Harley-Davidson is poised to make history with the launch next week of their LiveWire electric motorcycle while a little bit of Harley history will also go up for sale next month.
I the second instance, Elvis Presley’s last motorcycle, a 1972 1200cc FLH Electra Glide, will go up for sale on 31 August 2019 at Kruse GWS Auctions along with his ’73 Lincoln Continental and ’67 GMC pickup.
The “King” bought the FLH in California, shipped it to Memphis and sold it 90 days before he died in 1977, aged just 42.
The Harley has been on display at the Pioneer Auto Museum in Murdo, South Dakota, since the late 1980s.
Electric history
Next week, Harley will make a significant shift from history to the future with the world media launch of their first electric motorcycle, the LiveWire.
We will be at the event in Portland, Oregon, to ride the bike through the city streets and out into the country.
Unfortunately, we will only be riding a disappointing 61km, which means we won’t even ride the bike’s full range of up to 160km, nor get the opportunity to see them charged up again.
At least it’s better than our 2014 ride around the block in LA on the LiveWire prototype.
Click there for the LiveWire specs.
Significant event
However, this is still a significant event, not just for Harley, but for motorcycling.
Harley will become the first traditional motorcycle manufacturer to bring their own full-size electric motorcycle to the market.
The now-axed Victory Motorcycles slapped their brand name on an electric Brammo in 2015, but it wasn’t their product. (When we tested it on a Colorado racetrack, at least we got to see it being recharged.)
Honda and BMW have produced electric scooters, while Yamaha and KTM have a couple of small electric trail bikes.
Other major motorcycle companies such as Triumph are feverishly working on electric motorcycles.
They will all be watching how this LiveWire is received by you, the motorcycle public, as well as further riders.
Stay tuned for our updates next week.
Source: MotorbikeWriter.com