Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[ultrarnr]

More news on Lightning! They are attempting another land speed record.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/565923/lightning-motorcycles-cbmm-niobium-tests/

[wavelet]

Yawn.
The third sentence in the "article"

The brand soon leveraged that success and the “fastest production motorcycle” claim to help market its LS-218 production model.

is already a total lie -- they had no success since only 2-4 LS-218s were ever sold, it was never a production motorcycle, and the record claim was a lie (enough changes were made for the speed run that it doesn't qualify).

And top-speed are a distraction, and have zero benefits for expanding the BEV bike market.

[ultrarnr]

I think it is partnerships like this (and the tilting trike project mentioned here) that help keep the lights on at Lightning. Heaven knows selling motorcycles isn't helping much.

[wavelet]

I think it is partnerships like this (and the tilting trike project mentioned here) that help keep the lights on at Lightning. Heaven knows selling motorcycles isn't helping much.

I can see consulting work funding a couple of people (there appears to be a consensus that Hatfield has a lot of experience & knowledge in BEV bike R&D), but not more, really. It's not like in cars where Rimac was able to generate lots of revenue from established carmakers helping them design electrics, or that established bike manufacturers spend money to speak of on electric racing either -- not enough expected electric bike revenue in the near-to-mid term to justify it.

A quick look at the various company-profile sites for Lightning yields contradicting info, but overall 20-25 employees, and $4M-$5M annual revenue; both seem too high for known sales or other sources of revenue, esp. after only $1-3M private angel funding total in two rounds since 2009. And in the NorCal Bay Area, not exactly a low-labor-cost location.
¯\_(?)_/¯

[Richard230]

I wonder whatever happened to Lightning's new factory?    Are they still getting it ready for the the Strike's big entry into the World's high performance electric motorcycle market?   

[wavelet]

Totally forgot they supposedly have a factory in China. According to this,
https://panjiva.com/Quzhou-Lightning-New-Energy-Technol/47914348
it's a parts supplier, not an assembly plant, and they haven't supplied that much stuff to Lightning US...

Some more details:
https://matchory.com/supplier/quzhou-lightning-new-energy

[HoodRichOG]

Yawn.
The third sentence in the "article"

The brand soon leveraged that success and the “fastest production motorcycle” claim to help market its LS-218 production model.

is already a total lie -- they had no success since only 2-4 LS-218s were ever sold, it was never a production motorcycle, and the record claim was a lie (enough changes were made for the speed run that it doesn't qualify).

And top-speed are a distraction, and have zero benefits for expanding the BEV bike market.

You say that but...

https://electrek.co/2022/03/01/lightning-strike-electric-motorcycle-targets-250-mph-land-speed-record-and-it-just-may-succeed/

[wavelet]

Yawn.
The third sentence in the "article"

The brand soon leveraged that success and the “fastest production motorcycle” claim to help market its LS-218 production model.

is already a total lie -- they had no success since only 2-4 LS-218s were ever sold, it was never a production motorcycle, and the record claim was a lie (enough changes were made for the speed run that it doesn't qualify).

And top-speed are a distraction, and have zero benefits for expanding the BEV bike market.

You say that but...

https://electrek.co/2022/03/01/lightning-strike-electric-motorcycle-targets-250-mph-land-speed-record-and-it-just-may-succeed/

The LS-218 wasn't a production motorcycle, so by definition they didn't have a speed record for a production motorcycle. Quite aside from the fact that the bodywork, gearing and some other stuff I forget was modified.
The Strike also isn't a production motorcycle, so the same applies to it.

[Fran K]

They entered a speed trial in the steam and electric semi streamliner class.  I found the record book and posted it a few years ago.

Micah Toll  must know this or similar if he reads the comments to these things.

[MVetter]

If you check it now you'll see the comments are locked.

[MrMogensen]

I haven't been following Lightning as closely as many of you probably have.
I remember the news about the Strike - incredible specs for the price.

Started googling and already at that time a lot of people complaining about having put down deposits for LS-218 and Strike... and then hearing nothing.
A CEO claiming that "We are already delivering" + and what seems to be not a single independent Youtuber showing off their LS or Strike? = Fake news!

There might be a Lightning someday, but if it's with the same CEO => Don't touch it.

It's not like the company went bankrupt and couldn't deliver or return deposits. They keep making records to lure in potential costumers. Records are impressive and cost some money but honestly not that hard... Production is hard!

Well this is just my opinion from whatever I have read and seen about this...

[wavelet]

I haven't been following Lightning as closely as many of you probably have.
I remember the news about the Strike - incredible specs for the price.

Started googling and already at that time a lot of people complaining about having put down deposits for LS-218 and Strike... and then hearing nothing.
A CEO claiming that "We are already delivering" + and what seems to be not a single independent Youtuber showing off their LS or Strike? = Fake news!

There might be a Lightning someday, but if it's with the same CEO => Don't touch it.

It's not like the company went bankrupt and couldn't deliver or return deposits. They keep making records to lure in potential costumers. Records are impressive and cost some money but honestly not that hard... Production is hard!

Well this is just my opinion from whatever I have read and seen about this...

Thing is, they don't even have real records of the type they're claiming. The so-called record for the LS-218 is for a production bike, when the LS-218 was never a production bike (only ~4 were ever produced), and the bike on the record run had non-standard one-off gearing, special bodywork  and some other changes.

[Apollo]

Thing is, they don't even have real records of the type they're claiming. The so-called record for the LS-218 is for a production bike, when the LS-218 was never a production bike (only ~4 were ever produced), and the bike on the record run had non-standard one-off gearing, special bodywork  and some other changes.

  When I visited Lightning, they had a number of LS-218 bikes but seemed to be focused on building Strikes.
I originally wanted the LS-218 but after riding a Strike R I found it to be much more than I thought it would be.
I did see a number of LS-218's in a state of build, a factory mule with lots of recording instruments hooked to it, and a finished bike for display/test rides.  Richard said he actually doesn't sell too many as they are very powerful and most people find it to be too much.
  I also found it interesting that the employees who worked there that had bikes, all had the Strike models.  I asked about the LS-218 and they all laughed and said they preferred the ergonomics of the Strike and the 218's just had so much power it seemed silly.
  According to Google and chatgpt, the term "production vehicle" is pretty well spelled out and I think Lightning meets the criteria of possibly "limited production".

[MVetter]

  According to Google and chatgpt, the term "production vehicle" is pretty well spelled out and I think Lightning meets the criteria of possibly "limited production".

It does not meet the definition of 'Production'.

[Apollo]

  According to Google and chatgpt, the term "production vehicle" is pretty well spelled out and I think Lightning meets the criteria of possibly "limited production".

It does not meet the definition of 'Production'.

    Where are you getting the definition of 'Production', and in what way does Lightning not meet this definition?
  Would you consider Koenigsegg vehicles to be non-production?
  As I watched them work, they appeared to be putting out bikes about once every two weeks. (My guess).
  Is there a number you are looking for, or something else?