ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
Makes And Models => Lightning => Topic started by: Apollo on October 30, 2023, 11:59:31 AM
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I got the new motorcycle itch and after owning a lot of motorcycles I decided to head to my favorite Ducati dealer for a new bike. My initial plans were to pickup a Baliss V2. After sitting on the bike and finding out how high the seat was and little the steering lock was, I decided to try the Panigale V4. It’s supposed to have more torque and rider-friendly. The seat was way too high and the bars too low with a minimum steering lock. This is not the same as the Duc’s I had back in the early 90’s, these were race bikes. Off to the side, they also had an Energica EVO+ RS Corsa. I thought it looked like something I would ride, so I decided to come home, do some Internet research, and see YouTube reviews. Everything looked pretty good, except the range and weight. I noted that Ducati had a new MotoE bike named V21L. I read up on it and found out it was a race bike only and would be extremely expensive to convert for street use if you could get your hands on one. They are DC 800V charging only.
In reading all the forums I found a small business here in California named Lightning Motorcycles. According to their specs, they were lighter than the Duc and had more power. Lots of YouTube videos later and I had some pretty big questions about the California machine.
I called Lightning Motorcycles to ask a million questions about their bikes. Specifically, I noted lots of negative rumors and backlash on the online forums and YouTube about their motorcycles and wanted to perform independent research to make my own conclusions. They recommended I drive up to meet in person to review their motorcycles and address my concerns.
After reviewing lots of videos and forum posts, I built up a pretty big list of hard questions I would ask when I visited. I called Lightning and they said to come up any time, so I scheduled a visit about two days later.
Richard H. met me at the door and gave me a quick intro to Lightning Motorcycles and a rundown on the bikes. I sat and asked lots of questions about batteries, types of electric motors, ECU’s, VCU’s, dash display, power output, range, gearing, etc, trying to be fair but concerned about what I heard and read. After about two hours Richard offered to take me out on a test ride. Richard recommended a Strike R for me after taking into consideration of my proposed riding style and my glorified riding/racing experience. I really was interested in the LS-218, but Richard recommended that I try the Strike R whereas he would take the LS-218 and we could switch after a while.
It was my first time to ride an Electric Motorcycle and it was extremely enjoyable I constantly wanted to pull in the clutch lever (there is none), and would roll off the throttle and try to up-shift (no shifting). I was pretty overwhelmed with the power, smoothness of the motor, and the great suspension/brakes. I've many miles under my belt driving an EV, so I adapted to the “one pedal” or “throttle control/regen” style of driving very quickly. After a very short time, I felt that the Strike R was already a big step up in power from what I’d ridden before, and decided to skip the LS-218 test ride. The torque/pull reminded me of the old Ducati twins, only multiplied by four. Nice smooth pull on the throttle and it would pull the front tire in the air easily starting at about 45mph hitting double that in short order. I decided the Strike R had plenty of power and I lost interest in riding the LS-218.
After the test ride, I was pretty giddy and needed to sit, eat, and absorb what had happened. They had a nice diner on the premises and it gave me time to sit, eat, review, and ponder. Meeting up with Richard again, I had a fresh 100 questions. They had Strike Carbon, Strike R, and LS-218 bikes available for review. The LS-218 seating seemed a bit more aggressive so I decided that it may be a bit much for the freeway rides I may do to get to all the places I wanted to go. The two Strike models seemed to have more sport bike seating that I could ride for freeway distances without wearing myself out.
I tried to perform due diligence by inquiring nicely about some of the negative comments and rumors about the bikes. Richard appeared to be honest and answered all my questions. He left to attend a scheduled meeting and I had a chance to speak with some of the tech team. They all seemed to be nice guys who answered all my questions about what they were building at the time and potential future options. It was pretty interesting to see one of the bikes getting twin 255hp electric motors installed.
I took a number of pictures and found that the bikes appeared to be very well made with the CNC machines running constantly making billet parts.
I left a deposit for a Strike R and hope to be able to answer questions and show pictures about riding a Lighting in the wild.
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So what is the Strike R MSRP and when will you be able to purchase the bike? It is being built to order, or do they have them in stock? Does Lightning have any retail dealers other than a buyer needing to purchasing one directly from the manufacturer?
I am reminded of buying my first electric motorcycle in the spring of 2009 from the Electric Motorsport company in Oakland, CA. When I went to pick up the bike at their factory, after filling out all of the DMV paperwork, I was finally told at the last minute that they could not sell it to me directly as they did not have a DMV retail license. Later that year Best Buy ran into the same problem when they tried to sell Brammo Enertias out of their stores and also discovered that they could not do so because they did not have the proper vehicle retail license from the DMV. Photo attached.
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Let us know when you actually get one.
Everyone is nice when they are taking your money.
aaron
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Let us know when you actually get one.
Everyone is nice when they are taking your money.
aaron
Look at you with this whole 'brevity is the soul of wit' going on. I like it.
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Everyone is blown away when they ride an EV for the first time.
Have you tried other EV bikes, like Energica or Zero?
Compare price, charging methods, service options, reliability, delivery time, etc.
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>> So what is the Strike R MSRP and when will you be able to purchase the bike?
As prices change over time and this post won't, I would recommend checking out their website to get current prices, That's what I did.
I left a $5K deposit and was told I should be able to pick up the bike in about 90 days. I was told they needed to finish up some bikes ahead of mine but would contact me with emailed pictures of the build.
>> It is being built to order, or do they have them in stock? Does Lightning have any retail dealers other than a buyer needing to purchasing one directly from the manufacturer?
From what I understand, they are built to order and they do not have any retail dealers. They appear to be a small manufacturer and have been really hurt by the Pandemic.
