Luna is selling a bike with specs that don’t seem to be possible. A 58-pound carbon-fiber full-suspension mountain bike with a Bafang M600 motor and a 48V 18.5Ah battery that somehow achieves 2.5kW of power. That makes it a recently marked down $4,000 mountain bike with light moto-like speed that can propel the bike past 30mph on flat dirt.
I’ve been riding the Luna X2 with the $350 Ludicrous option for almost a year now, and I’ve grown to love this thing, but with some important caveats…
Luna X2 Ludi
Luna sells some special bikes and motos, and the Ludi X2, which bridges the two, might be the best example of that. They took the Class 3 500W-rated Bafang M600 Motor that advertises 120Nm of torque and are pumping more than quadruple rated power through there, sometimes up to 2500W.
While there are some amazing advantages to this – notably, the incredible acceleration, even uphill – it also presents some problems. Obviously, that motor should be overheating, considering both the way more volt and amps than it is specced for. Luna is famous for hot-rodding Bafang motors, however, especially the M600, and they’ve done some really smart stuff here with heat dissipation with their bespoke controller. After a year of riding this thing, I can say it somehow works! Mostly.
Another problem is when you add pedaling to 2.5kW of power – all of a sudden, a mountain bike sprocket and chain rated for under 1kW of power are going to be pushed to their limits. I’ve already melted some sprockets by mistakenly changing gears up a steep hill on the Frey CC. I’ve been careful to avoid doing that on the X2 Ludi, but I still experience some slippage in high-torque situations. Unlike the Frey CC, where I’ve lost use of my second lowest sprocket, however, I’ve not done any damage in a year of riding the Luna X2, even up significant hills.
Speaking of going up hills, that unbelievable power will often pull the front wheel off the ground when climbing steep hills, presenting issues with steering and unintended wheelies.
Overheating
My first ride up our local 800-foot hill was going great at about 20-plus mph until about two-thirds the way up – I lost power and got an “Error 10.” I was able to power cycle the bike, and after a few minutes, I regained power. After rooting around in the forums, I found that the motor was overheating and shutting down.
Obviously, I can slow down to around 15mph and a lot less power and get a lot farther. But I wanted to understand exactly what was going on. Turns out, in steep hill climb situations, you want to keep your cadence very high to cool the motor and lessen the amps requirement. Most people that push this thing to the limit use the VESC tool running on an Android app to fine-tune this thing and keep it running optimally.
Luna uses the VESC app to tweak the Ludicrous controller, which is a paid download for $4 for Android or iOS, but I got an older version from Luna’s site. It allows you to pair to Luna’s controller and get almost real-time readouts of most of the vitals of the bike. The app isn’t terribly user-friendly to set up but is incredibly informative and great for keeping an eye on speed. You can then create different rider profiles to allow you to change your speed and power characteristics. I did find the readout to be a little small on rides, as someone that requires glasses for reading. I guess I need a bigger Android tablet!
In my case, the important readout is the bottom right motor heat sensor. When you start going up a hill at high power output, it will start rocketing upward. Once you are at 100 degrees C, you’ll hit the orange indicator, which is your signal to lay off the throttle and lower the pedal assist. Because the heat indicator is lagging by a few seconds, the motor is probably already closing in on its 120-degree cutoff, so you need to cut power immediately.
You can scale back to lowering heat by limiting the motor to its original 500W 120nm output. That is still plenty for hill climbing, just not at 20-plus mph. I find the bike operates quite well in the 80-100°C range.
On the other side of the spectrum, I wasn’t able to coax out even half the power on freezing cold days. That’s a shame because the bike’s Maxxis Minion tires are great for snow. After a few minutes of riding, the battery and controller do heat up, and the characteristics again go back to normal.
Once I learned my way around the heat factors, I could push this thing to its maximum.
For instance, I was able to easily climb Bromley Mountain’s 1,334 feet (407 m) in Vermont, which doesn’t have a bike lift or official bike riding path. I made it up the mountain with level 2 pedal assist without even coming close to overheating (myself or the bike!). At the same time, with the light frame and still powerful motor, I was still flying up the mountain to the point that it was actually fun to climb.
Because there is no lift and most mountain bikes don’t have this kind of power, I had the mountain to myself and was even able to find some off-the-beaten-path trails, which were tons of fun.
I was able to do four separate rides up the mountain before I needed to recharge, which I thought was pretty impressive. Luna knows their batteries, and even with driving Ludi with these chonky tires, I was seeing ranges over 20 miles. If I put smoother tires on here and ran on a road, I could see hitting 40 miles at 20mph.
