Damon Motorcycle Factory Tour?!?

Does Damon Motorcycles have a factory finally?!? I've invited by the CEO to come check out their new San Rafael factory, and share my findings!

[@Tomos13]

When I talk about electric motorcycles to a random moto person the first thing that they mention is Damon motorcycles even though they don't exist, "much" at least. Goes to show that their marketing was spot on. People remember that there was a cool presentation about electric sportbike that will do 200 mph, 200 mile range with 200 hp perhaps. Good luck to them 😊. Energica sits in my garage and I ride it almost every day, it actually exists

[@ZeroFun]

Yup. That’s why I hate this kind of “company”, they tie up consumer and investor funds that could go towards real electric motorcycles. When they go public, they’re going to rake in the funds. :(

[@RPRosen-ki2fk]

Glad to see you still have an interest in posting this kind of content. I believe at BEST they are trying to produce a bike for the public and their results will be on the level of Sondors. If they get to actual production, they'll be miles short of what they promised and will have nothing but disappointed customers. Then at WORST they're an outright ... scam. I think history will group them with Elio, Nikola, Sondors and Lightning.

[@ZeroFun]

Lightning has delivered, maybe a dozen bikes? None really to spec though. These guys are about to pull down a quarter of a billion dollars in additional investor money. Either they announce a third “factory” to really churn out impossible bikes, or they’re a super successful Lightning scam, which has my money right now.

[@RPRosen-ki2fk]

@@ZeroFun You're gonna laugh, but I think Richard truly wants to achieve what he says. He just doesn't have the business skills (Sandy Monroe, Elon, or even Fiskar) to pull it off. LOL, he has to much conscience to ever be a Damon. In the world of scams he's gonna be a small fish and Damon is trying/succeeding at being the big fish in the ocean. Sadly people want to believe and are willing to part with their money with little proof of reputation.

[@GReid-ol5gk]

Great video. I saw that they recently IPOd and was curious what this company was all about. Not very much at the moment, apparently.

[@ZeroFun]

Yeah…$12 IPO target. Flirting with $1.50 a share now. The market isn’t buying their bull anymore. I’m sure they’ll still run off with millions from this week.

[@theoldmanonasportbike]

Great video! Add to the doubt their social media and KZbin presence is basically null over the last several months. I was so close to dropping a deposit. However after talking to them about their support model immediately I was turned off. The rep seemed surprised about the question. No dealer network. Basically the bike would have to go back to Canada for warranty work. I hope I’m wrong about them because the concept is great if they able to extend the battery range.

[@ZeroFun]

Thank you. Agreed, they have no real plans I have a few other videos about them. Have you seen how they “borrowed” the Ducati ad? Hilarious. Expecting no one to notice and call them out.

[@theoldmanonasportbike]

@@ZeroFun I don’t think so. Again, I really hope they succeed, but after talking to a rep I couldn’t run away fast enough. I hope people get their bikes. I fear the next thing we read is about lawsuits.

[@ZeroFun]

They're about to IPO. They'll collect hundreds of more millions I imagine. Pay themselves 50M a year for another few years, then declare bankruptcy and fold the company. IPO is the pinnacle of the con, especially if you can't make any actual products. Ideanomics (Energica's new owners) kept buying companies with their investor money, so it looked like they were going somewhere. Meanwhile, they paid their execs MILLIONs. Stock went from $600 in 2021, down to $.15 a share now. CEO is still making $20 mill a year last I heard.

[@andrewlakmakmar]

@@ZeroFunin fact Energica is on bankruptcy. Hello from Italy.

[@ZeroFun]

@andrewlakmakmar yup, I did a video on it. Ideanomics drove them to bankruptcy.

[@OrlandoRick]

"And I know I'm fakin'​ it, I'm not really makin'​ it."​ - Simon & Garfunkel, 1968

[@ZeroFun]

What, this isn’t an upgrade from their first, 110,000sq foot factory? :D

[@17ABE76]

Perhaps an unforetold larger scale production area would be at hand, rather than this. In good faith/hope. It’s upsetting but honestly I appreciate your pursuit for perspective, it sheds some light!

[@ZeroFun]

Yeah, but it seems like they lied about a factory…again?

[@17ABE76]

@@ZeroFun so word is through support chat with a Damon team member, in California, they’re assembling (hence the smaller sized warehouse) while in Canada, the larger production is setting place.

[@ZeroFun]

Sure, but they canceled the Canada factory. They keep changing their statements and kicking the can down the road. I’d doubt they could even assembled a few hundred bikes at this tiny facility, if they had a real factory in Canada. This is a quarter of a billion dollar company, not Zero in 2008.

