Motorcycles
Maniacs Build 50HP Electric Honda Grom
Every once in a great while, someone comes along to challenge the status quo. They’re called geniuses, maniacs, or something more dramatic. And still, sometimes these brave people come up with an idea that is truly transformational– and that’s exactly what the mentalists guys at ElectroBraap have done by building the bike you see here. Meet an electric Honda grom dubbed Project Electrom, and witness its 50 (fifty!) horsepower all-electric motor with a sprocket the size of a pizza. This particular build starts with an ordinary Honda Grom, then stuffs it full of the hugely effective Alta Redshift MX electric power train. Even though that brand is long gone, at this point, a number of its compact and powerful battery and motor combinations are still out there, waiting to be ...
Harley-Davidson LiveWire Buyers to Get Free Charging
Harley-Davidson is betting big on a future beyond the Baby Boomers, and its new LiveWire electric motorcycle is leading the charge (see what I did there?). Whether or not the bike will be a commercial success is something that remains to be seen, of course– but it just got a big boost in the form of a partnership with Electrify America that will give electric Harley buyers something pretty cool: free charging. “At Harley-Davidson, we are taking significant steps to lead in the electrification of motorcycling, including supporting the development of global charging infrastructure … including having access to complimentary charging on Electrify America’s growing network.” says Luke Mansfield, vice president and chief strategy officer for Harley-Davidson. That “g...
Curtiss Zeus is a Stunning, V8 Electric Motorcycle
If you haven’t heard of Curtiss Motorcycles before, get wise– because these guys are building custom electric motorcycles that are the spiritual successors to choppers and cafe racers, but with (what I’ll call) a greater respect for technology. They are every bit the real deal, and their latest blood, sweat, and gears-based proof of that fact is the bike you see here: Zeus. Curtiss Motorcycles has been working closely with Zero motorcycles to build this stunning machine and put it into limited production, and is currently taking $1000 deposits on the Zeus. The hope is that the bike’s unique styling and high-quality materials will help the company pursue its stated mission to “create sustainable, desirable, intergenerational, mean, clean, and green future-proof...
Husqvarna Releases its First-ever Electric Motorcycle
It may not be setting the world on fire with a high-output, super go-fast electric motor like Honda Mugen or Zero, but Swedish motorcycle builder Husqvarna has just launched its first all-electric motorcycle. It’s called the Husqvarna EE 5, and it’s designed for young riders taking their first steps rides into an electrified, two-wheeled future that, Husqvarna hopes, will have them coming back to the brand for a lifetime of purchases. Husqvarna is targeting the 50cc class of bikes currently dominated by Honda’s CRF50F and Yamaha’s TTR50– but the Swedish bike is very much targeting the high end of that class with 35 mm WP XACT forks that offer 205 mm of travel up front paired to a single, fully-adjustable rear shock (also from WP) to ensure exceptional damping ...
FutureVision: BMW Reveals Vision DC Roadster Concept
“The boxer engine is the heart of BMW Motorrad,” explains Edgar Heinrich, head of design at BMW Motorrad. “But BMW Motorrad stands for visionary zero-emissions vehicle concepts, too. In view of this, one question that arises is: what would happen if we were to replace the boxer engine with an electric motor and the required battery?” The end result of that thought exercise the bike you see here. Meet the BMW Vision DC Roadster Concept. BMW has been pushing its electric “i” brand of cars with great success in recent years, and their big C electric scooter is among the best bikes in the business. It’s still a scooter-style riding position, though, and some people just have to have that “motorcycle feel”, whether that’s born of mecha...
Retrotastic: Meet the Regent Electric Motorcycle
As far as motorcycles are concerned, the 70s are definitely coming back, from Honda’s new, neo-cafe styling school to Suzuki’s reborn Katana. The future, meanwhile, remains stubbornly electric. As such, it was only a matter of time before some enterprising young minds married that classic, UJM look to a more modern electric powertrain, right? Right– and it was Regent who seems to have got there first. Based in Sweden, Regent is hoping their bike’s clean, fuss-free, and classic UJM styling will help them become a sort of retro-Zero in Europe. They seem to be doing pretty well getting at it, too. As I write this, they’ve already pre-sold 78 of the 100 bikes they hope to build on their initial run, with articles on sites like this one and Electrek doing nothing t...
