Daily motorbike news, views & reviews
Custom motorcycle designer Roland Sands is enthusiastic about the future of motorcycles powered by electric motors and batteries. Despite bringing back several retro themes and styles in his award-winning custom bikes, the enthusiastic boss of Roland Sands Design in LA says there is a bright future ahead with electric motorcycles. “I loved the (Harley-Davidson) Livewire,” …
Yamaha will be able to bring new models to market faster with the selection of Siemens to provide their product lifecycle management (PLM) software. In a joint statement, the companies say they will use Siemens’ Teamcenter digital lifecycle management software and NX computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering software. They say these will facilitate “efficient and …
Tasmanian motorcycle company Braaap believes it is the first company to make an electric motorcycle in Australia and is giving early adopters a special offer. The Braaap MotoE electric motorcycle has a claimed top speed of 165km/h and a two-hour or 200km battery range. MotoE will sell for $14,995 plus on-road costs, but Braaap is …
Automobiles are clearly entering a new phase in a history that goes back more than 100 years. Motorcycles have been a key part of the automobile growth in the century, but they have played catch-up with the cars for most of these 100 years. Due to the limitations in the design, motorcycles have not really …
The biggest electric motorcycle company, Zero of California, has pulled out of Australia and Asia, citing unfavourable exchange rates and taxes. However, they promise to continue owner support through distributor GBT Imports who took over in 2013 after the first importer pulled out in 2010. Current (‘scuse the pun) Australian Zero dealers are: Euro Bikes, Noosaville, …
Tax incentives, import subsidies and/or charging infrastructure are needed for Australia to catch up with the rest of the world on low-emissions vehicles, says BMW Group Australia boss Marc Werner. “I call on Mr Turnbull and the Federal Government to action a robust policy to import low-emission vehicles,” he says. While his comments mainly concern their …
Honda has signed a deal with Hitachi Automotive Systems to develop and make motors for electric vehicles. While the Memorandum of Understanding doesn’t specify electric motorcycles, Honda has already confirmed it will have the EV-CUB electric scooter (pictured above) available from 2018. The move by the world’s largest motorcycle company could be a significant spark …
The biggest barriers for electric motorcycles are range and recharging times, but now a couple of achievements are set to break those barriers. A Dutch university team called STORM (pictured above) has completed an 80-day World Tour with its electric motorcycle and Spanish renewable energy company Acciona has finished this month’s Dakar Rally in an …
If Ducati ever builds an electric motorcycle, it could look like this Ducati Zero futuristic design concept from the Milano Scuola Politecnica di Design (Design Polytechnic School). Design students Bart Heijt, Fernando Pastre and Raquel Villani came up with this design for an electric-powered Ducati in a collaborative project with the Italian motorcycle manufacturer. What we …
A Chinese company is about to launch a small electric motorcycle with retro styling and a retro named to honour world record holder Burt Munro. Munro Motor has developed the Munro 2.0 to honour the Kiwi who set several land-speed records on his 1920s Indian Scout and was immortalised in the 2005 film The World’s Fastest …