zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Beyond Cars
/
Forget About LiveWire, Harley's Two Electric Concepts From CES Are Way Cooler
Forget About LiveWire, Harley's Two Electric Concepts From CES Are Way Cooler-November 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:14:04

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.

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.

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!

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.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Beyond Cars
Deadliest Train In America Kills 3 People In 2 Separate Collisions At The Same Crossing
Deadliest Train In America Kills 3 People In 2 Separate Collisions At The Same Crossing
operate between Orlando and Miami and hold the unwelcome distinction of being both the first intra-city high speed rail in the U.S. and the , by far. After three people died at a single grade crossing in two separate incidents last week it seems the feds are finally perking...
Nov 11, 2025
Marshmallow Treats Ended Up On The Royal Air Force's No-Fly List
Marshmallow Treats Ended Up On The Royal Air Force's No-Fly List
Over in the United Kingdom, there’s a certain dessert known as a “teacake” — or, as a British friend kindly informed me, it’s more accurately known as a “Tunnock” in Scotland. Basically, the food in question for this particular story are actually a cookie base topped with marshmallow, coated...
Nov 11, 2025
Aircraft Touch Tips During Blizzard At Japanese Airport
Aircraft Touch Tips During Blizzard At Japanese Airport
As at , its port side wing the starboard vertical stabilizer of bound for Hong Kong. This comes at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, and . “Our aircraft, which was stationary at the time with no customers nor crew onboard, was struck by a Korean Air A330 which was taxiing past,”...
Nov 11, 2025
String Of Boeing Failures Continues With 737-800 Flight Turning Back With Cracked Cockpit Windshield
String Of Boeing Failures Continues With 737-800 Flight Turning Back With Cracked Cockpit Windshield
In the wake of recent major , including , , and the debacle that was , it isn’t a good time for further failures by the company. that would , an unrelated 737-800 with a cracked windshield, became international news this weekend. The flight took off from Sapporo-New Chitose...
Nov 11, 2025
Crystal Chunks Are Bursting Through The Road In China
Crystal Chunks Are Bursting Through The Road In China
A video of what looks like quartz breaking through the surface of a is making the rounds on . I don’t get over there much, being suspicious of the Chinese over concerns of it spying on its users, as the reports. OK, fine. Actually, I just don’t get the humor...
Nov 11, 2025
2023 Zero DSR/X: The Bike Of The Future, But Not Our Future
2023 Zero DSR/X: The Bike Of The Future, But Not Our Future
The world, in 2023, is cyberpunk. We’ve got the , the , and the that keeps the and the . But in cyberpunk media, people are always riding . Why are we stuck with the same bikes we’ve always had? , it seems, wants to address this grievous wrong....
Nov 11, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved