[baseballdork]

Are they faster? I guess at some point it comes down to gearing, but a liter bike is hitting 300km/h and has more than enough torque to loop you from standing still. I'm not sure what an electric motor adds here for hobbyists or speed demons.

[korse]

They aren't faster in the cases I know of. As an example, the Isle of Man TT Zero was discontinued partially because 2008 predictions of electric bikes reaching parity with gas by 2025 didn't pan out.

Even for small stuff, a minibike with a 212cc 4-stroke can have comparable performance to something like a Cake or Surron and is a fraction of the cost.

Personally I think the electric motorcycle market should try and max performance versus weight. Perhaps something pedal assisted that could hit 60 mph without too much fuss but light enough that it could be shouldered up a few flights of stairs. Range can be low, as in 10-15 miles per charge max but balanced by swappable battery packs.

[Retric]

ICE engines lose power when changing gears, so they aren’t strictly grip limited.

[baseballdork]

Sure, but when you can get to 90mph in first gear, does that matter?

[Retric]

Little point to owning a bike like that if you only ever go to 90mph. Transmissions with correctly calibrated gear ratios to the normal use case are useful things for ICE engines.

[baseballdork]

But how many EV bikes can even hit 90?

[Retric]

The fast ones can which is the only thing that matters in this comparison. Just as there are plenty of slow ICE bikes, but again they aren’t part of this comparison either, this is about 200+MPH bikes like the Lightning LS-218 vs Ducati Panigale R etc.

[baseballdork]

Hmm. That’s not “the fast ones”, that’s specifically and purposefully built for the purpose of hitting a high speed. Can’t seem to find 0-218 time to see how it would compare with a geared ICE motorcycle. I’m not convinced it’s getting to the top fast enough for gear shifting to matter.