely is with the gloves, the helmet, and the jacket. We're using, much like we did with the Powertrain components. It's pointless going out and trying to create all of this from scratch. So we're using tech that's already there. It's just nobody's thought of putting it all together, linking it all up and getting it all to talk to each other, which is literally what's happening right at the moment. ⁓ But it's that golden hour. ⁓ talk to ⁓ London Air Ambulance, ⁓ South Yorkshire Police, Safe Roads UK. ⁓ Because whilst we had an idea as to what we'd want the system to gather and send off, obviously we're not medically trained. So there might be something that we think is incredibly useful and it turns out it's not. And vice versa, be things that we might disregard. ⁓ first responder point of view. It is that consultative approach which I think that is the way forward. think that you know because a lot of people think that the emerging services require certain things and actually they don't and things get created and get pushed out and it's like you know so that's a really really excellent approach. Yeah, sounds amazing. On top of that, there's more. From Halo because it's collecting all this data. ⁓ It locks it away in a black box after the accident ⁓ and that can be shared obviously with the riders permission or next weekend with police insurance companies. Having the raw data that doesn't actually relate to anybody, that type of thing is going to be passed on to safer roads. So if there is an issue with the road itself. You know, will it gonna have all the data, but it completely removes that he said she said. Yeah, because we've already mapped everything that's happened. Yeah, up to that point. And I suppose the reality is some people will love that. And if we have the people that say, don't want that. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if if you survive it and you were doing 110 miles an hour. Yeah. Yeah. You probably don't want my future police knowing. Yeah. You don't want that information released. Yeah. But, you know, it's there. ⁓ There's lessons to be learned, even if you've hurt yourself and it was maybe your fault. It's very valuable. So the bike we rode tonight did not have the tech that's capable of kind of handling that? No, that one doesn't have halo on it. I'll have that one, please. Not so much the software, but in terms of the LiDAR sensors, the cameras. Stuff you meant was our awesome. Yeah, no that all so that all makes up the halo system So the current generation of bikes hasn't got that right? Mainly because we've gone it up to about an eighty one eighty two percent Accuracy rate, which is pretty good. Yeah, but you know, you don't want it 18 % of the time. Yeah giving you false alarms Until we can get it up into yeah, you know 100 % near as damn it I've got a quick one for you then obviously talking about the equipment so your helmet will be sensors in a helmet and in the gloves and I yeah, so we've got two manufacturers so obviously as we all know we all buy a different helmet We all buy different gloves and stuff. So how will it work? Because obviously for them to use the halo system, they'll have to have this ecosystem of equipment to actually do it. Well on the helmet Whilst we'll be supplying a helmet with the gear already built in One of the key things that we're trying to work on at the moment is that it almost becomes an accessory part so you can fit it to your existing lid. The gloves, obviously because that's all built into the glove, there's not a lot we can do about that. But yeah, from a helmet, because some people like full face, don't. Yeah, part of the task is to make sure it can be a transferable. Yeah. Yeah, and I think it's it's really interesting because you know, I think there's there's some people as I say, you know, they like minimal tech on bikes But you know, I mean we've all added extra gadgets and gizmos to our bikes to bring tech onto them because you know, I mean I know Scott's put you know, and I've got one of these car play units and yours has got a radar sensor on it and cameras and and and actually It is improving the experience. Can we talk about electricity, like electric anxiety and range anxiety? The elephant in the room. We need to address it because when we moved from the car petrol to the Tesla and you know hear the stories, to be honest with you, it was only because somebody said, why are you going to get that? Why don't you just get a Tesla? probably can't afford it, know, and how do you charge it and where can I charge it? And when you get one, you realize how easy it is and it's not a problem at all. Depending on what you're doing, if we were doing the