Harley Build a Street Tracker (& it's electric)

This is going to upset lots of people. First the marketing folks at Livewire EV. This is a division of Harley-Davidson, 100% owned by Harley, but spun off to allow the electric vehicle division to be bold and brave and all the things electric vehicle manufacturers need to be, without thousands of internet warriors telling them they can't, and they shouldn't and they're wasting their time, and they're killing the legacy, and what the hell else they're throwing at them. It's common in automotive (See Toyota/Lexus). So the headline... It's doing what a headline does.

All that means this street tracker isn't a Harley, it's actually the Livewire S2 Del Mar LE (Launch Edition). It's limited to 100, and a $100 deposit will secure you one, if you're in American and not already too late (I just checked, you're already too late). The retail price in $17,699, $5000 less than the original Livewire is listed at. At current exchange rates the Del Mar is £14,400 or so. That looks attractive to me. And so does the bike. I am attracted to the idea of electric bikes, and like the mix of big wheels, that might be 19s (the website doesn't say), but more likely 18s, with Dunlop DT3s [UPDATE: Livewire staff have been in touch to confirm they are 19s: 19x3.0 front, 19x3.5 rear, with Dunlip DT1 tyres]. I like the Sportster S headlight and flyscreen. I like the USD forks and radial mount Brembo caliper and a proper disc with a carrier, at last, not the cheap looking option of bolting the bare steel disc rotor directly to the wheel (see the Sportster S). I love the Death Spray-esque paint too. The tail on the Suicide Machine Co Livewire in Sideburn 48 is neater, though.

The power unit, the ribbed covers over the battery cells, is visually heavy, compared to one of our favourite electric bikes, the Alta. It also looks a bit like a household radiator. Or, if I'm being kinder, a super computer. That lighter-coloured casing, behind the front wheel, that might house a controller of some sort, is visually dense too, but Harley, I mean Livewire, have to play it safe with cooling etc (that looks like a cooler in front of the power unit, too). Screw-ups this early in the project will taint them.

Another group of people this post, and bike, is going to upset are all those people who can't seem to accept electric bikes as just another strand of the whole cornucopia of motorcycling we can dip into or flat out ignore if we choose. But that's their problem.

See more at livewire.com

#Electric #streettracker #livewire #harleydavidson #suicidemachineco #Sideburn48