Harley Livewire

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Order now for August delivery.

THE LOUDEST SOUND YOU HEAR WILL BE YOUR HEART RACING

[Jeff Higgins]

I received a "personal invitation" from three of our Western Washington Harley dealers to pre-order to ensure my place in line. I'm not thinking the line is going to be all that long...

[stevej37]

I saw a commercial for that bike last weekend.

[Chocaholic]

Cool looking bike. Wife and I were watching X-games the other night. Young guys on snowboards doing crazy stuff on the frozen half pipe. HD commercials for this bike ran about every 10 minutes and they sponsored many of the participants. Giant bar and shield logo on the front of many jerseys.

I thought it was a pretty smart approach. Those are young people into extreme sports...a cool electric HD bike might get some traction there. Happy to see no chrome or skulls!

Update...just looked at the URL above. At $30k, they’ve pretty much priced themselves out of 90% of their target market. Guess they don’t understand seeding the market. Big fail.

[LakeCleElum]

Doing the math: On my typical 600 mile day.........I stop at a tavern every hour to charge for 3.5 hours while drinking beer.....

My day is now 45 hours long and I've drank way too much beer.......

Sorry.......

[Tobra]

Added bonus is it probably does not leak much oil.

[Craig T]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Added bonus is it probably does not leak much oil.

It's a HD. They'll find a way for it to leak something. Corrosive electrolyte maybe.

[chapo]

How can you annoy everyone within earshot if its quiet?

[legion]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Added bonus is it probably does not leak much oil.

It's not a real Harley.

[rfuerst911sc]

It will be interesting to see how this bike is received by the intended audience . I do think there is a market for an electric bike but not so sure at a 30K price point . It has taken quite a long time in my opinion for electric cars to be " some what " accepted by the masses and that is with a LOT of govt. funding/grants and TV advertising . But with many of the major car companies now making a real effort on electric cars we may turn the corner on broader acceptance . Time will tell

[ckelly78z]

Harley really attempting to stay alive in the motorcycle market. Young guys don't have the desire, or money to buy expensive, sub quality bikes that just don't compare to the Japenese/German bikes.

[billybek]

Originally Posted by chapo

How can you annoy everyone within earshot if its quiet?

After all, loud pipes save lives....
I think that a 4 speaker sound system "piping" loud exhaust sounds shouldn't be too much of a drain on the battery!

[fastfredracing]

https://tenor.com/view/south-park-motorcylce-fag-gif-5336177

[asphaltgambler]

It's certainly a gamble, but if the design is sound and executited well - they may just be the leader in the market where currently little or no competition. I know many here dislike or poo poo HD's product line, but that's ok. Some of that is deserved in past generations. Like it or not, they basically created the highway cruiser segment and catered to what their core buyer wanted.

Often, even dating back to the early 70's they gambled on design changes, took some risks to move forward. Some may argue that those things were largely cosmetic or parts borrowed from other models - which is true. In comparison, no different than what major car manufacturer was doing in the same era.

HD has the deepest pockets and largest dealer network of any other motorcycle brand which is key to make something like this success. All too often they are erroneously compared head-to-head with other makes sport bikes or hybrids of sport bikes which is apples-to oranges.

$30k is a steep price point, but does anyone remember how much the first Tesla was? The cheapest one today is high $60's.

HD always had good engineers, especially since the late 80's, outsourcing to other great engineering firms including Porsche to aid them.

I have Harley blood running through my veins, it's a almost a love affair for me. Now - I do like all motorcycles, but I cheer for Harley Davidson in this case for sure, that they establish a foothold and are a quality example

[KevinTodd]

Yay. Another "Bash Harley" thread from the know-it-all, yet most-of-you-don't-even-own-a-Porsche crowd. LOL.

[Geronimo '74]

Originally Posted by KevinTodd

Yay. Another "Bash Harley" thread from the know-it-all, yet most-of-you-don't-even-own-a-Porsche crowd. LOL.

If you don’t like the company, you can always leave.
Harley is dead, it just forgot to stop breathing.
This defibrillator on wheels will not save them.

[fastfredracing]

For the record, I was not bashing harleys. I like em'. To each his own. Just a little bit of humor ..... , very little. I always thought that south park skit was funny. Id still laugh if I rode a harley

[vash]

an electric bike would be perfect for me in my current life situation. hell, i could charge it at work.

i've been looking at those Zero Motorcycles. even they are roughtly $10k. that HD, is badass but way to rich for my commuting ass.

[vash]

this one. (edit: $17k+!!!)

[Noah930]

Not quite sure at the Motor Company's marketing angle on this.

$30K is a lot of money for a bike. That's the biggest hurdle.

Harley's sales are declining precipitously. Their bikes are aimed towards an aging (but moneyed) population. Those Harley faithful (and older riders in general) look at bikes for recreation. But market research indicates younger riders are more interested in bikes for transportation. So to convince a younger rider to part with $30K (that they likely don't have) and buy a bike (over a car), is going to be a challenge. But if Tesla was successful in selling the electric car as a desirable, premium item (unlike Nissan's Leaf and Chevy's Volt), maybe there's a chance for the LiveWire.