Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “We tested Harley-Davidson’s new $5000 electric bike”.
Bikes are really hot right now, everyone’s looking for a safe and socially distanced way to get around and in particular e-bikes are really hot. So a lot of non-bike companies are trying to get in on the trend and along comes harley davidson with some of the most interesting, impressive and sleek looking electric bikes that i think i’ve seen in a long time. The company is obviously more known for its motorcycles, but it has been trying to stake out a name for itself in electric vehicles as well. The latest example of that is the serial one lineup of e-bikes, the name serial one is a reference to serial number one, which was the nickname that harley had for its first ever prototype built in 1903. The company teased us with a prototype e-bike.
That was meant to harken back to that very first bike built 120 years ago, but that was just a design exercise. The bikes the company actually intends to sell are much more modern. Looking the first four models will go on sale in u.s and germany, starting in the spring of 2021, and they are pedal, assist city bikes with mid-drive motors, integrated batteries and a design that is unmistakably harley-davidson. There will be four bikes to start out.
The brand names are mosh city rush city, with the latter coming in three variants, step through speed and regular, ranging in price from thirty four hundred dollars to five thousand dollars, not exactly cheap, but you actually get a lot for that price. Each comes with a motor capable of generating at least 250 watts of continuous power, and i say at least because it will definitely get more than that at times and hitting top speeds of 20 miles per hour. Now, one of the models, the rush city speed – is a class 3 e-bike, meaning it can get up to 28 miles per hour. The mosh city is the cheapest model.
It’S a single speed city bike that lacks a lot of the amenities of the other bikes. The mid-drive motors are by bros a 110 year old german company and when engaged they put out 90 newton meters and 60 foot pounds of torque, which is more than enough to power, you up most hills or fly along any straightaway. Much like bosch and other major e-bike suppliers, the bros motors, enable four power levels, eco tour sport and boost the anvialo automatic gear. Shifting transmission is sure to make for an extra smooth ride. That’S an auto-shifting cvt that stands for continuous variable transmission hub now. What that means is there’s no gears to shift.
Ultimately, this is a bike that feels like it’s always in the perfect gear. So right now, i’m going about 25 miles per hour, which is a pretty decent speed, especially going uphill, is actually pretty impressive. The automatic shifter has kicked in and it’s lowering it up, blowing the gears for me making a little bit of an easier and more natural cadence. That said, i feel like i’m, definitely still putting in a little bit of work too. So it’s not completely without the need to do your own pedaling, which i appreciate. So here are some of my initial impressions about the harley bikes, they’re beautiful. The fact that all of the wiring is internal makes for one of the cleanest, looking e-bikes i’ve seen out there in a long time. All of that wiring is internal in the frame. You don’t get any of that rat’s nest. Look second impression: the ambialo automatic shifter takes a little getting used to it’s, not something that i think you can hop from a normal bike with a normal gear shifter onto this bike and just be able to ride without any problem riding the bike. How does that feel great? It really felt smooth uh natural, the the automatic gear shifter, although it took a little getting used to it when it kicks in. You really feel that power churning in that mid-drive motor it feels perfectly balanced, which is not something that i would say about most e-bikes.
The mid-drive motor just is perfectly situated in that low center of the bike, so giving you that really like low center of gravity, and it really just felt perfect riding it. It’S a cool, looking bike. It made me feel cool to ride it. There could be a lot of e-bikes out there. That kind of make me feel like a dork when i’m writing it.
To be honest, i didn’t feel that with this bike i felt like this is an expensive bike that i’m writing. That said, that’s not necessarily something that a lot of people are going to be interested in, but i do feel like there’s going to be an obvious marketplace for this bike. People are going to be snatching these things up.
Another really cool thing about these bikes is that harley-davidson is a motorcycle company, so they have dealerships all over the country and across the world. If you need to get one of these bikes serviced or you want to actually go in and test ride, one of them before you actually make the purchase you can do that, which is not something that a lot of these direct-to-consumer e-bike companies have the option to Do now i know what you’re thinking five thousand dollars is a lot to spend on a bike. Is this the right price? Well, that’s a question you have to answer for yourself, but if you look at the spec sheet and the parts that harley has used, it’s clear that these are very well crafted machines. Now these are obviously more expensive than other e-bike companies like van moof and rad power. I see these as being more competitive with some of the top-line bike companies in the world, and you know what it’s got a harley badge on it, and that is a definite premium. With some people the bikes go on sale, spring 2021 in u.s and germany.
These are the first bikes from serial one, but harley has said that they expect to make more of them in the future, so there should be other lineups as well. .