Creating the next generation of motorcycles

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Recap: Wheels & Waves 2025

Biarritz is Back.

On the rugged edge of southwestern France, where the Pyrenees slip into the Atlantic, sits Biarritz, a coastal city known for its surf breaks, café culture, and natural cool. Once a royal retreat, now a haven for artists, skaters, surfers, and riders, it’s also home to Wheels & Waves, one of the most eclectic motorcycle events on the planet.

Wheels & Waves isn’t your average motorcycle event. It’s a beautifully chaotic mixture of surf, art, moto culture, and sprint racing on the Basque coast. This year, the LiveWire crew returned to Biarritz with 3 custom Alpinistas, fresh merch drops, and demo rides. What unfolded was more than we could’ve hoped for.

Day One: Reunions

By the time everyone rolled into the village, it already felt like a family reunion. The air buzzed with that unmistakable W&W energy. Custom builds, familiar faces, and espresso-fueled excitement. For our second year showing up as a brand, we came with confidence, positivity, and a few heavy-hitting Alpinistas ready to break necks and preconceptions.

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The Builds: Alpinista x SMCO x Dimitri Coste

We brought three Alpinista builds this year:

SMCO 66 (Shaun Guardado): Brushed aluminum 3D-printed bodywork with flame accents, carbon wheels, and a prototype aero setup that made it look—and perform—like a missile on rails.
SMCO 46 (Aaron Guardado): Translucent resin panels showed off the internals. Saddlemen seat embroidery echoed electric circuit boards. Total sci-fi vibes, but real-world speed.
Coste’s Alpinista (Dimitri Coste): Painted in bold red and cream, this build brought a mix of French finesse and flat-track flavor to the mix.

Each bike looked different, but all shared the same Alpinista DNA: lightweight, high-torque, race-ready EVs designed to disrupt. And that’s exactly what they did.

Punk’s Peak: Racing at the Edge of the World

Punk’s Peak is a sprint race like no other—¼ mile uphill, along a cliffside mountain road in Spain, bordered by barbed wire and grass. It’s raw, fast, and slightly sketchy. Just how we like it.

Aaron and Shaun from SMCO lined up alongside Dimitri Coste, and what followed was electric in every sense.

Shaun’s race against Dimitri was one of the wildest of the day. Dimitri lost traction right off the line, his rear wheel kicked into the grass, and he went full sideways at full speed. Years of flat track instincts kicked in—he kept it pinned, held the slide, and crossed the line. The crowd lost their minds.

Aaron later went head-to-head with Dimitri in another tight heat. Dimitri edged him out winning the event, landing Aaron in fourth overall, but proving that LiveWire’s electric performance could hang with the best and look cooler doing it.

Oh, and a fun little twist: other racers actually hesitated to line up against the Alpinistas. Event staff had to start pointing at riders and assigning matchups...

Demo Rides: The Moment of Truth

Hundreds of people test rode LiveWire motorcycles during the events with zero disappointed riders.

Every person, whether a skeptic, a fan, or just curious, came back with wide eyes and an even wider grin. They raved about the sound, the acceleration, the weight, and the handling. Many loved being able to talk while riding and hear birds instead of engine roar. Favorite feedback quotes repeated:

“I’m shocked.”
“Didn’t expect that.”
“It’s insane.”

The performance speaks for itself.

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Merch Drop: OSFA x LiveWire Tee

We dropped a couple of special edition tees at Wheels and Waves 2025. One version was co-designed by Dimitri Coste and the other by Aaron and Shaun at SMCO. Coste’s was Inspired by the Coors Racing Team logo with a twist of OSFA chaos; it featured lightning bolts, racing numbers, and the LiveWire icon integrated into our signature flags. SMCO was classic SMCO. Monochromatic, dazzle camo, and a charged-up logo inspired by Sunoco. People loved them and they went quick, although there might be a couple floating around for a future giveaway... Just sayin’.

Gratitude & Takeaways

Massive thanks to:

The full SMCO crew: Aaron, Shaun; you built rolling art and raced them with spirit.
Dimitri Coste, for his epic race performance, design work, and all-around vibe.
The W&W team—Valerie, Idoia, Jerome, Julien, Tom, and everyone behind the scenes.
Mattin Alzugaray and the Punk’s Peak organizers.
Every rider who lined up, watched, waved, or test rode.

This wasn’t just about being fast or flashy. It was about showing up differently and changing minds one ride at a time.

See you at the next one!