Facebook Files Patent for Self-balancing Electric Motorcycle
Tech companies file a lot of patents. It’s sort of their thing, and it’s not always obvious what, exactly, a newly patented technology is ultimately being prepared for. That’s why it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise to see that Facebook has recently filed a patent application for what appears to be an autonomous, self-balancing, electric motorcycle. And yet– even knowing all that– I still can’t believe it. Sure, this new robot deal ticks all the trendy, post-singularity tech boxes a company might want to tick– but it’s not really clear why a social media company Facebook (which also owns Instagram) would be pursuing something like this. My guess would be that it’s some sort of self-balancing camera system that will, even...
Meet the Killer | FWD Hand-built Motorcycle
It’s a thoroughly modern-sounding concept for those of us familiar with EVs: a motor mounted within the wheel of the vehicle. Except the bike you see here– despite being new– isn’t exactly based on a modern idea. It’s based, instead, on an idea from the 1930s had by a group of guys named Killinger and Fruend. “After a sleepless night, I started surfing the net,” says Bobby Haas, of the Haas Moto Museum in Dallas (and this bike’s owner). “I came across grainy photographs of an Art Deco bike concocted by a group of German engineers in the 1930s.” Killinger and Fruend Concept Those grainy online photos captured Haas’ imagination. With his connections in the custom motorcycle world, he quickly settled on a builder– ...
Coming to America: Kawasaki W800 Street Model Headed to the US
Outside of the US, Kawasaki sells a matte black, UJM-style version of its highly anticipated W800: the Kawasaki W800 Street. I may be biased here, but I think it’s awesome, carrying all the swagger and twin-cylinder throb of the 1965 original. Except you know, in black finish. None of which matters of course, since Kawasaki doesn’t have plans to sell the bike in the US… or do they? Ride Apart is reporting that recently released paperwork from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) suggests the more laid back W800 Street is coming to the US sometime in 2019. “Obviously,” they write, “someone over at Kawasaki Motors must have noticed how much profit there was to be made by selling the same basic bike in multiple flavors and styles.” If I sound exc...
Honda Reveals Electric CRF Concept (10 Photos)
If there was any lingering doubt that the future is going to be electric, Honda just put another nail in the internal combustion future’s coffin with the release of an incredibly sexy and obviously capable electric motorcycle concept this past weekend. Meet the Honda CR Electric concept, and understand that this isn’t a 125-equivalent trainer, like Yamaha’s electric concepts. This bike is intended to be a direct replacement for Honda’s awesome, bigger, and race-ready CRF250R. (!) Launched at the Tokyo Motorcycle Show a few days ago, the concept seems to be based on a modified CRF250 aluminum frame. The electric motor appears to be liquid-cooled, with a pint-sized radiator featured prominently behind the race-spec suspension. Other bits, too– from the Renthal F...
Kawasaki Could be Building the Fastest Electric Motorcycle Ever
Since the days of ZX-11 back in the 1990s, Kawasaki has been famous for building the biggest, baddest motorcycles around. Sure, Honda and Suzuki stole Kawi’s thunder with the Blackbird and Hayabusa, respectively– but line either of those up alongside the latest Kawasaki H2 and see what bikes pulls ahead. Keep that in mind, then, as I tell you the following: Kawasaki has patented a unique, oil and liquid cooled radiator system purpose-built for electric bikes. The implications for the electric motorcycle market are potentially staggering, considering that even the ultra-quick Energica Ego and big voltage Zero models can make do with “just” air cooling. Heck– Kawasaki’s EV cooling system seems more complicated than Tesla’s, and the assumption is that...
Under the Skin of the MotoE Electric Motorcycle
The start of the inaugural season of MotoE electric motorcycle may have been delayed by the massive fire that engulfed the MotoE paddock garage last week, but that doesn’t mean there’s no MotoE news to talk about. Asphalt and Rubber’s Jensen Beeler has just released some new photos of– What’s that? What fire? Sorry, gang. I took a few weeks off from writing and, as Chris Demorro and Steve Hanley have moved on to bigger and better things, things got pretty quiet around here. Here’s a quick picture of the fire I’m talking about, and you can click through it to get to the original article on MCNews. MotoE Paddock Fire Anyway, Asphalt and Rubber’s Jensen Beeler has just released some new photos of the Energica Ego MotoE electric racer with...