Hi Rider,

we have news again. I know most of you have been waiting for your Bonfire for almost an eternity, but things are moving forward for us. We had some problems in the last months, but we mastered everything and since Monday we are going full speed ahead again and with more speed than last year.

This time I only had time for a German video. If the video is too long for you, you can just scroll down and read the summaries:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTpfsgXp6Bg 


Swiss homologation and Bonfire E homologation

Both the Swiss homologation and the Bonfire E are still in the bureaucratic process, which we unfortunately can't speed up. This means that you will have to be patient a little longer. We will probably be able to deliver the Bonfire E in March and all Swiss bikes in April.


USA deliveries

The bikes are partly packed and the rest will be packed by us in the next weeks. As soon as FedEx picks them up, you will receive a tracking code from us. Unfortunately we can not influence how fast FedEx will pick up the bikes. The bikes have been sitting here since Christmas waiting to be picked up.


Why did we not meet the delivery times?

I explain it in great detail in the video, but we had to deal with a total of 3 problems:

Not enough space, not enough employees, and Bonfire X cold problem.

We didn't get a new larger space in October as expected, which limited us in the number of parts we could order (no storage space for parts), bikes and parts had to be moved often to make room, and since we work on 3 floors a lot had to be moved in the elevator. This caused us to lose an immense amount of time and we could not work at our normal pace.

Secondly, one employee was laid off and with 4 full time employees that makes up a quarter of the work force. I then had to compensate for the missing position.

Third, I had to spend a lot of time identifying the Bonfire X cold problem, finding an inexpensive solution to it uz and repairing customer bikes. This cost me 3 weeks of work time before Christmas, during which I could not help in assembly.

As you can see since November we have extended our delivery time accordingly (6 months), because in November all the problems came at once and we realized that we will need a lot of time to get back on track. Due to the last lockdowns in China there will be another delay of the chassis, but this won't have a big impact on the assembly speed, because we will build half-finished bikes in March (no time is lost, we just can't deliver bikes in that time).

Yesterday we finally moved and have only two areas with more space in total for storage. Now all components are also located exactly where they will be stored later. Components and motorcycles only have to be moved once in the elevator before they are delivered. We are again looking for reinforcements in the assembly department and I will repair the remaining Bonfire X in the next 3 weeks. So we are back on track and should be able to build motorcycles faster now. Also, China no longer has a 0 covid policy, which means no more shutting down factories for weeks at a time.

New prices

As you can see, we have new prices. We lowered them by almost 200 €, because the EUR-USD exchange rate improved and we could buy some parts cheaper now.

Important: All customers who bought the bike at a higher price, we can not give a discount, because the parts were bought at the higher price at that time. please be also aware of following changes:

- The delivery cost has been raised to 249 € because our carrier has increased prices in November.
- Dual Sport tires cost 20 € extra
- Tanks without fuel cap (orange, green and grey) cost 20 € extra.
- The Bonfire X comes from today without USB charging plug, this costs 40 € extra (all Bonfires ordered from October 2022 until now will all get a USB charging plug for free, as we have communicated this).
- All Bonfires ordered from now on will be delivered with the 5A charger (6 h charging time). If you want the faster 10A charger (3 h charging time), you have to pay 50 € for the upgrade.



New accessories

Before I show which accessories we now offer, I would like to mention the following:

All luggage racks ordered in the last months will be delivered this week or next.

The tank with storage compartment I unfortunately could not start to construct due to the 3 problems mentioned above. I hope you can understand that, because there are currently more important things than the tank with storage compartment.

We also can't offer the longer seat at the moment, because it can't be fixed well to the bike. It doesn't look good and there is always a big gap between the tank. I guess we won't get any more until summer, but we will continue to try longer seat variants.

We are still working on the parallel connector for the Bonfire S and E. We already have a model with which you can safely connect both batteries and drive. But you can't recuperate or charge the batteries yet. This is now being prepared.

Now to the new accessories (You can find them here)

XLR charging port: this is available in the store as a retrofit for those who already get a Bonfire and as an upgrade for those who are still waiting for their bike. For the Bonfire S, there is a QS8S-XLR adapter so that the normal charger can be used. For the Bonfire X, there are two options when upgrading. Either you get an additional charger then you have 3 chargers in total or you exchange one charger for the XLR charger.

USB charging port: We now offer the USB charging port in the store as an upgrade or retrofit. This retrofit will be delivered at the end of February, because we collect the number of orders and then order the appropriate holders.

Handlebar Crash Bars: To protect your Bonfire in case of a crash, we now also offer a handlebar end protector.

Cover Caps: If you have the handlebar end mirrors, you will notice that the thread where the normal mirrors are normally located, gets full of water and then starts to rust. To prevent this from happening again we have special aluminum protective caps for them.

Moped number plate holder (For Germany only): Since many now register their Bonfire S as a voluntary registration, the moped number plate holder no longer fits. Therefore, we will no longer send this with each Bonfire E, but this can be ordered in the accessories. 

Retrofit the alarm for the Bonfire S: Most Bonfire S riders will know it. First the ignition switch crackles and then it no longer works. So that soetwas no longer happens and you no longer stuck, we now offer the alarm as a retrofit solution. 
 



Bundles

We now offer bundles where you can buy several accessories together to save some money. You can find them under Shop > Accessories > Scroll down.

If you have more ideas for bundles, let me know!

Viktor Sommer