Harley

If you were interested in an electric bike would you buy one that is quiet and smooth? These two "features" are the antithesis of what Harley has been selling for the past 50-yrs. I'm sure the H-D electric bikes are quiet and smooth but the reputation remains.
 
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The only Livewires I've seen in person are ones brought to bike meetups. I can't recall seeing one "in the wild"
 
Personally, a quiet motorcycle is important to me, although really more in terms of turbulence and wind management. I run stock exhaust on my bikes. I have a rubber mount sportster, and although thumpy at low revs, it's glass smooth through most of the useful rpm range. Additionally, I find the HD vibrations very mellow and slow, whereas I find a buzzy i4 to be pretty bothersome after a while.

I see the appeal of an electric bike for the flat, instant torque, but I would be a ways from buying one due to range anxiety and availability of charging stations. I could see how the live wire doesn't appeal to most core HD fans. Pretty rare to see a HD with the quiet stock pipes around here.

All that said about my Harley (which I quite like), I bought an NT700VA a few days ago, and will be selling the sportster.
 
I suspected that when Harley (HOG) announced the spinoff of Livewire (LVWR) it was to protect the MoCo stock from adverse pressure if the Livewire tanked which it appears to have done. The MoCo is now having to inject cash into LVWR to keep it viable. Unless something happens quickly to spur sales of the electric bikes another infusion of cash will be required from the MoCo which will eventually adversely affect HOG shares.

Mike
 
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