2024-on Vmoto Stash Review | electric bike specialist Vmoto releases first ‘proper’ learner-legal motorcycle

You might not have heard of Vmoto, but it’s been the top-selling electric bike brand in the UK for the past few years. It specialises in urban mobility – electric mopeds and scooters – aimed at basic commuting and fleet users – and you’re most likely to have seen its bikes with an Uber Eats rider on board.

But the Stash is an attempt to expand Vmoto’s range upwards into ‘proper’ motorcycling. It’s got solid 125cc-class performance, a claimed 90 mile range from the single fixed battery, and some high-spec chassis parts, including Pirelli Diablo Rosso tyres and a radial four-piston front brake caliper.

There’s also loads of equipment normally not seen on a beginner bike, from a smartphone app, tracker and cruise control to keyless ignition and reverse gear. It’s also a good-looking machine, designed by Adrian Morton, the British bike designer behind the Benelli Tornado and MV Agusta Brutale RUSH, and has a modern, unique style, with hints of Ducati 999 in those slab-sided main fairing panels.

On the road, it has an electric bike’s typical pluses and minuses(!): instant, smooth power, but limits on range. There’s no clutch or gearbox to wrangle, and the connection between the twistgrip and the tyre is far better than many restricted 125cc petrol learner bikes.

On the downside, that range is limited to around 90 miles or less, depending how you ride it. Go crazy with the throttle and use the strong, torquey acceleration all the time, and you’ll be looking for a recharge around 50 miles. That’s a slow process: there’s no high-performance Tesla car-style supercharging facility here, and the Stash takes more than five hours to go from totally empty to totally full using the supplied bike-specific 13-amp 240-volt mains charging unit (though Vmoto is updating its battery and charging tech next year).

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What that means is that you need to adapt your riding habits to the bike, and if you have a suitable use profile then it’ll be easy enough. If you want to use your bike for regular 250-mile+ tours, then forget it. But if you have even a 50-mile commute, with the ability to charge your bike at work and at home overnight, then you’ll have no trouble at all.

Remember that if you charge at home you always set out with a full ‘tank’. And experienced users of all electric vehicles always say they hardly ever need to charge from 0-100 per cent: if you’re stuck for time, you’ll charge for as much range as you need to get home.

In terms of conventional ‘performance’ the Stash can hold its own against the 125cc restricted petrol class. The powertrain has the advantage of instant drive and a temporary ‘peak’ power output of 19bhp that lends a real liveliness. The chassis works well, though there are a couple of issues that I’d hope Vmoto can sort out on the bike in future – a harsh front end and limited cornering clearance.

As it is, the Stash offers a fairly practical, usable electric two-wheeled option for those that want one. It’s not going to replace your BMW R1300 GS or your Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade, and no-one is pretending that it will. But as an interesting taste of a possible future, it’s not bad at all

The Stash’s chassis spec-sheet promises much – USD front fork, preload-adjustable rear shock, dual channel ABS, radial four-pot front brake caliper and sporty Pirelli Diablo Rosso rubber in proper 17” sizes on cast aluminium wheels. That’s all attached to a steel tube frame with a neat braced aluminium swingarm. So on paper it should be a bit of a sharp handler – and it is, but with a couple of serious flaws which we’ll come to in a moment.

Around town, the Stash’s handling is light, agile and easy. The riding position puts you right in control, and the low seat height means that even shorter riders will be able to get both feet on the deck. The weight is carried well, and there’s brilliant slow-speed stability, which is another tick for urban work, trickling up to red lights and weaving a path through stopped traffic.

Up the pace and get onto faster, twistier roads and things remain impressive – until you hit a roundabout or tighter bend. The ground clearance is quite limited, and the pegs start to deck out much earlier than I expected. That’s a shame because with no exhaust and a slim profile, you’d expect the Stash to be able to lean a lot further – and the excellent Pirelli Diablo Rosso rubber is also capable of much more in terms of cornering performance.

As it is, I wasn’t sure if something more solid would be decking out next after the footpeg, so started to ease off around any roundabouts from then on, which was a shame.

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The suspension is on the soft side, which is perhaps no surprise on a 125 beginner machine. But there’s a very harsh feeling from the front forks over speed humps and potholes, with a crashing sound as the front end bottoms out. Back to the good stuff though, and the brakes are excellent, giving strong, controlled stopping power at both ends, with the safety net of a dual-channel ABS setup. Here, the Pirellis can do their best work, and the Stash is really good on the anchors.