>>I am reminded of buying my first electric motorcycle in the spring of 2009 from the Electric Motorsport company in Oakland, CA. When I went to pick up the bike at their factory, after filling out all of the DMV paperwork, I was finally told at the last minute that they could not sell it to me directly as they did not have a DMV retail license.
This was one of the questions I had for Richard H. upon initial bike discussions. He told me Lightning Motorcycles is registered with the US DOT and the State of California. He said that when I come to pick up the bike he will drive with me down to the local DMV to ensure it gets registered properly or ship the bike to me and I register it at my local DMV. The local DMV near Lighting is about two miles away and I drove past to ensure it's operational. It's super small and had zero customers. I couldn't believe it.
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Let us know when you actually get one.
Everyone is nice when they are taking your money.
aaron
That's my plan. I also asked that I get pictures once every two weeks of how the build process is going. I have already received a couple of pictures and some questions about build options. Like all good customers, I change my mind every two weeks to make them crazy.
I will be updating this thread with pictures of how it's going.
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Everyone is blown away when they ride an EV for the first time.
Have you tried other EV bikes, like Energica or Zero?
Compare price, charging methods, service options, reliability, delivery time, etc.
No, I didn't try other EV bikes. I was only considering the Energica RS+ Tricolore, but I liked the look and internal design of the Lightning. There is an Energica dealer not too far from me and Morgan Vetter called and emailed me to ensure I had all the information about the bikes that I needed and dealer info. Nice.
I did review all other criteria listed and I felt each manufacturer excelled at some things and was soft on others.
Of course, these are my observations and opinions. All the EV Bikes are expensive so I think it's a good idea to review all the points you mentioned to come to an informed decision.
One of the reasons for me making this forum entry is due to the thin amount of factual data on purchasing, getting the bike, and riding it. There seems to be a lot on Energica from NewZeroland and it's been very helpful.
I plan to try and emulate how he reviewed living with his EV bikes.
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There seems to be a lot on Energica from NewZeroland and it's been very helpful.
I plan to try and emulate how he reviewed living with his EV bikes.
I also enjoyed all of Sam's videos. Crossing fingers -- I hope very much that everything goes smoothly for you, because we may finally hear details about the bike from an enthusiastic and forthright owner, and because it would be evidence of Lightening succeeding. You've already done much homework and given us a decent picture of the state of the company.
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I'm curious, in your mind, why you think Sam at New Zeroland did an abrupt about-face from praising Lightning to buying multiple Energicas and shipping them to New Zealand. And why there's never been any pro-Lightning content from him since.
I'm also curious as to what Youtube reviews convinced you to go with this bike.
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I'm curious, in your mind, why you think Sam at New Zeroland did an abrupt about-face from praising Lightning to buying multiple Energicas and shipping them to New Zealand. And why there's never been any pro-Lightning content from him since.
I'm also curious as to what Youtube reviews convinced you to go with this bike.
From what I gathered from Sam's videos and such, there are laws in his home of New Zealand that require imported vehicles to have anti-lock brakes installed from the factory. This ruled out Lightning bikes and they refunded his deposit. As I recall, he was impressed with the Lightning's ride, power, and brakes. It looked like Lighting was his initial choice, but the Government said no, hence he went with his backup plan of Energica.
From his videos, he appeared very happy with the Lightnings as well as the Energicas.
This is what I gathered from interpreting his videos and such, not to be taken as fact!
From my research, "From 1 November 2021 all current model new motorcycles and imported used motorcycles over 125cc must have ABS fitted for them to join the national road fleet".
https://www.onthrottle.co.nz/post/nz-s-mandatory-motorcycle-abs-what-is-exempt-and-what-isn-t#:~:text=From%201%20November%202021%20all,or%20a%20Combined%20Braking%20System. (https://www.onthrottle.co.nz/post/nz-s-mandatory-motorcycle-abs-what-is-exempt-and-what-isn-t#:~:text=From%201%20November%202021%20all,or%20a%20Combined%20Braking%20System.)
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I should make a proper follow-up video to explain why I didn't follow through with my Lightning order, but you're right that the ABS laws. The build quality wasn't that great when I did my test ride, and nothing on the bike was waterproof, which was also a huge red flag as it rains 90% of the year in New Zealand. Then covid hit and I wasn't able to fly back to the US to ride the Strike R. Long story short, Energica had everything I wanted and more, but I still really enjoyed riding the Strike and I'm looking forward to your videos on it ;D
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nothing on the bike was waterproof,
What does that mean? "Nothing?" So they purposely used handlebar switches that are unusual and not waterproof like all normal switches? The lights fill up with water...?
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nothing on the bike was waterproof,
What does that mean? "Nothing?" So they purposely used handlebar switches that are unusual and not waterproof like all normal switches? The lights fill up with water...?
When I visited Lightning, this was one of my primary questions for Richard H. As I drive an EV, I know there are electronic devices hanging out in the environment. Rain, puddles, etc. All EV's in the US are tested and seem to work fine.
Richard told me that rain, washing the motorcycle, etc. would be no problem, but he did recommend against using a power washer on it. He was cautioning against getting water in the wheel bearings and chain more than anything else.
I did check out some parts of the bike and it looks pretty watertight. The onboard 12 battery is sealed with LEDs to review its status. The CCS charging "modem" is also a sealed unit. It looked to be a swap-out type unit. The VCS is also sealed. The BCS and ECS appeared to be built at their shop and are water-cooled. They appear to be in a sealed aluminum box with a heat transfer plate built in.
As they are all hand-built bikes, it looks to me as if they are constantly looking for updates and upgrades. Ford and GM make updates every 2-3 years, Tesla makes updates every three months, and I suspect Lightning is also on the fast track as far as making updates.
