This Electric Motorcycle Has A Real 4-Speed Manual, And It’s Just For Fun

I’ve ridden a few electric motorcycles. While I appreciate their capabilities, particularly their effortless acceleration, my left hand and foot are always reaching for a clutch and gearshift that aren’t there. Call me a curmudgeon, but to me there’s something uniquely satisfying about a perfectly executed rev-matched downshift that no electric motorcycle can provide — at least, not until now.

From India, the Matter Aera 5000 is an electric motorcycle featuring something most EVs don’t: a genuine four-speed manual transmission. It’s completely unnecessary on an EV, yet it has one anyway. On the surface, the performance numbers aren’t that impressive. It has a 5-kWh battery, a single electric motor making about 15 horsepower, a 0-25 mph time of 2.8 seconds, and a top speed of 65 mph. In a world where Max Biaggi can hit 283 mph on his electric motorcycle, what’s the point of one with such relatively low capabilities? Well, fun.

It’s like the old saying, “I’d rather drive a slow car fast than have to drive a fast car slow.” I recently picked up a Kawasaki Z125, which is essentially the brand’s version of the Honda Grom. It makes about eight horsepower, but weighs barely more than me and has excellent handling, particularly with its short wheelbase. The Aera 5000 is a little bit bigger, heavier, and more powerful, but is essentially the same formula: a bike made for fun rather than top performance. 

The Grom, Z125, and Aera 5000 all have a four-speed manual transmission. Faster bikes have five or six gears, but four is all you really need in a pocket rocket like these. What I enjoy most about my Z125 is that I can ride like a hooligan, go full throttle pretty much everywhere, and still remain at or below the speed limit. While EVs continue to break record after record, there’s something to be said for one that will never break a record, but exists just for fun, especially with a starting price around $2,300 in India. We don’t know if this bike will be coming to the U.S., but I do hope we’ll get something like this here in the future.