Electric Bikes - Anyone Tried One - Thoughts?

SleepyOwl
No brm brm no bike. If the euro pratts get their way we could all end up with one. The ones of us who are die hard's will have big fee's on our pleasures.
Regards
Joe.

 

Ridden a KTM electric MotoX bike. Loads of torque. Like a big mountain bike, brakes both on the bars and no gears.

Only rode on a tight indoor MotoX track, but sure I would have been slower on a 2T 125. These things just went like hell. After 15 minutes track time, I was absolutely knackered hanging onto it.

If I could get one for £2k and the battery lasted 120 miles I would happily swap my KTM Enduro for one, but the price is a tad out of my range .....

 

A dealer at Ossett, near Wakefield has a good selection of demo bikes that you can take out. He offered me a go but I haven't had chance to take up the offer yet.

Electric cars:
One article I read about BMW i3 put me off electric to some extent. There is definitely an option here to further control the populace.
0 - 40mph super car
40 - 60 hot hatch
70+ slug, as limited to extend battery life presumably.

 

I had a "shot" on an electric Harley at the recent "thunder in the glen" in Aviemore. It was fixed to a frame so couldn't get a feel for it. No noise, no feed-back from anything, just felt false. The only thing I could compare it too is an arcade motorbike game. With only a 90 mile range (real life probably around 70 miles) not for me

 

Elect vehicles are just a novelty. Has a single genius ask the electric power providers if they can substain the new power demands of a city full of electric vehicles? The answer Hell No, We Can't. For every kw of alternative energy you need a kw of conventional generator capacity. Solar and wind steal all of the power companys low hanging profitable fruit, so they will have to charge astronomical prices at night or calm days, good news is night and calm never happen.

 

Top of the range zero has 140ish mile range 45min fast charge loads of torque but around £18000 price tag

 

Presumably as with cars the batteries aren't going to last forever but as I understand it you rent the car ones; is it the same for bikes?

Electric forklift trucks only have a 5 year battery life then you will be looking at around a £5k bill
Who would be willing to spend £5k to repair a 5 year old bike because without it the whole thing is scrap!

 

Apparently we already have "charging rage" where electric car owners are parking in a vehicle charging space, not to charge their car but because they think its a reserved space for them! They then refuse to move when the next person comes along hoping to charge their flat battery!
I would love to watch this happening as I fill up the bike at the petrol station across the road!

 

I have not yet tried one, but I am willing to try one on for size! I prize torque and that is the big selling point from what I understand!

 

You wouldn't say that after 15 minutes on one of those KTM's. They are absolute rocket-ship off the line. You really had to moderate the throttle or it would easily flip you.

Other thing was the balance and ease of riding. All the weight felt so 'central', and light. It really did feel like a mountain bike, a heavy one, but that added to the stability. I'm no off-road riding god, but I was flying around on it, jumping way more confidently than I would of on a IC MotoX bike.

I too am a lover of torque over power (Tuono and 2.5 Focus ST), and the amount of torque from electric motors, from zero rev's is awesome. I'd miss the noise (of both the above), but other than that I think we would get used to it very quickly.

Gears are there to solve the problems of IC engine's, that is they can only deliver power/torque over a certain rev range, and removing them is actually a positive, that and the fact torque from zero rev's makes electric look a good prospect for the future. Not there yet - too expensive / poor range, but eventually these will be sorted and electric bikes will be coming into the mainstream, imho.

 

Not meant to be the same, it will be different. The power these things develop ain't 'vegetarian', think more of nucleur.

Hopefully there will always be a few gallons of petrol to chuck in the bike and enjoy engine the noise (not bothered about the smell out of your exhaust )

 

Noise wise.... Maybe the electric bikes could come with preloaded soundtracks and integral music devices. That way you could have a big single, twin, triple, two stroke four stroke all at the press of a few buttons

Just a thought.

 

The 1st time i got on an electric bike I was shocked



I think it must have had a short

 

Ah yes, electric motor bikes.
I remember my 1976 electric start Commando.
That electric connection has put me off anything electric on a bike for ever.

 

should of got a T160

 

Not to mention the question of where all the dead batteries go to be "disposed of"?? Lots of unintended consequences and things that haven't been well thought out.

 

https://www.visordown.com/news/gene...-gDGsj2OySKzBHeD2sZBT6Xt4OTym8qH490xdD84v8VA8

 

Five years ago Mr. Sandi and I had the opportunity to test ride the Harley-Davidson "Livewire" prototypes up in Phoenix. (Actually, I can't believe it has already been five years since we did that....eek.) Anyway, it was great fun. But really weird too. The two things that I most remember are (1) the instantaneous throttle and torque was stunning--and awesome, and (2) having little sound while moving and zero sound while sitting at a stop light was very disconcerting. At the first stop light I remember thinking, "Hmm, did my bike kill?" Nope, just no sound at all. The one other thing that we realized is that you could slow down to nearly a dead stop with just the throttle and not using the brakes. And no brakes means no brake lights. You do the math on that one--especially in a city like Phoenix! I suspect (and pray) they figured that one out. At the time of this prototype event tour, the range was about 58 -- 75 which is ridiculous. I don't know what it is on the Livewires that have just been released.

The bikes were a hoot to ride, I do have to say. Very nimble and lightweight and, as I said, stunning acceleration! Very fun. But more as a novelty than something I could see in the garage. It was fun to get the opportunity to test ride a prototype, though. I learned while there that at the end of the Livewire tour, Harley had to destroy the prototype bikes as it's illegal to sell them or even give them away or donate them. That just broke my heart. Poor little bikes.