The Stash is Vmoto’s premium design, with a mid-mount electric motor rather than a low-performance hub motor in the rear wheel, as used in the firm’s utility commuting and delivery scooters. The motor produces 12bhp continuous power, with a ‘peak’ output of 19bhp available for short spells under acceleration when the ‘boost’ button is pressed. There’s a single fixed battery pack behind the main fairing, which has a 7.2kW/h capacity, enough for a claimed 90 miles of urban use.

Of course, as an electric bike, the Stash has some novel performance features compared with a petrol machine. It’s a single-speed affair: the electric motor drives the rear wheel via a conventional chain and sprockets with no gearbox or auto transmission at all: you simply twist the throttle and go.

That sounds a bit dull, but in actual fact, it gives the little Stash a proper performance advantage off the line around town. Where a conventional 125cc petrol bike can feel a bit wheezy and asthmatic, with a peaky four-stroke motor that needs to be revved for best power, the Stash simply drives. There’s instant, torquey thrust from a standstill, with no pauses in proceedings for gear changes through the often-clunky budget gearboxes and clutches found on 125cc machinery. It’s super-smooth compared with a single-cylinder petrol motor, and is generally a much nicer powertrain.

Around town, the Stash is well up to staying ahead of most other traffic. A rough count in my head suggests a 0-60mph time around five or six seconds – enough to get the holeshot on all but the fastest car, and easily besting everything else on four wheels. The instant drive and no gearshifts gives you another little edge, and the Stash felt really lively around south-west London.

In terms of top-end performance, I was able to see 78mph on the speedometer on one long straight motorway section, and the Stash was more than able to hold its own on the busy A3 dual carriageway. At the end of the day, though, the Stash is still a learner-legal 125cc-class machine, so the outright performance has to be seen in that context.

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The Stash we had on test was brand new, and felt fairly well put-together. The plastic mounts for the front flyscreen seemed a little bit lightweight, but par for the course on a 125 class bike. The motor and swingarm area had a high quality feel, with nice anodising and finish – but it’s not clear how that might stand up to British road salt. Some care will probably be needed to avoid corrosion and deterioration in the finish over winter.

The biggest apparent problem with the Stash is the asking price: £6,299 including a UK government grant of £500 off the RRP. As a comparison, a Yamaha MT-125 is £5,103. The Stash is expensive because of the large battery pack – but this also gives a benefit in lower running costs. Charging a 7.2kW/h battery from empty to full will cost pennies: around £1.61 at the UK’s maximum capped electricity price ignoring charging losses. And if you can charge for free at work or on a lower domestic night time rate it will be even less.

So for a maximum of around £2, you’ll get 90 miles claimed range. Assuming petrol around £6.50/gallon, that’s over 300mpg equivalent. You’ll also have lower maintenance costs: no air and oil filters, oil, spark plugs or valve servicing, but you’ll still need tyres and brakes plus chain/sprocket lube and maintenance. Vmoto also backs the bike up with a decent warranty: two years on the bike and three years on the battery and motor.

Insurance is still a bit unclear: Vmoto hasn’t specified an insurance group, and some firms are reluctant to cover electric machinery. But Vmoto’s UK importer has an agreement with Lexham Insurance so they’ll be able to supply a quote.

RIVALS:

• Maeving RM-1S £7,495
  • British-built machine with slightly lower performance than the Stash, dual removable batteries and quirky styling. Also costs £1k more.
• Kawasaki Z-e1 £7,199
  • The first fully electric machine from a mainstream manufacturer, the Z-e1 has lower performance and spec than the Stash, and is also almost a grand more expensive. It comes with dual removable batteries for easier charging though.

Even for a full-sized premium machine, the standard Stash equipment list is fairly impressive: it has a full colour LCD dash, GPS/wireless connectivity, Bluetooth, remote keyless ignition, and cruise control.

It’s got some decent standard security too: there’s a built-in tracker that works with the downloadable smartphone app, a manual steering lock on the bottom yoke and even an alarm, controlled by the remote key fob. All the lighting is fully LED, there’s a bar-mounted USB charging socket for your phone, and you also get a reverse drive function to make slow-speed manoeuvres and parking easier.

There’s dual-channel ABS and the Stash also has a traction control system for added safety, while a ‘Boost’ button on the left hand switchgear gives an extra temporary dollop of drive for overtaking.