Hey folks, Marc from BRD here. Just ran across this. Toshi, thanks for posting it up back in September.
The discussion here, though brief, is unusually well informed compared to what I'm used to (e.g. "ur bike is ghey") so I thought it worth hopping in.
Some quick answers:
- The chassis tech actually allows us to match strength, weight and stiffness to the CRF at a very reasonable cost. With no welds, we have much less potential for QA issues (weld contamination) and much better alignment (heat treat occurs before machining). Also, as a two piece frame, it's actually MORE repairable than a CRF. The bike would cost more with a traditional welded frame. And it wouldn't look as cool.
- It will absolutely keep up with a CRF250R. We've been conducting our testing against my KTM 250 XCF-W as a benchmark, and it leaves the KTM behind in both handling and outright power. Actually just posted some videos of the KTM being dropped in a drag race on our facebook. It's faster and easier to ride fast.
- We expect about 2 hours of aggressive trail time, or about 40 minutes of true race pace, or about 50 miles of aggressive surface street use. We've gotten about 90 minutes of hard supermoto riding in per charge (to reserve), including back-to-back-to-back drag runs and swapping riders to make sure we stay fresh and aggressive. Our spec was based on what it would take to make sure a top 5 open class (450cc) pro could complete a moto finals on it. If you can put as much power to the ground as Ryan Dungee, you could probably burn through the battery in about 30-35 minutes at full bore.
- Battery is fixed. Swappable battery doesn't make sense considering the cost and weight of this unit. No one is going to be able to swap an 85lbs box off of a muddy bike. It saves significant weight, packaging size, and cost to go fixed. We're working on fast charge options instead.
Anyway, thanks all for the interest. We'll be slowly putting out some videos of this guy in action in the near future and I think you're going to be impressed.
edit: whoops, skipped the shameless self-promotion. Facebook page (best source for updates) is at facebook.com/brdmoto