I’m not sure when we’re going to stop referring to electric motorcycles as the future of motorcycling because it seems to me that 2019’s crop of electric bikes suggests we’re already there.

I’ll be the first to admit that I love internal combustion. I’m all for electric bikes as an alternative, but the thought that one day that’s all we’ll have to ride really bums me out. I mean, will a Yamaha electric powertrain feel any different than a Ducati’s or a Harley’s? If not, what the heck will I even write about? Or daydream about, for that matter?

But when I look at the variety of electric bikes that are (or will very shortly be) available in 2019, there are some things worth getting excited about. I may not ever be ready to put down the gas pump, but there’s some serious right-thinking happening in the electric space right now.

From implementing new materials and new technologies‚ like AI and 3-D printing, to pursuing the electric path for the sake of speed and torque, electric bikes give designers the ideal platform to rethink what makes a motorcycle. No wonder some of the most exciting bikes in 2019 are from new names looking to etch their names in motorcycling history.

Here are our picks for 2019’s most exciting electric motorcycles.

The LiveWire is Harley-Davidson’s $30,000 answer to the electric question. It’s the first of Milwaukee’s comprehensive electric plan. We hope they’re great. After all, if H-D left Alta high and dry for nothing, we’d be bummed (because Alta made some killer bikes). Although H-D’s market-share is dwindling, don’t believe it’s about to abandon 115 years of 45-degree pushrod glory for batteries and copper wire.

Sure, $13,000 is a lot for an off-road-only toy, but the Swedish bike has a lot to offer in its 152-pound package. Think of it as a gateway drug. Because it straddles the bicycle and motorcycle worlds, it seems like just the thing to convert the unwashed masses to two-wheeled motorized fun. And with typical Swedish minimalism, it conveys just how much it isn’t your dad’s gas-guzzling, needs-regular-maintenance machine. The Kalk’s price tag makes it more blogosphere darling than legitimate contender, but as a model of things to come, it’s intriguing. Cake also unveiled a street-legal version at the Outdoor Retailer Snow Show in Denver.

While Cake, Tarform, and other e-bike builders are distinguishing their machines from archetypal motorcycle forms, Vespa is going the opposite direction. The Elettrica scooter has the same charm and casualness that made the world fall in love with the original gas-powered style/motoring icon. Scooters are convenient. Makes perfect sense to put an electric motor in one if you ask us.

RELATED: 2019 Vespa Elettrica First Ride

The Saroléa name is one of the oldest in motorcycling. In 2010, twin brothers Torsten and Bjorn Robbens revived the Belgian marque and have been making electric racing motorcycles ever since. The Manx7 is based on the SP7 which Dean Harrison campaigned in the 2017 TT Zero race, finishing in a respectable fourth place. The Manx7 features a carbon-fiber monocoque chassis and swingarm and other high-end components. It produces 163 hp, 332 pound-feet of torque, and has a 205-mile range. Saroléa is building only 49 examples, so act fast.

While many of the bikes here represent what’s possible with electric motorcycles, the Zero FXS represents what’s financially attainable. Zero’s FXS supermoto starts at $8,495. With baked-in modularity, riders can tailor the machine to their needs and pocketbooks. You’ve got to hand it to Zero for having its feet on solid ground. In a space where designers and builders can get carried away with the hypothetical and the idealistic, Zero’s been churning out competent, affordable motorcycles at its home in California for the past decade.

In case you missed it, Confederate Motorcycles ditched its connotative name, revived the famous Curtiss moniker, and prioritized building new high-end electric bikes. As with machines built under the Confederate banner, the new Curtiss machines stand out for their thought-provoking aesthetics and robust motors. While the ICE-powered Confederates emphasize the mechanical members of the machine, the Curtiss de-emphasizes the same, for a design that takes as many cues from McIntosh audio components and utopian futurism as it does from conventional motorcycle design. The Zeus, Curtiss’s first e-offering, is available as a bobber or as a café “not-racer,” and has a claimed 190 hp and 145 pound-feet of torque.

2019 is a big year for electric bikes. The FIM is sanctioning the first all-electric world championship series: MotoE. The sole manufacturer is the Italian firm Energica and teams will campaign bikes derived from the Ego sportbike, a machine that produces 145 hp and 144 pound-feet of torque in standard trim. Should be fun. The series will be cooler when it’s open to other manufacturers, but it’s a great place to start. And the rider lineup has some real talent. Ex-Rossi rival Sete Gibernau is even lining up on the grid to add some real star power. It makes the Energica Ego an enticing prospect.

