RIDE TO WORK16 / American Iron / Issue #379 AIMag.comSteve Lita
EditorSteve Lita7
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returned from the 2020 Harley-
Davidson LiveWire press
launch in Portland, Oregon
(check out my full review starting
on page 32). I mean, I just returned!
The timing of this story was cutting
it close for appearing in this issue.
But we held seven pages and kept
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would come out great. I literally had
only hours to compose my story and
art director Tricia had to process the
images and lay it all out (along with
this issue’s dynamic cover) in a very
short time. Because we didn’t want to
put it off until next issue, we knew we
had to thrash to get the news to you
ASAP. Thank goodness we don’t have
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these days (remember that?)
It’s kind of the way life works
these days. What used to be hurry
up and wait, has become hurry up
and rush. It all didn’t make sense
as I was sitting in four hours
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on my way home from the
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from Portland. I just sat there
shaking my head, wasting gas,
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should have been a less
than two-hour high-
way ride. The irony
struck me.
Where’s the
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promised in the old
issues of Popular
Science magazine,
oh so long ago? I
could have landed
in the big jet, and
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personal airborne con-
veyance, because surely
the feds would not letus have 747 caliber equipment. But
in the end I guess it’s a good thing we
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fender benders and shrapnel falling
from above.
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Buzz left a letter from a reader on my
desk. I mean a good old-fashioned
handwritten letter, sent with a stamp,
on an envelope, delivered to our
door by a human being walking from
building to building. How quaint.
Don’t worry, I won’t name names,
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wanted to comment on issue 377. No
more electric vehicles in the mag!!!”
You might recall we ran a short, two
page wrap-up of the upcoming new
Buell Fuell electric bike in that issue.
The reader goes on: “I want to read
about American motorcycles and
everything else associated with
them.” Which left me scratch-
ing my head. You do want to
read about American motorcy-
cles, or don’t you? Sorry folks,
that one didn’t make it to our
letters section, because
there would be too
many grammati-
cal corrections to
make, and like I
said, we’re on a
tight deadline. I
guess this reader
was disappointed
I did not ask
his advice when
planning issue
377, but all I
can say is if you
don’t wanna read
about it, turn the
page. He’s gonna
be really disap-pointed in this issue.
Why did we dedicate seven pages
to the LiveWire? Ironically, I wanted
to give it eight pages. There was so
much to write about! Yes, I did leave
some of the story “on the cutting
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go. It’s American. It’s new territory
for Harley. It contains tech that you
might see on the next bike you go
shopping for, regardless of whether
its powered by electricity or internal
combustion. It’s real, and it’s here. By
the way, the Buell Fuell is not, yet.
Back at the launch, another
journalist asked a question about the
LiveWire’s six axis IMU, and asked
why Harley didn’t make the LiveWire
self-balancing. For just a short mo-
ment, I was the Luddite in the room.
Inertial Measuring Units (IMU)
measure movement through 3-D
space and are used in GPS systems,
drone navigation, even in your robotic
vacuum cleaner. While listening to the
answer I thought to myself: “Good
one. Why didn’t I think of that?”
While I don’t claim to be on the
cutting edge of all technology, I sure
do like the fun and convenience it
adds to our lives. But I don’t know if
I’m quite ready for the self-balancing
bike myself. I’m too used to the habit
of downshifting just before putting
my left foot down when coming to
a stop. It’s a thing with MSF rider
coaches. For more about my old
habits and new bikes see page 32.7HFKQRORJ\%HZLOGHUPHQW
...tech that you might see on the next bike
you go shopping for...