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[MichaelJ]

In the early days of last year's Project LiveWire tour, Jeff Henshaw wrote an open letter to Harley-Davidson that was instrumental in bringing the LiveWire tour to a Bellevue, WA dealership convenient to many Seattle-area tech company employees.

The test ride left him with a good impression, and despite the many disclaimers that no e-motorcycle product was promised, hope that this wasn't all a tease.

This year, he follows that up with a new letter, dripping with disappointment.

Dear Harley-Davidson, it’s us again.

[Ranga]

The Livewire looked impressive, but it was never fit to be a production model on its own. 50 miles of range for a motorcycle that weighs 460 lbs (the same as a Zero SR plus power tank), that's not going to cut it. Also, there are some questionable aspects of the bike, mainly the longitudinally mounted chrome motor. To me, its right up there with Brammo's 6 speed transmission; mainly for aesthetics, no particular performance advantages over the competition, increases cost and complexity.

Also, if this guy put a deposit for a bike that had no production date, he stands firmly in fanboy territory. I'm not trying to judge, but a degree of skepticism is necessary when dealing with PR campaigns.

[MichaelJ]

Even though I enjoyed the test ride, I wouldn't buy a LiveWire as-is, either.


Hopefully, they'll bring something fully baked to market sooner rather than later.  While Jeff puts his money where his mouth is, I'm less picky about who builds the first affordable electric cruiser as long as it gets to market before I'm too old to ride. 



Meanwhile, my wife and I couldn't resist taking the opportunity to take turns riding to the LiveWire road show on my Brammo Empulse for our appointments, which were on different days.

[emc]

People are talking, but I doubt they'll bring anything to market soon. Many dealers would NOT carry models.