He said shortly after the launch of the new XR model, with a maximum speed of 85km\/h, FTN Motion had its best sales month on record.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a s***load of sales coming at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bristow also put this down to rising fuel prices.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been working on the XR and the launch and the plan for quite a while and just as we launched it, the fuel prices started happening.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve received a lot of additional interest from people now, really considering what other alternative options are there to saving money on getting around.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Streetdog also doesn\u2019t pay road user charges so that … makes them really cheap to run.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said while most clients were outside Waikato, FTN Motion had received more interest from locals recently.<\/p>\n
Bristow said launching in Australia had been a milestone the team was very proud of.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing at the Melbourne MotorShow, exhibiting an automotive product, when you step back and think about that for a second, it\u2019s kinda crazy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like you shouldn\u2019t be there, but you are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Humble beginnings<\/p>\n
The foundation of their electric motorbikes was laid in 2015 when Bristow and his friend, FTN Motion co-founder Luke Sinclair, were studying at the University of Waikato.<\/p>\n
Instead of assignments, Bristow was looking into moped conversions.<\/p>\n
FTN Motion co-founders Kendall Bristow and Luke Sinclair with FTN Motion general manager Michel Roncara at the company’s headquarters in Hamilton in 2024. Photo \/ Danielle Zollickhofer<\/p>\n
With Sinclair, he completed the first Streetdog prototype during lockdown in 2020, before being introduced to Amsterdam-based consultant Saskia Thornton.<\/p>\n
The trio launched FTN Motion the same year, with the mission to reduce congestion and decarbonise daily commutes.<\/p>\n
The name FTN Motion is partially derived from lyrics in the song Township Rebellion by Rage Against the Machine \u2013 FTN stands for \u201cf*** the norm\u201d.<\/p>\n
FTN Motion launched the first New Zealand-made electric motorbike in 2021, from Wellington.<\/p>\n
The bike, the Streetdog, was named after Bristow\u2019s dog Mac, adopted from an SPCA shelter.<\/p>\n
New chapter<\/p>\n
In 2023, FTN Motion announced it had outgrown its Wellington premises and moved to Hamilton\u2019s <\/a>Brent Grieg Lane<\/a> in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bristow said he and the team had learned a lot and improved production and efficiency.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the moment, we can easily get to five bikes out the door a week with [just] one person assembling.\u201d<\/p>\n The company has 10 permanent staff and four four-legged staff members.<\/p>\n He said while not every bike component was produced in Waikato, they used local services where possible.<\/p>\n \u201cWe fabricate the frames down the road … [and] tube benders, laser cutters, machinists, fabricators, powder coaters [are] all local.\u201d<\/p>\n The bikes<\/p>\n FTN Motion\u2019s first bike, the Streetdog, has a top speed of 50km\/h and a range of 80 to 100km.<\/p>\n It can be ridden on a car licence.<\/p>\n The team recently improved the bike based on customer feedback, including making it more ergonomic, giving it more road presence and a more durable frame.<\/p>\n \u201cThe design matured a bit … It feels like you are riding a motorbike now.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2024, FTN Motion released the Streetdog80 with a top speed of 80km\/h, meaning riders need a motorcycle licence.<\/p>\n However, the Streetdog80 is no longer available. Bristow said the team had given the model an overhaul, but the changes were so significant it received a new name: XR.<\/p>\n The XR has a top speed of 85km\/h and a range of 60-80km, which can be doubled with a second battery.<\/p>\n The XR is also higher off the ground, has more suspension and wider handlebars, making it more comfortable at higher speeds, Bristow said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has a bit of an adventure feel to it.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking ahead<\/p>\n Bristow said the team was excited about recent growth and there were expansion plans, though nothing immediate. <\/p>\n \u201cWe got a lot of ideas for future products, but … we don\u2019t have a massive team like other companies do.<\/p>\n \u201c[But] there could be a big bike thing maybe one day, there could be … different [motorbike] aesthetics.<\/p>\n \u201cLuke always wanted to launch FTN tomato sauce.\u201d<\/p>\n Bristow said they were also looking at launching beyond Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cSince we\u2019ve started FTN, we\u2019ve always dreamed of another market … we [just] need to figure out which one.<\/p>\n \u201cEurope or America are the obvious ones … but that\u2019s even further [away] than another product.\u201d<\/p>\n Danielle Zollickhofer is the Waikato news director and a multimedia journalist at the Waikato Herald. She joined NZME in 2021 and is based in Hamilton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He said shortly after the launch of the new XR model, with a maximum speed of 85km\/h, FTN…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[74,24752,138,14037,71,287330,9978,3499,6288,13106,39608,75287,12638,28369,2683,2686,111,139,69,7811,287331,61,52,1530],"class_list":["post-583788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-after","tag-ago","tag-business","tag-electric","tag-from","tag-ftn","tag-grows","tag-growth","tag-hamilton","tag-maker","tag-manufacturer","tag-motion","tag-motorbike","tag-motorcycle","tag-move","tag-moving","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-since","tag-spurt","tag-to","tag-wellington","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Mac, the reason why FTN Motion’s have a bike called Streetdog. Photo \/ Mike Eastwood <\/p>\n
The Streetdog80 (in yellow) in comparison to the XR. Photo \/ Danielle Zollickhofer<\/p>\n
The upgraded Streetdog50 (left) next to the XR. Photo \/ Danielle Zollickhofer<\/p>\n
FTN Motion co-founder Kendall Bristow. Photo \/ Danielle Zollickhofer<\/p>\n