Luna X2 specs
The Luna X2 is loaded up with some premium, if not top-shelf, components that would almost justify the $4000 price tag without a battery and motor:
Rockshox Debonair Yari 160mm front fork
Rockshox Deluxe Select+ 210mm x 55mm in rear
Sram Eagle SX 12-speed cassette (standard HG driver, not the XD from SRAM)
Sram GUIDE 4 piston hydraulic brakes 200mm front 180mm back (6 bolts rotors)
Maxxis Minion 27.5×2.8-inch tires
44 56 non-integrated headset
Double wall alloy 40mm 27.5-inch rims
Dropper seat-post with internal routing
All cables throughout the bike are internally ran
Thru-axle hubs in both front and rear 15×110 Boost front, 12×148 Boost rear (length 180mm, 1.75 pitch)
160mm front travel and 140mm rear travel
One little extra bonus on the Luna X2 is the Carbon Fiber frame paint job. You’ll notice we’ve got the metal flake galaxy paint job, or as my wife likes to call it, “your glitter bike.” No shame here – I love the look of this thing.
In fact, to the untrained eye, the X2 looks a lot like an acoustic mountain bike. The 820Wh (48v 17.5Ah LG) battery is well hidden in the downtube, and the Bafang M600 motor or its heat sink only peeks out a bit from behind the pedals.
However, for those who know, the big “Luna” logo is what is going to be the big tell. Luna has long been outfitting electric bikes that pay more attention to what is possible than what is technically legal. Nowhere is that more apparent than the X2, which is described on Luna’s site:
This bike features our brand new Luna Controller the Ludi v2 which is a game changer. This controller will put out up to 60 battery Amps (2500 watts) As most Luna fans know, Luna has been hot-rodding Bafang motors for years with great success and this controller is sporting the heritage from our mighty BBSHD v2 controller. The Ludi v2 is 72V-rated controller which makes it extremely reliable at 48V and balances the user-adjustable buttery smooth pedal assist with the raw torque of 100 phase Amps readily available at the throttle. It even spins faster than any other M600 thanks to the Field Weakening and smoothly protects the motor from thermal overloads.
The X-2 comes in three sizes:
Electrek’s Take
The Luna X2 is truly a ludicrous mountain bike. It is a relatively light carbon fiber mountain bike that can hang with the more expensive bike shop brands, like Specialized Turbo Levo and Trek E-Caliber and, in many cases, has better components.
Where the Ludi X-2 really shines is the drivetrain. Having 2.5 kW of power at your disposal, even if just for short bursts, is like temporarily turning your mountain bike into a Talaria/Sur Ron and screaming across dirt roads at 30+mph. Having that power on a light mountain bike frame just doesn’t seem real.
Because of its high speed, I even found myself taking the X2 on my daily coffee shop commute if I was in a rush or wanted to blast up our big local hill.
The noted downsides of high power stress on the chain and sprockets as well as the overheating can be mitigated with some care and learning the bike. Luna has recently dropped the price of the X2, which can now be had for under $4K with an additional add-on for the Ludi controller.
Overall, this feels like the hot rod of mountain bikes, and I’m here for it.
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Stark Future, the Spanish electric motorcycle maker that turned the off-road world on its head, just locked in a fresh round of funding, pushing its total capital raised past €100 million. And unlike the big, flashy VC rounds we usually see, this one came mostly from existing backers and a few hand-picked newcomers, including some heavy hitters from the MotoGP world.
In what has become classic Stark style, the round was closed quickly and quietly, underscoring just how confident investors are in the brand’s growth trajectory. CEO and founder Anton Wass says the company intentionally offered a “very attractive valuation” to those who already believed in the mission.
“We managed to close it within a couple of weeks,” said Wass. “It’s a strong testament to the results our team has created.”
And it’s not just hype. Stark has proven it can build bikes that not only compete with gas-powered motocross machines, but completely outclass them. Their flagship model, the all-electric Stark VARG, claims the title of most powerful motocross bike ever made. Riders have already racked up tens of millions of kilometers on the VARG, and the bike has helped convert thousands of motocross enthusiasts to battery power. The model even got e-motos banned from the X-Games when the organizers feared that gas-powered bikes couldn’t keep up.
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That kind of traction, paired with the company’s rapid expansion into over 70 countries, explains why investors are still lining up to get a piece of the action.
But what really makes Stark stand out in the electric motorcycle world is its quick path to profitability. That’s a rare word in the electric motorcycle space, especially for such a young company. Just two years after their first deliveries, and within six years of founding, Stark Future is profitable and thriving. With each passing year, they seem to be improving margins, growing revenues, and launching new platforms.
