I’ve posted about this motorcycle before and it’s finally here. But…
0 to 60 in under 3.5 seconds? My FJR1300 weighs 200lbs more and goes faster. Those front turn signals are butt ugly. The optimal range of 110 miles is pitiful. The styling is not typical of H-D but at $30,000, the price sure is.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this will be an abject failure.
Just sold my ST1300 after almost 15 years with it. As a long time sport touring rider an electric bike is both super exciting but also limiting. 100 mile range is nothing new to HD riders though. I used to carry a couple 30oz MSR fuel bottles around on longer rides for the couple of guys riding their “cool” Harley’s. Got tired of them running out of gas.
Shawn, this may not be your cup of tea, but the future of transportation is electric & Harley are the first legacy motorcycle maker to take the lead in that nascent but hot market. As you know, the market leader is Zero Motorcycle & they are selling every unit they can make despite the high cost, goofy look and anemic performance & range compared to conventional ICE-based machines. Zero has only now started to compete in the performance area with the Zero SR/F which features 80 kW, 124 mph, 200 miles of range & a $20,995 USD price tag.
Like Tesla (and Apple), Harley expects most of its future sales growth to come from China, Europe and Japan where emission laws, extreme pollution and a growing class of rich customers are eager to pay extra for a “classic American” brand. Also, like every Harley, I suspect we will see an infinite number of expensive customizations that will push the price further north. For these reasons, I think the LiveWire bikes will sell very well — specially in Asia.
Harley is very well run & are data-driven like Fender guitars, they do extensive market research before releasing a new model & know their current & future customers very well.
It’s for the SoCal commuter market, I guess?
(Do bikes get EV tax credits?)
I don’t think it’s meant to be a giant mass-market success as much as an HD-fan vehicle and essentially a glorified saleable prototype?
I really just don’t get it. An insanely priced machine aimed at a tiny sliver of a market. I don’t know how this thing ever made it to production. Maybe they are trying an Elon Musk move. But you couldn’t get anything like the Tesla when they first came out. Still really can’t. But in the case of bikes…. Zero makes a better machine for a third less.
Well I like the sound a heck of a lot better. 🙂
Let me take that back…I was expecting/hoping quieter.
I ride a Ducati and don’t have a problem with the style or speed. The real problem is batteries in general are still a poor energy containment mechanism compared to gas…so at this price it’s crazy.