We test rode the 2020 Harley-Davidson Livewire!
A reason to celebrate!
For those of you that also watch my YouTube Channel, you may have noticed in my Long Term Review of my 2017 Road King Special that I commented about being a little "congested" and joked about not having COVID-19. As it turns out, I probably shouldn't have been so smug because it turned out that I actually did have it. Thankfully, I got over the worst of it pretty quickly and, after a couple of weeks of mandatory quarantine, the Nurse Practitioner called to tell me that I had been freed! I was finally released to rejoin civilization, so what was the first thing I did? Well obviously, I did exactly what you would expect the MotoWriter to do- I jumped on the motorcycle and took a, much needed, celebratory ride!
'Rona free and ready to ride!
I saddled up on my '17 Road King Special and my eldest son, Jake, jumped on my '11 Street Bob. We took the long way down to, then along, the Coast then we hit a few back roads and found ourselves suspiciously close to one of our favorite dealerships, Mike Bruno's Northshore Harley-Davidson in Slidell, LA. Jake reminded me that I needed to get the stuff to change the oil on the Road King and any excuse to stop in and see my buddies at the Harley shop is a good one, so we pointed the scoots westbound and a short time later, we were hanging our helmets on the handlebars and walking in.
Before I got too distracted by the inevitable ogling of all the brand new Milwaukee steel on the floor, I headed to the parts counter and told my pal, Fozzy, what I needed. After a friendly conversation about the crazy state of the world right now, Fozzy bagged up my oil change supplies and I made a point to holler at my good buddy, Mikey before I left. Mikey and I became fast friends several years ago, when I was still riding my first Harley-Davidson motorcycle and he was still working the parts counter at Northshore H-D. Over the years, I watched as he worked his way from Parts Specialist, to Fit Specialist to his current position as Assistant Sales Manager and he watched as I changed motorcycles like I was changing shoes. Mikey and the rest of the crew at Northshore have always treated me like family and that's why, when Fit Specialist, Zach, engaged me and Jake in a conversation about the 2020 Livewire that they had on the showroom floor, I knew that there was no ulterior motives other than simply talking about motorcycles. Sure, don't get me wrong, Zach would have been happy to take my money if I had decided to make a purchase, after all, his job is to sell motorcycles, but that's the great part about this dealership- they are there to facilitate a sale, but there is no pressure to make one and they are content to make friends first, and sales second.
We took a test ride, just for the fun of it... and it was FUN!
After talking to Zach for a few minutes about the crazy machine that is the Harley-Davidson Livewire, Jake and I were ready to head out the door when Zach looked at us with an obvious grin hiding under his "anti-coronavirus mask" and said, "do y'all want to take it for a ride?" Initially, I said no and told him that I didn't want to waste his time because I would never buy one, but after a few minutes, I could tell that Zach just wanted to get out of the shop for a bit and go for a ride. It was, after all, an absolutely beautiful day and I suppose that one of the best perks of working for a Harley-Davidson dealership would have to be getting out of the shop every so often and getting paid to go ride different motorcycles. Then, Mikey dropped the gauntlet and told me that anyone that test rode a Livewire before July 31st would get a $25 gift card! Wait... so Jake and I get to ride a brand new motorcycle AND we each get a $25 gift card that we can use to buy even more cool H-D stuff? There was no need to say another word, Jake and I were convinced! There really wasn't much need to offer the gift card, though. After all, I've been wanting to test ride one of these weird, futuristic machines ever since I saw the mid-development concept bike at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, back in 2014.
After doing a quick bit of required paperwork, Zach pulled the two demo Livewires outside and after a couple of minutes, Jake and I anxiously (and maybe even a little nervously) made our way out to the parking lot where these two Jetson-esque machines were silently waiting for us. Zach gave us a quick tutorial and a couple of pointers on riding them and then he saddled up on a used Road King Special, as Jake and I mounted our respective machines- Jake on the bike swathed in the MoCo's "Yellow Fuse" paint, which looked more like a weird version of pea green to me, and I chose to ride the bike wearing the "Orange Fuse" paint, which helped make it feel a little more "Harley-ish", in my opinion.
This bike is a futuristic P-O-W-E-R-H-O-U-S-E.