bigger miles, I would have gone for the dual motor, but we're not, we're doing small miles and we're not charging it up very often and we managed to put solar on. So actually charging the car overnight is about two pound. Whereas at the moment, there's a little thing going on with fuel. We're sitting pretty and I think EVs, cause there's a lot of again, sort of negativity around EV motorcycles as well as in the book. Actually, in the moment, it makes a little bit sense. But what is the biggest kind of fear, do think, in terms of people looking at the range and how are you making it different? ⁓ Yeah, range, ⁓ Again, going back to when we do get some feedback on Facebook predominantly. ⁓ It is a lot of the time around the range. Yeah. Now, Evo, it's got a 11.5 kilowatt battery pack on it. We should put that in some kind of perspective. BMW 330e, obviously it's a hybrid. Battery pack on that is, what, so big? Yeah. So big. That's 12.5 kilowatt. As I say, ours is 11.5, but it fits in there. That one, depending on how you ride it, again, no different to petrol. You can get up to 200 miles out of a charge on that bike. If you're riding it much more spiritedly, you can still get 100 miles. It really does depend. And as you say, it's exactly the same as for your... ⁓ riding a traditional bike. We know if we've been out and our fuel fuel gauge is going like that, it's probably because. So I'm going to be the elephant in the room here now. So you're talking about obviously, yeah, when you see a fuel gauge going down, yeah, petrol stations are everywhere. Yeah. So obviously, and they are there for the cars as well. Yeah. But if you take motorcycle riders, they normally out in the countryside doing the doing the roads and there's not very many charging. possibilities around that how they're get around that because obviously I know there is for cars but obviously I was looking away for bikes and so the bike will charge exactly the same as a car right I looked at that because I did it on and lifted up the cap and thought I can put my Tesla charge okay I'll get one of these now yeah so all of our bikes will charge on type 2 fast charge They won't work on CCS, which is kind of the circular one with the long bit underneath. And that's only because those charge systems need to see at least 200 volts before it will initiate a charge. Obviously our system even fully charged is 86 volt. So any charge point that you could plug a hybrid into, predominantly, or a slightly earlier electric car. you can charge one of our bikes on. From the point of view, if you're going for a ride out to the coast ⁓ or wherever you might be headed, most places nowadays have at least a 3.6 or a seven kilowatt charge point that you can plug into. All the bikes come with what get referred to as granny charges, which are your three pin. Charge point so can, once you finish your ride and you get home and you plug in the bike into the garage, just plug it into the wall, other end into the bike. Like hotel I'm staying at tonight. Like you used to do with the Leon, had hybrid didn't you? We just plugged in a standard plug. So how long will it take to recharge the vehicle? If you're charging it at home, obviously you're limited by how much your wall plug. will actually kick out. ⁓ On Evo, you're looking at probably about two and a half hours to fully charge it at home. If you're charging it at a public charge station, you're looking at just over an hour to fully charge it. Which is not bad. I'm thinking, know, a ride out to Whitby, we get to Whitby, you know, we'll go and have a coffee, ice cream, fish and chips, a bit of a wander around, a bit of a chat, well, your bike's charged and you're ready to come back. Yeah, if you think you're even if you're riding it quite hard, after a hundred miles of riding it hard, you're going to need to stop. Chances are you're going to need to stop before the bike does. Whether that's stretch your legs, have a coffee, have a smoke, whatever it is. Challenge accepted. Yeah, and even if it is taking an hour to charge it up, you know, you've been in and got some of the wheat. But you talked about also about region. So is it throwing some some of that kinetic energy back to the battery on occasions? Yes. So, know, it could be self charging itself. Oh, to a certain extent. Yeah. So you can depending on your. particular preference, you can have quite heavy regen. So every time you lift off, it's pulling that sort of rolling power back into the battery pack. But yeah, well, I certainly don't think there's going to be many people that are going to struggle with range. Just from the point of view, if you do in a hundred, 200 miles, it is. Yeah. I drive a