I'm going to hold back judgment until I can ride a livewire.

But I have ridden Zero electric motorcycles. To say they have no soul is wrong. They just move you in a different fashion. With all the torque at zero rpm they pull like nothing else. There is no roar just the snapping of your neck and then rush of air.

The livewire is supposed to have a synaptic pulse of the motor at a stop to let you know it is on. It also has a distinctive gear whine sound. So they have vibration and mechanical noise. Just different from the ICE bikes.

If all goes as planned I'll be riding a livewire on Friday and will report back.

 

Enjoy you test ride.. Artificial vibrations and computer generated engine sounds is nothing like the real thing IMHO..There are plenty of naturally asperated gas powered motorcycles out there that make more torque and horsepower if that is the only thing people want. I got nothing against electric power but to me anyway, it's more of an electric appliance than a true motorcycle. Maybe Harley should build a diesel powered machine ? Plenty of torque there.

 

As a kid I couldn't wait for the county fair to arrive. One of may favorite things were the bumper cars. They were all electric but within a few smashups you knew which cars to get in the next round. Some had no acceleration, others couldn't turn and a precious few did everything well. You couldn't say they had no soul and they were definitely fun. I'd expect the livewire to have characteristics that folks will enjoy. Anything that is on 2 wheels and has instant torque, incredible acceleration that also handles and stops well will be fun. The $30k price tag, distance limitation with how long to recharge will keep me away. If they ever come up with a standard battery that could be swapped out at gas stations to take less time than filling up a gas tank would start to change my mind.

 

The definition of a motorcycle is a powered vehicle with two wheels. The Livewire most certainly has a motor and it has two wheels, so it is indeed a "true" motorcycle. It's just not to your liking, that's all, and that's fine.

As for the Livewire it's just priced way too high for what it is, and that is going to give it a very hard time succeeding in a market with the likes of Zero.

 

It's not a computer generated engine sound it is gear whine. The livewire motor is mounted length wise and needs gears to make the 90 degree turn to line up with the wheels unlike most other electric motorcycles that mount the motor horizontally.

I think Harley has tried very hard to give the livewire soul of its own.

I think it's pretty safe to say that you and most traditional Harley owners are not the target market for the livewire. Thats a good thing because the Harley base is dying off and not buying enough motorcycles. The while point of the livewire is to develop a new market and keep the moco going.

As for the diesel motorcycle I'd love to see one if them too. I drive a diesel truck. Imagine if I could put straight pipes on a bike and roll coal.

 

Saw one parked at the dealer last week. Poured a couple drops of oil under it from the spare bottle in my saddlebag.
When the guy that owned it came out, I thought he was gonna have a heart attack.

 

........ i tried hard not to laff @ that, i really did
................ it didn't work

 

Torque from an electric motor cannot be compared to torque from a gas motor...gas motors make high numbers at x amount of RPM...an electric motor makes all it's torque starting at 1 RPM...

I would imagine you would have to put some serious money in a gas motor to keep up with thing from 0-60...fun from stop light to stop light...

Too much money, and not enough range to be practical yet..

 

95 miles or 146 miles to a charge.... for $30K. They can stick it in their @ss.

I've ridden a Zero motorcycle electric and I will say the electric experience is pretty awesome, Instant linear power. I had a blast riding it

 

Looks like female stunt rider had fun with the livewire when doing stunts for this film.