As part of my celebration on having reached a milestone of riding 1 Million miles since I started riding, I thought I would try something different. Rather than look at the past, I would look to the future.
In 2020 Harley-Davidson introduced the LiveWire , their first all electric motorcycle. You can go to their more informative site for more technical information.
Manchester Harley Davidson allowed me to take the bike on a test ride. This was an accompanied ride, meaning that I follwed another rider.
The test ride was about 16 miles, a mixture of city, twisty and highway. The bike has multiple riding modes. I, of course, chose sport mode. Right off the bat I was impressed at how well it handled slow speed crawling. No jerking, very well mannered. I could do U-Turns all day on this.
Sitting at the lights in VERY hot weather it was nice not to have a hot engine between my legs. Once on a few twisty roads the bike handled very well. Smooth with a very strong pull from 0 to whatever speed I wanted. On the highway I was able to test the acceleration a bit more. From 65, on an uphill section of the highway the bike accelerated rapidly to 99 MPH before I had to slow down for the vehicle in front of me. I was told it will hold this pull right up to the 115 mph governor. I don't know how the performance measures up to a sport bike, but the seat of the pants feel told me this is the fastest accelerating bike I have ever ridden. That might not even be close to true, but it sure felt like it. Full torque at any speed. No shifting. Very nice. Feels very different from any gas bike I've ever ridden. The specifications sheet says 105 HP, although I don't know what RPM/Speed that is measured at, but I am assuming it is at 115 MPH. Maybe a better number to use is the rated torque of 86 ft-lb, which should be relatively constant through the RPM range, unlike a gasoline engine that has a variable torque depending on RPM.
The bike has no clutch and no gears. I succeeded in not once squeezing the non-existent clutch lever, but a number of times I put my hand over where lever should be, and prepped my foot to press the shift lever that was not there.
I was worried that the bike would coast when the throttle was released. Anyone that uses gasoline vehicles, especially ones with manual transmissions, expects a decent amount of deceleration when the throttle is released. The LiveWire did not disappoint. Using regenerative braking and possibly automatic application of the rear brake (kinda felt like it) the bike acts just like it has a gasoline engine. A FAST gasoline engine.
The bike was not fully charged. It started by saying I had 89 miles left on the batteries, then quickly increased to 115 miles. After the 16 mile ride (spirited in sport mode) was showing 75 miles left. I would expect the numbers to jump around a lot as temperatures change, and riding aggressiveness changes. All in all, not bad numbers for a small electric vehicle. Harley estimates 146 miles of city range or 95 miles of combined stop-and-go and highway range. My Honda ST1300 gets 300 miles out of a tank. I don't consider this enough. Sometimes I will even plumb in a fuel tank attached to the back seat. So the LiveWire is definitely not a good touring bike, unless you want a more leisurely tour than I would normally take.
The listed weight of 549 pounds is heavy for such a small bike, but low center of gravity makes the bike feel like a lightweight to me. It handles awesome, feels light and nimble. I did not get a chance to test it's ability to brake hard, but I don't doubt that it would be excellent.
Even though it is a small bike, it fit me fairly well. The mirror stalks need to be bigger, and I would put a riser for the handlebars on it. Oh, and a crowbar... A BIG one.... to pry my fat butt off the seat. It's.... uh... a bit small for long distance.
This is a fun bike, and really shows where the world of motorcycling may eventually have to go. It is not really my style of bike, but I would love to have one in my garage.
So the final question, Would I Buy One?. Simple answer: No. The range is too low for my style of riding, even a simple day of riding would require multiple stops for charging. When I look at bikes, one of the first things I look at is the range. Like I said, the 300 miles from my Honda is a bit too low for me, but it is the best I can get. Still, if the range was increased 50% and the price was cut in half (currently $30,000) I think I would get one. Seriously, it was a fun bike.
There is competition to the Harley LiveWire. One example being the Zero Motorcycles Company. I have not tried one yet, but the listed specifications look really good and the price is better. Zero is also an American company. You can wander around their site and see what they have to offer. They come closer to what I would want, but they still have a long way to go.
There is also this one: Energica , an Italian company. their specs look even better in some ways.