[TheSageMage]

Their reasoning seems to be gimmickry. I've read several excerpts that state that they are considering this because the "young crowd is demanding eco-friendly vehicles". This is a terrible reason to just build an electric vehicle.

I think they need to take a cue from Tesla and make it all about the neat features that Electric vehicles can provide, such as quicker acceleration, no transmission, etc. Just my 2 cents anyways.

[x0054]

I agree, the one main nifty feature I can think of is consolidation of weight and ability to play around with center of gravity on the bike. For instance, on a sport bike you would want to shift the center of mass to the front, to keep the front wheel down and also to help steering. Shifting the center of mass down would also help with flicking the bike in and out of corners.

You can also design 2 wheel drive bikes! I honestly have no clue if it would be a good idea, but with electric power you can do that. It might be a death trap for all I know, but I think it would be really cool to have an all wheel drive bike.

The final advantage of electric bike is silence. That actually cuts both ways. You want to have a loud (reasonably) bike, so people notice you, and don't run you over. But riding full speed in near silence through a country road is quite surreal as well. Try getting your bike to 80+MPH on a backroad someplace, and kill the engine for a few seconds. It's quite an interesting experience.

[AnthonBerg]

Two-wheel drive bikes are actually a good idea. Some combustion-engine models actually exist. Mostly dirt bikes. US-based Christini make Honda CRF derivatives with a pretty cool front-wheel drive system. The difference might be hard to tell for people who haven't ridden dirt bikes, I'm not sure, but here's a video that shows a little bit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si-bI84SZKA

Yamaha also made a two-wheel-drive racebike prototype. Don't remember the name.

It's pretty interesting to read the ride reports on two-wheel-drive bikes. The handling seems to make a lot of sense ...

[x0054]

That's so cool! I want to ride one now! That's a really good use of electric bikes, I think. A super quiet, AWD, off road bike. Would be nifty for riding in the forest.

[ENGNR]

Careful that turning the key doesn't engage the wheel lock. Ouch.

[ggreer]

The "safe" way is to pull in the clutch, shift to neutral, and hit the kill switch on the right handlebar. It's actually pretty dangerous to do this. If you slip and let go of the clutch while the engine is off and you're in gear (Not uncommon. Finding neutral is hard on some shifters.), you'll probably lock up the rear tire. When it regains grip, you risk a high-side.

[x0054]

I usually pull the clutch in and shift to 6th instead. Kill the engine with the kill switch and than flick it to start position right away. I restart the engine by feathering the clutch. In top gear there is little chance of rear lockup, unless you have a super high compression motor. In any case, it's not something you should do all the time, but having done it a few times, it makes me really want a high power, perfectly silent, electric bike. I think it would be really fun. For the freeway riding I would have to get a muffler simulator or something that makes some noise, because, if people do not here you, they usually do not see you.

Silent electric bikes would also be really awesome for riding in the woods. That way you can have some fun without annoying everyone within an ear range and scaring all the animals away.

[ggreer]

I agree about the gimmickry. Unfortunately, I don't see many advantages for electric bikes with current technology. Motorcycles get pretty good mileage; gas isn't a big expense. Not having to shift isn't a big differentiator. There are bikes with CVTs available today. More importantly, riding requires learning many other skills: counter-steering, how to brake while turning, low-speed maneuvering, avoiding target fixation, etc. And when it comes to acceleration, motorcycles are already stupendously fast. A modern sportbike can go from 0-60mph in 2.8 seconds. The limiting factor is not power, but the fact that the bike will wheelie if pushed harder.

The biggest advantage of an electric bike is probably less maintenance. If the drivetrain was sealed, you'd only have to deal with tires and brakes.

That said, electric bikes have some pretty big disadvantages. Battery weight forces them to sacrifice range or increase weight (or both). At least in the near future, electric bikes are going to be worse at handling, braking, and accelerating.

It's a shame, because I'd love to have an electric bike with the same range, power, and handling as my Ninja 250.

[OneOneOneOne]

Scooters and some motorcycles have automatic transmission. Most motorcycles have ample acceleration.

