Harley-Davidson finally confirms that it is bringing its first electric motorcycle | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Harley-Davidson finally confirms that it is bringing its first electric motorcycle

Well they have to do something. The entire industry is in freefall. I can't afford to pay $30,000 for an electric commuter bike though. Unless cycles get some of the green subsidy cash and range in the realm of 150-200km I'm out. I would like to be a buyer, but it's a big hill to climb. For motorcycles, the EV bikes present added danger. We're already almost invisible in traffic. What happens when we're invisible and silent?
 
without understanding history, there can be no future

1910-12 ish somebody rides a motorcycle cross country, it was 3 1/2 hp. most of the western part of the trip had no roads. He did not have an ADV bike, biggest slowdown was gasoline wasnt sold in all states.
Sort of like finding charging stations now.

The british motorcycle industry is the largest production in the world by 1960, the industry leaders feel the market, that includes America will never need a bike bigger than a twin and 650cc may be as big as it needs to get.
In less than a decade, Honda shows up with a 4cyl 750. It starts everyday, even rainy days. Kawasaki follows with a 900, arguably the first superbike and the British industry collapses.
Change was coming and they nodded off at the helm.

So here we are, the novelty (impaired transport) e-bikes are mocked, but they are styled more like motorcycles now . And have an ok range as commuting tool, speed limited on purpose and built to a price point.
The first motorcycles were bicycles fitted with motors, the new gen e-bikes are carbon mtn bikes fitted with an electric drive, hitting 70kms and doing it for 60-80 kms.
Its an evolving product, its coming to market, wait two yrs and see what the Japanese answer this game with.
 
Zero offers several models, their best is approximately 332km range all city, 220ish mixed hwy and city. Other than the price they are doing pretty good at making usable electric motorcycles.

Sent from my SM-A500W using Tapatalk
 
... For motorcycles, the EV bikes present added danger. We're already almost invisible in traffic. What happens when we're invisible and silent?

Isn't that obvious, the same thing you have to do now to survive riding a motorcycle on the street, you have to outride everybody else!
 
As much as everyone here knows I'm a big EV proponent, reality is there's just not enough real-estate on a motorcycle to carry, using todays technologies, enough kilowatts to make it viable.

Mentioned it in another thread.... University of Waterloo has figured out how to triple a battery's capacity. Hope they get their tech to production facilities soon. Makes for a completely viable electric motorcycle.
 
Mentioned it in another thread.... University of Waterloo has figured out how to triple a battery's capacity. Hope they get their tech to production facilities soon. Makes for a completely viable electric motorcycle.

Hate to be pessimistic, but as someone who's followed all things electric for many years before buying 2 EV's, I've read about many "breakthroughs" in the last 6-10 years that never actually seemed to go anywhere aside from big announcements and promises. Sometimes these things don't translate from the lab to the actual production line.

But I don't doubt that batteries will continue to advance in technology, but it's hard to say how fast things will happen.
 
I’m excited, do y’all know if zero offers demo/test rides in the summer?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I’m excited, do y’all know if zero offers demo/test rides in the summer?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yes. You can go to zero motorcycles.ca to check them out and book a test ride.
And yes, the zero is actually very fun.
Sent from my SM-A500W using Tapatalk
 
Isn't any electric motorcycle fun at this point?

lol I love how manufacturers are starting to promote them by stunt riding hooligan through closed off portions of city expressway and urban settings!
Electric motorcycles are green so we should be able to ride them anywhere a bicycle is allowed to go, right? :lmao: ya I know, in my dreams! Seriously though if they passed a law that said you can ride an electric motorcycle on any bicycle path, how many people want one now?
 
not a question of green. It's about it's speed potential. Golf carts can go lots of places, but their speed isn't anything like a Smart car which is close(ish) to the same size.
 
The most interesting electric bike so far to me is the redshift mx from Alta motors. Josh Hill raced one at Redbull straight rhythm last year and was very competitive on it. It's been made to compete with 250f mx bikes and supposed to be awesome to ride. They've being pushing to get homologated for AMA competition in supercross and motocross which hasn't happened yet BUT as of this coming year it is eligible to ride in the Canadian national series. https://www.altamotors.co/#the-future-of-fast
 
Alta actually lowered their prices significantly, just short time ago ... but it's still 11kUS$ .... Would do well for most MX track weekend warriors, for sure. For trail riding, I am not so sure. Where I ride, and how I ride, surely it would be enough 3hrs at my speed (my average amount of riding time per day), the battery would probably last OK. It would pose issues though, if you happen to go on a longer ride, or even a ride where you cannot plug-in after a ride. So, for that reason I'd say, my 6KC$ used 2 smoker will have to do ... :)
 
For sure the price of admission is high but with zero maintenance the costs could even out pretty quickly after a few years of ownership...especially with the target bike being a 250f. Just not having to do air filters after every ride has to have some kind of value.

If you have even the smallest amount of interest in the Alta and things like range, what it's like to ride, etc Kris Keefer (Former pro and was a lead test rider for dirt rider) podcast called Keefer Tested and there is one episode called the history of the Alta bike. He has done some development work/durability testing for Alta so has a pretty good handle on the good and bad. It's worth a listen along with some of his other pods.
 
Oakville Yamaha (which is in the process of closing) has two Zero engineering bikes on clear out < dirt bike @ 11,5 cdn and a road model @ 15k cdn. Not sure who else carries them around T.O. but its an opportunity for the next vendor.
 
Loud armatures save lives...

Mantle-Spokes-Jim-Degerstrom.jpg


The over 40's here will remember.
 

Back
Top Bottom