They appear to have a number of test mules that all the employees commute and ride with, as well as local Bay Area riders that they stay close to. I don't know all the parts used, but I don't think they would think twice about updating software or hardware on the bike multiple times a year in an effort to build a better motorcycle.
While I was there I asked about custom work being done and they said they could do it if they had time and it didn't interfere with the bike design. I also asked for some options that were not listed, but they helped the best they could. I asked for a silver upper triple clamp, whereas all the bikes came with black clamps. They searched around and had a non-painted one and they put it on with no issues. I asked for Black Wheels when Silver is stock. Again, they dug around in the back room and came up with a set of black wheels. I asked for dual motors. They said no!
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So everything is exactly just as waterproof as a normal motorcycle? Which all warn against power washers.
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So everything is exactly just as waterproof as a normal motorcycle? Which all warn against power washers.
Just to clarify.. 3 years ago Richard told me the AIM racing dash wasn't waterproof (it's usually used in cars). This was a concern because I just replaced my Zero's dash for that reason. The bigger issue was that there wasn't a sealed battery box, or a battery box at all, so all the individual cells were open to the elements. I'm sure things have improved since then, but the bike wasn't ready for rainy day rides at that time. I'm excited to see photos and videos of what the bikes look like now to see if any of those improvements were made.
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Sweet. Would love to see feedback when you get it.
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Just to clarify.. 3 years ago Richard told me the AIM racing dash wasn't waterproof (it's usually used in cars). This was a concern because I just replaced my Zero's dash for that reason. The bigger issue was that there wasn't a sealed battery box, or a battery box at all, so all the individual cells were open to the elements. I'm sure things have improved since then, but the bike wasn't ready for rainy day rides at that time. I'm excited to see photos and videos of what the bikes look like now to see if any of those improvements were made.
I reviewed some of the older "Test Mules" it it appears they use an older AIM Display
https://www.aimshop.com/pages/bike-displays (https://www.aimshop.com/pages/bike-displays)
Older Display
https://www.aimshop.com/products/aim-mxp-strada-6-tft-dash-display-with-race-icons (https://www.aimshop.com/products/aim-mxp-strada-6-tft-dash-display-with-race-icons)
AiM MXP 1.3 Strada 6" TFT Dash Display with Race Icons
Technical -
....
- Waterproof: IP65
I am not sure of the name brand of the newer displays, but from looking at the bikes they were building, it appears to be waterproof as Richard told me.
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The bigger issue was that there wasn't a sealed battery box, or a battery box at all, so all the individual cells were open to the elements.
I have taken a pretty good look at this and asked Richard a couple of times about watertightness. I think Richard is suspecting I am going to start building bikes using all the info I have taken. I have some pictures of bikes they were assembling so some pics are Strike C and some are Strike R. The battery box and front end are the same.
The picture of the top of the battery box is milled aluminum so no water, fingers, or screwdrivers are sneaking in.
The back portion of the pic shows the EMS which is water-cooled and open as they were assembling it. There is an aluminum top that bolts on to seal the whole thing up. Both sides of the battery box are milled solid aluminum and become part of the frame.
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Here is a picture of a Strike C during assembly. This pic shows the front of the battery box behind the front tire.
That is a milled solid aluminum plate and should provide some pretty good protection. There is a second plate like this that bolts in from the top providing full battery protection from rocks, roadkill, and slow GSXR's. ;D
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What's the date of that picture they sent you?
Id want pictures of MY bike being built, not stock photos of 4 years ago.
Also, in general.
This whole waterproof concept.....
Waterproof and Pressure Washer shout NOT be in the same sentence EVER !!
Plenty of stuff is waterproof, but will get destroyed by a pressure washer.
There are several orders of magnitude difference between getting rained on, or even a garden hose sprayed on something .vs. a 3000 psi targeted stream of water.
Solar panels are waterproof, they have to be, but a pressure washer will ruin them, it tears the seals out, then they are no longer waterproof. Having water blown at 400 FPS up under a seat to drip into a charger, the bike would never see that under ANY normal conditions.
also, water proof / water resistant.
it may handle being out in the rain overnight or even for a few days, but not designed to be at the bottom of a retention pond for a few hours until the tow truck hauls it out.
just saying
aaron
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My watch is "waterproof" for SCUBA, but specifically warns against diving into water and exposing it to pressurized water sprays. What we need to know is whether the bike has sufficient protection from rain while being ridden, sufficient to turn the SPRAY into just "water."
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Well done, Apollo, for being calm, calculated and positive, putting your money where your mouth is, and for all the due diligence that you're sharing with us. Much appreciated.
I hope your faith is rewarded with a good bike. ;)
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What's the date of that picture they sent you?
Id want pictures of MY bike being built, not stock photos of 4 years ago.
The dates should be fairly current as I took all of them this last week of my bike and another being built.
The battery pack boxes on the bikes are the same, so some pics are a Stike C and others a Strike R (Mine).
I took pictures the best I could while staying out of the way of the techs. I am not a professional journalist, but
they didn't have any issues with me taking pictures of my unassembled bike.
Today's picture of my bike, 99% assembled and ready for testing.
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I just hope things have improved since Brandon made these videos three years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrgZNJ9dcmQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPuAoGeR8Bg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6NW478faBc
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I just hope things have improved since Brandon made these videos three years ago:
I've never met Brandon, but it appears to me he has an agenda. His poor acting and pretending to be innocent is overwhelming.
Although he has no formal training in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or Medical Degrees, he claims that at his last "real job" he built a "Bionic" implant that is inserted in someone's eye to restore vision to some blind people. Maybe he cleaned the floors at the facility where they were manufactured. That would match his level of education.