KTM’s ICE-powered Freeride was always a tempting and beautiful machine (that cast aluminum subframe!), and the electric version promises to be pretty awesome too. KTM is smart to make its first electric bike in a form-factor that’s all about fun. Somewhere between an enduro bike and a trials bike, the Freeride makes pulling wheelies, bouncing off rocks, and other feats of tomfoolery seem irresistible.

RELATED: KTM Electric Bike Freeride E-XC

Manufactured in Brooklyn and designed in Stockholm, Tarform is currently taking preorders for its first motorcycle: a machine that marries cutting-edge tech like artificial intelligence with small-batch craftsmanship. Tarform’s commitment to sustainability means it’s using 3-D printing and biomaterials to build its bikes. Eco-trendiness has made “sustainability” a bit of an eye-rolly word these days, but if it’s the impetus for developing a unique vision of motorcycling, so be it. The Collector Edition machine will cost $30,000; no word yet on pricing for production-run machines.

Lightning is best known for its LS-218 sportbike, the 200-hp beast that made performance lovers take notice when it was introduced in 2014. Starting at just under $40,000, the LS-218 is as premium as premium gets. For 2019, Lightning is unveiling the Strike, a $13,000 machine capable of reaching 150 mph and with a 150-mile range. The Strike also boasts a 35-minute DC charge time. At the moment, that’s all we know. Sounds promising though.

What’s the most intriguing bike to you? Anything tempt you to trade in your ICE bike?

It wasn’t until i was standing in the registration line for the 2018 Lake Elsinore Grand Prix (LEGP) that what I was doing fully hit home. Decked out in color-coordinated kit and sporting fast-guy eyewear, I looked the full vet track hero, but the truth was my back was already sore from a 60-mile morning ride from San Diego. The chatter in the line was that the track was already pretty roughed up, and the Mushman 100, the reason I was there with a brand-new Honda CRF450L, was the last race of the day. If my desk-jockey back was already feeling it after a mild off-road ride and some pavement cruising, how was 100 miles of whooped-out racecourse going to work out?

This is where the weird wiring inside the brain of a motorcyclist comes into play. “Ah, we’ll be fine. It’ll sort itself out.” If Steve McQueen and Malcolm Smith managed to survive astride the bone-jarring machines of yore, we certainly could earn that finisher’s pin on a state-of-the-badass-art thoroughbred like the 450L. So, whistling the theme song to On Any Sunday, we gassed up at the nearby service station and made our way over to the staging corral for the Mushman.

A week ago, I had no intention of going handlebar to handlebar in the LEGP. I’ve watched On Any Sunday more times than I care to admit, and the segments that follow McQueen and Smith as they battle the crowd at the grand prix has always been a favorite, but I’d never given thought to actually competing. At least, not until I got a phone call the Monday before the race, asking if I’d like to give it a shot. The 2018 running marked the race’s 50th anniversary, a perfect historical milestone. I couldn’t resist.

A quick 15-mile shakedown run Thursday night was all I got to familiarize myself with the bike, but the CRF450L didn’t need many modifications to become race-ready. There’s a lot of CRF450R woven into the 450L: strong handling, well-sorted suspension, and a feel at the pegs that belied its 290-pound curb weight. We race-prepped Friday night with fresh oil, a chain adjustment, a clean air filter, a fastener check, and a full tank of fuel. We slapped on some full-coverage hand guards we had in the shop, tossed the OEM mirrors as far as we could, and replaced them with a single left-side-only Doubletake unit. That was it.

In 1968, Lake Elsinore was a wisp of a town just off of I-15. Despite being home to fewer than 3,500 people, it played host to a grand prix dirt-bike race that would stamp its name all over motorcycle history, drawing legends and locals alike for an open-entry competition that started on Main Street and ripped around the eponymous lake, lap after lap, for 100 miles. It must have been some kind of hell back then, an open brawl between physics and primitive suspension played out in the sand and the grit. Naturally, it drew the likes of McQueen and his Husqvarna, and wherever he went, cameras were sure to follow.

On Any Sunday brought McQueen’s exploits at the Lake Elsinore Grand Prix to the world, and the race returned the favor by renaming the main event the Mushman 100, a hat tip to McQueen’s nom de guerre, Harvey Mushman.

