| Author | Message | ||
     1313 |
 I thought the price was 'fake news': https://www.foxnews.com/auto/electric-harley-davidson-livewire-priced-at-29799 Until H-D's website confirmed it: https://www.harley-davidson.com/us/en/motorcycles/future-vehicles/livewire.html#intcmp_HP_BB1_livewire You can even pre-order one now: https://www.harley-davidson.com/us/en/index.html I guess it's a good thing that I never was able to demo a LiveWire pre-production bike because, at that price, I have absolutely ZERO interest. | ||
| Court |
Rarified air at that level . . . . Imagine . . . 2o years ago . . . Harley-Davidson advertising a motorcycle as "quiet". I think it's a good thing . . . but . . proof positive the axis we rotate on has shifted. | ||
| Hootowl |
Is that a concentric belt tensioner? | ||
| Pwnzor |
Umm... no thanks. If I'm dropping over 20k on a bike, I'll definitely be getting a lot more for my money besides 2 wheels and a seat.  | ||
| Court |
You've probably gotten off on the wrong foot when the reviews of your product are not . . well, of your product but rather the price.  | ||
| Sifo |
The HD shops I'm familiar with won't know how to sell it anyway. It will be the new "girls" bike. They need a new girls bike after killing off Buell. I do agree on the price though. Not even in the ball park for a naked bike. How much chrome can I add? | ||
| Adrenaline_junkie |
And when it fails it will be because the US Market isn't ready for an electric bike. It will have nothing to do with 110 mile URBAN range(less at highway speeds), nearly 9 hours to recharge and $30K price. I know I will love the power delivery of an electric motorcycle if I ever ride one. And I will hate the recharge time. | ||
| 651lance |
Before I left the dealership I was reading dealer messages on the live wire. It sounds like for the dealer to sell ONE of these they have to spend $30k to $40k in training, charging banks and other crap. I was told by other HD employees that they know out of the box they aren’t going to sell that many live wires and not all dealers will be able to carry them. I’m with Sifo. The dealers sales staff will not be able to sell the live wire, even with all the training in the world. It will be like what was happening Buell motorcycles, they will end up in the corner and all the sales reps will walk a way from anyone wanting to ask questions or buy on, I’ve watched it happen many times.  | ||
| Greg_e |
They will probably sell to hipsters in California and other hipster areas. Then we will be able to buy them for not much money on the used market and ship them home. $30K is just stupid for something that is probably very old tech compared to the latest Zero. | ||
| H0gwash |
This is a toy for the Tesla crowd. To be fair, I would be totally jealous of someone with one. But for me: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-96 -Volt-Electric-Motorcycle/ | ||
| Airbozo |
I would love to have one, but not at that range or price. The Zero DSR can go 150 miles and costs around $16k... $10k for a harley badge? Uhm, no. The HD Prez did say the first model would be expensive. Hopefully they get the price top a more reasonable point in the next few years. BTW: Portland or Seattle are the Hipster mecca's. | ||
| 86129squids |
"... because, at that price, I have absolutely ZERO interest." Love the pun there.   Given that Smoky Mountain H-D attained #1 in the company recently, there's sure to be one or two down the road from me... as a former employee, can I haz a test drive?? If I weren't old and creaky and poor, and IF I possessed the skills, I'd grab one of these: http://www.motorcycledaily.com/2015/06/greased-frightening-lightning-motorcycles-scary-fast-ls-218-md-riding-impression/ (Message edited by 86129squids on January 08, 2019) | ||
| Ratbuell |
I think it'll be more V-rod than Buell. At least Buell had some enthusiastic salespeople...but nobody really knew what to do with a V-rod and it didn't really have a "slot" in the lineup that made any sense. I also don't see that there'll be much of an accessory market for them, at least not yet - and that's a big piece of the pay-pie for a salesperson/dealership, on any HD. Gonna make it even harder to get them out of the gate. Dealer specialty charging stations? Does the end user have to have a station as well? Or will they charge from household 110? | ||
| Midknyte |
We can dog the price, but it really kinda sits in the middle of the market and it's not like we don't expect HD to price it as a premium product. At least it looks the part, and rather well. Zero comes in at an approachingly reasonable price and range, and everyone else still sits in that niche space where they have even less range, don't even look like they were designed by anyone who has ridden a motorcycle, and reek of limited production pricing. One new example https://www.engadget.com/2019/01/08/novus-35-000-e lectric-motorcycle-oozes-sinister-style/ | ||
| 86129squids |
The number 86 is on the frame. That's significant. "Oozes Sinister Style"??? SOFA KING WE TODD ED (Message edited by 86129squids on January 09, 2019) | ||
| Midknyte |
Next concept bikes appearing in the wild https://gearjunkie.com/harley-davidson-electric-mo torcycle-bike-livewire | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
I wonder how many HD has to sell to break even. | ||
| Jaimec |