Anyone who is even slightly familiar with how the US medical system knows we don't let high school graduates build bionic implants for blind people. This is so laughable that we have to keep watching to see how far his lies will go. After building himself up as someone who restores vision to the blind, you place absolutely no value on anything he says after this, it's just for comedic value.
I wasn't at his bike test sessions, but I would suspect he somehow got a hold of a preproduction bike and tried to make a living out of showing how the bike didn't live up to full expectations. The bike he rode performed so badly, that I am sure any owner would be back at the place of purchase to repair the issue. There obviously is something wrong with the bike. But instead of working with the manufacturer, he proceeds to try and do a power and speed test. I would not be surprised at all if he didn't disconnect one of the windings of the motor or run it while the battery was almost dead. This was his report while he was trying to get employment with two other E-Motorcycle manufacturers. (He failed). I find it laughable that NO-ONE else has had these reported issues except for Brandon. Trouble seems to follow Brandon more than Lightning. I do recommend watching his videos for the laughs.
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I just hope things have improved since Brandon made these videos three years ago:
I've never met Brandon, but it appears to me he has an agenda. His poor acting and pretending to be innocent is overwhelming.
Although he has no formal training in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or Medical Degrees, he claims that at his last "real job" he built a "Bionic" implant that is inserted in someone's eye to restore vision to some blind people. Maybe he cleaned the floors at the facility where they were manufactured. That would match his level of education.
Anyone who is even slightly familiar with how the US medical system knows we don't let high school graduates build bionic implants for blind people. This is so laughable that we have to keep watching to see how far his lies will go. After building himself up as someone who restores vision to the blind, you place absolutely no value on anything he says after this, it's just for comedic value.
I wasn't at his bike test sessions, but I would suspect he somehow got a hold of a preproduction bike and tried to make a living out of showing how the bike didn't live up to full expectations. The bike he rode performed so badly, that I am sure any owner would be back at the place of purchase to repair the issue. There obviously is something wrong with the bike. But instead of working with the manufacturer, he proceeds to try and do a power and speed test. I would not be surprised at all if he didn't disconnect one of the windings of the motor or run it while the battery was almost dead. This was his report while he was trying to get employment with two other E-Motorcycle manufacturers. (He failed). I find it laughable that NO-ONE else has had these reported issues except for Brandon. Trouble seems to follow Brandon more than Lightning. I do recommend watching his videos for the laughs.
This kind of bullshit is why I rarely watch video product reviews, only written. Lazy, ignorant people can blabber on, but it seems they don't want to write. So it helps weed them out.
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I would not be surprised at all if he didn't disconnect one of the windings of the motor or run it while the battery was almost dead. This was his report while he was trying to get employment with two other E-Motorcycle manufacturers. (He failed). I find it laughable that NO-ONE else has had these reported issues except for Brandon. Trouble seems to follow Brandon more than Lightning. I do recommend watching his videos for the laughs.
You've covered a lot of ground in this post that, I feel, warrants a response. Brandon is/was a programmer. He worked as a programmer at a place called Second Sight that was working on designing a bionic eye. As far as I know he did programming for the company for the software the eye used. https://spectrum.ieee.org/bionic-eye-obsolete
There were two bikes shown in the three videos. In videos one and two they were the Strike Carbon belonging to Jeff C, a guy who lives near me. He paid the full $20k and was given a 10kWh pack at 100ish volts and that's how the bike performed. It was always referred to, by Lightning, as production.
The second bike, the one with the glue stick and the acceleration tests, belongs to James G. Same story with the 100v and 10kWh pack with no DC fast charging. James' bike eventually got basically every component swapped (battery, controller, motor, etc). These are real customers with real bikes that were referred to as production. Please talk with Jeff or James if you want. I can get you their contact information.
This kind of bullshit is why I rarely watch video product reviews, only written. Lazy, ignorant people can blabber on, but it seems they don't want to write. So it helps weed them out.
That's funny because, due to the laughable state of modern 'journalism', I do almost the exact opposite.
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With the deep fakes and AI now, you can't trust either source.
coming right from the horses mouth, might be the horses ass with a skin planted on it!
can you name / find even one item, that's fairly popular, that there are not 100 videos and reviews that half love it, the other half, it totally sucks??
Aaron
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I received a call today letting me know my bike will be ready for pickup at the end of the week.
Now I have to see about renting a trailer for pickup and check in with the Hollister DMV about ensuring
I can make an appointment, ensure the Insurance is good, and schedule time off work.
Yea!!
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I received a call today letting me know my bike will be ready for pickup at the end of the week.
Now I have to see about renting a trailer for pickup and check in with the Hollister DMV about ensuring
I can make an appointment, ensure the Insurance is good, and schedule time off work.
Yea!!
Congratulations. Good luck at the DMV and getting your insurance company to recognize the Lightning as something that they want to insure.
When I tried to insure my first electric motorcycle in 2009, an Electric Motorsport GPR-S, Progressive didn't know what to do. Eventually they decided to rate it as a size of 1cc and charged me a premium of $5 for the entire year. :o Every year after that, the premium for my electric motorcycles kept going up until they surpassed what I was paying for my BMW R1200RS. :(
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Congratulations. Good luck at the DMV and getting your insurance company to recognize the Lightning as something that they want to insure.
I've been in touch with my insurance company and they are ready to start, they are waiting for me
to give them a VIN and start date. I don't want to start earlier than bike pickup.
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Apollo, U-Haul has a trailer that is specifically for bikes and it's really a nice trailer. Just roll the bike on and strap it down. It cost about 15 dollars a day to rent out here in Florida.
