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So you think Electric Motorcycles aren't sexy enough...

r184 said:
Your right about the comments, they are entertaining and pretty well sum it up. Reminds my of some 1920's European Art Deco (well you get the idea) symbol.
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After reading the comments, I have a whole new appreciation for the H-D Sprints of yesteryear. Just think, with better marketing, the Hercules 2000 could have been the Trojan 2000 Maxim.
 
Interesting machine, has potential... until one realizes that the extra-power motor will pull the battery down faster.
That huge under-slung, um, housing could be used to hold a plutonium pellet to superheat a tank of water to drive a turbine...
 
Friedle said:
Glenn is spinning in his grave at the mere suggestion ! :)

Friedle
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I'm not sure I would agree with that assessment. Curtiss-Wright didn't development the reputation for technical intransigence until after G. H. Curtiss' death (1930). Dismissing the potential of jet engines for commercial aviation has to be the #1 all-time bad business decision.
 
I am 74 years old. I would love to see an electric motorcycle that would work for me but there simply isn't one yet. I live in the Texas Big Bend. It is 53 miles to town at highway speeds with a 75 mph speed limit. So a 106 mile range at highway speed would be needed for a mere shopping trip. The new HD model provides less than half that at highway speeds. Zero can't do it yet either.

I mention my age only because if I were in my 20s or 30s I would be eagerly awaiting a battery breakthrough. Even now if I lived in an urban area where short trips between plug-ins were feasible I would be interested.

True, $75k is nuts, but Zero does much better than that.

I suspect that more than half of the BMW MOA membership have riding habits that would be served by an electric bike. But carriage drivers resisted the horseless carriage just as it is now common to resist hybrids, electric cars, and bikes. Resistance in futile and if were 40 or 50 I would live to prove it.
 
PGlaves said:
I am 74 years old. I would love to see an electric motorcycle that would work for me but there simply isn't one yet. I live in the Texas Big Bend. It is 53 miles to town at highway speeds with a 75 mph speed limit. So a 106 mile range at highway speed would be needed for a mere shopping trip. The new HD model provides less than half that at highway speeds. Zero can't do it yet either.

I mention my age only because if I were in my 20s or 30s I would be eagerly awaiting a battery breakthrough. Even now if I lived in an urban area where short trips between plug-ins were feasible I would be interested.

True, $75k is nuts, but Zero does much better than that.

I suspect that more than half of the BMW MOA membership have riding habits that would be served by an electric bike. But carriage drivers resisted the horseless carriage just as it is now common to resist hybrids, electric cars, and bikes. Resistance in futile and if were 40 or 50 I would live to prove it.
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Your sister-in-law and her Prius, finally, won you over????
 
36654 said:
I'm not sure I would agree with that assessment. Curtiss-Wright didn't development the reputation for technical intransigence until after G. H. Curtiss' death (1930). Dismissing the potential of jet engines for commercial aviation has to be the #1 all-time bad business decision.
Click to expand...

Huh? How do you pin any of that on Glenn Curtiss when he died well before there was a working jet engine? The Me 262, the first jet fighter, had barely working jet engines that were prone to catching fire if throttled up too quickly.
 
AKsuited said:
Huh? How do you pin any of that on Glenn Curtiss when he died well before there was a working jet engine? The Me 262, the first jet fighter, had barely working jet engines that were prone to catching fire if throttled up too quickly.
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I think that's what I said. G. H. Curtiss was long dead when Curtiss-Wright made their great mistakes.

However, I think G. H. Curtiss would have been all-over the EV technology.
 
PGlaves said:
I am 74 years old. I would love to see an electric motorcycle that would work for me but there simply isn't one yet. I live in the Texas Big Bend. It is 53 miles to town at highway speeds with a 75 mph speed limit. So a 106 mile range at highway speed would be needed for a mere shopping trip. The new HD model provides less than half that at highway speeds. Zero can't do it yet either.

I mention my age only because if I were in my 20s or 30s I would be eagerly awaiting a battery breakthrough. Even now if I lived in an urban area where short trips between plug-ins were feasible I would be interested.

True, $75k is nuts, but Zero does much better than that.

I suspect that more than half of the BMW MOA membership have riding habits that would be served by an electric bike. But carriage drivers resisted the horseless carriage just as it is now common to resist hybrids, electric cars, and bikes. Resistance in futile and if were 40 or 50 I would live to prove it.
Click to expand...

Fully agree. I test rode the new Zero and it is very good. The key obstical is a 70 mile range at speed. I ride for pleasure.....most rides are above 100 miles....so battery range just does not work for me yet.
 
I'm 60...electric cars & bikes aren't a big priority for me...but my son, who's 28 and recently earned his MC license and rides a G310R, loves all things electric. He really likes, for example, the BMW i3...and I'm sure would eagerly ride an electric motorcycle if the battery range suited. I'll be shocked (no pun intended) if he doesn't someday end up on one.

In our case, I can clearly see the generational difference between he and I. He's all about technology & innovation where I'm a little more...analog.
 
Over the past 12 months, 73% of my riding has been the 20 mile R/T commute between my home and the university. The rest has been long trips with 500-600 mile days. Because of the latter, I'm not prepared to give up either my ICE auto or bike. I would consider an electric motorcycle as a second bike, but not at the $25-30K price tags I'm seeing and reading about. Something to consider - early hybrids, e.g. Toyota Prius, and later Tesla and others, greatly benefited from the purchase tax subsidy customers received from the gov't. I do not ever foresee a similar incentive being provided for motorcycle purchases.
 
1957mpd said:
Over the past 12 months, 73% of my riding has been the 20 mile R/T commute between my home and the university. The rest has been long trips with 500-600 mile days. Because of the latter, I'm not prepared to give up either my ICE auto or bike. I would consider an electric motorcycle as a second bike, but not at the $25-30K price tags I'm seeing and reading about. Something to consider - early hybrids, e.g. Toyota Prius, and later Tesla and others, greatly benefited from the purchase tax subsidy customers received from the gov't. I do not ever foresee a similar incentive being provided for motorcycle purchases.
Click to expand...

Non-plugin hybrid tax credits ended in 2010.
 
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