We, for one, never imagined hubless designs becoming a thing apart from a few wacky custom jobs and, of course, the Legacy light cycle from Tron. Now though, a new Finnish company called Verge (previously known as the RMK Vehicle Corporation) has given us their version of the future, a hubless electric superbike called the Verge TS.

And it’s got a mind-bending peak torque figure of a 1000 Nm (786 lb-ft). You cannot find another machine on two-wheels that gets even half as close to this figure.

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RMK E2 protorype

2020 Verge TS


Back in 2018, RMK had unveiled the prototype of this TS – the E2. It ran on an in-house designed 50kw electric motor, with the 18650 cell lithium-ion battery making 120v at the drive. This setup produced a neat 236 lb-ft of torque, which, at that time, was still an imposing torque figure. But what Verge has done here with their production TS is quite the impossible.

A marvelous technical feat, the Verge TS boasts such massive figures due to its hubless motor that requires no sprockets to convert high motor speed into a lower wheel speed. Moreover, there is literally no loss of power, unlike the conventional electric motorcycles wherein the power is delivered to the rear wheel via a chain, shaft, or belt, which has its share of mechanical losses.

“Work out the torque multiplication figures that you get from a conventional internal combustion engine and a multi-speed gearbox, and you’ll discover that a typical modern literbike actually achieves something like 885 pound-feet (1,200Nm) at the rear tire in first gear.” Says Ben Purvis of Cycle World.

Built around an aluminum frame, the TS will make use of an in-house designed 80kw (107 hp) electric motor, with a lithium-ion battery making 120v at the drive. This setup produces a whopping 786 lb-ft of torque, which is more than enough to propel your brains out of the skull from the word go. A complete charge of the batteries will take 4 hours, while a quick DC charge that will come later can half the time.

Verge claims that the TS can hit the 60mph mark in under 4 seconds and has a cool 186-mile range in the city limits, while on highway speed, expect it to reduce to 125 miles. The TS will reach a limited top speed of 111 mph. 12 mph more than the porotype E2. With all of this, Verge has managed to keep the overall weight of the bike at around 496 lb.

Its “non-centered rim” dominates the rear end of the already posh and brat design that is an amalgamation of a naked streetfighter (sans the cowl) and a fully-faired sportsbike. The only brain scratching detail here is the forward set footpegs, just like a cruiser. But if you prefer a more streetfighter-style stance, the TS also has a set of footrests mounted much farther back, intended for pillions nonetheless. Luckily, the set of low clip-on has been replaced with an upright positioned handlebar.

The lighting at the front is handled by twin LED projector lamps and DRLs’ housed within a minimalist Transformer face. A large screen on the mock fuel-tank can hold plenty of info, including navigation, battery status, performance, and more. Over-the-air updates provide new features and ways to customize how you interact with your TS.

At the front, the TS gets a beefy Ohlins upside-down suspension setup, and Brembo radial four-piston calipers tethered to twin brake butterfly disks, and a three-spoke alloy rim wheel. At the rear, Ohlins monoshock with piggyback handle the dampening. A regenerative system applies motor braking and recharges the battery, smoothly controlled with the left-hand lever.

The hubless motor will require the rear to run on super-wide tires, and a fatter tire means a heavier rear end. Also, we cannot say how these new added gyroscopic masses and unsprung weights are going to play with the suspension and handling abilities of the TS yet. But the folks at Verge tell us that the gyroscopic mass of the rear wheel will be lighter than a standard motorcycle wheel.

Apart from looking so freakin cool, the wheels have lower unsprung weight allowing to steer, brake, and handle better. That being said, they are, however, difficult and expensive to manufacture, requiring a great deal of precision machining, and the design leaves the bearings and other critical parts largely exposed to the elements. And when it comes to changing tires, it is a whole other territory.

RMK has already begun with the production on a small scale setup and will slowly ramp it up after the EU type-approval is granted. Customers can expect to get theirs by mid-2020, provided they have already reserved the motorcycle for EUR 2000 ($2,200). The motorcycle itself will cost around EUR 24,990 ($27,500) and will be pre-registered in Finland.

- Teemu Saukkio, CTO / LEAD DESIGNER

The TS moniker pays homage to the bike’s original designer, Teemu Saukkio.