Cake Kalk off-road electric motorcycle on sale in Australia

You can have your Cake and ride it – in silence.

The Swedish manufacturer of lightweight electric motorcycles not only has an appetising name, but also an ever-expanding inventory of appealing models.

One of its creations – the Kalk OR – is being sold through Deus Ex Machina at its flagship store in Camperdown, Sydney. The Australian brand is typically associated with custom oily bits motorcycles, but has become a Cake retailer to meet a growing demand for electric bikes.

The Kalk OR is, as the ‘OR’ bit suggests, an off-road electric motorcycle engineered and designed from scratch. The 6061 aluminium-framed bike has been built without using any off-the shelf components, with an emphasis on silent riding and light weight.

Tipping the scales at just 69kg – including the interchangeable battery – power comes from a fared-in 11kW electric motor with peak torque of 42Nm on the shaft or 280Nm on the wheel. Top speed is quoted at up to 90km/h.

Battery’s a 51.8 Volt lithium-ion item with 2.6kWh capacity, and can be charged once removed, or in situ on the bike. A 0-80 percent charge takes two hours with a domestic socket (to 100 percent takes three hours), or you can drop around $5000 dollars (!) on a spare battery to slot in while the other powers up.

It features three regenerative braking modes and three separate ride modes, with the optimal allowing some 80-kilometres range.

If you choose Explore mode you’re limited to 45km/h and Cake suggests that buys you 3-4 hours battery range. Excite is middle ground, while Excel is your “track and race” mode, giving up to an hour of maximum torque and speed.

The adjustable suspension has been custom developed by Öhlins with a focus on high performance and minimum weight. Ground clearance is 300mm and seat height 910mm.

Watch some of Cake’s promotional videos (see above) and marvel at its too-sexy-cool photography and it’s easy to see the appeal. The Kalk ORs look incredible fun, easy to get air or change direction, and versatile enough to take over a variety of terrain.

But it comes at a cost. Deus Ex Machina retails the Cake Kalk OR for $24,995, so it’s no flippant purchase.

Cameron Rogers, bikes sales manager at Deus Customs, said they currently have a demonstrator Kalk OR model at its Sydney showroom, but it will shortly be heading off for a motorcycle display exhibition. Another demo bike will soon follow, while wait times for customer orders from Sweden is around 10-12 weeks.

On the subject of electric motorcycles in Australia, Rogers said after initial response was flat, awareness and interest had rapidly increased. “We’re seeing more and more electrical requests, and it’s definitely picked up during Covid,” he said.

Cake also produces on-road electric motorcycles, but Rogers said although Deus is looking into them, Australian Design Rules (ADRs) make compliance difficult. Off-road models such as the Kalk OR aren’t subject to the same requirements.

A pricier Kalk& model is able to be road registered in other countries, as is a cheaper Kalk INK SL which drops the fancy Öhlins suspension. There are also “Race” versions of both the Kalk OR and Kalk INK.

While we need to be sceptical about a lot of electric vehicle startups, Cake is clearly no pie-in-the-sky venture. The major motorcycle media have reviewed its bikes (positively, although the cost of these things haven’t escaped the journalists’ attention), while the brand has won two respected Red Dot Design Awards: in 2019 for the Kalk and this year for its utility-focused Ösa.

Fellow Swedish electric brand Polestar (owned by Volvo Car Group and Geely) has recently announced a brand partnership with Cake. First step – which will be huge for exposure – is Cake’s electric motorcycles being showcased in Polestar’s European showrooms.