Price: £6299 (£6599 after introductory offer) | Power: 20.1bhp (boost mode) | Weight: 143kg | Overall BikeSocial Rating: TBA
While all the big-name motorcycle manufacturers scrabble about on the fringes of the electric motorcycle market, they’ve left the field wide open for upstarts to establish themselves – and sales figures show that Vmoto and Sur-Ron are the two companies currently taking the biggest slices of the pie in the UK.
Vmoto also offers bikes under the Super Soco name including the TC Max, CPx and CUx – all well established in the UK’s top-10 chart for best-selling electric motorcycles – but the Stash marks a move upmarket for the brand with eye-catching styling from British designer Adrian Morton. That’s the same Adrian Morton who headed design at MV Agusta until 2020 and before that penned the Benelli Tornado Tre and TnT 1130. That’s a pretty strong CV.
With the promise of 20.1bhp while falling into the learner-legal class that nominally limits you to 15hp, the Stash has a performance edge over combustion engine rivals and promises a decent 93.2-mile range at a price that’s substantially lower than the likes of Kawasaki’s slower, shorter-range Z e-1.
Pros & Cons
- Long(ish) 93.2-mile range
- Loophole means more power than combustion engine learner bikes are allowed
- Innovative storage gives scooter-style practicality
- Six-hour charge time might not suit everyone
- Price is higher than equivalent learner-legal petrol bikes
Review – In Detail
Price & PCP
For and against
Engine & Performance
Handling & Suspension (inc. weight & brakes)
Comfort & Economy
Equipment
Rivals
Verdict
Specification
We first saw the VMoto Stash back in 2021 and the model had a full reveal a year later in November 2022 – so it’s taken a while for it to edge into production and onto the market but the company says it will be available in the UK in April or May 2024. The introductory price is set at £6299 (+OTR charges), with to be followed by an RRP of £6599, with two colour options: black or blue.
It's a price that sets the Stash as Vmoto’s most expensive offering yet, substantially higher than the previous range-topping, £4599 TC Max, but it’s on a par with the price of the Sur-ron Ultra-Bee that was 2023’s best-selling electric motorcycle in the UK. Petrol-powered 125s are still substantially cheaper –something like a Lexmoto LXR is half the price of the Vmoto and even a big-name bike like Yamaha’s R125 is £1000 less than the Stash – but electric offerings from legacy brands, like Kawasaki’s £7699 Z E-1, are much more expensive.
The Stash is powered by an air-cooled electric motor that’s rated at 8kW, connected to a 72-volt, 100Ah battery. That’s equivalent to 10.7hp, and well below the 11kW/15hp limit for learner-legal 125cc combustion engine bikes. But like many electric models, it takes advantage of a loophole to have more performance than you’ll get from a petrol-powered equivalent. The European rules for learner-legal electric bikes look at the rated, continuous maximum power output of their motors – which means the power level they can maintain for an extended time – rather than their absolute peak power. On the Stash, that peak power figure is 20.1hp (15kW), accessible via a ‘boost’ function for shorter periods. On the Stash, that power equates to a top speed of around 70mph. Vmoto puts the acceleration at 3.2 seconds to 30mph, which should be plenty to keep up with city traffic.
Like most electric bikes, the motor powers the rear wheel via a single gear ratio and there’s no clutch, but there are three riding modes and a traction control system as standard.
Although it can’t be seen due to the bodywork, the Stash uses a conventional steel frame with an aluminium subframe. The suspension is par for the course in this segment of the market, with non-adjustable upside-down forks and a monoshock rear acting on an aluminium swingarm. The wheels are alloy 17-inchers at each end, with 110/17-17 front and 140/70-17 rear Pirelli Diablo Rosso rubber fitted to the first 40 bikes sold in the UK. The same tyres will be an extra-cost option after that, although it’s unconfirmed what the standard rubber will be.
The brakes consist of a single front disc grabbed by a four-pot, radial-mount caliper allied to a single-piston rear on a sawtooth disc. There’s Bosch ABS, and the brakes are both operated by bar-mounted levers as there’s no clutch or gearshift to worry about. It’s also a combined brake system, so pulling the front brake will also add a dab of rear, and vice versa.
At 143kg the Stash is relatively light for an electric bike, too.
Despite its sports bike styling, Vmoto actually positions the Stash as sitting somewhere between a motorcycle and a scooter thanks to its surprisingly large luggage area and simple controls.
Instead of putting storage under the seat, like a scooter, the Stash has it where you’d normally find the fuel tank. There’s enough space under there for a full-face helmet – a potentially big plus point if you’re using it to commute and don’t want to spend your days lugging a lid around or trying to find a safe place to leave it.
