Harley-Davidson has unveiled new lightweight concept electric bikes, and they are a departure from the traditional Harley brand.
Granted, these are just concepts that are subject to change, but when Harley searched for ideas for a lightweight electric bike for the urban future, they came up with something that looks like it was chopped together in a garage. I suppose that Harley's is shinier, but my first thought is that it was a good grease monkey's second pass at a homemade scooter.
And really, that's all theses bikes are: scooters or Vespa competitors. They're designed to be easy to ride, with no clutch or shifting, and riders wouldn't need a motorcycle license to operate it. They also have battery packs that you can remove and easily carry, so you can charge it during your side hustles in the gig economy of the future.
For the second unnamed concept, which was obviously more dirt bike-inspired, Harley admits that it wanted to make off-road experiences accessible, as well as city driving.
All these designs hope to help a slumping motorcycle industry by tapping into the electric motorcycle market, which is expected to grow by 56 percent by 2020.
Finally, we saw a real bike more than four years in the making. Harley-Davidson has been working on Project LiveWire since 2014, so the industry was eager to learn more about the electric bike. The first electric Harley LiveWire will be capable of going 0-60 in less than 3.5 seconds with a 110-mile range. The only problem: it's going to cost about $30,000.