And speaking of new platforms, those are coming, too. The company teased “very exciting new products” on the way, though didn’t drop specifics just yet. From the rumor mill though, it sounds like the company is preparing street models that could give gas bikes a run for their money. And if they’re anything like the VARG, we can certainly expect bikes that push boundaries and continue proving Wass’s bold thesis: electric motorcycles can outperform internal combustion in just about every way.
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent attends a press conference at government quarters Rosenbad after the trade talks between the U.S. and China concluded, in Stockholm, Sweden, July 29, 2025.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly told Reuters on Monday that there are “other authorities that can be used” to uphold the tariffs. One of them could be the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, Bessent said.
Since markets in the U.S. were closed for the Labor Day holiday on Monday, they didn’t have a chance to respond to both Bessent’s comment and the court’s ruling, which was announced after the bell on Friday.
For now, futures tied to U.S. stocks were little changed Monday night stateside. Investors could have gotten used to the volatile nature of Trump tariffs and are taking a wait-and-see approach.
No point, after all, to prepare for an outcome that might lead to the start of another legal battle. It’s never over till it’s over — it’s just another day inTrump’s America.
What you need to know today
Bessent expects the Supreme Court to uphold Trump tariffs. And if they are struck down by the court, “there are lots of other authorities that can be used,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday, Reuters reported.
Trump said India had offered to remove tariffs on U.S. However, he did not elaborate on the claim. Trump also said Monday that trade ties with India is “a totally one sided disaster!” His comments came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China for a security summit.
Takeaways from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. The two-day event was largely seen as a showcase of Beijing’s push for a new world order. Key developments include: thawing India-China relations, a Xi-Putin-Modi troika, AI partnership and a new development bank.
Asia-Pacific markets trade mixed Tuesday. South Korea’s Kospi index rose around 0.8% as the country’s inflation in August came in lower than expected. U.S. stock futures were mostly flat. On Monday, U.S. markets were closed for Labor Day.
[PRO] A Chinese property stock defying the slump. The company has “already returned more capital than they ever raised from capital markets,” wrote Barclays — and its stock has an implied upside of over 40% from the bank’s price target.
And finally…
Sports club Suzhou Shishan opened the Chinese city’s first pickleball court in January 2024, according to the company.
Online sales of pickleball paddles and related equipment in China have skyrocketed this year to an average of $1.2 million in monthly sales as of July — an increase of more than six-fold versus the year-ago period, according to data from WPIC Marketing + Technologies.
Pickleball’s recent growth in China has different business implications. In contrast to U.S. suburbs, big Asian cities don’t tend to have large neighborhood spaces, said Patrick Yan, founder of an agency representing Asian pickleball players. “All these courts have to be built by people running businesses. They’re operating for profit.”
Tesla has finally released its ‘Master Plan Part 4’ and it’s nothing more than a smorgasbord of AI promises about its humanoid robot, which can’t even serve popcorn.
For more than a year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been teasing the release of his ‘Master Plan Part 4’ for the company.
Since 2006, Musk has been releasing “secret master plans” for Tesla to explain the company’s broader mission and product roadmap.
Musk himself recently admitted that Master Plan Part 2, released in 2016, is not even completed yet. He believes that will happen “next year”, but we heard that one before.
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Master Plan Part 3 was released in 2023, and it was about scaling when, in fact, Tesla’s electric vehicle sales have been in decline since then. They peaked in 2023.
Now, ‘Master Plan Part 4’ was released on X, and it’s all about “sustainable abundance” through AI and robotics.
Here it is:
Introduction
Since Tesla’s founding, each iteration of our master plan has focused on our north star: to deliver unconstrained sustainability without compromise.
Humans are toolmakers. At Tesla, we make physical products at scale and at a low cost with the goal of making life better for everyone. As the influence and impact of artificial intelligence (AI) technology increases, the mission set forth in Master Plan Part IV should come as no surprise.
This next chapter in Tesla’s story will help create a world we’ve only just begun to imagine and will do so at a scale that we have yet to see. We are building the products and services that bring AI into the physical world.
We have been working tirelessly for nearly two decades to create the foundation for this technological renaissance through the development of electric vehicles, energy products and humanoid robots.
Now, we are combining our manufacturing capabilities with our autonomous prowess to deliver new products and services that will accelerate global prosperity and human thriving driven by economic growth shared by all. We are unifying our hardware and software at scale, and in doing so, we are creating a safer, cleaner and more enjoyable world.
This is sustainable abundance.
Guiding principles
Growth is infinite.
Growth in one area does not require decline in another. Shortages in resources can be remedied by improved technology, greater innovation and new ideas.
