Daemon Motors is dead.
It appears that the company has gone bankrupt. The last remaining officers, the only people who actually worked there, have split up. The site is dead. Manufacturing facilities in Canada and the United States have long been dismantled. Many prospective adopters are asking about their 100% refundable down payment on social media. At present, countless cases are going on. And the promise of a 200-mile, 200 mph all-electric superbike, with the recent pivot to AI and micromobility, is gone from the building. Promises made, promises broken.
But Damon’s saga is not like that completely End. Or rather, it didn’t end the way I or others might have predicted.
recently, ride separately Received a note from a reader lacking confidence. See, Damen Motors has never actually sold a single EV motorcycle to the public. In fact, its bike never went into production, the only motorcycle that turned out to be a prototype – our friend and contributor Tim Stevens is one of the only people outside the factory to have ever ridden it.
And yet, one of those prototype motorcycles is now in private hands.
It’s the simple fact that Damon threw a bunch of parts, accessories, documents, displays, and a half-finished prototype into a storage locker, then failed to pay him, and Then In the recent storage locker auction, it was sold to the highest bidder.
Are you familiar with A&E’s “Storage Wars” TV show? Something like this. However this part of the story started because a buyer saw an electric motorcycle with some charging equipment, and then sent a note to his brother that said, “Buy it!”
However, they were not aware of its connection to Damon until they won the locker and took possession of its contents.
Photo by: RideApart.com
That’s a carbon fiber wheel.
The frame of the Damen Motors prototype is marked “MK2”.
Damen Motors “MK2” prototype.
Photos: RideApart.com
According to the buyer and his siblings, who both wish to remain anonymous, the storage locker was auctioned off in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the headquarters of Damon Motorcycles. The locker was a 10-foot by 15-foot space and was a part of the regular storage locker auction that typically occurs when the owner fails to pay rental.
buyer told ride separately That Damon – or whoever managed the storage locker – “had three months to pay off their balance with fees after being delinquent, and then the contents would be auctioned off. They would have to pay approximately $2,500 for the update, which they failed to do before the auction deadline.”
Now, I phrased this as “whoever managed the storage locker” because it’s not clear whose storage locker it was before it changed hands. Local and federal Canadian laws exist regarding ownership of storage lockers, so even if you win the auction, you are not entitled to know whose locker you purchased due to privacy concerns. “(Auctioneers) are strictly prohibited from providing any details regarding previous ownership,” the buyer says. However, the buyer said that the details he received were that this locker was managed by “a corporation.” Damon remains suspect No. 1, as the whole thing collapsed within days.
Photo by: RideApart.com
Daemon Motors Hypersport Bodywork
Photos: RideApart.com
Daemon Motors Hypersport Bodywork
However, within the locker itself was a treasure trove of Damon’s artifacts. It includes a half-assembled prototype, several iterations of the HyperSport’s bodywork, various charging equipment, display items, and almost enough parts to build a functioning motorcycle.
There was also a 12-foot Christmas tree.
original email to ride separately Read, “Damon Motors MK2 Prototype Found in Auction Locker,” and explained that the buyer and his sibling had recently acquired a storage locker with items in it and weren’t sure who to talk to about it.
Photo by: RideApart.com
“We’re just checking stuff out and trying to assess what we have, and it appears we have a Damen Motors Mk2 pre-production prototype,” the buyer explained. RideApart, adding, “There are boxes containing fairings, body pieces, lots of accessories, circuit boards and other items that have yet to be evaluated. We seem to be missing the front end and a carbon fiber front wheel, but most everything else is present. “Also is a hyperdrive display unit, which appears to be hollow for the most part.”
Obviously, the most exciting thing inside the storage locker is the partially assembled but unfinished Demon HyperSport, as it attracted many people to the brand, including thousands who laid down $100 for it.
According to the buyer, the stampings on the motorcycle remain elusive, leaving no clue as to where Damen acquired its parts – a reminder that according to most sources, the first prototype used BMW switchgear and a Yamaha frame and swingarm. But what has been reported is that it was a second-generation prototype of the Demon, which is probably close to the prototype that our friend Stevens first rode. wired Many years ago.
In recent days, Damon had gone back to the drawing board and begun work on a new prototype, although it is unclear if it ever got past the design stage.
Damen Motors Prototype.
A logbook included in the sale.
Protect electrical wires and boxes.
Photos: RideApart.com
It’s also clear that the new owners have inherited Damon’s material advances in the design of the HyperSport. The locker also included four boxes of bodywork: “It seems like we have three generations of bike bodies. Possibly? I noticed that as we went on, they got more and more refined. The first was 3D printed and fragile. Broken parts. Rough looking and, frankly, cheap looking. The last box #4 was yellow and felt much more solid and higher quality.”
Also within the locker was a display model of the brand’s HyperDrive motor, which, according to the buyer, felt as “hollow” as you would expect from something that must be hauled to trade shows and meet-and-greets. It also contained checklists, sign-out sheets, and many of the essential tools needed to maintain the prototype. A checklist dated March 4, 2024 is titled “Bike Rebuild and Update, BMB V2” and details all checks of the motorcycle’s operational systems, such as headlights, taillights, brakes and more.
A check on the ECU stated that it was apparently using the map for California’s Thunderhill Racetrack, the same track at which Stevens had ridden the prototype a year before the dates of this data logbook.
Parts and accessories include safety checklist.
Photo by: RideApart.com
The new buyers didn’t want to give specifics about how much they paid for it, but they did give a rough figure Ride separately. That was significantly less than the cost of the company’s pre-production prototype, not to mention all the parts, accessories and charging equipment included in the sale.
What’s even more interesting is that this comes as companies, even startups with volatile histories like Daemon, have better control over where their stuff is at any given time. Still, it seems that in the end, Damon was trying to survive and had to put a lot of his engineering into storage.
But for the first time, a Demon Motorcycle HyperSport was sold to an average person. It is missing the front end. And one of the prototypes of the now defunct brand. And it was not sold to them directly, but in a storage auction after the company defaulted on the rental unit. So there are some caveats to say the least.
Is this perhaps the final conclusion to the Damon Motorcycles? Inexplicably, just as every time we think it’s over, another wild twist in the Demon Motors story has once again unfolded.
