Harley-Davidson officially spins off new electric bicycle company with stunning first model

[J.R.]

I like the Serial 1 bike. I would like it better with black tires, which I expect will be offered. The drive instantly reminded me of the look of an Optibike MMB mid drive, a $10k+ bike. No reason to think it is a MMB. I hope this new bike will come in below 6 grand because if it's in a showroom with motorcycles it might be hard to justify a 10 or 12 grand ebike. Motorcycle buyers aren't necessarily bike buyers.

I hope they succeed, the more the merrier. I have doubts it can succeed. Its complicated for a company like H-D. I suspect the ebike company had to be a spin off because of the union contracts the company has. If it was a 2 wheeled vehicle with a motor and a H-D badge it would likely have to be union made. That's not cheap to do. If I remember correctly when Harley owned Buell those MC's were not union made. Although most of the motors and drives were.

Harley has a long history of making things other than motorcycles. They owned and made the super high end Holiday Rambler motorhomes, for years they made all the fiberglass truck bodies for the US postal service and they even made rocket engines for the US military. Here's a picture I took in the 90's of bomb casings made at the York final assembly plant at their open house.

Succeed or not this brings more publicity to ebikes. That's a good thing for acceptance and access. Additional tech can't hurt either.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Another thought: A leading motorcycle company and no Full Suspension?! Even no suspension fork?! What IGH?

 

[J.R.]

Another thought: A leading motorcycle company and no Full Suspension?! Even no suspension fork?! What IGH?

To be fair they say this bike pays homage to an old motorcycle. In reality it attempts to connect fans of the H-D heritage to a new offering, as a sales tool. New tech suspension, especially rear wouldn't exactly fit the story. I suspect there are more models planned. Maybe a springer

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Name automotive manufacturers successful in the e-bike market Only one name comes to my mind: Yamaha. (Because Bosch, for instance, doesn't make vehicles).

 

[Dewey]

Name automotive manufacturers successful in the e-bike market Only one name comes to my mind: Yamaha. (Because Bosch, for instance, doesn't make vehicles).

Brose make car seat motors and assemblies for BMW and Daimler, they're a German car component manufacturer. Magura Powersports make brakes for motorcycles.

 

[jim6b]

Wrinkles. Stuff breaks, multiple aches, and you don’t get better at nuthin. (Except for complaining) How’s that for starters ? Thankfully your memory Also gets worse, and purges all the bad stuff from many years gone by. Eventually life turns out better than what actually happened. At least that’s what your mind recalls. That’s why you frequently hear old folk say ‘remember the good ole days?’

heck, my business is counting on all of that. You remember all the joy of bike riding from your youth, so you bought an E-Bike. Because your knees hurt, you hate those hills, you arent as strong as you were as a kid. And you forgot about the bad stuff, like flat tires, greasy chains, brakes that squeal, and that by your teens you wanted off that darn bike, and into that shiny new GTO.
You’ve come full circle now, and will soon be wearing diapers again.

Hmmm, you got the presumptive arrogance of youth down pat.

 

[GypsyTreker]

To be fair they say this bike pays homage to an old motorcycle. In reality it attempts to connect fans of the H-D heritage to a new offering, as a sales tool. New tech suspension, especially rear wouldn't exactly fit the story. I suspect there are more models planned. Maybe a springer

Actually an old girder style front end. But I totally agree JR...if your gonna attempt to link the past with the future make a seriously bold statement

 

[Nova Haibike]

Belt Drives are the future... they offer many advantages over the old chain technology.

I would not go that far. Given that belt drive also means IGH (or something like Pinion's internally gear crank), I think belt driven bikes will always be a niche product. Unless Shimano gets on board. Then all bets are off.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Brose make car seat motors and assemblies for BMW and Daimler, they're a German car component manufacturer. Magura Powersports make brakes for motorcycles.

I meant -- of the manufacturers making motorcycles (or cars) -- only Yamaha can not only make good e-bike motors but e-bikes as well. Brose or Bosch or Magura etc make no e-bikes. Attempts from Mercedes-Benz, BMW or H-D seem to be a joke.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Nobody has asked "what mid-motor" yet?

It looks like a Brose motor to me.
They have used a single speed rear hub but I am sure they could do something like the Enviolo or other hub.

Building a reliable motor system from scratch when the company is in red would make little sense. Their Live-wire motorcycle did not sell as they expected and I hope they learnt some lessons from that.

 

[PowerflyLee formerly known as CheetahLee]

Now if only Triumph would make an ebike bobber!

 

[Dewey]

Only one otircycell

I meant -- of the manufacturers making motorcycles (or cars) -- only Yamaha can not only make good e-bike motors but e-bikes as well. Brose or Bosch or Magura etc make no e-bikes. Attempts from Mercedes-Benz, BMW or H-D seem to be a joke.

Just thought of another, the Amprio Track mid-drive is made by a division of Rheinmetall Automotive, part of everyone’s favorite panzer manufacturer!

 

[GypsyTreker]

Now if only Triumph would make an ebike bobber!

Triumph has made a mildly successful resurgence in the US market. They appeal to the market HD decided to ignore. The idea of an eBike bobber makes more sense as a novelty add on for their brand since it is one they can still grow.

 

[Dallant]

Like I’m gonna buy an ebike from a failing company like HD. Though like Jeep owners, they’ll throw cash at whatever has an HD sticker on it. Maybe even some ebike chaps.

 

[Deleted member 4210]

Belt Drives are the future... they offer many advantages over the old chain technology.

Belts offer a few nice advantages over chains: a longer wear life (30,000km!), little to no drivetrain maintenance (no lube or degreaser), silent operation and a lower weight too.
They work out particularly well for bike travel; it’s cool to see there are now over 40 touring bike manufacturers with belt drive bikes in their line up.

