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Lightning Electric Motorcycles

I will commute to the office on one of those when they are available to rent a la Lime Bikes
 
When I worked Support at Zero we had several customers request LHRB options.

The suggestion (pre-ABS) was to purchase a Burgman Left hand rear brake setup and install/adapt on Zero.
A few customers did this.

I'm pretty sure it's discussed on the e-bike forum.
 
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Killroy1999 said:
On Fuelly, the Grom is ~100 MPG - that's not bad. I think <40 mile EVs suck, I think <60 mile EVs suck.

Yet, I would like to see what percentile a 40 mile ride is for a Grom. I bet its really low for a Grom and 40 mile range would be acceptable.
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I think you underestimate how people ride Groms. Consider the group rides that are posted on here and elsewhere, on Mines and such. 40 miles means you need a gas truck for you and your buddies. Also consider that people in the 'burbs, where 40 miles might be a couple trips to the stores. Consider people in urban areas like SF, where access to a charging outlet, even at home, may be difficult.

Even if many of the trips are short, not all of them will be. 40 mile range sucks. It's not workable. And as you know, as self-appointed electric bike advocate guy, range (along with cost) is what's hurting adoption of electric bikes.
 
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Archimedes said:
Christ, that sound would drive me nuts.
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After riding the Alta for some 3000 miles, i will say you adjust to the new sound.
The tires, chain, motor whir and birds become the new normal.
 
Butch said:
After riding the Alta for some 3000 miles, i will say you adjust to the new sound.
The tires, chain, motor whir and birds become the new normal.
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I've heard the Alta, and while I don't love that sound either, it seems much quieter than the Lightning in that video.

Why are electric cars almost silent but motos are ridiculously loud?
 
Archimedes said:
I've heard the Alta, and while I don't love that sound either, it seems much quieter than the Lightning in that video.

Why are electric cars almost silent but motos are ridiculously loud?
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That may be regular chain noise that every motorcycle but is drowned out by the ICE.
 
From what i've notice every electric motorcycles makes it's own distinct sound. Here's what I think they sound like:

Empulse - Sound like one of those electric razor scooters and clunky gearbox. It has a little bit of supercharger whine sound.

Energica - It sounds like a loud high pitched supercharger whine, or like a powerful vacuum cleaner. I never got to ride it on the freeway though, I'd imagine that highpitch whining might get old after awhile.

Zero Motorcycles - The most quiet pretty much no sound at all like an electric car, remember it has a belt drive also. There is a whirring sound at high throttle

Alta - Sounds similar to the Empulse a quiet whirring noise without the clunky gearbox, quieter than the Empulse

Lightning - Sounds like an Empulse on CRACK


Hey that gives me a good idea for a video compare all the sounds
 
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HadesOmega said:
From what i've notice every electric motorcycles makes it's own distinct sound. Here's what I think they sound like:

Empulse - Sound like one of those electric razor scooters and clunky gearbox. It has a little bit of supercharger whine sound.

Energica - It sounds like a loud high pitched supercharger whine, or like a powerful vacuum cleaner. I never got to ride it on the freeway though, I'd imagine that highpitch whining might get old after awhile.

Zero Motorcycles - The most quiet pretty much no sound at all like an electric car, remember it has a belt drive also. There is a whirring sound at high throttle

Alta - Sounds similar to the Empulse a quiet whirring noise without the clunky gearbox, quieter than the Empulse

Lightning - Sounds like an Empulse on CRACK

Hey that gives me a good idea for a video compare all the sounds
Click to expand...


Besides chain noise that you hear, gear box noise is loud on motorcycles. I know that sport bikes have strait cut gears for performance and simplicity, but are loud. This is like the noise you hear when you revers a cars.

I don't know why the Lightning is so loud.
 
Surj said:
I think you underestimate how people ride Groms. Consider the group rides that are posted on here and elsewhere, on Mines and such. 40 miles means you need a gas truck for you and your buddies. Also consider that people in the 'burbs, where 40 miles might be a couple trips to the stores. Consider people in urban areas like SF, where access to a charging outlet, even at home, may be difficult.

