The entire motorcycle world clutched its collective pearls when Harley-Davidson announced the LiveWire would cost nearly $30,000. And for good reason, that’s a lot of dosh for a bike, even a Harley. The 116-year-old motorcycle company claims it is aiming for new buyers and trying to reach a younger audience. The LiveWire announcement overshadowed these other two unnamed electric mobility concepts at Harley’s CES booth. Which is a shame, because they have the potential to be huge.
Sketches of these bikes were shown off last summer, but we weren’t sure the company would ever actually build them. I’m glad Harley did it.
Instead of continuing to hold on to the past and turn a blind eye to the future, Harley is making strides to reinvent itself and grab a younger audience. In order to do that, the company will need lower-priced city-friendly entry-level products that can use the buzzword “mobility” to sell to younger two-wheel buyers.
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Personally, I’m a little bummed that Harley didn’t give these two concepts names. So, I think I’m going to give them names right now. The small electric scooter I’ll call the All New For 2020 Harley-Davidson Sumpter. The upright electric mountain bike-looking thing will be the First Ever Harley-Davidson Clash.
The Sumpter is my favorite of the two, using a ring of LEDs as a headlight is genius, and the skateboard deck foot rests along the sides of the bike are an incredible throwback to scooter modders of old. It looks compact and lightweight with the batteries mounted low in the chassis for awesome around-town agility. It’s got throwback simplicity mixed with futuristic advanced design. This is good, and I hope it, or something like it, comes to fruition.
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The Clash is a lot less my personal style, but I can see how something like this would be handy. With big long-travel suspension it looks ready to tackle the toughest of mountain trails, but equally at home absorbing the terrible roads of our country’s broken infrastructure. Rip it and grip it, brother!
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I, for one, am excited at this new direction for Harley-Davidson. It seems inspired and has thus far provided some really good designs. Knowing Harley, however, they’ll be too expensive, too slow, and not offer enough range to compete with existing electric two-wheeled products.
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