[@ZeroFun]

@17ABE76 from the CEO, Canadian factory is dead: "We're shifting production to our facility in California when we're ready to start production, which is delayed due to some challenges in 2022. The building here in Vancouver proved to be too expensive and unfortunately the Gov of Canada and BC are not providing any support to create jobs. US is WAY more supportive in that regard. If you're a reservation holder, you've got an email in your inbox providing details. Thanks for your support! Making something from nothing is about the most challenging thing there is, but man is it worth it. All the best" - Jay Giraud May 02, 2023

[@17ABE76]

I’ll still maintain a good faith to see a result than an insult. Plus going stock symbol status is truly a bold undertaking. This empty space in time of no social input is quite the intimidating one.

[@derekrowe9199]

whoops I commented before I finished watching. I see u did already know about the NASDAQ stuff, nice

[@ZeroFun]

Yeah. $300,000,000 valuation, opening at $12 a share. Fell to nearly $2 today. Haha. Guess they aren’t fooling any of the professionals. They’ll be fighting delisting by new years, like IDEX.

[@derekrowe9199]

@ZeroFun oh cool! I didn't know what it opened at but I did see it at $2. if there was ever a stock I'd consider shorting!!

[@derekrowe9199]

@ZeroFun lol Robinhood shows it as having opened at $4/share

[@ZeroFun]

@@derekrowe9199 Their press release said $12. But the stock was so volatile at opening, no brokerage would sell it for hours. Finally came up around $4-5. Down to about $1.5 as a low today. lol

[@MarksmansBeast2]

just like with pop up motorcycle heads up display companies it’s all a scam and always too good to be true😂

[@ZeroFun]

Sadly, yeah. :( So much funding that could have gone to Energica or Zero Motorcycles.

[@MarksmansBeast2]

@ trust me, I fell for a scam, just a guy fallen for the heads of display scams in the past it’s sad that there is such lack of progress in the Motorcycle community when we clearly are ready to fund and support any company that will truly give us what we’re asking for…

[@ZeroFun]

Well, the real manufactures, Zero and Energica, have such low volume that they can’t push the limits of motorcycle tech. Energica tries, but they’re limited with funds. A company like Damon comes along and makes all sorts of crazy claims five years ago, and let’s all the funding, because they “can do” things the other manufactures can’t. People want it to be real, so they toss money into it to try to make it real. But yeah, no demos of the tech, no factories, and now the stock will start being delisted because it’s under $1 a share. Scam is almost complete. Like Ideanomics. :(

[@kom2falcon]

Steven I'd like to talk to you about Damon and some of the other electric motorcycle issues. Friendly open minded conversation. If so let me know I'll PM you on EMF and see if we can find some free time since you're still on your trip.

[@awo1fman]

To be honest, I've absolutely stopped being an early adopter of anything. I don't pay any attention to "new" stuff that's promised to come out. I'm sick and tired of disappointment. Now I only pay attention to things that have been in genuine production and MANY people have been taking delivery for at least a year. Even then, I'm cautious about jumping on the bandwagon. I was all excited about Aptera for a while, and I was even close to plunking down the reservation fee. Until they spearheaded the "NACS" atrocity that is going to be a PITA for consumers for years until enough manufacturers come to their senses and drop it for CCS once and for all. The Tesla connector being smaller does NOT make it better in any way other than aesthetics. Anyway, even ignoring that stupidity, there are clear signs that their promises are as empty as Damon's. Aside from the years continuing to go by with no vehicles in the hands of customers, they recently admitted that the drivetrain is going to be sourced from an existing EV with traditional inboard motor and drive axles rather than the hub motors they've been showing all along, and there will be only front wheel drive to begin with (in other words, probably never...). Since hub motors are not actually a technical hurdle AT ALL (not only have they been around for a long time, there have been a few production EVs, not just ebikes, that have had them), it makes the whole thing look pretty unlikely to eventuate. The reality is that there's nothing actually all that high-tech about the Aptera. Trikes are nothing even remotely new, and packaging EVs is child's play compared to ICE vehicles. The shape is the only thing that makes it seem exotic, futuristic and high-tech, and while that does have a functional purpose, the truth is that nothing under the skin is actually anything other than mundane, ordinary EV parts laid out to fit within that shape. Anybody could build one just like it from scratch in their garage in well under a year. That's just one other example. So yeah, I'm done being excited about vaporware hype, or even paying attention to it. I will occasionally look at something that is right in front of me just to appreciate the "artist's concept", but I never expect it to happen.

