For years, Harley-Davidson relied heavily on an aging customer base, completely neglecting the youth or what they might want from a motorcycle. All that changed with their new sub-brand LiveWire. They are now all set to expand the LiveWire brand and capitalize on the ever-growing EV market.
Dedicated EV makers have been springing up all over the world, and at present, the market is, to say the least, a little volatile. Alta Motors sprung up a few years ago and made waves with their incredible electric dirt bikes, but in a rather astute, or callous, depending on your perspective, business move, Harley were able to swallow them up with all their technology. Although we might still need to wait some time before we get a LiveWire dirt bike, it is pretty clear that they have been able to get at least some of that tech back on the market with the Del Mar.
10 Arrow Architecture
Unfortunately, we may never see any of the old Alta hardware again, but we have no doubt that their research was put to good use in the development of the middleweight Del Mar’s Arrow platform.
It is scalable and will be used in a wide range of applications, including what is purported to be an entry level bike by next year. The platform combines the battery pack, electronics, and motor all in one unit in an effort to save weight and reduce the size.
9 Electric Mobility
Although this is a big step, getting one of the traditional motorcycle brands in on the action, this is not an all conquering electric motorcycle.
The Del Mar is simply the next step in electric mobility solutions, although it is aimed at taking on other middleweight electric bikes, this will get some stiff competition from ICE motorcycles that are priced lower.
8 Light And Powerful
Weighing in at around 440 pounds puts it on the light side of the electric motorcycle market, and with 80 horsepower, it has a very respectable power to weight ratio.
60 will come up in 3.5 seconds, making it quick, but by no stretch of the imagination the quickest in the segment.
7 Still Playing Catch Up
In reality, its range is indeed fairly limited, with a claimed range of 100 miles, this won’t inspire many to take the bike on any long trips, even long commutes will be a stretch.
In the real world that range will be a lot closer to 80 miles as the 100 miles will be the best case scenario. It is clear that LiveWire still has some way to go in terms of battery optimization for this model, they were not willing to compromise the weight by adding more battery power, and in truth that is a good thing.
6 Urban Street Tracker
Their marketing is clearly aiming this bike at those looking for a more stylish urban commuter bike, and that is a stroke of marketing genius.
It is a fairly light bike and will be pretty easy to ride, and has what looks to be a pretty low seat height, which will make it more accessible to shorter or newer riders who want the comfort of being able to put both feet on the ground.
5 Polarizing Looks
Although we can see what they were going for, they made it look a bit like a modern flat tracker, albeit scaled down somewhat.
In our opinion, they didn’t quite hit the mark and the design is mediocre at best, but enough people bought the launch edition to suggest otherwise.
4 Launch Edition Sold Out
Not only did the limited run of 100 special launch edition bikes sell out, it sold out in all of 18 minutes online.
That deposit is refundable, but what is very clear is that there is demand for just about any electric motorcycle, even one with dubious looks.
3 Growing Demand
As we march towards an electric future, the Del Mar is just another stepping stone in what is very much the early stages of this movement.
For most outside observers, it might seem like LiveWire didn’t quite deliver on their promise here, but there is so much demand that even though it is a little underwhelming, people will still buy it.
2 Conservative Pricing
This was supposed to be a more affordable option, with the LiveWire One priced at $22,000 we were very hopeful that this would be priced under the Zero equivalent, but it just isn’t.
Those launch edition bikes all sold for $17,700 and the regular bikes will still set you back $15,000 or what is right in line with the less powerful but still arguably better Zero FXE. Spending a couple of thousand dollars more will net you the undoubtedly better SR model.
1 More To Come
For those whose hopes were high for the Del Mar would be more to more people, fear not, there is certainly more to come, not only from LiveWire but from this platform too.
The S3 should be announced soon, or at the latest early next year, and that is set to be a more affordable bike. It won’t offer anything better in terms of range, but we suspect it will offer an alternative design and more aggressive pricing.