The CRF450L is a starship compared to McQueen’s old Husky, effortlessly able to transition from trail to highway with a level of performance that makes you question how this is all legal. In a perfect world, we’d uncork the motor and shed a bit of weight with an aftermarket exhaust system and retuned fuel injection. The DOT-regulation equipment is noticeable at the right wrist, but that’s the price you have to pay to get this marvel of modern four-stroke engineering on the city streets. The big thumper still had plenty of oomph to do what we needed, and we’ll take a well-behaved steed over an unruly ride any day.

But no amount of modern suspension, fuel injection, or power can outrun the old man’s ghost at Lake Elsinore. As I dropped down into the historic downtown section of the city at noon, kids on minibikes patrolled the streets, and UTVs straight out of the sand dunes of Glamis growled at each stoplight.

I lofted a wheelie past the Wreck, McQueen’s old watering hole, in salute to the crusty old Harley guys out front smoking cigarettes beneath the bar’s glorious, faded grand prix mural.

Dirt Series took over race-promoter duties for the grand prix a few years back and has been working diligently with the town council to help restore the annual event to its former glory. With a background in running desert races all over Southern California, Dirt Series has turned the LEGP into a three-day race event with competitors aged from kids to seniors, and classes for everything from modern-day race weapons to vintage trikes. Still, the Mushman is the main event.

As the start time drew near, I lined up in the back of the corral. It’s first come, first served, and I had to laugh at the absurdity of it all. I was riding a dual-sport bike, flanked by an old CR250 smoker on one side and massive KTM adventure bike on the other. All the serious guys were clustered up at the front, having gotten in line early. The way I figured it, 100 miles is a long way, and there was no reason to get too hasty.

In true Elsinore GP fashion, any semblance of waves went out the window the second the green flag flew. It was a mass start, a rumbling horde making its way down Main Street. I lofted another long wheelie to the crowd, and then it was time to get serious. The race was underway.

A grand prix is unlike any other race. While the courses aren’t typically difficult, there’s no pre-running, which means the first few laps are all about trying to loosen up, find a line, and pretend like you know what you’re doing. Ripping through Lake Elsinore’s city streets bar to bar with other riders is a wild rush, the realization of every high-school daydream. It feels like it should be illegal, wrong in the best way possible. The 450L shot us around 26 riders in the first lap while not getting passed by anyone. I was feeling pretty good about myself as I tucked into lap two when disaster struck: I caught a rear flat in the 1.25-mile-long sand-track section that made up the beginning of the course.

It is tough to put into words the feeling that hits when you realize your race is over, 6.8 miles into the 100-mile ordeal. Well, McQueen certainly wouldn’t quit, and neither would I, even if it meant limping the big 450 into the pits to see if I could beg, borrow, cheat, or steal a tube and at least nab a finisher’s pin. I found my saviors surrounding a barbecue pit, and before I could tell them the full tale, the great guys at Orange County Dualies dual-sport club leapt into action, threw the Honda up on a stand, and pulled off a tube swap that would earn them a gold medal at the ISDE. I tossed them some beverage money, fired the Honda back up, and re-entered the race.

For the next hour, I settled into a sustainably quick pace, waved to fans in town, uncorked wheelies at every paved section, honked the horn over the water jump, and did multiple laps utilizing proper left- and right-turn signals for every turn on the track. If you didn’t show up to race with a costume or cape, you made do with what you had.

But the fun came to another sudden, deflated halt when I suffered the second rear flat of our Mushman, just as the sun was beginning to set below the horizon. There would be no pit angels to come to the rescue. I was simply out of time. As I sat trackside commiserating with the well-lubricated hill people, I made the only logical conclusion: Ride that sucker around to the finish line and take the checkers.

The official results show me as the very last finisher of the Mushman 100, many, many laps behind the race winner. I was skunked by a lack of rim locks, a $10 part that would have stopped the rear tire from spinning on the rim and ripping my tubes. I was left to perform the Loading of Shame and retreat home with the help of the missus and our old pickup. But none of that diluted the day, an unforgettable riding experience defined more by laughter, esprit de corps, and throttle twisting than any miserable race result. It was a glimpse at something, a peek past the grainy film to an era when it seemed like all of Southern California was in love with the lowly dirt bike, when you never knew who you’d find next to you on the grid of the Lake Elsinore Grand Prix.

It’s a great era to be a motorcyclist. Bikes are faster, more powerful, safer, and more refined than ever. And they come in all shapes and sizes. That means even the gnarliest machines out there can be surprisingly, paradoxically, wonderfully easy to ride—in spite of gaping ram air ducts, huge horsepower numbers, and evil-sounding exhaust notes that would suggest otherwise.

