Electric Bikes - Would you buy one?

[peasea]

When you talk about electric vehicles, forget HP. They produce massive amounts of seamless torque. Electric race bikes will reinvent the 10m high, 100m long highside, because once they start matching current HP levels the amount of torque produced will be phenomenal.

HP will be replaced by wattage as a comparative output figure and torque will become the most important measure of outright performance.

Scene at local cafe`:

"How many watts ya runnin?"
"Wire you asking me that? Go ohm."
"No need to blow a fuse, what did the dealer charge?"
"It cost me an armature and a leg"
"It's the current model then?"
"Sure is, I get amp'd on it"

....and so on.

[Blackshear]

Function over form.
Endless torque for me!
But the lack of soundtrack is bad

[Ocean1]

torque will become the most important measure of outright performance.

It always has been.

[James Deuce]

It always has been.

Only to people with at least a third of a brain.

[cerberus]

Why do people always bash electric? Sure the batteries suck but they're getting there. Apart from that and possibly the noise, or lack of, they kick ass.

You can't really call them gutless. Killacycle, as previously mentioned, is an example of what can be done. How many of your bikes can do 0-100kmph in less than a second, and finish a 1/4 mile doing 280kmph?

The near zero maintenance is pretty sweet as well.

Once the price is down and the designers stop tying to make them look 'futuristic' I'll buy one.

[zzzbang]

Why do people always bash electric?

Because the idea of plugging your bike into the wall socket is just so unappealing... and to me engine noise is a big part of motorcycling(no i dont like riding without the baffles), oil, grease, its just one awesome package. And what if you forget to plug your hairdryer into the wall the night before.. then you cant ride the next day, also, what if you want to go touring and youre constantly limited by range- petrol you just pour in as much as you can afford to and keep going as long as you want, it would be the most annoying thing ever.. just take a bicycle.

[James Deuce]

Why do people always bash electric? Sure the batteries suck but they're getting there. Apart from that and possibly the noise, or lack of, they kick ass.

You can't really call them gutless. Killacycle, as previously mentioned, is an example of what can be done. How many of your bikes can do 0-100kmph in less than a second, and finish a 1/4 mile doing 280kmph?

The near zero maintenance is pretty sweet as well.

Once the price is down and the designers stop tying to make them look 'futuristic' I'll buy one.

I'm not bashing them. They simply don't appeal. I would seriously rather ride the bus. The simple acts of coercing a motorcycle with a gearbox to perform my bidding feels like a constant gentle drum solo. It's art.

A twist and go electric rocket is just a fast scooter.

The thing that really gets my goat is constant bleating about electric vehicles being "Green". They're not. It's simply pushing the pollution up the chain and battery technology is not the way to go. Vehicles need to be able to carry their own fuel with them. To my way of thinking, a vehicle that needs recharging is as much of a liability as an early 20th century IC engine with a total loss lubrication system and a hand pump to keep the oil flowing.

NZ's electricity grid would probably require significant updates if we were to start using electric vehicles in significant numbers and everyone knows that large Infrastructure projects and New Zealand go together like melted cheese and toothpaste. No one in NZ wants to pay for something they personally won;t see any benefit out of.

Battery electric and Hybrid technologies are dead ends. We've had Prius' as taxis in Wellington for a while now. One thing I've noticed with them is that they are all showing signs of significant battery degradation after 18 months of hard city use. I rode in one from one side of town to the other and the petrol engine was on all the time. It never went to battery and it didn't turn the petrol engine off at a stop. The batteries were rooted.

[Kittyhawk]

Already got one ....(its dads)

Overnight charge, rides up to 60-70km/hr get about 60kms in distance, Silent and its great to get around town.

As soon as you open the throttle up its gone....does have more kick than one expects for a little electric motor. .

For an economical commuter I'd reccomend it....however it will never replace real bikes!

[Mystic13]

For an economical commuter I'd reccomend it....however it will never replace real bikes!

And yet you know in years to come they'll look back on the age of the petrol engine as we look back on steam.

To suggest change will never happen and what we have now will not be lost is to deny history.

It seems to me the one constant is change.

With time you would have to expect electric or any other refuelling stop would have to be as readily available as a gas stop now. I agree that electric vehicles aren't that green. Let's face it where are all the batteries going to go when they die. Lastly, isn't a current diesel Passat more economical than a Prius. But that's a comparison of the most refined old technology against the "in development" new technology.

