BEN WILKINS

I was lucky enough to ride the very first Project LiveWire back in 2014 , even if it was only a very short spin around an industrial park in downtown LA . Since that day six years ago the project seems to have both come a long way and not very far at all . Electric bikes are still a rare oddity and Harley Davidson is still the first mainstream manufacturer to produce a fullyfledged electric bike , despite giving the competition a six year heads up on what it was planning to make . With the arrival of the bikes in New Zealand and the opportunity to ride the bikes on track at Pukekohe , it was pretty obvious that ‘ Project ’ LiveWire is finally here . I ’ m going to start with the elephant in the room . You can walk into a Harley-Davidson LiveWire dealership and ride out on one after you ’ ve put down your $ 54,000 . Yep ... $ 54,000 . That ’ s a huge amount of money for a motorcycle , which , on the face of it , only has a range of 235km in the city and 158km out on the highway . So , I guess , It turns out there are two elephants squeezed into that room - range is the other . I ’ ll tackle the latter first . This isn ’ t a motorcycle in the traditional Kiwi sense . It ’ s not something you hop on , fill the tank and knock out a 600km day at the weekend . It ’ s not for everyone , but neither is the company ’ s rather cool looking , hipster-magnet , Forty-Eight Special with its 7.9 litre fuel tank . What they both are though are bikes for the urban environment , where you ’ ll struggle to do 200km popping out for coffee dates , down to the dairy and to the beach for an ice-cream . In context , the range is fine . Ok . $ 54k . That ’ s a lot of money in anyone ’ s book . Top-end Tesla of the bike world kinda money . If you have it and you want one , great . If not , it ain ’ t for you - turn the page and quit whining . I ’ ll leave that there .

Riding the LiveWire on track is an experience . I ’ ve ridden on track on all kinds of bikes - superbikes , nakeds , sportsbikes and even cruisers . I ’ ve never ridden an electric bike on track . I did wonder why Harley had chosen to let us loose , completely loose , on their bike that ’ s not designed for the track . Well , they wanted us to be able to really feel the performance . And feel it we did . From 0-100km / h this is as fast as anything - three seconds kinda fast . And from there to 130km / h is only another two seconds . That ’ s fast . The 0-100km / h is fast . The 100-130km / h is quick , but not 1000cc sportsbike fast . Compared to a car up to our speed limit and just beyond ? It ’ s a rocketship . This is the best handling Harley I ’ ve ever ridden . It has the best braking . It ’ s also the fastest . It isn ’ t the most expensive . Does this tell us it ’ s good value ? It depends . If you ’ re an early adopter of tech and like your belongings to be exclusive ( probably with a brand name on them ), then quite possibly . There ’ s nothing else like it , so it ’ s more exclusive than a Tesla , which is the EV of the in-crowd . The LiveWire brings a new dimension to riding , and I enjoyed riding it for what it is . It ’ s not something I ’ d buy myself as I like the interaction of putting the bike into gear and feathering the clutch ‘ just so ’ to pull away . Mat , on the other hand , couldn ’ t get enough of the LiveWire and would buy one if he had the money , to sit alongside his little trail bike . It ’ s a choice . You choose .

106 KIWI RIDER