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Cake’s New Kalk& Street Legal Bike Will Sell in U.S. and Europe

The Swedish Electric Invasion Begins

Get ready for a shocking new bike from Swedish company Cake. Okay, it’s not really all that shocking, but it is a fully electric motorcycle. Cake announced a street legal motorcycle that it will sell in Europe and the U.S. The bike is based on the Kalk OR, which is the company’s first bike. That motorcycle is a lightweight off-road bike, and now the street-legal version comes ready for pavement.

The new motorcycle gets lights (including tiny turn signals), license plate holder, and mirror mounts. As electrek points out those are important steps towards getting the bikes DOT and ECE certified for street use. The price and technical specifications for the Kalk& are still unknown. Cake said the bike would be available in March but didn’t list the other info.

What Do We Know?

With that said, the technical specs should be more or less the same to the off-road bike. That means it should have a battery that’s a 51.8V and 50 Ah Li-ion unit rated at 2.6 kWh. Powering the bike is a 15 kW motor. New Atlas and electrek both report new gearing for the street legal bike, meaning it can hit 100 km/h or 62 mph as its top speed. 

The range for the motorcycle is also unknown at this time. However, with the higher top speed, it’s unlikely that it will be super far. The faster you go, the more battery juice you use. The off-road bike can only travel up to 80 km per charge (just under 50 miles). That number simply isn’t enough for most people, though it could work for some urban commuters.

I actually like the look of the Kalk&. It reminds me of a wimpy version of the bike Tom Cruise rode in that weird sci-fi movie Oblivion. With that said, Cake has to up the range if it wants to sell these things. The low top speed of 60 mph isn’t a dealbreaker for me, but the likely 50 miles of range would be my reason for not buying one.

The low range is even more of an issue when you consider that the bike is bound to be expensive for what it is. The off-road version costs $13,000, and the street-legal version will probably be more. I’d rather wait for Lightning Motorcycle’s Strike. It’s supposed to do 150 miles per charge and cost the same.

Cake Kalk&
Images from Cake

Cake Kalk&

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Cake Cake Kalk electric motorcycle Gear Reviews Motorcycle News Other Motorcycle Blogs Stefan Ytterborn Web Bike World

Cake Hopes to Sell 70,000 of its Electric Motorcycle Annually

An Off-Road Electric Motorcycle and a Commuter?

Electric motorcycles provide zero emissions, instant torque, and plenty of opportunities from a design standpoint. Cake’s electric motorcycle is one of the more interesting out there. The bike targets off-road riders, but the CEO of Cake also sees it as the future of commuting.

Stefan Ytterborn, Cake’s CEO sat down with Cycle World to discuss his company and where he’d like it to go. During this conversation, he said he’d like to see his company sell 70,000 models annually. That number is based on a 10-year plan that Ytterborn worked on with his two sons.

“To pursue everything we have planned, we will need to finance the business by about $25 million until 2022,” he told Cycle World. “So far, we’ve raised $7 million.”

Electric Power for the Future

Cake’s electric motorcycle is a unique, dirtbike-looking thing. The company built the bike for light off-road use. It looks to me like a cross between a mountain bike and a real dirtbike. While the business is focused on the off-road portion of the market right now, Ytterborn talked a lot about the bike being used as a commuter vehicle in the future.

“The electric drivetrain suits a light, snappy vehicle,” he said. “The lion’s share of our business is going to be off-road inspired, but every model that we introduce will become a commuter bike as well.”

Going after off-road enthusiasts first is an interesting idea. It’s so vastly different from most other electric motorcycle manufacturers who focus on making a commuter bike first. It’s an interesting approach and one that I hope works for the company.

Cake Kalk electric bike charging
Image from Cake

If they can build up a customer base of people riding these off-road. it makes sense that they’d be able to make the transition to the street.

The Cake Kalk, the production version of the bike, is made in Taiwan and the drivetrain of the motorcycle is made in Europe. The Cake team designed it from the ground up. It has a top speed of about 45 mph and a range of up to about 50 miles. The motor is a range 7-15 kW mid motor and the battery is a 2.6kWh lithium ion. There are three ride modes and adjustable motor braking.

That sounds like it could be a fun toy or a useful commuting machine, depending on how far or fast you need to go. However, I see Cake’s machine needing a little more juice to truly entice most riders.

Cake Kalk electric motorcycle getting some air
Image from Cake
Cake Kalk doing a wheelie
Image from Cake
Cake Kalk electric motorcycle rear view
Image from Cake

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