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The Electric Motorcycle Thread

So I did go to the Cake ride. It was pretty nice as they just let me and a buddy take them and ride.

It's certainly no slouch when it comes to acceleration, but top speed seems to be pretty slow on the flat.

The rear handbrake was a huge WTF moment for me. It's on the left side of the handlebar and just tapping it lightly consistently locks the rear wheel.

Couldn't tell any difference with Ohlins suspension and without.

Range is low for city but probably ok for the OHV.

Price is way out there for what you get. If anything, it definitely sold me on the concept of electric for OHV, but the Light Bee seems to be way better value. So I'm not sure what the actual value of the Kalk is relative to other brands.

Pretty nice to not have a clutch and a quiet motor. I wish I could take it on the more technical stuff, must be hella fun on that. If they rented them out for $100/day or something I'd definitely go for that.
 
HadesOmega said:
Interesting. Lightning x Arcimoto

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/arcimoto-lightning-motorcycles-begin-development-101500770.html
Click to expand...

"As the world’s leading manufacturer of high performance electric motorcycles, we are excited to bring our technology and know-how to the collaboration with Arcimoto for the three-wheel market. The convergence of our proprietary technology, the market adoption of EVs, and the widely recognized environmental benefits of clean energy propulsion make this an excellent and exciting time to bring these vehicles to the mass market," said Richard Hatfield, Founder and CEO of Lightning Motorcycles.
Click to expand...

:wtf 'world's leading'
 
It's certainly no slouch when it comes to acceleration, but top speed seems to be pretty slow on the flat.

With the 80t my & topped out at 51 MPH. Not really enough for a dual sport even on city streets.

The rear handbrake was a huge WTF moment for me. It's on the left side of the handlebar and just tapping it lightly consistently locks the rear wheel.

Yeah the & comes with a foot brake for the rear. I tried to loosen the pedal to its max and I still locked up the rear in the dirt and on the street.

Range is low for city but probably ok for the OHV.

For City riding the range sucks. Max I could get out of it was 32 miles. For the dirt it's fine.

I'm not sure what the actual value of the Kalk is relative to other brands.

14k plus another 11% for CA tax and registration is too much for the bike and I discovered that after making the mistake of purchasing the &.
 
If ye haven't heard Energica have a newer motor now. Lighter and more powerful and watercooled. Let's hope the cooling system won't cause any problems, my Empulse had a strange cooling system leak problem, but watercooling is the way to go for performance!

The motor offers a healthy 169hp (126 kW), compared to the previous generation’s 147hp (110 kW), all while reducing weight by 22 pounds. Energica says that range has been boosted by 5% to 10% as well.

Energica attributes the new gains found in the EMCE motor via the following:

Innovative rotor and stators’ geometries that minimize energy losses and maximize performance. The uniformity of the torque delivered and the optimization of the weights make the engine unique in terms of power and torque density and allow the optimization of production processes;
Innovative and patented cooling of the rotor capable of generating an internal flow of air that laps the magnets and cools them. This allows the engine to exploit its potential even at high speeds;
Adaptive control algorithms that ensure that the inverter is always able to operate the system as efficiently as possible;
Patented sensors capable, among other things, of collecting and storing the operating data of the motor to predict the onset of any mechanical failure.
Click to expand...

https://www.asphaltandrubber.com/news/electric-emce-motor-energica-mavel/

energica-mavel-electric-motor-motorcycle.jpg
 
That's pretty sweet gains.

I just wish Energica would make two more models. A touring bike and a dirtbike/supermoto.

The touring bike would allow more batteries without the extra weight really impacting the intended performance.

and i just really want a nice electric supermoto/ dirtbike. I doubt they will ever go in that direction but the touring bike seems like an obvious step for them.
 
MrMarkK said:
It's certainly no slouch when it comes to acceleration, but top speed seems to be pretty slow on the flat.

With the 80t my & topped out at 51 MPH. Not really enough for a dual sport even on city streets.

The rear handbrake was a huge WTF moment for me. It's on the left side of the handlebar and just tapping it lightly consistently locks the rear wheel.

Yeah the & comes with a foot brake for the rear. I tried to loosen the pedal to its max and I still locked up the rear in the dirt and on the street.

Range is low for city but probably ok for the OHV.

For City riding the range sucks. Max I could get out of it was 32 miles. For the dirt it's fine.

I'm not sure what the actual value of the Kalk is relative to other brands.

14k plus another 11% for CA tax and registration is too much for the bike and I discovered that after making the mistake of purchasing the &.
Click to expand...

Agree with you on all counts.

I think if it was $5K it would make a lot more sense. At $14K, I just don't see it.

HadesOmega said:
If ye haven't heard Energica have a newer motor now. Lighter and more powerful and watercooled. Let's hope the cooling system won't cause any problems, my Empulse had a strange cooling system leak problem, but watercooling is the way to go for performance!



https://www.asphaltandrubber.com/news/electric-emce-motor-energica-mavel/

energica-mavel-electric-motor-motorcycle.jpg
Click to expand...