The only thing Id have to caution you is, the trailer is a bit long, which, while it makes it real nice to run the bike up and load it, it puts the bikes rear tires right over the tires of the trailer, making all the weight forward of center, and the thing bounce like a bouncy house if you don't counter balance it a bit.
I ended up throwing about 200 lbs of lead in the back end of mine and it rode like a caddy. I bring this up because I don't think anyone wants their bike bouncing all over the place, all the way home, even strapped down.
Aaron
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Apollo, U-Haul has a trailer that is specifically for bikes and it's really a nice trailer. Just roll the bike on and strap it down. It cost about 15 dollars a day to rent out here in Florida.
The only thing Id have to caution you is, the trailer is a bit long, which, while it makes it real nice to run the bike up and load it, it puts the bikes rear tires right over the tires of the trailer, making all the weight forward of center, and the thing bounce like a bouncy house if you don't counter balance it a bit.
I ended up throwing about 200 lbs of lead in the back end of mine and it rode like a caddy. I bring this up because I don't think anyone wants their bike bouncing all over the place, all the way home, even strapped down.
Aaron
Thank you. I will look into this.
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Apollo, U-Haul has a trailer that is specifically for bikes and it's really a nice trailer. Just roll the bike on and strap it down. It cost about 15 dollars a day to rent out here in Florida.
Aaron
Just checked U-Haul. $14.95 a day. Wow, can't believe it's that cheap. I was considering flying up and driving it back, but am concerned about new bike issues. It's about 400 miles from home to Lighting's place so going with the trailer is going to be the way to go.
Thank you!!
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Not to complicate things but you can also rent fully enclosed trailers which eliminates the possibility of road debris hitting your new vehicle.
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Not to complicate things but you can also rent fully enclosed trailers which eliminates the possibility of road debris hitting your new vehicle.
Nope. I want to be able to look in the mirror and see it all the way home. ;D
I'll clean the bugs off after I get home and do a ride or two.
The next step is to practice wrapping it. I would like to try a couple of designs.
I need to ensure my camera/mount works properly, then test out a few performance tests.
The last video I saw showed the top speed to be about 90mph. I plan to document the acceleration rate
and near-top speed. I may even weight it and myself so I can get an ideal of HP the motor is making.
We will see how much the wife lets me drive it. :)
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U-Haul moto trailers have a very short loading ramp that can cause some clearance issues with fully faired motorcycles. It would be a good idea to have a folding moto ramp or some pieces of wood handy.
The DMV can be a bit of a crap shoot in regards to how smooth your experience will be trying to register an EV motorcycle.
Last Energica customer had a DMV clerk that was 100% sure the bike needed to pass SMOG before they would process the registration. If something like that happens to you just go to another DMV office.
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U-Haul moto trailers have a very short loading ramp that can cause some clearance issues with fully faired motorcycles. It would be a good idea to have a folding moto ramp or some pieces of wood handy.
The DMV can be a bit of a crap shoot in regards to how smooth your experience will be trying to register an EV motorcycle.
Last Energica customer had a DMV clerk who was 100% sure the bike needed to pass SMOG before they would process the registration. If something like that happens to you just go to another DMV office.
That happened to me when I bought my BMW R100RS. I couldn't register until it passed smog testing. She had to work with the floor manager to understand my BMW was a motorcycle and not a car. Also, the license plate they sent me was WAY too big. I had to fill out a form explaining to the DMV why I felt the new plate was unacceptable. I was not happy about doing paperwork for their screwup. I thought about just putting the car plate on there and going.
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Apollo, U-Haul has a trailer that is specifically for bikes and it's really a nice trailer. Just roll the bike on and strap it down. It cost about 15 dollars a day to rent out here in Florida.
Aaron
Just checked U-Haul. $14.95 a day. Wow, can't believe it's that cheap. I was considering flying up and driving it back, but am concerned about new bike issues. It's about 400 miles from home to Lighting's place so going with the trailer is going to be the way to go.
Thank you!!
I'm glad someone mentioned it, I'm a huge fan of these trailers. I'm shocked at the quality you get for $15. And I think it rides ok, I've had worse. The dealer tied my Zero with a Canyon Dancer and two generic straps, just to the front tie points. Nothing else. They strongly recommended ONLY doing that, or at most, another on the rear tire just to stop it bouncing if needed. It was not needed. I went from San Diego to Hacienda Heights the first day. Rode there, then put it back on to bring it to NW Phoenix (375 miles). No worries, no issues. I plastic wrapped the bike to protect it. PLUS, it makes a HUGE difference in fuel efficiency. I took off the wrap late in the drive, and lost 6-9% economy.
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I plan to document the acceleration rate and near-top speed. I may even weight it and myself so I can get an ideal of HP the motor is making.
We will see how much the wife lets me drive it. :)
Great! Always love new data. You might also take it to the drag strip; this is what Daren did when he took his Ego to the one in Bakersfield:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTbu-vwjAIs
Additionally it would be good to start getting updated range numbers. I could never get a firm answer on what the LVC (Low Voltage Cutoff) for the pack was.
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Great! Always love new data. You might also take it to the drag strip; this is what Daren did when he took his Ego to the one in Bakersfield:
Additionally it would be good to start getting updated range numbers. I could never get a firm answer on what the LVC (Low Voltage Cutoff) for the pack was.
I have never ridden a bike at a drag strip, but that looked pretty fast.
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It's ok, nothing amazing. My last sport bike, a 2001, ran the quarter in 10.2 with a pro and 10.5 with most riders, but the terminal speed was under 130. So the Energica was a hair faster at the end, but a hair slower in getting there.
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It was his first time at a drag strip, too. He went in knowing nothing. I'm sure your paths will cross as you're within like 40 miles of each other or so.