[@GregHassler]

Regarding NACS, I'm not sure if you've ever actually used the Tesla connector but it's objectively superior to J1772 in every measurable way. Yes it's smaller, more robust (less susceptible to damage), carries more current, supports DC fast charging at high current, and is easier to insert into vehicles (it's self-centering, you don't have to align a key). I don't believe Apteras efforts had any bearing at all on NACS adoption, I'm pretty sure it was Ford's efforts.

[@RPRosen-ki2fk]

I totally agree with your message, but I think choosing Aptera for an example was a terrible choice. Aptera's chances for succeeding are terrible, but I believe they are totally sincere and the level of transparency they use proves it. The two head guys at Aptera have put their lives on hold for years now devoting all their effort trying to make the company a reality. I don't think the same can be said for Damon or companies like Lordstown.

[@CrissaKentavr]

This is rampant in the gaming scene. I can't play potential games, only existing games.

[@ZeroFun]

It was nice that Apteras championed it, but yeah, Ford started the dominos falling with the major players. NACS is a superior plug every way - do you know how many CCS cables I used that had broken clips/locks this last month? That doesn't happen with NACS. Locking is done inside the receptacle.

[@ZeroFun]

What about beta ones that let you play them unfinished for 4 years while they're developed?

[@xrotor7813]

After what seems like a successful and now ongoing grift the owners are toasting themselves sitting on some yacht some place.

[@CrissaKentavr]

This is about the size of the factory Zero had in 2014. Technology doesn't take a footprint. I wonder if they don't have enough VC money? VC money dried up when interest rates went up. Having a valuation doesn't mean you have a *budget* which is what is needed to build a factory.

[@ZeroFun]

They raised $30,000,000 in series B funding two and a half years ago. They had $20,000,000 in pre-orders to spend. I can't find it now, but $20,000,000 from something else, original investors? Zero in 2014 sold a few mountain bikes with motors a year. These are serious motorcycles. Damon's factory in Canada was 110,000sq feet. So, in this case, technology does take a footprint. They canned that and moved production into 3 garage bays and some office space? There was also state/local incentives for building the factory. Allegedly, incentives were better in California, so they "moved production" there. But uh, I don't know. Just seems like they're going to make more prototypes to show off and raise their soon to be stock launch with.

[@jeffreymeleg4719]

If i can find $100 dollars, I'm willing to light on fire. I might put a deposit down on one. Just to have better standing to hound the CEO on all his Instagram posts of him heli-skiing, doing Ducati track days in Europe, and shopping for cars that cost more than my house. There's a saying that being a writer is a lot more fun than sitting down and writing a book. I think that's what we're seeing with Jay Giraud. It's a lot more fun to be the CEO of a cutting-edge electric motorcycle company than it is to actually put a cutting-edge electric motorcycle in a customer's garage. The whole thing is a venture capital generating sham vanity project for one guy.

[@ZeroFun]

I would say, “how can it go on so many years”, but then I look over at Lightning, still raising funds decades after founding…

[@eyangelosmixalopoulos2740]

Forget Lightning, and Damon. Ola electric already has a giant factory, already making electric two wheelers and it's just started to show 4 electric prototypes for bigger bikes. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rGGkg3mMfJmXp5Isi=Bj4BREoYwTnNSHcU

[@CrissaKentavr]

...And not making bikes that will be highway legal in North America...

[@ZeroFun]

Looks like they're focusing on electric scooter for the billion locals in India first? It's funny those have all those amazing looking motorcycles...and they put him on an electric scooter for the video. Hey, at least they're making EVs, huge props for that! Maybe we'll see some of their future products in the USA soon, when they get them sorted, and street legal?

[@1nix1]

​@@ZeroFundon't forget to check out Ultraviolette F77. You can take a test ride if you want.

[@The_Cleaver_]

Would love to see them succeed but I wouldn't drop a deposit if it were only $10. Seems like a company that consistently overpromises and underdeliveres (or doesn't deliver 🤣)

[@SamSzulman]

I have always had the feeling that Jay Giraud was a con artist. He just gave off that auro and I never expected Damon to get even this far. I always expected some huge promises followed by an IPO and then slowly vanish.

[@ZeroFun]

Agreed. Now they're saying they'll build the bike parts somewhere else, and assemble in California. It's like playing the cup game with his him, but it's find the factory. Is it really in Canada? Nope! Try again! California? Nope!

[@theoldmanonasportbike]

I got the same vibe. I’ve been following them for years. When you get into details with them that’s about bikes including support your eyes will open up.

[@motoriderj6448]

Total scam. They saw the skully scam unfold and said, hey lets do that but at a higher dollar amount. It has got to the point id i see one of their posts on any social media I report it as a scam. When you steal someone elses commercial footage you and use it for your own marketing, you lose any good faith you are actually doing the thing you say you are doing.