Electric mega sports bikes?

[Tango13]

CypSIdders said:

Unless there's a massive reduction in the weight of batteries then there will never be comparable performance with current, everyday, ICE, sports bikes.

This is one thing that won't help electic bikes, the weight of the bike combined with instant torque at the bottom end is going to be very hard on brakes and tyres.

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

Tango13 said:

CypSIdders said:

Unless there's a massive reduction in the weight of batteries then there will never be comparable performance with current, everyday, ICE, sports bikes.

This is one thing that won't help electic bikes, the weight of the bike combined with instant torque at the bottom end is going to be very hard on brakes and tyres.

But that won't be a problem in the future. If anything an electric bike will likely be lighter with better mass layout.

You're effectively comparing a 1920s 2st single with girder forks and a hardtail to a modern WSB in technology maturity terms.

[ReverendCounter]

Birky_41 said:

Wish PH had a like button

Careful.

[bogie]

"half of bikers surveyed want an electric bike" says the headlines elsewhere so I thought I would take a look

https://www.bikesure.co.uk/bikesureblog/2021/03/el...

as usual, cherry picked statistics ...so now the opinion of 673 people out of about 1.5 million with bike licences = the riding population ...mmm..

More pro electric bike marketing, probably paid for by someone with a vested interest

[jjwilde]

take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey said:

Tango13 said:

CypSIdders said:

Unless there's a massive reduction in the weight of batteries then there will never be comparable performance with current, everyday, ICE, sports bikes.

This is one thing that won't help electic bikes, the weight of the bike combined with instant torque at the bottom end is going to be very hard on brakes and tyres.

But that won't be a problem in the future. If anything an electric bike will likely be lighter with better mass layout.

You're effectively comparing a 1920s 2st single with girder forks and a hardtail to a modern WSB in technology maturity terms.

You'd also be using regen braking most of the time, never touching the actual brakes much at all.

I guess the TT Zero times will be what swings the opinion. Faster than the ICE bikes this decade?

[jason61c]

jjwilde said:

You'd also be using regen braking most of the time, never touching the actual brakes much at all.

I guess the TT Zero times will be what swings the opinion. Faster than the ICE bikes this decade?

faster over a 6 lap superbike race. no chance.

you balance a bike with the brakes, so regen braking won't suit a bike.

[srob]

jason61c said:

faster over a 6 lap superbike race. no chance.

you balance a bike with the brakes, so regen braking won't suit a bike.

Honestly mate, it’ll happen. The world is going electric and Honda, Yamaha etc will have spent the last decade developing this stuff.

The fact that TT Zero got off the ground means people are behind it. It’s not some coincidence.

[graeme4130]

It's the future, there's no doubt about it, it's just not that good as a tarmac race bike yet
If you imagine that once it's evolved to the point where batteries are lighter and have longer range, and the technology starts to really take stride, they could be really fast
Just consider the possibilities :
Instant torque at any speed (and more torque than any petrol motor)
Slip control would improve as torque that causes is wheels spin is constant
Two wheel drive with a small electric motor in the front hub (After all, corner exit management in GP is all about trying to minimise wheels spin)
Like I said, it's not here yet, but when it gets good eventually, it's got all the potential to be significantly faster than a petrol bike

[Esceptico]

graeme4130 said:

It's the future, there's no doubt about it, it's just not that good as a tarmac race bike yet
If you imagine that once it's evolved to the point where batteries are lighter and have longer range, and the technology starts to really take stride, they could be really fast
Just consider the possibilities :
Instant torque at any speed (and more torque than any petrol motor)
Slip control would improve as torque that causes is wheels spin is constant
Two wheel drive with a small electric motor in the front hub (After all, corner exit management in GP is all about trying to minimise wheels spin)
Like I said, it's not here yet, but when it gets good eventually, it's got all the potential to be significantly faster than a petrol bike

There seem to be a lot of luddites and/or people with limited imagination on PH. Or with short memories. Less than twenty years ago petrolheads were laughing at the idea of electric cars and pointing to milk floats. Today you can buy very high performance EVs with acceptable range (Tesla, Taycan, etc). They aren’t quite yet a match for ICE cars but considering how far them come in a relatively short period it is amazing.

I expect that within the next twenty years they will have surpassed ICE in most areas.

I like the noise bike engines make and also the characteristics of ICE. However I’m also aware that bike noise is a nuisance to others and is behind restrictions on bike use in some countries. I would be happy to retain my ability to ride everywhere for the loss of a bit of engine noise.

I’ve not ridden an electric bike so can’t comment on how they feel. However I have and do ride big capacity bikes that have lots of torque and if that is what is offered by electric bikes I can imagine they will be pretty good for hooning on country roads (once they have sorted out better batteries).

I read the other day that the major bike manufacturers are trying to agree on a standard format for replacement batteries. Ideally that would mean they could reduce the size of batteries and instead of refuelling with petrol you simply swap the battery at a petrol station for a fully charged one. So just as quick and convenient. Yes it will take a few years for the infrastructure to be in place but when it is then hassle free electric bikes will be just as good or better than petrol.

Not having to have an ICE engine and fuel tank could also free up designers to come up with some new shapes for motorbikes.

[BroadsRS6]

Most bike tuners i have spoken to say that batteries HINDER sports bike design terribly, the opposite of what the poster said above. I have driven several electric cars and like many people they leave me cold. Utterly. I drive a 760 bhp V10 petrol as the fast car of my choice and no electric car even if it was faster would match that for fun.
Anyone seriously thinking that a 1 speed 'torque from the word go' electric bike better than a 6 speed manual litre like an R1 or S1000RR is crazy. For a start, power and torque from revolution number one is irrelevant with a machine 10% of the weight of most cars. My 1299 Ducati didn't pull well from 50 rpm either but from 2,000 rpm it was immense. Absolute animal.
As for the sound being a nuisance to other people, what about the increased deaths silent bikes and cars will guarantee? The wildlife deaths that will rocket also? Hearing traffic around you is a big part of avoiding it, whether you are a driver, pedestrian, an older or short sighted person maybe, or our beautiful wildlife which gets wiped out by silent 2 tonne killing machines haring through their back garden.