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It was his first time at a drag strip, too. He went in knowing nothing. I'm sure your paths will cross as you're within like 40 miles of each other or so.
After searching a bit, I found the app used during this video. It's called Dragy and it's free. Unfortunately, the app creator requires you to purchase their GPS device to connect to, instead of using the GPS device in the phone. It probably has something to do with trying to be exactly accurate about where you start and stop.
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Does anyone know the name of the app he used to create the times and graphs at the end of the video?
I believe it was an iOS app called dragy.
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It was his first time at a drag strip, too. He went in knowing nothing. I'm sure your paths will cross as you're within like 40 miles of each other or so.
Launching an electric quickly is braindead simple. Launching ICE is tricky. So the only thing at play here is the reaction time to the tree. There's no skill involved beyond point and shoot. Unless he ran it with TC off, didn't notice. And I haven't done a hard launch without TC yet. I need to. This isn't to disrespect him or anything, but putting the perspective into it. My first few launches on the CBR1100XX were ridiculously bad, 12 seconds, then I got quick. You're trying not to loop it, burn the clutch, etc etc. On the Zero? SNAP it open, nothing can happen.
As far as location, his videos suggest he's in Southern CA? I'm in Peoria, AZ. Not 40 miles. I did post some pics where I was in San Diego and Hacienda Heights, which could be confusing, but that was just a trip.
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Launching without traction control and just romping the throttle and you'll stand that bitch up and drop off like a wiley coyote move with his acme rocket. Even with traction control you can still do a bit of a bump bump launching as it cuts power to put the wheel back down on the ground. Id assume that will kill your time too. Launching on an Electric bike DOES take a bit of skill, it's not just point and pull as you imply. You'll want it at the threshold of pulling the wheel off but not enough to activate your TC and cut power to it. With a little practice you'll be able to tell when you are getting light in the front end and be able to feather the throttle as you need.
YOU feathering it is precision control, the TC doing it is kill, ramp back up, too much KILL ramp back up. Oh don't forget the flashy blinkey blinks on the dashboard too.
As for the app. Another idea for that data, If one is on the racing circuit, you will be required to have a chrono on your bike, it talks to the track clocks etc and they come with the free app that tells you all the splits etc etc. I think you can buy them outright for like 600 bucks or rent them by the year for like 120 or so. I'll have to dig up the link. But on that, yes it will give you a nice chart / graph at the end of your run with all your data.
ALSO on that, if you have an airbag suit, most of them come with that build into them, you can plug in after your run and download the huge glob of data that thing accumulated on your run and there are programs that will spit out charts and stuff for you. They can tell you speed, lean angle, g force, accelleration / decel, direction, things like that which can be really helpful. If you DO happen to set the airbag off, the I guess you could call it, autopsy of the event, is incredible, you can tell by the inputs, ok here's where the asshole rear ended you, here is where you left the seat of your bike, this is about the point you went about half a somersault and set off the airbags. this little ding here is where your foot hit the handlebar on the way over the bike, this sharp spike here is where you hit the pavement, etc down to the millisecond. Hopefully nobody here ever needs that data, but it can be there when needed. This might also help an insurance claim as well, shut down the bs real fast when they try to play stupid with you. I have seen some companies want you to pay for this data, but i think Dianese is starting to include it with their D-Air systems now, but you'd have to check with them to be sure.
Aaron
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Does anyone know the name of the app he used to create the times and graphs at the end of the video?
I can confirm he was using a Dragy to collect the data shown in the graph at the end of the video.
https://dragymotorsports.com/ (https://dragymotorsports.com/)
Launching a lower power EV motorcycle is easy, just twist and go. Getting the best results from a high power bike like the Ego takes a bit more skill. The bike puts down so much torque applying it all can be tricky.
Getting a good launch on a EV is easier vs a ICE bike, there are less inputs to manage. Video does not show a good short of the dash to see what TC mode the bike in the video is set at however knowing the owner I suspect he has it turned off.
I believe a properly configured EGO+ with a experienced rider should be capable of a sub 10 second 1/4 mile pass. Optimizing tire pressure, suspension setup and gearing ratios make a big difference in ET.
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Semi related question.
The Dragy.
Ive noticed that GPS signals can get shitty quite often, and drop out and glitch and get huge accuracy deficiencies.
Granted your placement of the device / antenna has a huge impact on this, as does other electronics emitting / sniffing around it can block out signals too but with all that.
ive noticed it with my phone GPS, myBoat GPS, laptop with puck GPS, weather radar / lightning detector gps puck, garmins, and many other devices I own, which kind of rules out an old phone / crappy Silverado as the cause :D
Has anyone experienced any issues with this device? Im curious if it seems to work most the time, nearly all the time, or when it works it's good.. time. There's a difference between military grade and civilian grade GPS systems, although BOTH need as many sat inputs as they can get for accuracy.
Aaron
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I remember an interview with Bradley Smith in the early days of MotoE. He said all you had to do was throw as much of your body weight onto the front of the bike and just whack the throttle to get the best launch at the start of the race. Sounds like they were all using the TC of the bike. At least on television the launches all looked smooth without any herky-jerky traction control intervention. Those were the days the spec-bike was a modified version of the Ego. Nowadays they're all using a prototype Ducati.
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I don't quite remember where I seen it but Ducatti is getting ready to come out with an E bike, and they claim they got the wheelie thing figured out, the bike will take off like a scalded cat and no worries about wheelies.
Will be very interesting to see. It'd be nice to see some genuine competition to the Energica's. competition breeds innovation.
Aaron
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No, Ducati is not making anything for consumers at this point in time. MotoE bikes are for pros on the track only.
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Well that still, is competition for Energica's Cliente Corsica. Even though its for the racing circuit only, it's still being sold to customers, and eventually that tech makes its way down to the streets.
