Electric Harley test ride - imagine the excitement

[anonymous-user]

Do you fancy a test ride on our new bike - the Livewire - asks the man from Harley Davidson

Yes please mate, that sounds like a nice thing to try

OK, here you go, jump on

Imagine the disappointment...

https://twitter.com/CllrSteveF/status/114422209983...

[SVS]

Test ride aside, Harley certainly appears to be focusing on an electric future - a good decision IMO.

[mygoldfishbowl]

Sounds like my washing machine.

[fttm]

Sounds nicer and will probably me more reliable than the current tractors they produce . Just to add , I ride(old Jap) but also live in a very attractive small town that gets infested during summer weekends with "wild hogs" from the nearest city who still think at late middle age that a Harley spluttering its tits off trying to obtain max revs sounds good . Rant over , sorry for the derail .

[bogie]

Cant imagine they will sell many at £30k+

HD do have an advantage going electric though - their bikes are so heavy, they may actually end up lighter with electric motor and big battery whereas most other bikes put on a ton of weight by going electric

[poo at Paul's]

I cant really see the point. Pretty much the Harley USP is the "Potato Potato" noise, isn't it even patented by them?
They have not a great seal else going for them and in that I mean the cruiser competition is almost certainly cheaper, better handling and more reliable than them, but they survive based on their history and tradition of the wallowy big lethargic V twin.

Electric cruisers will surely just see the brand off into oblivion?

Now, electric commuter bikes, small, light, nippy, maybe another matter?

[Prof Prolapse]

Best sounding Harley ever made.

[bogie]

Harley are trying to expand down market. They have nowhere else to go, they have >60% of the big bike market in the USA so now they move production out of USA and build cheaper 750s to try to appeal to India, China etc. Maybe the electric bikes will come first there rather than trying to replace their core big twin market at home.

If they dont do something with electric then they could be left behind when the market does eventually go that way.

This electric Harley could easily be the fastest current production Harley when it launches

New baby Harley on the way

https://interestingengineering.com/new-338cc-china...

Edited by bogie on Friday 28th June 10:51

[KingNothing]

I actually want an electric bike, I own a Harley as well, but I won't be spending £30k on one, all I want is a decently priced electric motorbike from a big manufacturer, for commuting the 8 miles to work.

[RemyMartin81D]

So it's this or a H2..... Right.

[DirtyHarley]

That sound would drive me bloody nuts, way too high pitched to be comfortable surely?
Although I'm a Harley rider I'm not one for straight-through pipes or other silly loud mods - I do have after market slip-ons purely because the stock exhaust runs WAY too hot with all that cat fibre bundled in it. I also don;t subscribe to the 'loud pipes saves lives' thing that seems to crop up in any HD convesation..... perhaps the reason this things screaches like a banshee is that 'loud capacitors save lives'?