However, none of these motorcycles are for beginners. I can’t stress that strongly enough. Don’t confuse “easy to ride” with “suitable for novices.” With this batch of bikes, “easy to ride” means their mechanical and electrical refinement make them highly competent and confidence-inspiring—for riders who know what to expect when they open the throttle.

And if you’re keeping score, one of the bikes here just looks menacing. But looks can be deceiving. Which is maybe all we’re trying to say in the first place.

With a claimed 214 hp at the crank, Ducati’s V4 superbike is a fire breather. It’s a motorcycle that demands respect. But unlike performance machines from the 1970s that had feeble brakes, bias-ply tires, and chassis unable to cope with substantial power output, the Panigale V4 S’s fury is contained and controllable. Smarter-than-you electronics (assuming you let them do their job) will prevent you from flipping the thing backward or locking up the front in a panic. Safety nets aside, the V4 S is one of the easiest bikes to ride because it’s so freaking good. Even when you’re going faster than you would on another motorcycle, you have a greater sense of mastery.

KTM’s big ADV-tourer is intimidating just to swing a leg over on the showroom floor, but underway its size disappears. With 158 hp at the crank (or 128 hp at the rear according to our dyno), and seemingly endless amounts of torque (85 pound-feet on our dyno), the SA has an engine that can be rightly called a force of nature. The thing is, it’s paired with one of the most delicately precise gearboxes on any motorcycle produced. And that’s sort of indicative of the 1290 SA in general. It may seem more Mr. Hyde—and it can be when you want it to be—but precision engineering and overall refinement mean it has the bedside manner of Dr. Jekyll.

RELATED 2018 SuperADVbike Showdown In The Desert

The consensus is the Aprilia Tuono V4 1100 is one of the best performance bikes around. It’s a good candidate for representing what makes performance bikes so rideable these days. It may be brutally fast, but it’s also incredibly refined. Three engine maps, eight levels of traction control, and ABS that senses lean angle and lever pressure all look after the rider. It even has cruise control. Never has intimidating power and look-after-you control been so appealing.

When we’re talking about a supercharged 998cc inline-four with an honest-to-goodness 190 hp at the rear wheel, calling it “easy to ride” is a pretty subjective assessment. It’s all a matter of perspective. Compared to entering the ring with a Muay Thai champion while you’re wearing a blindfold and nursing a bum knee, riding an H2 isn’t so terrifying. And compared to the original Kawasaki H1 two-stroke triple, it won’t try to kill you midcorner. Yes, the H2’s power output means it’s a violent thing by its very nature, but unlike it’s famous predecessor, its chassis can cope with it all. Sister magazine Cycle World’s EIC Mark Hoyer points out you could live with the thing everyday. Still, calling it easy to ride may be a stretch.

For those who know a thing or two about motorcycles, the Harley-Davidson Fat Bob’s Big Twin and brutish looks aren’t fooling anyone. The Fat Bob is no untamed steed. Show up to your neighborhood picnic, however, and the cornhole and macaroni salad crowd will probably think that its loud pipes (presumably aftermarket items, since the stock numbers are pretty tame) and the bar-and-shield badge on the tank make you someone who stares death in the face every time you saddle up. In reality, the Fat Bob is easy to ride. Its massive 150/80 bias-ply front and 180/70 radial rear tires make for vague, understeer-y handling, but other than that, it’s eager to please. But no one has to know that.

RELATED: MC Commute – 2018 Harley-Davidson Fat Bob

When a bike looks like the love child of Johnny 5 from Short Circuit and the eponymous character from Alien you know the manufacturer is trying to make a statement. Yamaha’s MT-10 doesn’t exactly look friendly. Like the Tuono, it’s based on a superbike—in this case, Yamaha’s YZF-R1—which means its performance can back up its aggressive stance. However, the 998cc crossplane inline-four is tuned for the road, which automatically makes it friendlier than the committed, track-focused R1. The MT can be as mild mannered as you like. Let your wrist decide.

For $14,999 (MSRP), you can get 1,441cc of inline-four firepower. With 443cc more than the supercharged H2, the ZX-14 manages to put down roughly the same amount of horsepower—for close to half the money. If you’re looking for the most power per penny, the ZX-14 is probably the way to go. There’s no replacement for displacement, as the old adage goes. Functionally, that means you don’t have to work the throttle too hard to get tremendous stump-pulling acceleration out of the thing. Kawasaki even baked in a low power mode that delivers 75 percent of the goods. If that’s not a peace offering to the gods of ease and leisure, I don’t know what is.