Even if many of the trips are short, not all of them will be. 40 mile range sucks. It's not workable. And as you know, as self-appointed electric bike advocate guy, range (along with cost) is what's hurting adoption of electric bikes.
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Yeah, I have not seen Groms outside of urban areas. That is how I though the they were mostly used - like scooters. I wonder what the ride length data looks like, not anecdotes. The E Grom could be doable, yet it probably not work as a business.

The EV market is a small one. For cars its 1%, for motorcycles its ~0.5%. Zero only sells ~2000 motorcycles a year, so its hard for companies like Zero and even harder for Lightning to exist.
 
Killroy1999 said:
Yeah, I have not seen Groms outside of urban areas. That is how I though the they were mostly used - like scooters. I wonder what the ride length data looks like, not anecdotes. The E Grom could be doable, yet it probably not work as a business.

The EV market is a small one. For cars its 1%, for motorcycles its ~0.5%. Zero only sells ~2000 motorcycles a year, so its hard for companies like Zero and even harder for Lightning to exist.
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Oh yeah, we'll just fire up our Grom tracker and analyze the "ride length data." :laughing

Your "I thought they were mostly used like scooters" and "I have not seen Groms outside of urban areas" statements are more even anecdotal than my pointing to organized rides that actually exist. Go spend some time on YouTube (or out in the world with the mini-culture) and you'll see how Groms and the like are used. Hint: a big portion of that use is not "urban scootering" as you perceive it.

And ease up on the e-splaining, dude. I know the details of the market and these businesses more than most, and riding an electric motorcycle doesn't make you an expert on the space and what'll work as a business, especially when you continue to make assumptions based on your own previous assumptions, and then get all "Well, I'd like to see some data." : |
 
Surj said:
Oh yeah, we'll just fire up our Grom tracker and analyze the "ride length data." :laughing

Your "I thought they were mostly used like scooters" and "I have not seen Groms outside of urban areas" statements are more even anecdotal than my pointing to organized rides that actually exist. Go spend some time on YouTube (or out in the world with the mini-culture) and you'll see how Groms and the like are used. Hint: a big portion of that use is not "urban scootering" as you perceive it.

And ease up on the e-splaining, dude. I know the details of the market and these businesses more than most, and riding an electric motorcycle doesn't make you an expert on the space and what'll work as a business, especially when you continue to make assumptions based on your own previous assumptions, and then get all "Well, I'd like to see some data." : |
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Well if you are working on the Lightning Grom, good luck. :thumbup

Well, if you know more than most, maybe you can let us know what Lightning needs to do to be successful.
 
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I believe it cost about $70,000 to make the Mission Motors Mission R superbike. Its always takes a lot of investment in the beginning to be profitable.

I think what is the biggest deterrence to buyers is yeah the price. If you start comparing the an Emoto vs an ICEmoto you can buy a really nice bike for your 15k. Or look at the Empulse they were trying to sell that bike for $20k think of what other bikes you can get for that kind of change, you can almost buy the new H2SX for that much!
 
Emoto = Electric Motorcycle
ICEmoto = Internal Combustion Engine Motorcycle
 
Butch said:
What I rode was a Grom killer they are developing. Same size as a Grom, lighter, with waaaaay more power. Geared tall so it didn't do anything scary off the bottom. LHRB, so no foot controls.

Prototype, so no pics. Really friendly, easy to ride bike. This could change motorcycling. Bad idea, but you could ride in flip flops.

I can’t imagine how easy the DMV test would be on the Lightning Mini Killer.
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Rode this bike today.....it is a Grom killer....no questions. The bike got me by surprise, and transformed my usual vocabulary I use in my comments about electric bikes from " garbage, junk, etc." to " Wow, I can see riding one, it is a lot of fun, wow, this thing is quick and it handles great!"


Really, these bikes are great! I can' believe I am saying it.
 
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Lightning Spark Grom Killer

somesuch said:
Rode this bike today.....it is a Grom killer....no questions. The bike got me by surprise, and transformed my usual vocabulary I use in my comments about electric bikes from " garbage, junk, etc." to " Wow, I can see riding one, it is a lot of fun, wow, this thing is quick and it handles great!"


Really, these bikes are great! I can' believe I am saying it.
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I was looking for the Laguna EV thing http://www.refuelraces.com/about.php and found thus thread.

Lightning will prolly be at Refuel, but you can certainly see the shit July 27 at the open house we are gonna do July 27 at their shop...
 
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