The technologies that gave us the ability to power machines led to industrial revolutions that have widened our economic landscape, creating more opportunities for all. Groundbreaking inventions like the semiconductor and the internet have expanded—not diminished—social and economic opportunities across all aspects of the human experience, from creating more jobs to providing greater access to information to enabling deeper interpersonal connections.
Our desire to push beyond what is considered achievable will foster the growth needed for truly sustainable abundance.
Innovation removes constraints.
For centuries, humanity’s primary mode of transportation was the horse. Then, over the last fifty-plus years, cars with internal combustion engines powered by fossil fuels became the standard and expected transportation method. The idea that batteries could be produced affordably and at a scale large enough to pivot the transportation industry away from fossil fuels seemed a fool’s errand—until Tesla led the way forward.
Through continued innovation, we have overcome the technological constraints of battery development and built an industry powered by renewable resources.
Technology solves tangible problems.
The products and services born out of the acceleration toward sustainable abundance will advance humanity by solving real-world problems. To further accelerate our innovation, we build each product more efficiently and more sustainably than the last.
Solar energy generation and large-scale battery storage are increasing the availability and reliability of clean electricity in our communities—and are doing so more affordably and more sustainably.
Autonomous vehicles have the capacity to dramatically improve the affordability, availability and safety of transportation while reducing pollution, particularly in our increasingly dense global cities.
Optimus—our autonomous humanoid robot—is changing not only the perception of labor itself but its availability and capability. Jobs and tasks that are particularly monotonous or dangerous can now be accomplished by other means. In this way, Optimus’s mission is to give people back more time to do what they love.
Autonomy must benefit all of humanity.
The tools we make at Tesla help us build the products that advance human prosperity.
How we develop and use autonomy—and the new capabilities it makes available to us—should be informed by its ability to enhance the human condition. Making daily life better—and safer—for all people through our autonomous technology has always been, and continues to be, our focus.
Greater access drives greater growth.
Making technologically advanced products that are affordable and available at scale is required to build a flourishing and unconstrained society. It serves to further democratize society while raising everyone’s quality of life in the process. The hallmark of meritocracy is creating opportunities that enable each person to use their skills to accomplish whatever they imagine.
Everyone deserves access to these opportunities, and technological growth can help ensure that each of us is able to maximize our most limited resource: time.
We’re accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable abundance.
We must make one thing clear: this challenge will be extremely difficult to overcome. The elimination of scarcity will require tireless and exquisite execution. Some will perceive it as impossible. And plenty of others will laud every obstacle and setback we inevitably encounter along the way. But once we overcome this challenge, our critics will come to see that what they once thought was impossible is indeed possible. And that will be fine with us, because what matters most is that, together, we create a sustainable and truly abundant future for generations to come.
All worthwhile journeys are long. And they all begin with a first step.
Our first step was to make an exciting sports car—Roadster. Then we leveraged those profits to fund the development and production of more affordable, yet still exciting products—Model S and Model X. Then we repeated the process, bringing us to Model 3 and Model Y and onward.
This process required us to take many steps, some of them small and others large. But ultimately each win led to another win, and even with our failures, we were able to keep building momentum. Our momentum allowed us to build out a fully integrated ecosystem of sustainable products, from transport to energy generation, battery storage and robotics.
Today we are on the cusp of a revolutionary period primed for unprecedented growth. And this time it will not be a single step but a leap forward for Tesla and humanity as a whole. The tools we are going to develop will help us build the kind of world that we’ve always dreamed of—a world of sustainable abundance—by redefining the fundamental building blocks of labor, mobility and energy at scale and for all.
Electrek’s Take
Tesla is lost as a company. This is a bunch of utopic nonsense, complete with AI “abundance” buzzwords that Grok could have easily written.
Elon’s first two master plans were straightforward, featuring clear, actionable steps and a well-defined product roadmap.
In comparison, this is opium meant for Tesla shareholders to get their fix of potential “infinite growth” as an AI stock. It’s not real.
Everyone can see the value in an affordable humanoid robot capable of autonomously performing useful tasks. You don’t need to sell people on a weird utopic future around it. Start by demonstrating that you can create such a robot.
We have seen no evidence of that yet.
All of Tesla’s Optimus robot demonstrations have been supported by humans remotely controlling them. Most recently, Tesla had Optimus serving popcorn to guests at its diner in Los Angeles. It worked for a few hours on the first day, and the robot has reportedly been offline for a month since the restaurant’s launch.
I know I might sound like a hater, but I don’t care. Tesla is not a company that is about to deliver a future of “sustainable abundance”.
Tesla is a company that did the impossible and significantly accelerated the world’s transition to electric transportation. Then, its CEO went nuts. Sales started to go down, earnings began to drop, and to maintain a nonsensical stock price, the CEO decided to ride the AI bubble. That’s about it.
