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Years ago now I rode a Zero electric motorcycle.

Sat on it, I spent a good 5 minutes looking for the switch to turn it on. It was only when I leant down to look on the left-hand side of the bike, holding the right-hand handlebar, that I realised it was on when it shot forwards because I'd slightly tweaked the throttle.

That was just the first of many weird experiences. I realised how I assumed the noise of my bike meant people could hear me coming and look out for me, but the lack of noise made no difference. People just don't look, period.

When riding the leccy bike, I realised how many horrible clattering sounds my lovely petrol-engine masked. It sounded like I was riding a pallett truck not a motorcycle.

The bike was crude but I really enjoyed the experience. That was more than 5 years ago and battery tech and the bikes have come on leaps and bounds.

So my question is: why wouldn't you want an electric motorcycle in your garage?

I have not ridden one o these things but we do have a few leccy vans at work, once you get over the weirdness they are really nice to drive,accelerate like feck!
Round here many local businesses have signed up to pledge to use leccy trucks for local deliveries,which are involved in more pedestrian collision incidents than diesel trucks..
In not so many years we probably won't have the choice.
At the moment, no, the technology is not quite right to tick all my boxes but my mind could be changed by riding one.
Worth noting that Boorman and McGregor have chosen leccy Harleys for their new series of posing twats on bikes

Too many miles per day for current battery tech to cope with! The new research looking at super-cool, fast-charging batteries may be the big step needed to bring electric bikes into the mainstream?

https://www.apriliaforum.com/forums/sho ... ht=vectrix

Hopefully that link will take you to a post I wrote about the Vectrix electric scooter that I had a go on way back in 2008 in Melbourne. The photos are blurry because the host wants money and they can feck off.

No I wouldn't ride an electric bike. Easy to say when I no longer ride (would if I could!) but for me part of the appeal of a bike is the sound. That's it.

I must admit that a large part of a bike's appeal is the exhaust note. Singles, v-twins, triples and inline 4s in four-stroke and two-stroke configurations all sound different and evoke different responses. Losing that would be a major blow. I also like light bikes, and from what I've seen, electric bikes are handicapped with a big, heavy battery power pack if they are to have any decent range. There's also the issue of cost.

I'm sure in time the battery issues will be negated by advances in technology, and from what I've heard the torque that an e-bike produces makes a v-twin feel really feeble, and with volume production prices will tumble, so eventually I think we'll all be riding them. But for me I can't see that happening much before 2030.

I haven't ridden one yet - but I can see myself getting one if I maintain my current 'behaviours'.

I don't have the patience to 'tour' on one (I like to be able to fill up and go if I want to) - but for commuting one would be ideal.

Never say never, but at the moment I love the character and noise of a petrol engine.

I can only give a car example to justify why character matters more than efficiency. I had a Honda powered lotus Elise back in the day before I got into bikes. It was a high revving normally aspirated K20 type R engine that revved to 8600rpm. It had a lovely useable powerband from 4500 to 8600 and every time you chased the redline and changed up, the engine dropped a couple of thousand revs and started that magical journey all over again.

Plenty of people stuck a supercharger on that engine and it boosted power from 225bhp to nearly 300. But it ruined the character. When you accelerated you got a huge shove in the back, but no nice noise and the torque curve was flat rather than build towards the redline. When you changed gear, you were above peak torque, and it felt flat and uninspiring.


So for all the fact an electric bike might be more efficient than a superbike, just like a Tesla is probably better than my Bmw M140i, I prefer the character and noise of a petrol engine at the moment.

Not yet.

Once they have a 200 mile range, are well built, have luggage, and are under £10k, I’ll get one for commuting.

I've ridden an E-bicycle, hated that. I watched the ebike racing, the lack of noise is off-putting.

Animal wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 13, 2019 8:06 pm

Not yet.

Once they have a 200 mile range, are well built, have luggage, and are under £10k, I’ll get one for commuting.

Jeez, how long is your commute?
I thought I was the only nutter who considered 50+ miles each way reasonable!

RiceBurner wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 14, 2019 3:02 pm

Animal wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 13, 2019 8:06 pm

Not yet.

Once they have a 200 mile range, are well built, have luggage, and are under £10k, I’ll get one for commuting.

Jeez, how long is your commute?
I thought I was the only nutter who considered 50+ miles each way reasonable!

Nope. The last year I've been doing 100 miles per day - I was so pleased that I changed job and managed to get it down from 150 per day!

RiceBurner wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 14, 2019 3:02 pm

Animal wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 13, 2019 8:06 pm

Not yet.

Once they have a 200 mile range, are well built, have luggage, and are under £10k, I’ll get one for commuting.

Jeez, how long is your commute?
I thought I was the only nutter who considered 50+ miles each way reasonable!

37 miles each way, but I regularly travel to other places, and if the manufacturer says 200 it really means half that...

I would go electric, but ....

With electric comes big brother and I bend the rules. Even if big brother isn't directly connected to the vehicle, the charging station will be.

XJR Jason wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 31, 2019 2:08 pm

I would go electric, but ....

With electric comes big brother and I bend the rules. Even if big brother isn't directly connected to the vehicle, the charging station will be.

I must admit I hadn't thought of that. Would be very easy to download the contents of memory and logs and scan for any non-standard components while charging...