Belt drive bikes - The advantages of a bike without a chain | Mantel

Belt drive bikes have many advantages: they're quiet, easy to maintain and more durable. No wonder many cyclists are making the switch!

www.mantel.com

Again,who cares about long life ? Chains already last an incredibly long time (people pulled bikes out of their rafters that were 30 years or older during this pandemic, and their chains worked fine) they are also quiet, and no where near the price of these belts. You could buy 5 chains at least for 1 of these belts. If you are worried about a little lube getting on your pants, install a chain guard. And again, nobody Ive met buying an ebike, ever complains about chain noise on any bike or ebike, but rather it MIGHT be motor noise if they complain about any noise at all. A belt is just another bike industry gimmick (an industry notorious for unneeded gimmicks) added to make more money for the OEM, charge an even higher price for the ebike with little to no added real value, and to add some differentiation to already over-priced Ebike, in a market already crowded with too many 'brands' that are mostly all me too look alikes or complete knock offs of each other. The gates belt concept is a 'solution' looking for a problem, they couldn't really find elsewhere, so their target market is ebikes. Apparently now according to the link, 40 OEM's and counting literally got suckered into their gimmick, in many cases simply trying to 'differentiate themselves'.

I'd candidly be WAY more impressed if these morons for manufacturers or rather importers who don't actually build a damn thing, found ways to LOWER the ebike prices while adding real value, instead of keeping on driving ebike prices higher and higher in a industry where 80 percent of the models are priced stupidly too high. That would be real innovation. It takes zero innovation to keep driving the price higher and adding gimmicks to Ebikes, that frankly already work amazingly well, and are amazingly comfortable compared to what we had pre-electric bike era.

And the brazen arrogance of many of these young and business inexperienced 'founders' introducing what they call a 'brand' that they so called 'designed' (yet did zero design) and merely imported and slapped a logo on some rather poorly built chinese designed (copied) and made contraption, is just mind blowing in itself. Picking optional or different levels of components from a menu that a chinese factory offers them is NOT design.

Unfortunately, many of these 'brand founders' (or rather logo/name creators) just blatantly mis-lead about how they portray themselves and their products as 'brands'. This plethora of mostly copycats and knock offs, confuses the heck out of so many consumers, that it often delays their purchases for months and years. I hear about these would be ebike consumer frustrations due to their months of research they have done, nearly every time they visit my shop. They are frequently to the point of exasperation and so they end up seeking someone to help guide them through the gawd awful mess of ebike stuff out there. The same people get further frustrated when they visit regular bike shops who recently began recently carrying one or two brands, and those owners and staff in most cases can't answer any of their questions either or cant explain the differences, and so those shops just peddle (not pedal) one of two makes that are likely from the current brand bike suppliers they're already carrying who also recently decided to get into ebikes. In my view, these copy cat (except for their logo) 'created brands' are the dozens of brands that will most likely fail in the not too distant future. These founders in many cases have deluded themselves into believing they are somehow 'successful entrepreneurs' courtesy of a very in demand and early stage explosive growth of a pretty interesting and easy entry industry, that has the key inherent benefits many consumers will like when they try it, without all the needed high priced gimmicks tacked on. (i imagine this post is likely to get a whole bunch of these folks spun up and slamming me. doesn't matter bc it will be the same ones who were already slamming me anyway. as if any of their slams actually ever bothered me. lol... so to borrow from a famous move line ... perhaps they just 'can't handle the truth'. )

 

[BigNerd]

I would not go that far. Given that belt drive also means IGH (or something like Pinion's internally gear crank), I think belt driven bikes will always be a niche product. Unless Shimano gets on board. Then all bets are off.

Or would it just be an ebike? The R1U Roadster V2 has a belt drive but no IGH (same with the FLX Babymaker I think).

Now I want a belt drive.

 

[FlatSix911]

Now if only Triumph would make an ebike bobber!

 

[GypsyTreker]

View attachment 69975

Totally see a Bonnie tank emblem on that eBike

 

[Mike TowpathTraveler]

View attachment 69975

There are frames that encourage a sit-up posture, then there are frames that are almost recumbent-like with their feet-forward, sit-up right position. Electra is one of them. And this is certainly one of them. I guess if I were 15 again, the faux-motorcycle as bike look would sure be appealing, especially in all black like that one. But I sure do wonder how that feet-forward positions feels after 30 or 40 miles in the saddle. I guess the answer would be "not that good", since I believe Electra is the only builder of that style frame (and now, those guys).

 

[FlatSix911]

Here is a timely article from Electrek...

Belt drives on electric bicycles - what are the pros and cons?

The number of electric bicycles with belt drives has been increasing seemingly overnight. What was once a rarity for just...

electrek.co

The number of electric bicycles with belt drives has been increasing seemingly overnight. What was once a rarity for just the “super nice e-bikes” is now finding its way onto a wider range of e-bike styles than ever before. Belt drives are generally considered to be an upgrade over chains when it comes to bicycle drivetrains. Instead of greasy, archaic metal chains using several-hundred-year-old technology, belt drives use modern day, carbon fiber-reinforced rubber to transfer power to the rear wheel.

And sure, we’d expect such niceties as belt drives from $5,000+ Riese & Müller electric bikes. But now that we’re seeing them pop up on much more affordable e-bikes like the $2,699 Priority Current and even the $995 Ride1Up Roadster V2, it’s time we take a deeper look at belt drives for e-bikes. As e-bikes featuring this tech are now becoming more accessible, we’re breaking down the advantages and disadvantages of the systems, and whether or not you need a belt drive setup on your e-bike.