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I’ve been wanting an electric motorcycle for years. But every time I look at the pricing I just can’t justify it. An entry level electric bike for $25k or a top of the line BMW for $18k. It’s just not even a comparison.
So far the furthest I’ve ridden is from Bay Area to Big Sur and back, which needs to fast charge like 2 times each way.
Are there any OEMs whose service manuals are hard to find? I restore cars and motorcycles and have never had trouble finding a pdf or hard copy for around $20. Its good that they are doing this though a lot of the secrets I’d want to know about an electric motorcycle are about the ECU when that software is some of the most tightly guarded of any.
It’s possibly because I’m looking for Australian models and it’s a smaller market, but I’ve never had much luck finding service manuals free or paid for my vehicles. Do you have any tips for where to search? I should say specific examples are the Ford Territory and the Great Wall Steed (Wingle 6 in the domestic market).
Are there any OEMs whose service manuals are hard to find? I restore cars and motorcycles and have never had trouble finding a pdf or hard copy for around $20. Its good that they are doing this though a lot of the secrets I’d want to know about an electric motorcycle are about the ECU when that software is some of the most tightly guarded of any.
BMW no longer sells service manuals for their bikes. There are, essentially, bootlegs on line, but my understanding is that while before they had a dedicated Window application for their manuals, they're moving to an online only system, and only for dealers. So, while there are manuals floating around now, who knows how that will go moving forward. Obviously, this will be a key sticking point in the future with the "…
Are there any OEMs whose service manuals are hard to find? I restore cars and motorcycles and have never had trouble finding a pdf or hard copy for around $20. Its good that they are doing this though a lot of the secrets I’d want to know about an electric motorcycle are about the ECU when that software is some of the most tightly guarded of any.
Your mention of "restore" suggests mainly older models, which certainly did have far more widely-distributed service literature and are simpler than newer vehicles.
Are there any OEMs whose service manuals are hard to find? I restore cars and motorcycles and have never had trouble finding a pdf or hard copy for around $20. Its good that they are doing this though a lot of the secrets I’d want to know about an electric motorcycle are about the ECU when that software is some of the most tightly guarded of any.
BMW no longer sells service manuals for their bikes. There are, essentially, bootlegs on line, but my understanding is that while before they had a dedicated Window application for their manuals, they're moving to an online only system, and only for dealers. So, while there are manuals floating around now, who knows how that will go moving forward. Obviously, this will be a key sticking point in the future with the "…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s surely the leader in the bikes’ capabilities and reliability.
What's your source for this opinion?
Enigica look to be following typical Italian exotica. It’s a premium/performance motorcycle with premium parts, breaks, suspension, handling etc.
Zero seem more middle of the road. Not designed to be exotica, not designed with premium breaks, suspension, not designed for all out performance/handling, it’s a general purpose motorcycle designed for urban environments.
I think Enigica and Zero are trying to target different segments and Enigica is targeting a segment above Zero. The sportier side.
I’ve been wanting an electric motorcycle for years. But every time I look at the pricing I just can’t justify it. An entry level electric bike for $25k or a top of the line BMW for $18k. It’s just not even a comparison.
Agree that it’s expensive and the range sucks, but I still love my Energica EVA Ribelle. It’s super satisfying to ride! So far the furthest I’ve ridden is from Bay Area to Big Sur and back, which needs to fast charge like 2 times each way.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are going nowhere. Electric motorcycles are a terrible idea because they are not the problem as far as emission go. Given the ratio between the weight of the motorcycle and the weight of the passenger/s they are extemely efficient, having the whole passenger vehicles switch to motorcycles would be even better than have them switch to 3000 pounds EVs. The vast majority of people are too coward to drive them unfor…
Terrible idea?!? Have you ever ridden a motorcycle? Or an electric one? I've been riding for ~40 years and I don't think I've _ever_ met someone who rode an ICE bike for the fuel/emissions efficiency. It's for the fun and adventure. My stock Energica does 0-60 in 2.8s. WAAAY more fun than my 30yo 1100cc. Pretty GOOD idea from where I'm sitting.
Was my 100% transportation, rain or shine. SoCal, so not much rain. But, yea it rained. I had an I’ll fitting, $25 open face white helmet from K-Mart, and wore a ski jacket, ski gloves, and ski goggles for gear (the yellow lenses worked really well at night to be honest).
You could catch me with my original Macintosh in those very cool carrying cases we had back then bungeed to the rear seat. I’ve had stacks of books explode off the back when one popped out like a drunk jenga player.
I can attest that my ad hoc gear performed adequately when things got horizontal.
When I got a new job requiring a 30 mile one way commute into the heart of West LA, I traded the scooter in for a 600cc street bike. $2000 with highway robbery financing interest rates. It never crossed my mind to buy a car.
I got free parking at the building (vs $60 per month), free use of car pool lanes and, the crème de la crème of California motorcycle riding, lane splitting. Lane splitting in the rain on slick Bots dots is unnerving. Lane splitting made that commute sane.
Did that for a couple of years, had a scary get off (slick right turn arrow at 2am, I simply shouldn’t have taken that route), and that made me sell the bike. I also sold the Macintosh for $750, and used the money to buy a new bike — the later to be cult favorite, Honda Hawk GT. Dealership had a fire sale on them one weekend, so I got a good deal. The Hawk was notoriously expensive in the day.
Selling the Mac for the bike is one of the best things I ever did. I was a computer geek sans computer for several years.
Oh, the Hawk charted at 38 horsepower. Less than my previous bike. Got it to 110 once at a “high desert test area”. Fast enough for me. I never bought a bike on performance numbers. They were all fast enough (save the scooter). But speed was never my thing.
That bike took me up and down California and around the southwest. Plus my even longer commute when I changed jobs again.
I did finally buy a truck. Test drove it with my M certified license. Didn’t get my actual car license until after I bought it. As many have with many things, I bought the truck because of a girl. And so it goes.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
1250RS is not top of the line for sure in any of the segments it is marketed at. I would say a K16 would be more towards the top.
I disagree, the 1250RS is basically a redesign of the K1200S (my current bike). Just swapping out the inline-v for the BMW boxer motor. Top of the line, in it's class. A sports bike, with shaft drive, linked brakes, traction control, and heated grips. Find me an electric bike with those features for anywhere near a comparable price. Specifically, I will not even consider a bike without a shaft drive (or in the case o…
The disadvantages of belts are efficiency (especially compared to chains), off road durability and trailside serviceability.
I’ve been wanting an electric motorcycle for years. But every time I look at the pricing I just can’t justify it. An entry level electric bike for $25k or a top of the line BMW for $18k. It’s just not even a comparison.
Your numbers are completely wrong. Zero has a bike for $12k https://zeromotorcycles.com/model/zero-fx and BMW sells bikes that go well into the $20k ranges. You can get a Surron for under $4k, but it's more like a cross between a bicycle and motorcycle. I do agree with the general premise, that electric is more expensive. There needs to be more competition to drive prices down like is happening for cars.
and that's kinda the reason that the value proposition for electric motorbikes isn't very good. if you can give up the requirement of "i want to drive on the highway", an electric bicycle is going to do what you need for a fraction of the cost.
electric motorbikes lean more towards toys than practical tools, so they're priced like toys.