Whilst I was up at Streetbike today enjoying their home made cottage pie, peas and gravy, I wondered:
How many anxious mothers get dragged into motorcycle show rooms by teenage sons, in a desperate attempt at persuasion? They only go along in the hope that it'll keep their son happy for a day or two before the fruitless task of trying to get a mother to give her approval.
The poor mother probably thinks bikes are an express ticket to an early grave at the prime of life. Just as the boy is old enough to stand on his own two feet, get a job, maybe even leave home, he wants to start riding motorcycles. Instead of the vision of a future in which a proud mother gets to watch her son grow into an adult, get married and have kids, she suddenly starts thinking about a knock at the door late one night from a police officer. It's unthinkable.
The awkward and tense trip to the local motorcycle emporium is not a success. Until, that is, the salesmen points to an unassuming collection of bikes and explains that they are electric. Electric? Suddenly there's hope! Surely they won't go very fast, or very far. They aren't real motorbikes. Do they make any noise? It'll be like buying him a grown-up bicycle. He can use it to get to work without borrowing the family car all the time. He won't be taking it to pieces and spilling oil everywhere. No engine revving at the lights, annoying the neighbours, racing in the streets. He can have one of those.
I'm still thinking about what a stroke of genius it is creating a restricted Zero for the learner market. Mother gets some peace of mind, son gets a bike that will smoke every restricted ICE bike out there. It's like a fairy story, but true!
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Topic: An unexpected but powerful ally? (Read 633 times)