It’s About Time Someone Shrunk the Motorcycle
Image Credit: LiveWire.
I'm not the tallest girl around, for sure, and for way too many years, I've been swinging my leg over electric motorcycles that seem to have been designed for either giants or people who enjoy a good hernia.
Many of modern electric motorcycles are tall and heavy, and they often come with a price tag that makes you wonder if they're carved from a single, solid block of gold. So, when Harley-Davidson's electric-cool kid, LiveWire, decided to show off something new, I expected more of the same. Bigger! Faster! More expensive!
Image Credit: LiveWire.
Instead, they did something unexpectedly brilliant. They went small.
At a recent Harley festival in Milwaukee, of all places, LiveWire pulled the covers off two little electric motorbikes that genuinely made me squeal with delight. And I don't squeal. These weren't just smaller; they were fun-sized. It's the kind of thinking that makes you go, "Well, duh! Why hasn't anyone done this sooner?"
Image Credit: LiveWire.
We all can agree that the barrier to entry for motorcycling can be as high as the seat on some of the adventure bikes. These new little LiveWires, however, sit at a gloriously approachable 30 inches. That's low enough for most normal-sized humans to plant their feet firmly on the ground, which, call me old-fashioned, is a rather important confidence booster. They're running on what look like adorable 12-inch tires, giving them this can-do attitude before you've even switched them on.
I can hear the skeptics already. "Oh, they're probably just glorified scooters with the oomph of a tired hamster." And that's where my gentle skepticism usually kicks in. But here's the thing: LiveWire says they're seeing top speeds of around 53 miles per hour. That's more than enough to get you in and out of trouble in the city, and certainly enough to make your commute the most exciting part of your day.
Image Credit: LiveWire.
Then there's the range. LiveWire claims about 100 miles. My sarcasm meter tells me that was probably measured downhill, with a tailwind, by a rider who weighs less than my handbag. But even if you cut that down for real-world, stop-and-go, "oops-I-missed-my-turn" city riding, it's still incredibly practical. This is not meant to be a cross-country tourer; it's your new best friend for urban adventures.
And the pièce de résistance is the fact they have a pair of removable batteries. Hallelujah! For anyone living in an apartment, this is life-changing. No more begging your landlord to install an outdoor socket or running an extension cord out of your fourth-floor window that looks vaguely like a cry for help. You just pop the batteries out, carry them inside, and charge them up like a phone. Simple. Elegant. Genius.
Image Credit: LiveWire.
LiveWire is working on two distinct flavors of this little charmer: a street version and a trail version. The street model is this chic, minimalist machine that just begs to be customized. It's perfect for the coffee shop runs, running errands, or for those new riders who want to learn on something that isn't intimidating.
The trail version, on the other hand, is its slightly mud-splattered, adventurous cousin. LiveWire imagines it for messing around in the backyard, on pump tracks, or quietly zipping around a campground without waking up the grumpy guy in the RV next door. It's about pure fun, without the noise and fuss of a gas engine.
Image Credit: LiveWire.
But what about the price? LiveWire is being coy, as they're still in the development phase. But their current bikes hover around the $16,000-$17,000 mark, and the whispers suggest these new mini-motos could cost less than half of that. Less than half! You could get a brand-new, well-designed electric motorcycle, backed by over a hundred years of Harley-Davidson engineering know-how, for hopefully less than $8,000.
That is the real story here. This isn't just about two cute little bikes. It's about making motorcycling accessible again. It's a direct, street-legal, and safe answer to the thousands of kids and young adults riding around on quasi-legal bikes. This is a proper motorcycle company stepping in and saying, "Hey, we see you. We get it. And we've built something just for you." It's a brilliant move.
