The Fuell Flow, the first electric motorcycle coming from Erik Buell’s new battery bike venture, is now available for pre-order, and we also have more details on the machine.
Last month, we told you about Fuell, the ironically-named electric motorcycle company started as a joint venture between Erik Buell and Sauber Motorsports.
In case you just got here and are wondering who Erik Buell is, here’s our short rundown: In the 1980s, Buell started making sportbikes built around Harley-Davidson engines, eventually founding a Harley-Davidson subsidiary that bore his name, making sporty naked bikes. Harley-Davidson shut Buell’s subsidiary down in 2009, whereupon he founded Erik Buell Racing and continued to produce made-in-America sportbikes for several years. However, financial troubles eventually caught up with EBR, and shut the company down, whereupon we saw several months of weirdness as the assets were sold. You can catch up with some of that history here.
Buell has his devoted fans, and he’s been responsible for some iconic streetbikes, but he also has plenty of detractors. The complainers say he’s never been able to stay in business (perhaps unfair), and that some of his ideas, like ZTL (zero torsion load) brake designs are crap (perhaps more fair).
With that in mind, it will be curious to see who ponies up for the new Fuell Flow. When first announced, details were sketchy; all we were certain of was hub motor in the rear wheel, available in 15 hp or 47 hp versions.
Now, we also know the bike weighs 180 kg, with a 10 kW-hr battery at the bottom of the chassis, supposedly good for a 240-km range. A Level 2 CCS charger will juice up the battery completely in a half hour, but if you’re using a standard wall outlet, it will take 10 hours.
There’s a spacious trunk built into the bike where most machines have a gas tank (similar to the Honda NC750 series). The engine is said to have max torque output of 553 lb-ft—not constantly available, mind you, as that would put too much strain on the electric powertrain. The power is available in bursts, and the top speed is said to be 137 km/h. Sustained top speed is less exciting, at 88 km/h. You wouldn’t want to cruise the 401 on this bike.
The Flow also comes with some sort of smartphone integration, along with ABS, blind spot warning sensor, rear view camera and traction control.
But what about the price tag? No Canadian figures have been released yet, but in the US, the 15 hp version of the bike carries a $10,995 MSRP, and the 47 hp version will retail for $11,995 US. Steep, but in the same ballpark as other bikes in this bracket, although maybe with less battery capacity.
Expensive, not very attractive. Good luck with that.
iconic
adjective UK /aɪˈkɒn.ɪk/ US /aɪˈkɑː.nɪk/ formal
very famous or popular, especially being considered to represent particular opinions or a particular time: John Lennon gained iconic status following his death.
“Buell has his devoted fans, AND HE’S BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR SOME ICONIC STREETBIKES.”
Name one.
The Lightning CityX XB9SX. That’s sh#ts cool. It’s a torquey urban shredder. It’s remarkably compact for a bike with a HD engine in it and parts and maintenance would be relatively cheap. 21-degrees of rake and 83mm of trail. Supposedly nimble without being twitchy. I’d buy one if I could afford the insurance,
Buell XB9.
XB9R is a very cool bike and one that I thought about buying at the time, but there’s nothing iconic about it. It didn’t influence MC design moving forward in any way, and it’s claims to design fame – fuel in frame, oil in swingarm, perimeter front brake were at worst bad ideas, or at best irrelevant innovation for the sake of being different.
What are some iconic bikes other than the classic Brit bikes and Hardly Davidson’s? Aren’t such things subjective? I think all Honda’s from the late 60’s and 70’s are iconic where some people consider them the original “knockoffs”.
Yeah, brit twins and HD’s are obvious, and the early Hondas certainly are too. As are the SOHC and DOHC Hondas, 750 Interceptor, GSXR 750, 1980 KZ550, 1984 Ninga 900, RD350, A couple Ducati’s, BMW R100RS, R80GS, early monoshock Yamaha YZ’s, and undoubtedly many more that pointed to the future of MC design/engineering.
I think most motorcyclists would argue that the Harley-engined Buells _were_ iconic.
I figure most new electric bikes are way overpowered. Could they not shrink and lighten the motors somewhat, achieving more range?
But these cruising speeds (137 km/h) are not adequate. So there goes that theory heheh… not the first time.
These speed issues must be from either heat or gearing, or both. A juggling act I suppose.
I’d still like to see electric bikes geared way tall and well cooled, kinda like a 300-class sportbike with a bigger front sprocket.
Take you a while to reach ~160 clicks, but you could get there. Y’know? And would provide good mileage too.
There are mopeds and scooters that do more than 88 km/h.
Nothing will keep Eric Buell down. He epitomises the American spirit of entrepreneurship. He gets knocked down and he gets right back up. Sadly these days the American economy is rigged for it’s 1% and the Industrial military complex not the small manufacturer. Eric Buell needs to develop weapons of mass destruction if he wants to have a extremely successful business. That’s where the money is. Smart bombs but not too smart so they can be sold to the smaller nations at a price point. Bombs just smarter than their neighbours bombs 😉 But in all seriousness, I wish him the best of luck with his new bikes.
Methinks this won’t end well.