Tesla. Sorry. Yes. Yes. be honest, I did have a single motor one on loan. And that was actually better. I don't say that. Yeah, we're actually better on range than the dual. Really? Yeah. Interesting. Whilst the jaw might have got a slightly bigger pack, it is also powering two motors and the extra weight and everything else. So I think I'd get three hundred and ten miles at the dual motor to fifty out single. But yeah, so you obviously we're talking about power range and everything else and you're talking about the region. So. Does the rider have the capability or an app then to actually go in and say, okay, I'm pushing it here. I don't know I'm gonna get home, I've got whatever. Will they be able to adjust it so they can, I know you're talking about the bikes coming back to you and changing the map. Will they be able to do that themselves? ⁓ Through the app, yes, you can adjust your line and face currents, which is your power and torque. and regen status. However, the regen, obviously there's no such thing as free energy. Probably the best way is because it's got three ride modes is reduce, enjoy on mode three until you suddenly look and thinking I've got 50 miles of range and I'm 55 miles away from home. Pop it on one. It's eco mode on your car. Yeah, it's not going to be the most exciting ride home. Yeah. But it's gonna get you there. I think we've got a challenge. How many how many times you can get up and down the end? I think that could be interesting challenge. I do John across the land. There's the challenge. I don't know if you saw we are in late July. So just waiting to hear back from Guinness World Records. Accept it as an attempt. The world record. Currently for the longest journey on a single charge on a production electric motorcycle, it's a bit of a mouthful, is 194 miles. Which from the point of view of a world record, doesn't seem that good really. So based purely on the physics of it all, that Evo that we've all been out on tonight, in eco mode, theoretically we'll do 450 miles if you're careful. Well if you start at John O'Groats and you finish at Lands End, it's all downhill. I'm not so sure with a 15-stone middle-aged man it might get... Our plan is to go from the Humber Bridge at Hull and then follow the East Coast all the way down and it should run out of charge around about Hastings. That's a good challenge. Yeah. And that will, that will more than double the current record. Excellent. It's not going to be the most exciting of rides. And who's riding? So our test rider, Keon. Three-Storn. Four foot six and three-Storn. He's He's on a die. But yeah, that'd be quite good, I think. It's certainly from a PR point of view. You know, to hold the world record for that. ⁓ And that record was only set last year, year before, ⁓ by another brand. ⁓ But yeah, that would be quite an achievement. Where will people be able to, sorry Martin, but I was quite eager to find out where people could actually observe that or view that. Where could... Will it be getting filmed? it be getting? Yes, so as part of it being an official Guinness World Record attempt, we need to be running with two separate GPS trackers, record it as well. But we are going to map out the route, publish that on the website with the estimated times that we're going to be heading through each different sort of village and town on the way down. and then meet the Guinness World Records man at the end, you know, with his blazer and everything else. Big smiles and photographs. So all the way from Hull down to Hastings. Why don't you come north? Is it because it's uphill? ⁓ Yeah, that will be a one. So tell us about the launch then. can is June 2026? What can people expect from the launch? So we've we've actually just opened the test ride. diaries now, so people can go on and book a test ride. As I said earlier on, you can have it for an hour, you can have it all day to really get a feel for it. As we get closer to the June launch, there's gonna be a few events around the country, of at shopping centers, Trafford Center's one of the main ones, where you can actually touch and feel these bikes. Each day is gonna have a launch day. Yeah, you know your standard ⁓ Dealership launch, you know few sandwiches and couple of balloons and that type of thing balloons. I Sandwiches Rst. Jacket. Yes. Yeah other brands are available. Yes. Yes And yeah, it's kind of just gonna be The actual launch day will probably be less of ⁓ an event than the month running up to it and the month after it. ⁓ But it's really just a case of trying to get people to ride it. I honestly don't mind if we've got hundreds of test rides each week and we only sell one bike. It's to get those people that... It's