[BroadsRS6]

Okay, everyone reply with E or ICE. Just those letters will do. Cheers, all.

You have won a bike and you will pick it up on July 1st this year.
The E bike has 200 bhp, one speed, silence and power as soon as you open the throttle. It weighs 200 kgs. It does 200 mph. It gets to 100 mph in about 5 seconds.
The ICE Ducati or Japanese/German petrol burner has the same power, weight, top speed and acceleration, give or take a gnat's nose. It doesn't have power from 50 rpm but screams it's iconic song as you drop in gear after gear around the red line. For many of the above that's 14,000 delicious rpm, so who cares what happens at 50 rpm after all?

Do YOU take the Panigale 1299, S1000RR, Fireblade, ZX12R, etc. or the electric bike?

No brainer, the ICE!!!

[ddom]

Electric bikes are even worse than electric cars. Remove the USP (the interesting engine) and there’s a frame, pair of wheels and some clocks. It’s a very limited area ti stamp your manufacture vision upon? All the bikes with a battery will accelerate the same, sound and feel the same. The extra weight will ruin the dynamics and it’s likely they’ll all need wider tyres and other compromises. There’s no aftermarket scene, apart from a branded plug adapter and after you’ve done a few standing starts you’re left with a very big twist and go. Pick one, any of them and PX it in six months for a different brand. It’s the antithesis of motorcycling IMO.

[BroadsRS6]

ddom said:

Electric bikes are even worse than electric cars. Remove the USP (the interesting engine) and there’s a frame, pair of wheels and some clocks. It’s a very limited area ti stamp your manufacture vision upon? All the bikes with a battery will accelerate the same, sound and feel the same. The extra weight will ruin the dynamics and it’s likely they’ll all need wider tyres and other compromises. There’s no aftermarket scene, apart from a branded plug adapter and after you’ve done a few standing starts you’re left with a very big twist and go. Pick one, any of them and PX it in six months for a different brand. It’s the antithesis of motorcycling IMO.

Spot on. I'm using a friend's R6 this week as he is away on business and i can't believe how much fun it is. Using all 15,000 rpm in the lower 3 gears is just amazing and yet the bike will pull smoothly from 40 mph in top cog. It's a 2010 so probably not expensive to buy either. I am sorry but no electric bike will EVER be this much fun. No way. EVEN if it had 300 bhp from one rpm!

[graeme4130]

BroadsRS6 said:

As for the sound being a nuisance to other people, what about the increased deaths silent bikes and cars will guarantee? The wildlife deaths that will rocket also? Hearing traffic around you is a big part of avoiding it, whether you are a driver, pedestrian, an older or short sighted person maybe, or our beautiful wildlife which gets wiped out by silent 2 tonne killing machines haring through their back garden.

If you believe the environmental campaigners who have steered the world's governments, harmful ICE emissions are going to kill millions in the long term too (I've no idea if that's true or not)
Electric Bikes, like Electric cars, appear to be our only choice down the road in the not too distant future, so we might as well embrace the inevitable
I'm not a fan of E-Bikes for the road currently, and I'll miss the feeling and sound of racing Petrol Bikes, but I'm also not shortsighted enough to doubt that once the battery weights and calibration of how they work is sorted, there's a strong case to say that they can be significantly faster around a track than a ICE bike
In only a few short years since we saw the first proper electric car, they're already on parr with the most exotic of super cars in terms of performance (in a straight line, at least)

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

It ultimately boils down to big bikes mostly being an emotional purchase.

Electrics will surpass them at some point against every objective metric.

But it's the subjective that makes you want to ride them - noise, smell, interactions, etc... The intangibles.

[Neal H]

Maybe Hydrogen will be a viable option in 10 to 20 years. An instant torque electric motor without the need to lug around heavy batteries.

Batteries may be okay on cars given their percentage of the weight of an average car, but it doesn’t work so well on a bike. On my e-MTB push bike the battery must be 30% of the total weight and that’s a relatively piddly little thing!

[998420]

Zero interest whatsoever in electric bikes or cars

But, for off road, and general getting about, an electric push bike, with no registration plate, is a valid option

For downhill off road, it may even be the best option

[jjwilde]

Neal H said:

Maybe Hydrogen will be a viable option in 10 to 20 years. An instant torque electric motor without the need to lug around heavy batteries.

Batteries may be okay on cars given their percentage of the weight of an average car, but it doesn’t work so well on a bike. On my e-MTB push bike the battery must be 30% of the total weight and that’s a relatively piddly little thing!

OMG lol. If you think an EV bike would be heavy you ain't seen nothing yet when it comes to how heavy hydrogen would make them. They would also be slow, painfully slow.

[KTMsm]

graeme4130 said:

Like I said, it's not here yet, but when it gets good eventually, it's got all the potential to be significantly faster than a petrol bike

You're assuming that everyone just wants a fast bike

Yet last time I looked the majority of sales aren't of the fastest bikes

You're also assuming that they won't have speed limiters

[jason61c]

there's a lot of 'e' plonkers on here.

There's no way an electric bike will lap the tt course faster than a super bike in a proper 6 lap super bike race in the next 10 years. Thats the point. Thats why we've all got bikes(apart from a few posters in this thread).