The Fact of the Matter

The Matter Aera is a unique offering in the ever-growing electric two-wheeler space that comes with a manual transmission as well as liquid-cooling. This certainly makes for an uncommon riding experience. However, is this enough to make the bike desirable?

- Devashish Puranik

LAST YEAR WE RODE A pre-production version of the Matter Aera and the bike we got to ride this time round in Ahmedabad was the production-ready, customer-spec version of the same. No major changes have been made since then but the company, Matter, says that it has given minor tweaks here and there to make the overall calibration of the Aera’s systems better. The only part-specific change that was mentioned was the wing mirrors, which now do not protrude outwards as much.

The Aera is a striking motorcycle, with robotic styling cues here and there, high-volume surfaces which increase the presence of the motorcycle, as well as vibrant colour and graphic combinations. I thought it looked quite good, especially in the red colourway that was assigned to us for testing.

The Matter Aera gets a five-kWh battery pack that produces 11.5 kW (15.6 hp) and has a claimed IDC range of 172 kilometres. It has three riding modes—Eco, City, and Sport—as well as a reverse mode. The highlight here is that it has a four-speed manual gearbox and a chain drive to bring it closer to the conventional ideal of what a motorcycle is supposed to comprise.