A few years ago, we featured a very nice e-bike designed by legendary motorcycle designer Erik Buell, standing beside what looked like a very interesting motorcycle. Back in April 2019, Buell was working on the design of that big motorcycle, only for the pandemic to hit.
Buell explained in a press release:
It’s different today, with the Cambrian explosion of e-mobility. The supply chain has improved and batteries have dropped in cost. Buell described how he sees the world changing:
Buell doesn’t think much of mass transit, suggesting that “it’s just not a pleasant experience, and it only gets you vaguely near the place you want to be.” I was going to suggest that he might take a trip to Europe and try it, but apparently he has been there.
“In Europe, where streets are smaller, the support and infrastructure for two-wheelers are exploding. In the U.S. it is starting as well,” said Buell. “In Asia, two-wheelers have always been the solution, and now the growth is in making them greener, less polluting, and less noisy. Replacing the 60 million new gasoline-powered two-wheelers sold annually with electricity creates a huge impact on quality of life.”
More than 130,000 gasoline-powered motorcycles have the Buell name on them, but it’s now owned by Harley-Davidson. So these are called FUELL, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when it runs on electrons, but that’s what happens when you sell your name.
It still has the engineering. “It is the most radically innovative chassis design I’ve ever done, and from the steering head to the rear wheel is filled with new design concepts that no one has done before,” said Buell.
It weighs less than 400 pounds, has a low center of gravity, holds 10 gallons of storage where the traditional gas tank would go, and has a range of 150 miles. The top speed is 85 mph, and it does 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds, pushed by a 35 kilowatt (47 horsepower) “axially integrated transverse flux” rear hub motor and a 10-kilowatt-hour battery pack that can be charged in 30 minutes.
Needless to say, we won’t be seeing this in the bike lanes. It is a true electric motorcycle for people who want to go further and faster. Buell noted:
A few years ago, I would complain about anything that had more than Euro Pedelec standards, but readers and manufacturers alike have convinced me that there is room for all kinds of electromobility options. Now we have seen an e-bike and an e-motorcycle from Buell—what’s next?
According to Buell: “I will myself be striving to develop those close and personal rides into the future, so every FUELL product not only feels familiar, like part of you but also pushes out of the past and flies you to the future!”
You won’t be seeing me on this 400-pound monster, but I can definitely see the attraction. In fact, you won’t see anyone on it for a while. It is being marketed on Prelaunch.com, an interesting new site that tests the market to see how customers might react to a product idea.
My fingers are still singed from writing about Kickstarters that never happened, but Buell is totally upfront here: “The only way to avoid wasting your time and resources on unexpected scenarios is to do market validation.”
Buell is hoping for 3,000 pre-orders, where you put down $200 now and get a $12,000 bike later. I suspect that he won’t have a problem.
