Someone Just Bought Damon Motors' Prototype EV Superbike In a Storage Locker Auction
The first, and likely only, Damon-produced motorcycle ever to be sold to a consumer.
The company appears to have gone bankrupt. The last remaining executives, who were really the only people left working there, have split. The site is dead. The manufacturing facilities in Canada and the United States are long gone. A host of would-be early adopters are asking about their 100% refundable down payment across social media. There are countless lawsuits going on right now. And the promise of a 200-mile, 200 mph all-electric superbike has left the building, along with their more recent pivot to AI and micromobility. Promises made, promises broken.
But the saga of Damon hasn't completely ended. Or rather, it hasn't ended in the way that I or others would've likely guessed.
Recently, RideApart received a note from a reader that beggared belief. See, Damon Motors never actually sold a single EV motorcycle to the public. In fact, its bikes never even made it into production, with the only motorcycles ever seeing the light of day being prototypes—our friend and contributor Tim Stevens remains one of the only people outside the factory to ever have ridden one.
And yet, one of those prototype motorcycles is now in private hands.
That simple fact is thanks to Damon throwing a bunch of parts, accessories, documents, displays, and one half-finished prototype into a storage locker, then failing to make its payments, and then seeing it sold off to the highest bidder in a recent storage locker auction.
Are you familiar with A&E's "Storage Wars" TV show? Kind of like that. Although this part of the story started because the buyer saw what looked to be an electric motorcycle, along with some charging equipment, and then sent a note to their sibling who said, "Buy it!"
They didn't know its connection with Damon until after they'd won the locker and taken possession of its contents, however.
That's a carbon fiber wheel.
"MK2" marked on the frame of the Damon Motors prototype.
The Damon Motors "MK2" prototype.
Startups Gonna Startup
According to the buyer and their sibling, who both wish to remain anonymous, the storage locker auction occurred in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, which was the headquarters of Damon Motorcycles. The locker was a 10-foot by 15-foot space and was a part of the regular storage locker auctions that normally take place after an owner fails to pay for the rental.
The buyer told RideApart that Damon—or whoever managed the storage locker—had "three months to pay their balance with fees after becoming delinquent, and after that the contents would be auctioned off. They would’ve had to pay around $2,500 approximately to get up-to-date, which they failed to do before the auction deadline."
Now, I phrased that as "whoever managed the storage locker" because it's unclear whose storage locker it was prior to changing hands. Local and federal Canadian laws regarding storage locker ownership are in place so that, even if you win the auction, you aren't entitled to know whose locker you just bought due to privacy concerns. "[The auctioneers] are strictly prohibited from providing any details" about past ownership, says the buyer. However, the buyer said that the one detail they received was that this locker was managed by "a corporation." Damon remains suspect number 1, since the whole thing collapsed in what seemed like only a few days.
Damon Motors Hypersport bodywork
Damon Motors Hypersport bodywork
However, within the locker itself was a treasure trove of Damon artifacts. This includes a half-assembled prototype, multiple iterations of the HyperSport's bodywork, various charging equipment, display items, and almost enough parts to build yourself a working motorcycle.
There was also a 12-foot Christmas tree.
The original email to RideApart read, "Found Damon Motors MK2 prototype in auction locker," and relayed that the buyer and their sibling recently acquired the storage locker with the items and weren't sure who to talk to about it.
"We are just going through the stuff trying to assess what we have, and it appears we have the Damon Motors MK2 pre-production prototype," the buyer told RideApart, adding, "There are boxes with fairings, body pieces, loads of accessories, circuit boards, and other items yet to be assessed. Looks like we are missing the front end and carbon fiber front wheel, but mostly everything else seems to be there. There’s also a Hyperdrive display unit as well, which appears to be hollow, for the most part."
Obviously, the most exciting thing within the storage locker is the partially assembled but incomplete Damon HyperSport, as it was what attracted many to the brand, including the thousands who put down $100 deposits for one.
According to the buyer, stamping remains elusive on the motorcycle itself, thereby rendering where Damon acquired its parts inconclusive—a reminder that the first prototype used BMW switchgear and a Yamaha frame and swingarm, according to most sources. But what is relayed is that this was Damon's second-generation prototype, which is likely close to the one that our friend Stevens first rode for Wired many years ago.
In more recent times, Damon had gone back to the drawing board and started all over on a new prototype, though it's unclear if that one ever got past the design phase.
The Damon Motors prototype.
A logbook included in the sale.
Parts and more.
Spare electrical wires and boxes.
What is also clear is that the new owners also inherited what seems like Damon's material progression in the HyperSport's design. Also included in the locker were four boxes of bodywork: "Looks like we have three generations of the bike body. Possibly? I noticed they got more refined as we went along. The first one was 3D printed and fragile. Broken bits. Rough-looking and, frankly, cheap-looking. The last box #4 was the yellow one and seemed much more solid and high-end."
Also within the locker was a display model of the brand's Hyperdrive motor, which, according to the buyer, seems "hollow," which is what you'd expect for something that's meant to be dragged along for trade shows and meet-and-greets. There were also checklists, sign-out sheets, and much of the necessary equipment one would need to maintain the prototype. One checklist, dated the 4th of March, 2024, is headlined as "Bike Rebuild and Update, BMB V2," and details all the checks to the motorcycle's operational systems, such as headlights, taillights, brakes, and more.
One check on the ECU states that it was apparently using the map for California's Thunderhill racetrack, the same track that Stevens rode the prototype on a year prior to the dates on this data logbook.
Safety checklist included in the parts and accessories.
The new buyers didn't want to get into specifics for what they paid for it, but relayed a rough figure to RideApart. It was a lot less than what you'd expect a company's pre-production prototype to cost, let alone all the parts, accessories, and charging equipment that was also included in the sale.
What's even more interesting is the fact that this even came up, as companies, even startups with as shaky histories as Damon, tend to have a better handle on where their things are at any given time. Yet, it seems that near the end, Damon was just trying to survive and had to put a lot of its engineering into storage.
But for the first time ever, a Damon Motorcycles Hypersport was sold to an average person. It is missing a front end. And is one of the now-defunct brand's prototypes. And was not sold directly to them, but at a storage auction after the company defaulted on the rental unit. So there are a few caveats, to say the least.
Is this perhaps the final conclusion to Damon Motorcycle? Unclear, as every time we think it's over, another wild twist in the story of Damon Motors rears its head once again.
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