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Rode the new electric Harley

2K views 25 replies 20 participants last post by  kingmt01 
#1 ·
Harley has made 40 of these Project LiveWire bikes, each made by hand. They're going on a national tour to gauge public opinion and get feedback, and somehow my application got selected and I got to ride. The ride took about 20 minutes through Annapolis, with Street 750's in the front and back of the pack of 4 LiveWire's, with a local Harley cop providing an escort and stopping traffic when needed. Even though the cop was there, I really cranked on the throttle every chance I got. You know, for science.

It's undersized, over-engineered, uncomfortable, and not practical in any way. The seat is terrible, riding position is cramped, mirrors are blocked by your hands, and the strong engine braking greatly reduces your need to apply the brakes, which means less lights (safety hazard). Its also got a range of only 60 miles.

That said, the motor pulls hard and rockets up to 65 pretty damn quickly. Aesthetically, it's not bad. It's a good starting point for an electric bike, but Harley will have to make a LOT of changes before they even think about putting it into production.

Incidentally, my buddy managed to break one of them on the ride. In a turn, he ran over a piece of all thread on the road and it somehow rocketed through a plastic cover near the back, just in front of the rear wheel. They took it out of service to check everything out. Land vehicle Vehicle Motorcycle Motor vehicle Motorcycle accessories
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#2 ·
Man, I don't like that. It definatly looks too small, over engineered and uncomfortable. Looks quite unsightly to me. And 60 miles? I think 90% of us here would need 3 of them charged up for the day. That's really bad. I'll stick with my Phantom.
 
#7 ·
I don't reckon Harley made this as a serious attack on the electric bike market, I think there are two reasons for this bike to be made..

1. Maybe a government grant for research and development into electric vehicles..

2. So that Harley can say to the opposition, we built an electric bike in 2014 that would match any other electric bike from any other builder but discovered that our customers prefered the classic internal combustion engine.

John.
 
#12 ·
Yep, when started up you can select which mode you want to ride in. Economy only supplies 60% of the total available power (longer range), and the other mode supplies 100%. The ride leader advised that unless you're a really novice rider, 100% would be fine.
 
#9 ·
If they want public opinion they should have put out a comfortable bike at least. The greenie weanies will love it although they would probably never ride it.
 
#10 ·
Curious that they made it so tiny. A "large" bike does not have to be heavy. My Wee-Strom feels dimensionally larger than my Vulcan 1600 and has a much larger ****pit space, but weighs about 300 lbs less. There is no apparent reason for the Harley's diminutive size.
 
#13 ·
Agreed. The whole bike only weighed a little over 400, the frame itself weighed 14 pounds. But since there's so few moving parts, it wouldn't add much weight to stretch the frame out a bit and move the rider to a more comfortable position. But then, the Street 500's and 750's are pretty small too (not quite as small as the LW) and seem to be doing well enough to justify manufacturing them.
 
#11 ·
Just my thoughts...

As PNG mentioned, H-D put these out there "to gauge public opinion and get feedback" and that's what they'll be getting. Comments like his will likely go towards future revisions.

I can't help but wonder if an unexpected demographic will take to these. They seem a little disjointed for the avid motorcyclist types based on what I've read here, but maybe they will fit the bill in places similar to "golf cart communities" or on islands where fuel is scarce? Maybe not as much as a "hobby/recreational" vehicle? Just my thoughts.

PNG, was it hard getting used to all direct drive/no clutch slipping doing things like tight turns and such? Also, what sort of sound did it make?
 
#14 · (Edited)
Surprisingly, it didn't take any time at all to get adjusted to. The throttle, while not very responsive, isn't so sudden that controlling it is a challenge, which I was expecting to have difficulties with in a tight turn (inadvertently applying too much power, high-siding). The throttle's poor response also made it a little tricky to ride, since it's hard to keep the bike going at a constant speed. Any decrease in throttle results in massive engine braking, any increase results in surging forward. As such, it was a little uncomfortable in turns because the bike was always a) decelerating rapidly, putting a lot of weight on the front wheel or b) accelerating quicker than I would have liked. By the end of the ride, I had gotten the hang of it. I was actually glad to not have a shifter, since the pegs are in such terrible positions that I doubt if I would've even been able to use them.

The bike was originally silent but, after many strong opinions were voiced, the engineer went back and added in noise. He claims it sounds like a jet engine. I'm not sure that man has ever actually heard a jet engine, but it sounds just like an electric motor, though not as whiny as you would imagine. Hopefully that makes a bit of sense?

At low speeds, though, it's quite manageable.
 
#16 ·
I say kudos to Harley and other companies for researching these possibilities. While it may be a very long time before we see production of these bikes that actually make sense for a typical rider... You have to start somewhere.
Really cool you got to ride one. Too many times products like this live on the internet or as displays at shows that the public only gets to look at rather than experience.
Who would've ever thought that Harley would be considered innovative and on the cutting edge of technology. Not me!
 
#18 ·
Sorry guys, looks like it might be sized quite nicely for me. :D
If they'll give me a demo I'll ride it. Not interested in HDs, more so in the electric technology.
Seat does look pretty horrible but I guess if you can only go 60 miles you aren't gonna notice it to much.
 
#20 ·
Harley has made 40 of these Project LiveWire bikes, each made by hand. They're going on a national tour to gauge public opinion and get feedback, and somehow my application got selected and I got to ride. The ride took about 20 minutes through Annapolis, with Street 750's in the front and back of the pack of 4 LiveWire's, with a local Harley cop providing an escort and stopping traffic when needed. Even though the cop was there, I really cranked on the throttle every chance I got. You know, for science.

It's undersized, over-engineered, uncomfortable, and not practical in any way. The seat is terrible, riding position is cramped, mirrors are blocked by your hands, and the strong engine braking greatly reduces your need to apply the brakes, which means less lights (safety hazard). Its also got a range of only 60 miles.

That said, the motor pulls hard and rockets up to 65 pretty damn quickly. Aesthetically, it's not bad. It's a good starting point for an electric bike, but Harley will have to make a LOT of changes before they even think about putting it into production.

Incidentally, my buddy managed to break one of them on the ride. In a turn, he ran over a piece of all thread on the road and it somehow rocketed through a plastic cover near the back, just in front of the rear wheel. They took it out of service to check everything out. View attachment 93922 View attachment 93930 View attachment 93938 View attachment 93946


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Man. That is one ugly vehicle. Looks like a scaled up model of something that would have come with a kids playset.
 
#25 ·
It's a cool toy... But until you can charge an electric bike at any gas station in the same time it takes to fill up a tank with gas, their application as a form of viable transport are next-to useless for any serious rider.

No range, no convenience, no thank you.

What's that?? "Rabble-rabble-rabble-but if you buy one today, then maybe one day!!".

It's not my responsibility as a non-shareholder in HD to fund R&D, But if ever that day comes to where electric bikes can take a full charge on every street corner in 1 minute or less, dig me up and let me know..
 
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