Featured A Tale Of Two Test Rides: The Electric Livewire And The Low Rider S

That does sound fun, JtC! We were there mid-day so no live music at that point. What an interesting place. Not really what I expected--though I'm not quite sure what that was!

 

Yes, the range is definitely an issue and dealbreaker, @roadrider. If you're low on gas it doesn't take long to gas up again. Not so with charging a battery!

 

It is super weird that the bike makes such little sound, Dougie. But it's definitely not NO sound...but it sure doesn't sound like a motorcycle. I also got to ride a LiveWire prototype maybe 5-6 years ago at this point and part of the deal was to provide feedback. I think enough people--including me--must have said that it's just too weird that at stop lights you can't even tell the bike is on. So one of the things they added was a little "pulse" when the bike is stopped but turned on--sort of like a heartbeat. Though subtle you could definitely feel it. And I like it much better than feeling and hearing absolutely nothing when at a stop light.

I'm in complete agreement with the current range acceptability. Even if there were to be lots of charging stations, I can't imagine it taking 20-30 minutes (or more?) to to recharge vs. being able to gas up in 5 minutes! At this point the range on electric bikes renders them fairly useless for anything but very short commutes or being a "bar hopper". Even if and when the range approaches 200-300 miles, if charging availability and time are still an issue, so too will be the usefulness of electric bikes for anything except around town jaunts in my opinion. For me, that would relegate an electric bike to being a fun little novelty if I had tons of space and and scads of money--and I've neither.