http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27926348
Harley-Davidson invites public to test electric motorbike

Seeing the speed that electric bikes can get round the mountain course (link below) - and how drop dead gorgeous that one above looks; maybe there is a new age dawning for bikers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TT_Zero#2014_TT_Zero_Race

Still 14-15 mph lower than a Superbike - but averaging 117mph around such a hairy circuit is pretty damn fast

It’s a beautiful bike I’d love to ride it; shame about engine noise though, the sound of my Triumph through a tunnel gives me goosebumps.

Gorgeous bike. Motorcycles would seem to be a great choice for electric engines.

 

I don't mean to take this thread in a direction it wasn't meant to take, but I'd like to talk just a bit about the criticism I hear about electric vehicles with regard to their silence. The BBC article mentions the pushback from skeptics. Is it really that dangerous? Are we seeing a lot of people being run down by electric cars and motorcycles because they didn't hear them? Or is this just grasping at straws to keep internally combusting engines infernally loud?

 

I get the vibration appreciation though. It's a pleasure guys appreciate more, I think. Women have horses, guys have hogs.

The noise thing is a real problem - not merely the aural aesthetics - but the warning side of it. A decent number of the minicabs in London are Hybrids of one sort or another and quite often I will find one a lot closer to me than expected - cyclists rely on sound more than most other road-users

It would sell better if it sounded like the bikes from the TRON movie, although someone else has already built an electric version of the Tron bike this Harley would definitely be more comfortable and practical.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1im1to-alnw

As a long time motorcyclist I have to admit I would miss the sound, motorcycle sound can be as varied as a two stroke dirt bike with expansion chambers to multi cylinder 4 stroke super bikes.

 

I really used to love the sound of my XS 1100 midnight special, but the most heart pumping powerful motorcycle sound is the noise a multi cylinder two stroke with expansion chambers makes. The old TZ 750 yamaha road racers sound was almost orgasmic...