First off, everyone should know that
THIS BIKE WILL NOT BE FOR SALE.
H-D has created an electric motorcycle - Livewire
It is an engineering exercise to see what could be done by H-D in that market. They have been working on it for a few years in-house at the Product Development Center (PDC).
Rather than just put it out for display, it has been made to be road worthy...and they are taking it on tour for people to try. Project Livewire will be a tour that will start in the US then make its way around the world next year.
I had a chance to ride it for a few laps around the Milwaukee Mile and it is quite different. I wish they made more H-Ds like this (but with a gas engine).
The Bike:
It is very small even for H-D standards and has decent suspension (Big Piston Forks) and is more of a sport riding position. The motor is the sliver shiny bit at the bottom and the batteries reside where the engine would.
It has good brakes but the bike's regen properties act as a bike engine brake so they can get away with just one disk in the front.
I don't have specific stats but my butt scale would put it about 400lbs or so (I'm probably on the heavy side).
Riding position is like a sporty naked like the Ducati Monster.
It is narrow and very small when you are on it, and easy to maneuver but you can feel the mass of the batteries.
These bikes were built in Milwaukee by hand at the PDC and fit and finish are good as you would expect (they built about 42 of them).
The Ride:
The bikes will be on tour for you to try, check out the website for info:
http://project.harley-davidson.com/en_USThe bike is street legal and has typical H-D controls and all the lights it needs to put it on the road. The experience will let you take about a 4-5 mile ride on the bike and will be at various points around the US.
I got my ride at the Milwaukee Mile and I rode the oval and the road course in the center of the track. They placed stop points along the track so you would have to slow down and stop and couldn't keep moving.
When you hop on the bike you see the only instrument is a touch screen.
You turn it on by using the cut-off switch and the screen turns on and shows '111' and 2 bar graphs. The 111 is a indication that the bike is active but the throttle is not active. The reason being is that there are no gears, just twist the throttle and go. Because of that you have to press the start button to activate the throttle. This will keep you from unwillingly taking off if you are not ready. The 111 will also show up if you have the side stand down.
You can also choose 2 profiles 'Range' or 'Power' (I picked power
) with 2 bar graphs that show what your range will be for each mode. You just press the touch screen and select your power mode and it configures for a few seconds and you are ready to hit the start button.
To start the bike you have normal controls, press the starter button for 3 seconds and the 111 on the dash is replaced with your speed and sets to zero. The screen also shows range, compass direction, turn signals and some other warning lights.
To start out you just roll on the throttle. It took me a bit to get used to it but power was smooth and linear like you would expect from an electric motor.
The 330 volt motor does provide some get up and go. I would say it accelerates as hard as my FJR and I was able to get it up to 77 mph and it got there very quickly...I would say in the 4 second range. It does pull as hard as sport bike and you don't have to shift.
When you roll off the power it has regen for the batteries and this causes a lot of 'engine braking' I would have to see how this would work on the road if you were trying to hold a speed. It didn't happen with small adjustments of the throttle but when you rolled the throttle forward.
I was able to hold 60 mph no problem with no jerkyness in the power delivery I could see riding the highway on it.
The lack of sound is different but my FJR with stock pipes is not much louder at freeway speeds.
I'm surprised how much the FJR's power delivery is like this bike...I guess it is like an electric motor!!
The suspension is good and even with my 'husky' frame was not able to upset the suspension in any way. It was firm but it ate up the bumps. There was a transition between the oval and the road course that I was trying to hit at different angles and it never got out of line.
I didn't have to recharge it but they told me it takes 2-3 hours to recharge it with the chargers they have on the trucks.
Would I buy one, probably not in it's current form. On power mode it only had about 60 miles of range and 110 in range mode. And it was 80 deg at the time I was riding it. I guess the range will go up and down with the ambient temp.
If battery tech would give us better range over a wider outside temp I may consider it.
The package is fun, I would LOVE to take it into the mountains...
Check out the tour schedule and try to get a ride, if you are going get there early...there will be limited spots. Each truck will only have 16 bikes and they run them 4 at a time for the demo.