Motorcycle Tips Episode 12

Welcome back as Motovan presents the Experience, I’m Dave Hatch and now that we’ve got you all fired up and ready to ride we’ll wrap up our show by looking at what Harley-Davidson is betting to be the future of our sport.  Recently I had a chance to check off their Livewire prototype with it’s cast aluminum frame, three phase DC motor and lithium ion battery and came away mightily impressed particularly in regard to it’s level of fit and finish.   I mean, at this point they must be close to going into production.  I hope so because when I got a chance to sample it, in this case only on a dyno during the Toronto Motorcycle it was enough of a taste for me to really want to upgrade to the full meal deal.

Dave

So I just can’t believe of narrow this looks and, I’m sorry to sound a little crazy but it just looks like a motorcycle and I’m just curious, how long did you guys get to work on this?

Yvon Carvalho

We’ve been working on this bike for about four years now. It has been a very exciting and delightful project to work on, to be honest with you.  It’s not the result of something that was rushed through or anything, they took their time to get the lines just right, get the dimensions just right and it shows.  You see you’re talking about how narrow it is and everything.  Our idea was to make this bike very nimble and it is extremely balanced.  You can ride it at high speeds or very low speeds and the fuel balance is just amazing.

Dave

Well, I know I can’t bust this loose and take it for a few laps around  the CNE but can we fire it up, can I at least get the feel of what it’s all about.

Yvon Carvalho

Of course.  Like our newer bikes this bike is a keyless set up so the only thing you need is a fob so as long as the fob is close enough to the bike you’re going to be able to power it up.  The fob is under the seat so you’re good to go.  The only you have to do here is hit the run switch and put it in the run position and then wait, it’s going to boot up pretty much like a computer does.  This first screen is the system status screen.  You’re going to see battery voltage, a few temperatures, state of charge of the battery and it’s going to give you two ride modes, range ride and power ride.   Range ride is more like an econo mode if you will and the power ride is more like a sport mode which is too much for these little rollers here.

Dave

Right.

Yvon Carvalho

So let’s go ahead and hit the range ride.  This is the screen you’re going to see when you’re actually riding the bike. This is a speedometer.  You have your navigation.  On the speedometer itself you can switch and see the total mileage.  This bike has almost four thousand kilometers and zero issues.  They have been extremely reliable.  So as you can see the bike’s not live yet, if you give it gas, or throttle I should say, you know, it’s not going anywhere.  To go live you just have to press start, hold until you see zero and let go of the button.  Go ahead… she’s now idling.  So what you’re hearing now is two pumps – there’s a water pump and an oil pump, that’s what you’re hearing right now.  Other than that there’s no other sound.  But if you touch that throttle, the bikes going to move.   So let’s do this; bring the bike to about sixty kilometers an hour and then let go of the throttle.  See how quickly it slows down.

Dave

Yeah I didn’t expect that.

Yvon Carvalho

SO our first proof of concept… because this is proof of concept number two right…. Our first one didn’t even have a rear brake, the idea was to let the rear engine do the rear brake for you.

Dave

Right.

Yvon Carvalho

So the front brake was all you had on that bike.  We decided to put both brakes so it’s more  familiar for people that are trying the bike but the most interesting thing about the electric motor is the torque.  You can be on that kind os speed and … feel the suspension?  The throttle response is immediate. It can be high speed… the power response is almost instant.

Dave

No kidding.  Wow very cool .  Congratulations.

Yvon Carvalho

Very nice talking to you Dave.

Dave

Can’t wait to see this out on the open road.