changing perceptions. that don't like an EV just because it's different. you know, I mean, I and one the things I could say is, you know, think things are changing, you know, across, you know, and and I think, you know, tonight riding that bike, you know, would I want it to replace my current bike? Maybe not yet. but I'd certainly have one in the garage alongside it. If you'd add the power I had, because I was the first one I was looking at. If you had all the power I had, might have changed your mind. I won it with option three and the first half ago. No, no, no, you're after me. So obviously this is a new product that's coming out. So if somebody was to order a bike, what's the lead time? Because obviously there is that. Customization sort of stage. I noticed you know on your website you can you know It's got all the usual things like you can pick your colors. I love the the colors are named after a racer I think But so how is somebody put an order in? How long would they have to wait to actually receive one? Well, one of the other things that we're doing because the stock that's going to be at the dealers are like a group on stock. ⁓ So if you happen to go into an Avenra dealership in Liverpool and you want a red Evo, if he hasn't got one, but a dealership down on the South Coast does have one, we can get that bike to you the next day. Just like the mortars trade. ⁓ So yeah, it can be as quick as 24 hours. Unless there's any particular customization you want. Like one of the things that we offer is the personalized colors. So one of our dealers, he's a super car dealer, was in his showroom a few weeks ago and he's got two Lamborghinis in this purple color. you know, as long as we can get the paint code, if he's got a customer going in there to buy his Lambo in whatever this purple is, he can have a bike in exactly the same color. I can just see Andrew ordering one in just right blue. Just right blue. Which one? was almost just right blue actually, the one we bought tonight. I mean, in the event that it's a premium color, ⁓ that's, you know. not already going to be out there. You're probably looking at about eight weeks. Yeah. Again, it's not bad. That's quicker than, than you're. quicker than your BMW. Yeah. I've got it. It's got it. I'm delighted. So what, what, what's the long-term vision then for a Venre? Firstly is to get a proper foothold in the UK. Good. We're a UK brand. Whilst we're new and a bit different, you know, some of the components that fit to the bike, they're also from British brands. So you might have seen our braking components, certainly on the Evo. They're from Hell Performance. So they are. It's been stopping the world since 19, was it? 97? Yeah, they are the British Brembo. Initially, the plan was to have Brembo. Yeah. But. That was taken absolutely forever. Yeah, can imagine. Whereas the guys at Hell, really nice bunch of guys, know, they saw the benefit. Sent us some kits. We tried them. Well, yeah, this this is a yeah, the brakes are really good on it. Yeah, this is a this is a proper brand. From there, we've already started making some tracks into the continent. So the next target is France and Italy. So we're just going through and working with the regulators there. I mean, that in itself is going to be huge. certainly from the CBT type ⁓ riders, France and Italy. They love that type of machine. The licensing laws are even more in our favor from the age that you can get onto a bike out there. So it's gonna be then just trying to create a dealer network in France and Italy as well. And Spain, I would imagine. And Spain, potentially so. ⁓ Spain might be a little more difficult to crack because the Avenra name, in ⁓ ancient Italian, it basically means what is to come is what Avenra means, which we felt was quite appropriate for what we're trying to create. Whereas in Spanish, the closest thing to Avenra means draining. which again probably for an EV brand isn't probably the strongest of names. So yeah we might leave the Spanish market for the time being. But yeah what is to come is a lot of Enra. It's been fantastic having you on the show at night Paul and for letting us ride the bike because I think it's changed everything. Amazing. didn't change my view so much because obviously with always have an electric car. I just, I just, couldn't believe I was smooth and I would like it was because I was expecting to be quite heavy. But, and he's going to ask you some, some, it's the time of day, Paul, everybody looks forward to, okay. Everyone that comes on the pod, just get to this point, Andy. So, ⁓ apart from the event, I'm going to say you've got to exclude the event because I know you're going to say if