Currently there isn't too much that stood up against the EGO / RIbelle in the E world for racing but now that more manufacturers and not home growns are coming to market, it'll be interesting to see what they all do to earn / keep the Top Dog status.
Aaron
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Even though its for the racing circuit only, it's still being sold to customers, and eventually that tech makes its way down to the streets.
Currently there isn't too much that stood up against the EGO / RIbelle in the E world for racing but now that more manufacturers and not home growns are coming to market, it'll be interesting to see what they all do to earn / keep the Top Dog status.
Aaron
Currently, the Ducati V21L motorcycles and support equipment are Leased to established racing teams and not sold. These are spec MotoE bikes made for spec racing. They really have nothing to do with street bikes. They are consumable and set up to be a test bed by Ducati. No team is allowed to tear them down. If the team has issues, Ducati replaces the motor or battery, not the team mechanics.
As the single Ribelle entry is currently the only electric motorcycle being raced, it would appear to be the Top Dog in a field of one. I thought it was great the officials allowed the Ribelle to race, and I don't suspect they thought the entry would do as well as it has. The next season the officials will probably take a much closer look at the bike to document power figures and weight as they don't want any entry to be a runaway. As the racing Ribelle appears to be mostly stock and the competition was highly modified, you can bet the competition is going to want to ensure they have competitive machines or E racers will be not allowed.
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Kenyon raced a Zero SR/F at Laguna Seca in the exact same races Stefano participated in. He would have been at CotA too but came down with Covid at the last minute and they subbed in an engineer who had never raced before. Good on him! But yeah there were 2 electric bikes out there.
edit- Just so you can see the results as well, here's race 2 from Laguna Seca Super Hooligans: http://www.motoamericaregistration.com/Results/2023/LAGUNA/23_7_LAGUNA_RSD_R2_res.pdf
Specifically note the rider who placed 16th, Kenyon Kluge on the Zero SR/F. Kenyon is the Director of Electrical Engineering at Zero and a former professional AMA racer. Here's his facebook racing page https://www.facebook.com/Ksquaredracing/
edit 2- Stefano Mesa raced in 2022 as well at Laguna Seca.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=928H9XxCj5E
And in 2021 there were 2 LiveWires that competed as well as Kenyon on the Zero the whole time.
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Even if you finished dead last, just to be able to say you raced in that, is worth it's weight in gold. Just my opinion.
Aaron
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Does anyone have a recommendation for an Android app that can be used for acceleration tests?
I saw the one named Dragy, but it appears to require its own dedicated GPS device from Dragy ($150.00).
Is there another application that seems to be "Internet Approved" that people agree on as good enough for everyday testing?
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Does this mean you have no ability to modify the ride settings on your bike? Last I heard Guido only knows how to write iOS code so the Lightning app stuff doesn't work with Android.
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Oof, does this mean you have no ability to modify the ride settings on your bike? Last I heard Guido only knows how to write iOS code so the Lightning app stuff doesn't work with Android.
I spoke with Guido about the bike setup app for iOS and Android. He said he has both and they a in a constant state of development. He mentioned if there was "special" data that I wanted, he could see about getting it and pushing it on the phone for me. I.E. Making a custom app page with data I wanted. He said it would be good to learn about customers' requests and see if it has value.
I have not picked up my bike yet, so I don't have the Lightning Bike Setup app. As I have not really played with the app, I think it's for setup only and not real-time data. I'll ask..
I also see you can set up the bike using the center console. I don't know how much you can change while riding. Do people using other E-Bikes change the Power Mode or Regen Mode while driving?
I was considering creating a handlebar switch setup like the MotoGP bikes have, so I can change the power modes and regen modes from the handlebar. But, I am not really sure people change it that much, so that idea is on the back burner.
I was also asking about performance apps, so if I ride a Strike C, I could compare performance figures to other bikes using a common application that others use. From watching YouTube videos, the apps all seem to drop data once in a while with a high or low reading sporadically. I suspect this may be caused by the phone's GPS system not being super accurate. I was thinking I of doing 20~80mph pulls to get a more consistent power reading. I don't want to launch inconsistencies or GPS not syncing.
I stopped by the shop the other day and took a look at the 99% completed bike, and found a small paint defect after checking everything. For some reason, I was the only one to see it. They pulled the panel off immediately and it was sent over to the paint area for a minor fix. I think they will have to sand down the clear and a bit of white to respray, then spray clear over it again, sand, and polish. Easy to fix, but the finishing pieces always take the most time.
Naturally, I want it yesterday, but in a few months, I will forget it ever happened. Same with Custom Guitar work I have had done.
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Yeah Guido showed me prototypes of the app and screens several years ago. I don't see anything on the iOS store but that doesn't necessarily mean anything because Energica discontinued their app overall as well.
Every other manufacturer allows the bike's settings to be altered live in person while riding i.e they do not require an app to fully control their motorcycle. I would, personally, prefer not to require an app to use my bike and I can't think of anyone other than Lightning to make their bikes that way.
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Every other manufacturer allows the bike's settings to be altered live in person while riding i.e they do not require an app to fully control their motorcycle. I would, personally, prefer not to require an app to use my bike and I can't think of anyone other than Lightning to make their bikes that way.
Sorry if I was not clear in my explanation. I am under the impression that all the settings for the bike can be made from the dash display or the phone app. It looks like they are just giving you two methods for bike setup and review charging info. I don't think the phone app is a requirement, just a handy tool to pull down data.
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Unless there are changes that is exactly my understanding. The only way to adjust ride modes, regen, or other settings is via phone app. That was what was advertised publicly. If they've made updates to that I'd be interested to know.
