Ionic --v2 projects not being created

When trying to create a project “sudo ionic start myApp --v2” i get

Installing npm packages…
Error with start undefined
Error Initializing app: There was an error with the spawned command: npminstall
There was an error with the spawned command: npminstall
Caught exception:
undefined

ionic info returns:

6.3.1

Ionic CLI Version: 2.1.0
Ionic App Lib Version: 2.1.0-beta.1
OS: Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS
Node Version: v6.7.0

have you tried using a template ?

ionic start myApp tabs --v2