money was an object, what bike would you buy? I know you'd have an evil. and you'd have a one, what else would you have? Well, I would have, believe it or not, a 1988 Yamaha DT-50. Oh, nice bike. Oh, I've just got all excited. It doesn't take much for you, With delivery miles on it. That was the first. White with the red graphic? Well, it would actually have to be blue. Oh. Now that was the first bike I ever had that one was white initially until I painted it blue with a rattle can We all did that one Saturday afternoon But I love that bike. Yeah, you know that was 60 plus 15 when yeah me and my dad first went to go and pick it up But that that was my first feeling of freedom and being a grown up. So to be able to get one of those, I tried to find one not so long ago, but I just can't find one anywhere. So if there's anyone watching the podcast that has access to a DT 50, then please contact us. Absolutely. It's going to be really interesting as well that maybe in 15, 20 years time when maybe we're asking some other people, I might say, I really want. And the MWR. And a Venere Evo or a one and because of the passion that Paul had there for the the DT 50. Who's your motorcycling hero? ⁓ I would say I probably not got one. You can choose any of us. Yeah. Remember I hugged you. I would say probably this man right here. So Scott is the hero. Scott is the hero. You did go on the back of my bike and you were very safe. I was very safe. Favourite place to ride your bike? Probably out towards Scarborough. That's quite a nice run, especially out from sort of East Yorkshire, coming out of near Leeds. The first bit of the journey is not so good, but once you get out there, out to Scarborough, it's quite a nice place to be. And the final question you'll be pleased to know is obviously the price point of the bike is really, really competitive. So you've got a couple of quid left in your pocket. What would you buy? Would you buy yourself a new helmet that you can put the tech in or would you buy boots, clothing? What would you buy? I would probably buy. our sentinel system. or expand. Yeah. So that's, ⁓ that's an option currently. But that has the ⁓ bike track, the micro dot and the James Bondi style. don't know if you've seen the pictures on the website ⁓ where someone tries to steal the bike. I have seen it smoke. It's out there. Whatever color smoke you want. Yeah. Red is the default. Yeah. I that. want it. Yeah, I have seen that. Yeah. Even though that's our product, even if it wasn't, that's what I'd buy. ⁓ that's called Sentinel. Sentinel. Yeah. Cause, ⁓ you know, the problem with a bike is if someone wants to seal it, you know, one that's out there, one or two of us would easily get that in the back of the transit and it would be gone. ⁓ Would we find it as easy to get in the back of the transit if the alarms go in the wheels locked and it's pouring out a lot of red smoke? You just give up, wouldn't you? It needs electrical people as well. Unfortunately, you're not allowed to do that. Shame. Could the Sentinel system be fitted to any other motorcycle or is it your only your brand? Just our brand. Yeah. I'll just have to buy a bottle of can and just gargle the world. I did say that on the website and it does look really impressive. So thank you Paul. Thank you so, much. And can you tell the listeners and the viewers what is the website address and whether can they find out more about the brand? Yes. So website is rideavenra.com ⁓ Excellent. Everything's on there. So if you wanted to book a test ride, haven't got to go into a dealer. Just go on, make a booking and we'll turn up with a bike and... And away you go. Away you go, fill your boots. Fantastic. And the one you brought tonight, you are leaving it in my garage, you? Unfortunately not. No, that's going to Scotland tomorrow. When it's been to Scotland, it can go in mine because I've got a charger ready there. You guys don't have room in your garage. I've just kitted my note. I have room. I have now. Not that much. Right. But anyway, so thank you very much, Paul, for coming on Just Right tonight. think we are now going to go to the green room and have a beer. It's not too late, hopefully. We'd like people to like. Yeah, like and How obvious could we not be? Come on. I thought you were both having a fit. And leave a comment as well. What's your thoughts on EVs? Is it for you? Might not be for you, but what's stopping you and... what would make you buy an EV. Give it a go. Give it a go. We've given it a go and it's been absolutely brilliant. We'll be dropping some of the footage in and our experience as well. once again, thank you very much, Paul. Thank you for having me. Still smiling. Good.