18 T3 APRIL 2020Horizon
Motorbike aficionado Robert Jones reports back from rural Spain where he’s been getting to grips
with Harley’s first electric bike, and it turns out to be one hell of a rideropping the right wrist on
the Harley-Davidson
LiveWire is a perspective-
shattering experience. The
future of motorbikes suddenly is right
here, right now in the present, and the
feeling it generates as you scream at
the horizon is little short of symphonic.
And, for me, that horizon lies
beyond a twisting mountain road near
Antequera, Spain. I’ve been attending
Harley-Davidson’s 2020 launch event
and, after riding a comprehensive
selection of the brand’s more
traditional bikes, both on the road and
off-road, we’re finishing off the final
day with a taste of the future, the
all-electric bike that Harley-Davidson
has spent nearly 10 years creating.
As someone who, truth be told,
does not have a strong brand affinity
to Harley-Davidson, and whose
perspective of the maker was veryHARLEY-DAVIDSON LIVEWIRE
much rumble and leather, the
LiveWire feels almost surreal, as if it
isn’t supposed to be here and certainly
not with a Harley-Davidson badge on
it. I think it fair to say that if you asked
100 people which motorbike brandand then absolutely gunning it even
more spectacularly bonkers. I’ve
ridden fast bikes before, and I think
it fair to say that unless you are a
track day fiend with a garage full of
200bhp-plus hyper bikes, then the
acceleration the LiveWire delivers
(0-60mph in three seconds) will
leave you breathless.
That impact is without doubt largely
generated by the sheer amount of
torque generated by the bike’s
Revelation electric motor (86ft-lb), and
the fact that torque is all made
available at any stage. As the bike has
no traditional gearing, there’s no
having to run up to north of 120mph to
get anywhere near peak torque – you
just get it all, instantly.
The result of this is that when I first
get on the bike and roll the wrist I
fishtail the hell out of the LiveWire, with
it begging to put the intense powerD
would produce the first game-
changing electric motorbike, then
hardly any would plump for the
famous American maker.
Which makes the leaning into a now
widening bend in the road, tucking in
to the LiveWire’s sleek naked frame,
hitting the exit line into the straight,There’s no having to run up
to north of 120mph to get
anywhere near peak torque
- you just get it all, instantly
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