Energica (mostly) fixed every complaint people had about the bikes with that new motor.
- Less weight
- More range/better efficiency
- Reasonable service intervals

:thumbup

I just wish it wasn't so expensive! Would be nice if motos got the same incentives as EV cars but alas nobody in the federal government really ever seems to care, and the motorcycle lobby for EVs is basically nonexistent.
 
There are some incentives that offset the cost a bit but i think the biggest thing that is affecting the price of them is the scale of production isn't high enough to pass on the savings to the consumer. Everyone is comparing them to the price/performance of these really large scale production companies, but i think they are doing pretty well for a smaller almost bespoke level company. They seem to be the best company really delivering on making a competent motorcycle.
 
HadesOmega said:
https://electrek.co/2021/06/30/arci...astest-tilting-3-wheeled-electric-motorcycle/
Click to expand...

from that article...

Electrek’s Take
This is a pretty cool project and will be a great way to showcase the TRiO tiling kit on an electric setup. But we can’t ignore the elephant in the room here.

While the LS-218 has long been Lightning’s major claim to fame, the company’s opaque rollout of a more mass market motorcycle, the Lightning Strike, has often overshadowed the record-setting superbike and marred Lightning’s reputation in the industry.

The Strike was unveiled in early 2019, right around the same time as the Zero SR/F. While the latter has gone on to see large global sales and a wide range of media reviews (including my own), the Lightning Strike has more or less faded into obscurity with unclear sales numbers and no reviews from major media. There are only a handful of documented owners, and those bikes have come with severely underwhelming performance compared to the lofty promises originally made ahead of the Strike launch.

So while this should be an interesting project, and while Lightning has proven that it can build high-performance electric superbikes, the company has a long way to go to rebuild industry faith in its ability to deliver on its promises.
 
mrzuzzo said:
Energica (mostly) fixed every complaint people had about the bikes with that new motor.
- Reasonable service intervals
Click to expand...

Where was it mentioned that service intervals have been improved?
 
dittoalex said:
Where was it mentioned that service intervals have been improved?
Click to expand...

On the Energica website they have more details of the changes:
https://www.energicamotor.com/energica-ego-electric-motorcycle/#emce

"Fewer moving parts always meant less maintenance than for IC bikes, but in the past our transmission/motor oil change interval was 10,000 km/6,000 miles. No longer. Transmission oil now need be changed only every 30,000 km/18,600 miles, with Motor/Inverter coolant every 45,000 km/28,000 miles. Now you can ride and (almost) forget."
 
Wow, that's a huge difference. I had written off the Energicas because of that 6,000 mile interval. Thanks!
 
Yep same here. I thought that was ridiculous.

Hopefully this means Zero has something good in the pipeline - they are supposed to announce 2 new bikes this month. I think a new supermoto and also an ADV bike.
 
mrzuzzo said:
On the Energica website they have more details of the changes:
https://www.energicamotor.com/energica-ego-electric-motorcycle/#emce

"Fewer moving parts always meant less maintenance than for IC bikes, but in the past our transmission/motor oil change interval was 10,000 km/6,000 miles. No longer. Transmission oil now need be changed only every 30,000 km/18,600 miles, with Motor/Inverter coolant every 45,000 km/28,000 miles. Now you can ride and (almost) forget."
Click to expand...

Sounds about right. I guess now that the oil is doing less work as in just lubricating the gears and not having to cool the motor it lasts longer.

It would be nice to have an electric ADV bike something like a S1000XR and a supermoto. Brammo was going to come out with the Engage it's too bad that never made it to production.

There's the Alta Redshift SM if you can find one and the FXS. Or you can get a Light Bee and buy the supermoto wheelset. Depending on the price I may get a Storm Bee when they come out.
 
Booyah HadesOmega X Light Bee in the 16s!

[YOUTUBE]INaJRYjin78[/YOUTUBE]
 
How many of those runs can you do on one charge? What % of the tear that breaks your Light Bee is from the 1/4 mile runs vs the supermoto/dirt racing?
 
Last night I did 3 passes and I was down to 92% I can do quite a few passes, you only get so many you're at the mercy of how many cars are there and how well you do in the elimination races. I'll usually do around 5 passes a night and I will still be around 80%. 1/4 passes are not that taxing on a this bike. Race track (the twisty kind) is what really tests this bike. I used to bring my generator and 2nd battery but i stopped because I didn't need em.

But I will tell you this stock this bike did 21 seconds. Modified I got it from 18 to 17 and now 16. My Empulse usually did 15s, so that is how impressive this little machine is, that's comparing to like a 460lb bike with like 60HP. I could only imagine how much faster this bike will be if it has more than one speed gearbox too, because it runs out of steam around 70mph. The fastest I've gotten this bike to go is 79mph. I could only imagine how much faster it would be if it had dual mid drive motors!

If I can get a fairing of some sort I can get it to go faster, I was lucky we had a tailwind for that pass.
 
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mrzuzzo said:
Hopefully this means Zero has something good in the pipeline - they are supposed to announce 2 new bikes this month. I think a new supermoto and also an ADV bike.
Click to expand...

Where did you hear this? I think I saw someone (you?) post the same on electricmotorcycleforum.com
 
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