afilado

Did I hear right? Only 667 will be built. Mine is reserv...................nah.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of6Us...ayer_embedded#!
J

nlerner

I stopped watching after I heard "80 grand."

Neal

afilado

It's a cultural experience. But you're right. One quickly gets the twisted idea.

Just thought it was an interesting, if absurd, snapshot. If you can believe the rep, they've sold $3.3m worth already. It's a "boutique" bike. What are annual sales for Waterford, Serotta, Rivendale........etc.?

J

RobbieTunes

Hmm, 65mph for 150 miles. 2.3 hours, give or take. Would take me at least 8, I figure. Wonder if it charges in 5.7 hours?

Andrew F

I am now convinced........people have lost their minds, 41 to be exact.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

for 80 Grand does it come with a dooshbag or do you have to become one on your Own?

Amani576

I saw that the other day but just scoffed and kept going. The bike is kinda cool looking. But 80 grand for something I could likely build for less than $1,000? Please. Take a small engine, attach the chainrings and a REALLY small cassette and you can fly, and have gears to boot. Same principal as well, at the speeds you'll reach with both, you'll have to register them as motorcycles.
-Gene-

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

actually in NJ (and I beleive in NY) there is no provision in the law for an electric motorcycle. Its considered the same as an electric bicycle which, if capable of more than 20mph, is illegal.

3373jones

i just threw up in my mouth a little...

nikkorod

+1000

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

not gonna lie, I looked into hub motors for my schwinn Varsity over the winter...would have been around a grand to do it to both wheels and get a proper controller, etc.

That would be a highly illegal machine as well, although would be pretty hilarious to gruber assist up a hill at 25mph on a 40 pound schwinn past a pack of plastic bikes

nikkorod

I can see the need with a varsity. That sales guy in the video was a dooche. Touting the green advantage. Legs and peddling are a lot more greener.

Stanger

Agreed. And if you're going to sell the product as "green", I want to hear every single environmental impact of the materials used and of the manufacturing process. Not using fossil fuels is not an automatic pass... not even close.

RobbieTunes

Exactly. How many pounds of ore to make a battery? I've heard 10,000 lbs for a set of Prius batteries, but that was on NPR, so you never know. Same radio show said a Prius becomes more environmentally friendly than a Focus only after 250,000 miles, if the batteries don't need replacing.

I'd like to see a contest for high schoolers like they have with electric cars, but with old road bikes. I'd bet one of those classes can beat that 80K thing within 3 years, probably for $600

bobbycorno

Leather-covered battery.... snerk....

But I DO like the integrated lighting. And where the eff are the fenders??

SP
Bend, OR

BigPolishJimmy

A rich persons novelty. If I want an electric motorcycle I'll buy an electric motorcycle.

XR2

10% of the cost and none of the dooshbaggery. No pedals though,as if anyone that buys one of those will use them.

RobbieTunes

https://biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=21816

khatfull

I make this exact argument with some of my tree-hugging, environmentally over the top acquaintances and their eyes glaze over. They seem to think that batteries come from the store, or from the battery fairy, or something.

So long as it isn't fossil fuel it's good in their eyes without any regard for manufacture, maintenance, and disposal. Gee, we have to recycle our old laptop batteries...why? Because they're an EXTREME concentration of toxic materials. Now scale up to a Prius battery, now multiply that x 1,000,000. Amazing.

XR2

A search for TFKL engineering comes up empty other then that video. Not buying it 'cause I've heard a couple trucks hit motorcycles and it's nowhere near that quiet.

Fasteryoufool

Mmm... no. I'd wager it's 65mph OR 150 miles, but not both. Notice he didn't say that. He said in separate statements that it would go 65mph and that it had a range of 120 to 150 miles.

I'd be willing to bet that if you wring it out, it has a range of 50 miles or less.

Chombi

80 grand??!! Holy cow!, With that money, I might be able to buy a Ducati Desmosedici V4 race motorcycle that would go 180MPH+....... or at least make a very good downpayment for one.
So who the heck is going to buy that MTB? some "nouvo riche" rock or rap star??..........To ride around their ranch and "cribs" and summarily crash it into the bushes in some drug induced haze??

Chombi

Amani576

Indeed, And as it stands, Internal combustion engines are getting more and more efficient. Sure, they're designed to run on higher-octane fuel, and thus more expensive to run, but they burn cleaner when they do so. ICE's are still more effective for now. Until we have solid capacitors big enough to store power and not weigh 3 tons, it'll likely stay that way. Aside from that, they sound nice.
-Gene-

David Newton

Small, light weight cars, with low horsepower, highly efficient petroleum fuel engines will "out green" everything else for the next 50 years.

Amani576

The issue there is that with such stringent safety requirements the government is basically demanding car makers to build heavy cars. But with CAFE standards they expect them to build fuel-efficient vehicles. And weight and fuel efficiency just don't go hand in hand unless the aerodynamics come into play, but those tend to be outdone by safety standards. They're being told to build safe, and fuel-efficient and for any reasonably affordable price, that's difficult to do. I'd be all for a super-aerodynamic car like the Ford Probe V which could (purportedly) do 50mph on only 5hp, but actually building the car to be safe is why it's so difficult.
It's a deadly circle, and I'm not sure the NHTSA and EPA are really aware of the struggles they put each other through.
-Gene-