Behind that storage area, there’s an 830mm-high seat, and even though the fairing and headlight give the impression of a sports bike, with since they’re mounted solidly to the frame, the bars are tall and wide for a comfortable, upright stance. While most riders are likely to be learners, so passengers will be out of the question for them, there is also a fairly substantial pillion pad with relatively low pegs and grab handles on each side.
As with most electric bikes, range is going to vary depending on how you use it, but Vmoto reckon that you should be able to get over 90 miles on a charge in the right conditions. When it’s flat, the battery will take between five and six hours to refill using the standard charger, but there’s an optional higher-speed charger that claims to bring that down to 2.5 hours. How much it will cost per charge will depend on your tariff but given the Stash’s battery size it will be around the £2 mark at a typical rate.
On board, the Stash features a colour TFT screen – pretty much a given on most new bikes in 2024 – but it has mobile phone connectivity and screen casting, navigation and tyre pressure monitoring as standard. It’s a typical level of tech for modern, Chinese-made bikes, but offers more gadgets than you’ll find on many more expensive Japanese or European models.
All the lighting is by LED, and there’s keyless ignition, an alarm and an app-based tracking system as standard, too.
Electric bikes are still very much in the minority at the moment but if you’re considering the Stash you’re probably already committed to the idea of battery power. Here’s how some of its rivals stack up.
Maeving RM1S | Price: £7495
Power/Torque: 14bhp/TBA lb-ft | Weight: 130kg
BMW CE 02 | Price: £7450
Power/Torque: 11bhp/55lb-ft | Weight: 132kg
Kawasaki Z e-1 | Price: £7699
Power/Torque: 12bhp/30lb-ft | Weight: 135kg
We’ll be riding the Stash this Spring, so keep an eye out for our impressions then.
If you’d like to chat about this article or anything else biking related, join us and thousands of other riders at the Bennetts BikeSocial Facebook page.
|
New price
|
From £6299 (£6599 after introductory offer)
|
|
Capacity
|
N/A
|
|
Bore x Stroke
|
N/A
|
|
Engine layout
|
Electric
|
|
Engine details
|
Air cooled
|
|
Power
|
20.1bhp (15KW)
|
|
Torque
|
TBA
|
|
Transmission
|
Direct drive
|
|
Average fuel consumption
|
N/A
|
|
Tank size
|
N/A
|
|
Max range to empty
|
93.2 miles (claimed)
|
|
Rider aids
|
Traction control, ABS, three riding modes, combined brakes
|
|
Frame
|
Steel, aluminium subframe
|
|
Front suspension
|
Upside-down forks
|
|
Front suspension adjustment
|
None
|
|
Rear suspension
|
Monoshock
|
|
Rear suspension adjustment
|
None
|
|
Front brake
|
Single disc, four-piston radial caliper, Bosch ABS, CBS
|
|
Rear brake
|
Single disc, one-piston caliper, Bosch ABS, CBS
|
|
Front wheel / tyre
|
110/17-17 Pirelli Diablo Rosso
|
|
Rear wheel / tyre
|
140/70-17 Pirelli Diablo Rosso
|
|
Dimensions (LxWxH)
|
2012 mm x 780 mm x 1100 mm
|
|
Wheelbase
|
1373mm
|
|
Seat height
|
830mm
|
|
Weight
|
143kg
|
|
Warranty
|
3 years
|
|
Servicing
|
TBC
|
|
MCIA Secured Rating
|
Not yet rated
|
|
Website
|
https://vmoto.co.uk/
|
Looking for motorcycle insurance? Get a quote for this motorbike with Bennetts bike insurance
What is MCIA Secured?
MCIA Secured gives bike buyers the chance to see just how much work a manufacturer has put into making their new investment as resistant to theft as possible.
As we all know, the more security you use, the less chance there is of your bike being stolen. In fact, based on research by Bennetts, using a disc lock makes your machine three times less likely to be stolen, while heavy duty kit can make it less likely to be stolen than a car. For reviews of the best security products, click here.
MCIA Secured gives motorcycles a rating out of five stars (three stars for bikes of 125cc or less), based on the following being fitted to a new bike as standard:
- A steering lock that meets the UNECE 62 standard
- An ignition immobiliser system
- A vehicle marking system
- An alarm system
- A vehicle tracking system with subscription
The higher the star rating, the better the security, so always ask your dealer what rating your bike has and compare it to other machines on your shortlist.