Apart from styling and green aspects I think they would want to focus on low maintenance benefit. Most electric will lack in power, weight and range compared to ICE.

[chadgeidel]

I think the Cycle World interview/article was better. http://www.cycleworld.com/2014/06/19/harley-davidson-livewir...

IMHO - the styling is really where this wins. They seem to be shooting for a different sound than a traditional electric bike, but I'm not hearing it - perhaps it sounds better "in person". Quicker acceleration is not as large an issue as you might think as motorcycles already accelerate quite quickly (even 600-class bikes require careful throttle modulation to prevent wheelspin).

There aren't a lot of competitors in this space (Zero, Brammo), so it's a good time for H-D to throw their hat into the ring.

[JPKab]

Yep. The whole "no transmission" thing really is a huge lure on a motorcycle. There's a huge segment of the population that doesn't even know how to use a manual transmission in a car, let alone on a motorcycle.

[abruzzi]

However in the USA there have been ongoing attempts to sell automatic transmission motorcycles (Honda being the strongest proponent, but others too including Aprilia) All of these attempts have seem very limited success. If I had to guess I would say it is because the MC market in the US is an enthusiast market. There are very limited numbers of people that buy a motorcycle to commute. Enthusiasts are like linux users. They not only don't care that it is more complicated, they prefer the complication and the flexibility it provides. So IMO, for automatic (or in the electric case, no transmission) to become a selling point, you have to start selling to a different group of people, or you have to show some material benefit over the status quo (like for instance on a race bike no shifts means no momentary loss of power during shifts. However that isn't Harley's field.)

[x0054]

Would you really want someone who could not be bothered to learn how to shift on a normal bike to be zooming around at 120mph+ on an electric super-bike? Besides, they already have sport scouters for that.

[adventured]

Why would a person have to zoom around at 120+ mph on an electric bike just because they couldn't be bothered to learn how to shift on a normal bike?

There's no actual logical connection between the two things.

I've always wanted to learn how to ride a motorcycle. I would enjoy not having to shift. Accordingly I may choose an electric motorcycle over a traditional one. And none of that has anything to do with whether I'll be a safe driver or not.

Logically it's absolutely no different than a driver preferring an automatic car vs a manual transmission car. It doesn't mean the person is going to drive faster.

[x0054]

No, it does not. However, if you wanted a motorcycle that shifts for you, they have those, they are called scooters. In fact, Ducati even makes an auto dual sport bike. However, if the only thing that's stopping you from learning how to ride a motorcycle is the fact that you do not want to learn how to ride with a sequential shifter, I really do not want you to be on the road on a fast bike. Basically, learning how to shift a bike is far less complicated than learning how to properly take a corner or pull out of one, or shift lanes.

So, basically, if you are afraid of bikes because they have shifters, but otherwise willing to learn, give it a try. I guarantee you that you'll feel comfortable shifting the gears on a bike and starting with the clutch on the first day. However, if you just don't want to learn because it looks like too much work, please, stay away from bikes, electric or otherwise.

[Zigurd]

That's a fair question but the industry's answer, in the form of products like the Can Am Spyder is "Yeah, we want people who can't even balance on two wheels."

I also think the whole transportation industry is going to have to get over crashworthyness and move on to autonomous automatic crash avoidance. High speed trains are not crashworthy compared to traditional passenger trains. Efficient personal vehicles should not need to be crashworthy.

[sigzero]

Great point and my answer would be "no, keep them off motorcycles period."

[pyoung]

I don't know, I think I would rather have these people on motorcycles than be behind the wheel of a 2 ton SUV. As someone who regularly walks and rides bicycles (and I have a motorcycle license but am reluctant to use it for safety reasons), I would much prefer that we keep the idiots of the world out of the big cars and trucks and put them onto smaller, less dangerous (to others) vehicles.

[thrownaway2424]

According to the video review linked here, this motorcycle does not provide "quicker acceleration." They say "under 4 seconds" 0-60 but almost every sport motorcycle has a sub-4second or even sub-3-second 0-60 time. The one I ride has a 3.0s time. They also say 460lb weight, which is nothing to shout about, and 53 mile range with a 3-hour charge time, which is terrible.