I think electricity is more viable in bikes than cars, given most bikes come out of the garage, are used for 100 miles then go back in for a week or so. After all, how many folk plug their Dukes in between rides? I know I do..
My SS is loud, and I was a little cautious about upsetting the neighbours as I live in a very strange street layout, with tall 3 storey houses all facing each other in a strange crescent like court yard (perfect for the bike to echo off), but no one seems concerned, in fact, my next door neighbour commented on how good it sounds. It probably helps that I never go out on it early, and everyone seems to be up by 8am anyway, even on weekends. My MOT tester wasn't bothered by the noise level either.
and the cans are BS stamped...they are just missing the db killer. I run Scorpion cans, really nice quality, and sound great. The cans were just shy of £400 for the pair with the link pipes.
Not at all harsh. I know they don't teach you how to press the horn button when you take lessons, but surely it can't be that taxing..?
The only horn I had that people ever took notice of (fnarr fnarr) was the Maserati air horns I had on the Honda 400 in the 80s. You call the fart and burp made by most bike horns a warning? Much better off with a couple of revs of a fruity exhaust.
I've piloted everything from bicycles to lorries through central London over the last thirty years, and it makes not a jot of difference how much noise you make. I've seen a pedestrian step into the road in front of a speeding ambulance with blues and twos going. At least he got immediate medical attention... Loud exhausts do nothing but annoy people. Sure they sound great to us, but they ain't gonna win you any friends.
I guess it depends where you ride. In my experience it makes all the difference. People won't necessarily move out of the way but whether they will or not becomes very obvious sooner with noisier cans. Parting of the waves with the odd obstinate exception.
There are hundreds of electric cars, vans and scooters in London. I don't recall hearing of any stories relating to electric vehicles mowing down pedestrians. When talking to Agility CEO Lawrence Marazzi, I asked him about this very subject and he said he'd not noticed any increase in stupid pedestrian activity in over 30,000 miles on the Saietta. I fail to see any correlation between noise and safety.
This might be because they are: (a) dog-slow and driven by very cautious people; and (b) hundreds out of millions. Also a lot of petrol-engined vehicles are extremely quiet nowadays, so not much difference.
It's coming right for us in slow-motion. Another reason why you do not hear about electric cars vs pedestrians is because most of electric cars are plasticcy/rubbery design so quite soft. Only last year, maybe two we start getting electric cars build from the same stuff like real cars, they even look like real cars not RC cars.
also in my experience too. 2 anecdotes: firstly, going from stock to termis on the monnie, I was very aware that cars would pull out on me when on the standard cans, but moved over when the termis were fitted. Previously, it was obvious that they didn't know I was there. On the 749R, even on the motorway, cars would pull over to let me pass. Not riding agressively, just making progress when I could. Nice!
Best place for this is France, where motorists would sooner drive on the verge or risk disappearing into the ditch rather than hold you up on roads with solid white lines. i really can't work out why they are so considerate towards bikers when they are the most bloody-minded, me-first, foot-to-the-metal, drive-up-your-bumper, let's-wipe-each-other-out nation when it comes to uniquely 4-wheeled traffic.
As always, the pertinent facts are carefully avoided. According to the published specs, the motor is 150 Kilowatts, and the largest available battery has 20 KiloWattHours. This presumably means that the bike would hold full throttle for about 8 minutes before the battery was flat - assuming 100% efficiency in the battery pack and the motor, and assuming no power was wasted on other things like lights, and assuming you haven't gone for the smaller battery option. That would be about enough for half a lap of the Isle of Man TT course. Then an hour or two recharging would be needed before you could do the second half of the lap. Oh yes sure, guys will be queuing up to buy this one.
I agree. Getting battery storage up to practical levels will be a challenge. But I'm willing to bet that will take a fraction of the time from their first incantations it took for petrol engines to achieve useable horsepower. Do you think battery storage will prove an insurmountable problem?
The new Tesla P85D does 0-60 in 3.1 seconds, has a range of nearly 300 miles and will recharge in 1 hour in a 'supercharger' station. It will not be long before EVs are a viable option for regular people...
