Polaris buys Brammo bike business, will build own electric motorcyclesPolaris Technologies , which already makes and markets gas-powered motorcycles under the Indian and Victory brands, has announced that it has acquired the electric bike building business belonging to Brammo . The move reflects a fondness the Minnesota manufacturer seems to have for electric-vehicle enterprises, with GEM , AIXAM , Mega and Goupil Industrie having been previously added to its constellation of companies.
Source: Polaris buys Brammo bike business, will build own electric motorcycles (http://www.topix.net/motorcycles/2015/01/polaris-buys-brammo-bike-business-will-build-own-electric-motorcycles?fromrss=1)
From: Motorcycle News - http://www.topix.net/rss/motorcycles
Wow.. that's a big gamble.
John.
Sooo...long extension cord in the saddlebag?
Nothing is impossible but until they can provide replacement fully charged batteries at every service station that sells gas, at the same price as a tank of gas, and work out a system where they can replace that new battery that you just bought today with another new one and not one that came off a bike two years old, and make the same battery fit every bike, I can't really see it ever being much more than a rich mans toy.
I wouldn't buy a bike that rides fifty miles and then needs a tow truck to get home..
John.
These things are of no use unless that little requirement is met. I don't ride around town at 22 mph more than I have to...and I used to commute 92 miles a day....mostly at 70 mph!Electric vehicles have been around for over 100 years, and they STILL don't work!
Quote from: John Hopkins on January 23, 2015, 18:40:42 PM
Nothing is impossible but until they can provide replacement fully charged batteries at every service station that sells gas, at the same price as a tank of gas, and work out a system where they can replace that new battery that you just bought today with another new one and not one that came off a bike two years old, and make the same battery fit every bike, I can't really see it ever being much more than a rich mans toy.
I wouldn't buy a bike that rides fifty miles and then needs a tow truck to get home..
John.
I think of it more of a commuter bike, John. You'd still need your gas powered bike for trips, but the electric bike might be OK to ride to work- up to the limit of the battery - then charge it up during the work day for the trip home. That's the only thing I can see them useful for.
North Bay seems to have an inordinate amount of e bikes around the area. They have a purpose, they have a use, but they are a royal pain in in the backside.
The lady who rides one and tows a huge trailer behind hers with like 4 kids in it and a pile of "stuff", they are silent and the rides do not warn you as they approach you from behind on the walk ways, oh right they are not supposed to be on the walkways and any of the walking trails. They demand the same privileges as a motor vehicle but then they do not follow the laws as they should......oh well so be it.....
Quote from: CDNRatMan on January 24, 2015, 15:23:58 PM
North Bay seems to have an inordinate amount of e bikes around the area. They have a purpose, they have a use, but they are a royal pain in in the backside.
The lady who rides one and tows a huge trailer behind hers with like 4 kids in it and a pile of "stuff", they are silent and the rides do not warn you as they approach you from behind on the walk ways, oh right they are not supposed to be on the walkways and any of the walking trails. They demand the same privileges as a motor vehicle but then they do not follow the laws as they should......oh well so be it.....
Perhaps if she belted out 50's and 60's rock music from a 100w speaker you would enjoy it more..
John.
most likely not John.
The problem is that they will (one in particular yellow bike young person rider) they get on the road and block the traffic and go at 25km/h and hold up traffic because you can not get around them on the busy streets, but then they run the stop signs, and disregard the traffic rules. The trailer lady will try to squeeze between the line of cars and the sidewalk, and she has been seen smacking the side of a car to get the drivers attention to move over so she can pass.
If they want to be treated like a motor vehicle then they should obey the same rules. OH and the fight about drinking and riding one of theses vehicles has been in the news too.......
Here in wonderful wisco, these things are classified as a NEV...neighborhood electric vehicle...but the ones Brammo and Zero build are actually considered to be type 1 motorcycles. We have idiots riding these things here too, as well as electric skate boards, and scooters (like the original type you stand up on) with tiny 2 cycle engines or electric motors....They skirt the laws, and the police are frustrated with them because they don't fall into any real category.
Quote from: CDNRatMan on January 25, 2015, 10:57:53 AM
OH and the fight about drinking and riding one of theses vehicles has been in the news too.......
I believe here, the drinking/driving laws extend to ANY "vehicle", even your own lawn mower, while on your own private property, mowing your own grass...
Quote from: greenbarn on January 25, 2015, 15:24:08 PM
I believe here, the drinking/driving laws extend to ANY "vehicle", even your own lawn mower, while on your own private property, mowing your own grass...
Yeah.. we have that too, even riding a horse or buggy.
John.
Quote from: John Hopkins on January 26, 2015, 05:58:37 AM
Yeah.. we have that too, even riding a horse or buggy.
John.
Even if the horse is sober?? :o
I think if the cops are having a slow week they will pull you for drinking near a pretty sheep.
John.