Electrification has done wonderful things for motorcycle design. By getting rid of the engine and the fuel tank that supports it, designers have the freedom to do whatever they want, and the results have been occasionally brilliant. I’m a big fan of the vaguely retrofuturistic stylings of the Maeving RM2 and the quirky minimalism of BMW’s CE 02but nothing yet has quite left me so awestruck as Project Ares.
This all-electric machine is the first offering from South Carolina-based Real Motors, and it bears a shape that would not look out of place on the streets of Night City, the main setting in Cyberpunk 2077. There’s a little bit of Star Wars in there and maybe even some Wipeouttoo, but it’s never derivative. Most importantly, it’s real. Project Ares starts at $20,000 and ships next year in limited volumes, but don’t let its future cafe racer vibe fool you. This doesn’t quite feel like you might expect.
CEO and cofounder Trent Dingman tells me that Real Motors started as a challenge between him and Michael Feng (design engineer and the other cofounder) to “build the coolest possible thing, the best design, and show people what we can do.”
Project Ares is the first coolest possible thing: an all-electric motorcycle designed and built in Greenville, right in the heart of the battery belt, not far from already-big and still-developing EV players like BMW, Scout MotorsVolvo, and Redwood Materials.
The white bike is an early prototype that’s substantially smaller than the bike I rode, Prototype 04, evocatively called “Ghost” thanks to its distinctive fairing. From a distance, it just looks like glossy black, nothing too special. Come closer, though, and you see the translucence. From in the saddle, you can spot the charger’s cooling vanes, situated inside where the tank would normally be. You can follow the bright orange high-voltage lines as they snake through and around the bike’s battery pack.
Things aren’t finalized yet, but that pack will be roughly 15 kilowatt-hours, charging at up to 3.3 kilowatts over a standard SAE J1772 charging port on the very top of its “tank.”
The pack powers an electric motor officially rated at 101 horsepower and an insane 738 pound-feet of torque. However, that latter figure requires some context. The number Real Motor quotes is the torque measured at the wheel, after being multiplied by the bike’s gearing. Most motorcycles quote actual torque at the engine or motor output shaft. Measured in the same way, the actual output of the Ares’ motor is probably somewhere closer to 200 pound-feet, still putting it among the strongest twisting motorcycles on the planet.
Those are substantial numbers, but then the Ares is carrying some substantial weight.
While the Ares may look like it was sent from the future, it’s built in a present where we’re still stubbornly waiting for mass-produced solid-state batteries to fully enter reality. That means big batteries like this one weigh a lot.
Project Ares has a total weight of 485 pounds. That puts it right in line with Zero Motorcycles’ SR/Fwhich has similar power output and battery size. However, the Ares is nearly an inch and a half longer than the Zero.
From a more traditional sportbike perspective, the Ares weighs nearly 100 pounds more than a Ducati Panigale V4 and has a wheelbase roughly three-quarters of an inch longer.
Having only seen it in photos, I didn’t expect that volume. I had in my mind a diminutive cafe racer, the classic style of machine typified by British riders who like to splay themselves over their motorcycle’s tanks as they buzz from one cuppa to another.
And that’s definitely the way the Ares is set up. The bars are set low, putting your chest and head down close to that translucent tank. The pegs are likewise up high, delivering maximum clearance for cornering and putting you into that classic posture.
But whereas most cafe racers are skinny and svelte, the Ares has a wide saddle hinting at the mass of the machine beneath you. That aggressive geometry plus its weight made for a somewhat wobbly start as I got a feel for things, but I was quickly up to speed.
Riding “Ghost” was a refreshingly distraction-free experience. This prototype lacked mirrors, a choice prioritizing aesthetics over safety. But it did free me from worrying about anything behind. With only a minimalist LCD in front, I could focus exclusively on the ride.
Project Ares has three speed settings. Dingman warned me before I got in the saddle that the bike had neither traction control nor antilock braking. With that torque figure, theoretically enough to liquefy the rear tire, I started in mode 1, the lightest, to be safe.
I didn’t need to worry. While I’ve found some preproduction EVs to be a real handful, with overly aggressive throttles leading to bikes that want to buck you off the back, I immediately felt at home on the Ares. There’s no abrupt lurching forward as you twist the grip, just a smooth application of increasing power.
It wasn’t long before I was up to mode 2, then mode 3, then grinning like a fool with the throttle pegged wide open and my chest flat on the tank. Even in its most aggressive, the Ares is easy to manage, with plenty of power to entertain but such a smooth delivery that it never does anything unexpected.
What was unexpected was how it turns. Again, I had a vision of a razor-sharp racing machine, but the Ares takes a bit of muscle. Unlike the aforementioned Panigale, which drops onto its side with just a hint of pressure on the handlebars, the Ghost required a strong, sustained push to turn.
I wouldn’t call it reluctant as such, but the feeling is more of a cruiser than a sportbike. A cruiser with extremely sporty components, though. The unmarked suspension on my prototype felt plenty good, but buyers can spec top-shelf Öhlins dampers if they like. Brembo brakes are also on offer, meaning that while this bike comes at a premium price, you at least get premium components befitting something named after the son of Zeus.
So it’s a heavier, more intentional ride than its cafe racer style and ergos may imply, but the blame for much of that lies in today’s battery technology.
Which leads us to perhaps the biggest question of all: range. The Ares spec sheet lists 120 miles in the city on a charge. Frankly, I didn’t come close to that efficiency during my day in the saddle, but don’t hold that against it. It’s still pre-production, after all, and lots could change in the next few months.
Also, I spent a good portion of that day with the throttle pinned open, which is not ideal for maximizing longevity.
That said, I’ve yet to meet an electric motorcycle that can live up to its range estimates when ridden hard and at speed. I doubt this one will shatter that paradigm. Even so, Project Ares is already fast, fun, and astonishingly good looking. While the world of motorcycling may be evolving, style still counts for a lot.
Photography by Tim Stevens / The Verge