I'll admit that I was more than a little nervous about riding a $30,000 motorcycle that had no clutch, no gear shifter and instant power to the rear wheel with nothing more than a quick snap of the throttle. The first thing I noticed was the fully digital "instrument panel." It basically looked like a hybrid of a smart phone and a tablet that was mounted over the triple-tree. It had a beautiful, high resolution, digital display that was easy to see and read, even in the bright sunlight. The ride position is best described as "fast." Imagine the ride position of any sport bike and that's how the Livewire is. The strangest part, though, is that the bike is completely silent when it is "running." Of course, "running" on the Livewire, simply means that the motor (and throttle) are live and ready to go. A slight twist of the throttle and you start moving- no gear, no clutch, no sound. It's bizarre, but really neat. Once we started moving, I noticed that the only sounds that the bike makes is the rolling of the tires on the road and a futuristic sounding electrical whine that is reminiscent of the "lightcycle" in the movie, Tron. Power is instant, but not unmanageable. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't recommend that someone with no motorcycle riding experience to get on this bike- having whiskey throttle on the Livewire might just put a newbie in the hospital. Of course, to help with that, it does have a few "ride control" options- Sport (which is what Jake and I rode in), Road, Range (eco) and Rain modes. The Rain mode apparently limits power to the rear wheel and increases some of the traction control functions. Yep, you heard that right, traction control. This motorcycle is truly a highly advanced, technology-packed, machine.
The Livewire's ride is smooth, the suspension is tight and responsive, it is very well balanced and the riding position is surprisingly comfortable for a sport bike. I'm not suggesting that the Livewire is as comfortable as a Road King or an ElectraGlide, but for what it is- it's not bad. What is it, you might ask? It's a great city commuter and sporty little fun-machine. It has a range of around 150 miles and it takes anywhere from an hour (using a "fast" charge station) to several hours (using the supplied wall charger) to re-charge the huge battery pack that is nestled nicely in the frame. If you were to ride it to work, say... 30-50 miles one way, plug it in and go to work, by the time you hit the out-punch on your time card, your bike would be fully charged and ready to bring you home via the scenic route.
Overall, Jake and I were impressed; maybe not enough to buy one... but impressed, nonetheless. The Livewire is unique, it's powerful and it's fun to ride. Sure, it's basically just a really expensive sport bike and it's definitely not practical but, as the MoCo continues to develop their electric-motorcycle technology, hopefully they will be able to drop the prices, while they increase range and reduce charge times.
While I wouldn't personally buy a 2020 Livewire for $30 grand, I'm not saying that I would never buy an electric motorcycle. I ride a Road King as my primary motorcycle because I like to do long distance rides and the six gallon gas tank feeding the 107 cubic inch V-twin certainly accommodates that kind of a trip. But there are quite a lot of motorcycle riders out there that measure their trips in speed, agility and power instead of how many miles they rack up on the odometer and the Livewire is certainly punchy enough to provide all the smiles those riders need. Is $30 grand too much to spend? Maybe, but when you consider that the first scheduled maintenance isn't due until somewhere around 15 or 20 thousand miles, there is no oil to change, no gas to buy, no transmission or clutch to service and nothing but a giant cellphone charger to keep it powered up for your weekend adventures, well... that price doesn't seem too horrible.
My final thoughts on the day.
When I woke up that first morning with all the symptoms of COVID-19, I didn't know what to expect next. Thanks to my loving wife and awesome family, they kept me from getting worse while they kept themselves from getting sick, too. Two weeks of being separated from them was rough; not having the energy to get out and get some mototherapy was pretty crappy, too. When I finally got around to feeling better, and was finally released from quarantine, I figured that a nice relaxing ride on my Harley-Davidson would be the most interesting part of the day. I had no idea that I'd not only be able to ride my motorcycle, but I'd also be able to spend the day with my oldest son and that we'd be able to visit with some old friends and take an exhilarating ride on a totally new and totally futuristic motorcycle. While I'm not sure if the masks help to curb the spread of COVID, or any other kind of sickness, I'm sure that it doesn't hurt to try and the same goes for Harley-Davidson and the Livewire motorcycle. While they may not know if introducing such a wild and unconventional motorcycle will help their company's future growth, it certainly doesn't hurt to try and I'm personally glad they did. I think that William Harley and Arthur, William and Walter Davidson would all agree that it was the right thing to do.
If you get the hankering to take one for a test ride yourself, I highly recommend that you do it- it's a blast to ride and you won't regret it. If you happen to be within a day's ride from Slidell, Louisiana, head on over to Northshore Harley-Davidson and let my friends there take care of you. Tell 'em that J.D., "aka the MotoWriter", sent you.
