The first products of fresh Bay Area startup BRD, this motocrosser and supermoto promise equivalent performance to 250cc four-stroke competitors. Making 40bhp and weighing 240lbs without lights, the BRD RedShift MX looks approximately equal to the KTM 250 SX-F, which makes 39bhp and weighs 228lbs. With 5.2kWh in its battery pack, the BRD should be capable of one if not two full motos too.

“We just want to make faster motorcycles,” says BRD ceo Marc Fenigstein. “We’re a team of riders and racers with high-performance gas machines in the garage. We’re building the bikes we’d rather be riding.”

RedShift's proprietary chassis is based around standard MX dimensions and angles. A monocoque design allows the batteries and motor to become stressed members, while locating them ideally for weight distribution and packaging.

“There are decades of development in modern motocross and supermoto chassis,” explains BRD cto Derek Dorresteyn. “We chose to harness the best of that while taking advantage of the torque and throttle response an electric motor delivers.”

The idea, apparently, is to give riders a familiar package, just one that plugs in to an electrical outlet. BRD claims the electric drivetrain delivers “more control, feedback, and confidence” compared to ICE.

The MX bike will come in street-legal form, weighing 250lbs, but that weight drops to 240lbs if you set it up for off-road only use.

The BRD RedShift SM is the one being unveiled in San Francisco as we speak and will obviously be road legal.

As for range? 5.2kWh would typically be good for 50-ish miles of commute-style riding, but BRD anticipates its bikes being used a little harder. “We expect people to ride the snot out of these in a way that hasn’t been possible on previous electrics,” says Fenigstein. “That’s going to affect the range and we want to be careful about getting the specification right.”

This is sort of a pre-production preview of these new bikes. More information is planned to coincided with EICMA in November. Pricing is likely going to be in the neighborhood of $15,000, which means you're really going to have to want to be an early adopter to pick one of these over that $7,699 KTM.

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