I think it's fair to say this generation (and the last) have pillaged the planet and basically spent our kids inheritance on ourselves. We either change and make amends or they pay big time.

[Mystic13]

And now the first off road race is announced for electric bikes. Again the KTM going into mass production has 25% more power than this bike in the video below.

The story

http://www.gizmag.com/zero-motorcycl...ce-race/11273/

The last off road bike I posted up was the Quanta, this one is the Zero X.

It seems KTM not only made the right choice to go mass produced but they've stolen a huge jump on their competitors.

It's highly likely that these are going to be winners sooner than later. There was an article recently where a local mag (pg 78 March Motorcycle Trader) tested a KTM125 2 stroke here in NZ and because it was small and nippy it was getting around the track close on as quickly as a race worked WR450F. And quicker than the KTM530. The electric bike going into mass production is looking like it will be 8-10kg's lighter, with 29hp instead of 35hp. But it'll have one big fat power band.

There seems to be no question that these bikes are going to kick ass. And you won't even know when your competition is sneaking up behind you.

As electric motor and battery technology gets better you'll have no problems upgrading. It looks like these electric bikes are going to fly.

[LBD]

Only to people with at least a third of a brain.

1/3 rd brain but producing 3 x the talk.......um sorry that should be torque.

4 pages is this thread, P1, mostly nay sayers...P2 mostly no, a couple of may and a couple of yes....p3 some no, some may, and some yes. P4 most may or yes with lots of positives...that says to me that the people who take the time to consider things a little, tend to think positive about electric vehicals, where as the early posters......

[Mystic13]

1/3 rd brain but producing 3 x the talk.......um sorry that should be torque.

4 pages is this thread, P1, mostly nay sayers...P2 mostly no, a couple of may and a couple of yes....p3 some no, some may, and some yes. P4 most may or yes with lots of positives...that says to me that the people who take the time to consider things a little, tend to think positive about electric vehicals, where as the early posters......

Or it could be that the the early posting was views based on limited info and ugly bikes. As the info has built, and good looking bikes have popped up, then bikes that kick ass, then sanctioned races etc Now people have started to get a bigger and better picture of where it's at. A new poll would be interesting.

Let's face it this is leading edge, and not mainstream media stuff. Although if you talk to Big Dave nicely he may do a story. At present it's possible that you could see electrics arrive, blitz the competition and get banned from combustion engine races.

KTM has been doing the field research for a few years. I wonder how long it'll take for the rest to catch up?

As riders are we more passionate about the sound of the engine or the feeling we get from riding. If you had to pick one....

Our whole motorcycle experience has been built around both, and many other sensations like smell, heat, vibration and they're all linked to the rush and being at one we get from riding. Riding electric will have a new smell, new vibes and new sounds and they'll all build on what I consider is the key experience and that is riding.

Kids coming through will go electric because;

- no hot motors
- no kick starting
- no maintenance
- just turn and you're off

For them them the heat, smell, heavy maintenance and unreliability won't be missed. As they progress through we'll seem like people who long for bikes of a bygone era.

I'd bet that electric will come quicker than many would think in the off-road scene.

When you think about it there's something to be said for electric.

[Kittyhawk]

Electric motors/vehicles have been around since the start of 1900s Maybe it didnt take off as much as expected over the last century but people have always used them.

My uncle came to visit and when dad showed him the electric scooter he fobbed it off and laughed hard assuming it was going to run like a mobile electric scooter at 6km/hr. He was wrong and ended up sliding it out on the grass!

His opinion quickly changed after he realised the power it did have. If one can design a sports bike with the same power and speed but using an electric brushless motor I'd at least give it a test ride then make up my mind after. But in order to say electric bikes arent the best, you need to test ride one then draw your own conclusion.

As for the "green" image, anything that is produced by man will result in some form of pollution. May be less pollution produced as there is no exhaust system but disposal of batteries there is the pollution factor.

The best thing I like about the electric scooter is that you just turn the key and go there is no warming up the bike, sneak up behind people on the footpath as you ride on the road toot the horn and watch them jump!

[Ocean1]

Only to people with at least a third of a brain.

When you see me with a 600 you can assume the Alzheimers has kicked in…

[Mystic13]

So how popular would the electric bikes be we all asked....

Well, Zero, have sold all their stock and much quicker than they thought so clearly demand is there for electric motorcycles.

They have now produced a motard that they say is comparable to the DRZ400

http://www.gizmag.com/zero-s-motorcy...lectric/11423/