Court, remember "The Silent Gray Fellow" was a Harley that was advertised for how quiet it was. Anyway, my thoughts on a $30K eCycle that can go 110 miles in an urban environment: For $16K LESS, you can have an American-made bike that can go 179 miles in city riding, and more importantly, up to 90 miles on the highway and you can have it RIGHT NOW. I don't care about all the gee-whiz technology... the most important thing about an e-Cycle is how FAR can I go on a charge. The Livewire has a long way to go but then Zero has had a 12 year head start on the motor company. (Message edited by jaimec on January 14, 2019) | ||
| Torquehd |
I like these old signs   | ||
| Jaimec |
At this point in time, I think the ONLY reason someone would want the Livewire is because of the "Harley Davidson" name. Check this out, not only is Zero coming out with a new, high-end bike at the end of February but look who else is coming out with something exciting a month later: http://tinyurl.com/y93vb74w Keep in mind that both Zero and Lightning have been doing eBikes for YEARS and this is just Harley's first attempt. I know which one I WOULDN'T want... | ||
| Airbozo |
The livewire is only worth that much as a collectors item. Many years from now. Hopefully. | ||
| Midknyte |
"We" are simply not the audience for this bike, nor would I suggest that the current mother ship brethren are. That being said, it does appear to be quite a bit of bike for the money with features that won't be found on the lesser priced bikes. If they can manage to stand it out as the Tesla of the electrics (as in price and farkels), it could stand a chance. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-65 71189/Harley-Davidson-unveils-30-000-twist-electri c-motorcycle-hits-120-miles-hour.html | ||
| Shoggin |
Jaimec, You mentioned twice that H-D is behind because they lack development time compared to Zero and Lightning. H-D never designed this tech. They bought an existing e-bike company and only really 'designed' the look. BTW, I like the look. it has a very Buell-ish profile, especially the XB swingarm  We all have range-anxiety (without actually living with one) and we all expect an e-bike to completely replace our single motorcycle. But motorcycling has never been that kind of lifestyle. Current e-bikes work well as an addition to the flock of binary wheeled toys we have. The same reason why my garage has Mr. Sportypants, Miss Long Distance, and Dirty Rebecca. I won't ask my taint to withstand a super cross dirt track on the EBR, like I wouldn't ask an e-bike to go cross country in a couple days. Until electrics have the same infra-structure as our beloved gas exploders, swappable batteries, ultra fast recharge times (see carbon nano-tube batteries)... they will be an 'extra bike'. That's OK. How many of us just have ONE anyway?? We can bitch about low range and high dollars all day but damn 110 miles and 30 GRAND?? Ludicrous. If the ROI has to calculate Y3K, I'm out. I know Tl;Dr  | ||
| Jaimec |
Which eBike company did they buy? They had a partnership with Mission Motors and they went belly-up. Then they had a partnership with Alta and reneged on that one. You're thinking of Polaris; they bought Brammo and sold a rebadged Empulse under the "Victory" brand for a couple of years before ending that along with the entire Victory line. | ||
| Midknyte |
Range aside, this looks like a solid piece of kit from the get go Harley-Davidson LiveWire™ Electric Motorcycle-The…: https://youtu.be/6yta5NpigrI | ||
| Steveford |
Needs tassels. | ||
| Crusty |
Harley is the first major manufacturer to produce an electric bike, and all everyone can do is shit on them. And not one of you has even seen one, except in pictures. I suppose that if the MoFoCo offered them at an MSRP of $19.95 plus $7.95 shipping & handling you'd be frothing at the mouth because they weren't absorbing the extra charges. Some of you are as bad as those jackasses who think that a Sportster is a "Girls bike" and anything that doesn't look like it was designed in 1940 ain't a real Harley. Why don't you wait until you've ridden one before you shit all over it? | ||
| Jaimec |
Crusty, I guess it all depends on your definition of "motorcycle" because BMW has been selling an electric Maxi Scooter for several years now. Technically, THEY were the first "Major Manufacturer" with a highway capable electric two wheeler. IIRC, when they first came out in Europe they were also "Stupid Expen$ive" and were initially sold as "Fleet Vehicles." They weren't sold in the US until a few years back and they were able to bring the price down to "reasonable" levels. (Message edited by jaimec on January 18, 2019) | ||
| Blackbelt |
I am actually excited to see this bike succeed. maybe the price will drop in a couple years.. but it would be great to look into this someday | ||
| Steveford |
Just kidding about the tassels but a few strategically placed conchos... I think it looks really cool and just studying the pictures a lot of it reminds me of Erik Buell's thinking. Premium components used on it, too. However, 30K and a limited range with the lengthy recharge time means that I'll never own one. That's not dogging the product, that's just being honest: it's above my pay grade and I don't want to be stuck pushing on the side of the road as semis blast past me doing 85 MPH in the rain. I can do that on my Ulysses for free! |
