Harley have released their first twist and go electric motorcycle. It claims to achieve 120mph and 110 miles range. It also seeks to promote the "new signature Harley sound" If you like leaf blowers, then you will love the sound. anyway https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...-electric-motorcycle-hits-120-miles-hour.html as a by the by, I have some friends who live in Florida and who attend the Sturgis Motorcycle week every year. This journey is around 2,000 miles each way and normally takes them a couple of days. They normally ride 120-150 miles on a tank, splash and dash and off again. Harley are claiming 110 mile range over a mixture of local and highway conditions but do not say how long the bike takes to recharge fully from fully empty
So, Harley Davidson's last, tenuous link with desirability - the lovely sound of their engines - is being cut. OK.
Looks -and sounds- like the only thing renaining from the Harley legend is the fat bloke who rides it. Unless it still vibrates?
I met a couple of weeks ago, a guy doing a north tip to south tip tour of NZ, the first on an electric bike. It was a Zero, approx 400cc size, not sure of a model type. He could do 200 km max with a tailwind, sitting at 95-100kmh average. Then he would be all out and with two fast chargers going, it would take him 90min to recharge. Assuming he could find somewhere to plug in. There are apparently four different plug formats and no one vehicle can use all four types. He was the first to admit we are a while yet off these being mainstream! Forgot to ask if I could have a ride!
If you have ever gone to a Harley meet or an American national bike meet (which are mostly Harley's) and have thousands of bikes sounding like thunder, it is quite an event to witness. To replace that with a thousand Dysons and the silence that would follow, might just kill off Harley.
As a Harley owner (now) that abortion isn't for me. Why the hell would anyone want a motorcycle with a great lump of an air conditioner in place of an engine? And why the hell has it got a petrol tank? Or something that resembles a petrol tank? It's like vegetarians that want vegetarian food in the shape of meat products and tastes like meat.
So it seems that part of it's operation is to make it sound like a Harley? Imagine how much battery life that will consume! Wonder if there will be a "straight pipes" setting?
