| Author | Message | ||
     Electraglider_1997 |
Yesterday (Friday) my wife and I both demo rode the LiveWire electric bike at Worth H-D in Kansas City, Missouri. Worth had 10 of them there and they are a very powerful, fast, and very fun to ride. When you bury the throttle it is scary fast with all the full on torque from bottom up. Everyone that demo'd had a huge smile on their face after riding one. It was a short 5 mile demo but enough to want a lot more of the same. I took plenty of pictures of the bike and spoke at length to the mechanic who is with the demo team. One thing I really liked about the design is that the belt is non-adjustable similar to the Buell but even one better. The front drive belt pulley pivots dead center to the swingarm so no matter if the shock is fully compressed or fully extended the center distance of the rear axle to the front pulley stays exactly constant without need of a idler pulley. The primary pulley is directly behind the drive front pulley. It's belted to the electric motor. The bike handled real well and the mechanic told me they only put a back brake on the bike because the Fed's required it. The regenerative braking made the rear brake pretty unnecessary and everyone that I spoke to mostly didn't need to use any of the brakes when we came to stop signs. Kind of strange but it works. I think the brakes would probably last a very long time because of the regenerative braking. My wife rides a 1200 Sportster so she was able to demo the LiveWire on her own. We both want one now. I've got to get the photo's from my wife's Nexus 10 tablet to our home computer and I think that will take her going to the Library which has WiFi and emailing them home. We don't have WiFi here at home because I don't trust WiFi with financial type transactions, whether that fear is warranted or not. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Me getting ready to demo the LiveWire  A very well detailed and engineered bike.  Notice the counter pulley and swingarm are on the same pivot point.     My way better half getting ready to ride the electric Harley   | ||
| Buewulf |
Best looking bike Harley has made in my opinion. Thanks for your thoughts on it. | ||
| Rayycc1 |
Thats a sharp looking bike...And looks to me to be Buell inspired ....i'm just not sure motorcycling would be as fun without the Bbrrraaappppp..... | ||
| Buewulf |
Ray, I find that the near silent rush of power is fun in its own way (though I've read the Harley is designed to make noise.) The only electric bike I've sampled was a Zero dual-sport a few years ago. It wasn't very impressive, but I've heard the new ones have come a long way. | ||
| Rayycc1 |
Sure looks more like a Buell than a Harley....I can't see why Harley bothered? If they Couldn't sell Buells....They damn sure won't sell these | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
According to the LiveWire mechanic I spoke at length to, it is the use of straight cut gears that create the jet engine whine. Exactly how those gears are used is something I didn't think to ask (until now). It has no transmission. It does use a primary belt that drives from the motor to a pulley behind the front drive pulley at the swingarm pivot. It can be seen in the 4th photo under the shock. The mechanic said the noise could be cancelled by going to helical cut gearing in place of the straight cut gears. The noise would get old real fast if you didn't wear ear plugs. I wear ear plugs anytime I mount any of my bikes. | ||
| Cyclonedon |
Has anyone from Harley Davidson ever talked about this bike's price? | ||
| Callawegian |
I understand how you guys think it looks like a Buell, but it has some of the lines from a V-Rod. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Everybody I saw that demo'd really enjoyed riding the LiveWire and were very impressed by the bike. One guy that tipped us off about the demo and made the trip from Omaha to the demo said he would buy one right now if they were available. My wife can only ride a limited amount of bikes that allow her to get her feet on the ground thought the LiveWire was of perfect size for her. Double the range and offer a bit larger version for us that have no problem with the ULY's height and I'd plunk down a reasonable amount for a Harley electric bike. Harley could provide charging stations in their dealer's lots and a guy could reasonably go long distances on a pure electric bike. I did hear one older guy that demo'd at the same time I did, complain (before he rode the bike) that he didn't like the idea of a quiet bike. He was smiling like crazy after he actually rode the LiveWire. Pretty awesome ride. It seems that even on BadWeb that many riders like to make a lot of noise for whatever the reason and spend money on Drummers and the like. I personally would love it if my Uly was electric silent but that is just my preference. | ||
| Buewulf |
"Exactly how those gears are used is something I didn't think to ask" It looks like the motor is mounted perpendicular to the axles which would require a "transmission" to make the 90° turn to the drive sprocket. Looks like they added some weight and complexity to make it noisy. Old habits die hard, I guess.  | ||
| Reepicheep |
Yup, the only part of E-Bikes that doesn't work for most people is the economics. Too short a range, too high a price, too long to charge. The good news is that solving one of those three problems would make a huge leap forward, and solving two of the three could start the revolution. |
