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E L E C T R I C
when out among New York City
Outside of Harley-Davidson’s Lower
Manhattan store on Monday, a
group of Harley enthusiasts leaned
against the railing of a construction
canopy, smoking cigarettes and
chatting about work while they
waited in line to be one of the very
first people in the
world to take a
ride on Harley’s
newest
motorcycle. The
bike they were
waiting for wasn’t
the latest loud,
hulking
monument to
two-wheeled
American
chrome though:
this was
something
altogether
different.
Harley was introducing Project
LiveWire, its first electric motorcycle,
and it had brought over a dozen of
them to its Manhattan store for a
limited preview of the bikes before
they go on tour around the US for the
rest of the year, beginning today.
LiveWire is far from the type of bike
that Harley enthusiast are used to. It
has a single gear, a touchscreen
dashboard, and no gas to speak of.
Oh, and it’s quiet. Really, really quiet.
Even though LiveWire won’t be going
on sale — Harley says that it’s only
looking at rider feedback at the
moment — LiveWire is ready and
impressive to ride. It tops out around
92 miles per hour and can get from For safety, you need a little noise,”
zero to 60 in under four seconds, Hector Ponce, another HOG
according to a Harley representative. member, agrees. “You need the cars
For now, it isn’t meant to take you all to hear you, especially taxis. They’re
that far though: its range is around 55 insane.”
miles in an economy mode and
around 33 miles in a “power” mode. As someone who’s into classic bikes
Charging time is about 3.5 hours. though — and into fixing them up —
LiveWire is nearly impossible to hear Felber’s distinctly aware of the
emotional shortcomings of an
traffic. When revved indoors, electric machine. “It’s like the
however, it lets off a high-pitched difference between a record and an
whine that sounds more like an MP3,” Felber explains. Records may
oversized vacuum than a vehicle. have imperfections, but that doesn’t
mean they’re worse. In fact, that’s
“It’s different, right? It’s hard to ignore part of the appeal.
that,” Richer says. Harley knows how
Felber’s reaction
seemed to be, by and
large, the one shared by
Harley enthusiasts who in
attendance. The refrain
was that LiveWire was
quite appealing, but it
wasn’t quite for them.
Figuring out what can
change existing riders’
minds may be part of
what Harley is after as it
gets feedback on the
bike. LiveWire has been
in development for
about four years, and
important a bike’s sound is, but it isn’t Harley isn’t saying how long it might
committed to recreating the classic be before it prepares a new version
roar. “If it ends in the same place of, (or, for that matter, if that version will
‘Wow I really feel cool on this, and actually go on sale).
other people turn their heads when I
go by and love the sound, and it The market for electric vehicles is
makes a statement, and it’s got growing though, and Harley realizes
character and attitude,’ then that’s that it’s worth paying attention to —
where it wants to be. That’s where it even if that means adapting. For now
needs to be.” though, it doesn’t plan on throwing its
history out the window. Electric
Members of New York’s Harley vehicles are merely an opportunity
Owners Group didn’t mind the for it, says Michelle Kumbier, Harley’s
change in tone, but they did mind senior VP of motorcycle operations,
the near absence of sound “We don’t see a time that they’re
altogether. “It looks great. It’s a good going to replace our traditional
introductory bike for those who can’t combustion engine.”
drive standard,” HOG member Louis End
Diaz, Jr. says. “Only drawback: it
doesn’t make noise.”