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Unless there are changes that is exactly my understanding. The only way to adjust ride modes, regen, or other settings is via the phone app. That was what was advertised publicly. If they've made updates to that I'd be interested to know.
I hope to pick up my new bike right after Thanksgiving and will review the console control.
I'll try to take a few screenshots of the console and phone apps.
It will keep me busy after I recover from my food coma.
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Since there's no app on the iOS or Android store, at least that I could find with a cursory search, do they presumably load one on your phone during pickup?
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The only way to get non-released, unvetted apps onto an iPhone is to put them in the Apple TestFlight program. Which is really sketchy for a supposedly retail release. There is no way to search for apps that are in TestFlight, it's invitation only.
Changing modes in an app while riding is absolutely stupid. I change modes while riding on EVERY ride, multiple times.
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I change modes while riding on EVERY ride, multiple times.
What bike do you have? Are the mode and regen changes available via the handlebar or do you have to
go into a dash menu to select modes or regen? Can this be done while you are riding, or do you have to stop to change the acceleration and regen modes?
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I found a nice switch setup for controlling modes and such.
It will take a bit of wiring and a CAN bus interface, but I think it can be done. :P
(https://www.bellissimoto.com/image/catalog/Apex%20Racing%20Development/GENL7B_5.jpg)
I do hope everyone can see I am kidding.. ;D
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I change modes while riding on EVERY ride, multiple times.
What bike do you have? Are the mode and regen changes available via the handlebar or do you have to
go into a dash menu to select modes or regen? Can this be done while you are riding, or do you have to stop to change the acceleration and regen modes?
2023 SR/S. You press and hold the mode button for half a second, then toggle it left/right to choose one of five modes loaded on the bike, then press in to select. You can do this while riding, and I do multiple times every ride. You have to close the throttle to activate, for a split second.
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I believe you can do the traction control from that screen as well, and the next screen you can play with regen settings and some other things.
Aaron
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Hey Apollo, did you ever get your Strike R? If so, how is it? We're dying for videos!
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Hey Apollo, did you ever get your Strike R? If so, how is it? We're dying for videos!
No, I have received it yet. I went over to the shop and took a look at the bike, which was almost finished.
I asked about a couple of minor paint defects that they hadn't noticed. They immediately took the fairing off the bike and started the schedule for the paint fix, gloss coat, and repolish. They seemed nonplused about letting a paint defect go unnoticed, but happy I pointed it out before I came for pickup. They also asked me to review and let them know if I saw anything else that wasn't perfect.
It should be another week as the weather has cooled and the paint takes time to dry. I too am looking forward to the day I can start riding it. I have already picked up some bike stands and a camera mount. Like most people, I intend to make the bike mine with minor mods so it suits me best.
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I've been notified that my bike is ready for pickup! Yea!
I probably will fly over next Thursday, pick up the bike Friday morning, stop by the DMV, and ride home.
I will try to take some pictures and maybe a video. I don't do many YT videos and am always in awe of how well Sam's videos come out.
I have a video camera and mount, but I'm not sure how well it will attach on the first try.
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Does anyone know the name of the app he used to create the times and graphs at the end of the video?
I can confirm he was using a Dragy to collect the data shown in the graph at the end of the video.
https://dragymotorsports.com/ (https://dragymotorsports.com/)
Launching a lower power EV motorcycle is easy, just twist and go. Getting the best results from a high power bike like the Ego takes a bit more skill. The bike puts down so much torque applying it all can be tricky.
Getting a good launch on a EV is easier vs a ICE bike, there are less inputs to manage. Video does not show a good short of the dash to see what TC mode the bike in the video is set at however knowing the owner I suspect he has it turned off.
I believe a properly configured EGO+ with a experienced rider should be capable of a sub 10 second 1/4 mile pass. Optimizing tire pressure, suspension setup and gearing ratios make a big difference in ET.
My best time at the drag strip in Bakersfield, CA on the Ego+ RS was 10.337 @ 132.44 mph. That was with a 220lb rider (in gear) and an all stock bike, stock tires @ 35 PSI, no burnout and TC1 set.
I've always said a lightweight pro with a bike properly setup and a good burnout should break into the 9s. I'm kind of amazed honestly that no one has done it yet. My last run at the drag strip was over a year ago...
On the Dragy. I only use it for the pretty graph. My time slip from the drag strip has all the data on it that I care about. But in general, its amazing how a little device like the dragy is pretty darn close to my time skip numbers. Usually less than .1sec difference.
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The dragstrip is a thread hijack but... I see on tv top fuel and stuff like that is 1000 feet now. When you post your time and trap speed the reader may not be able to correctly assume.
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How did the pickup go, Apollo?? What's the bike like to ride long distances? We're dying to know how your trip home went!
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How did the pickup go, Apollo?? What's the bike like to ride long distances? We're dying to know how your trip home went!
Picked up the bike! Richard from Lightning went with me to the DMV for the California new vehicle inspection and registration. No issues. Received my Plate and Tags. Richard mounted them on the bike for me and I was off to San Diego. It was about a 400 mile (644km) ride, so I decided to break it in half. The nice folks at Lightning asked me to check in with them at each charging stop to ensure charging and batteries were behaving properly.
Everything went well except it started getting colder than I expected. At my last charging stop, it was 37F (3C) outside. I only brought my summer riding gloves so my fingers started complaining loudly.
The next morning I hopped on the bike and continued south. Immediately hit a big hill named the Grapevine just north of LA. The bike has so much power it was easy to look around and wonder why everyone was going so slow.
The next stop was in Pasadena for a charge. Grabbed some Starbucks and a muffin and headed back on the road. A fair bit of traffic for a Saturday afternoon, but I used the carpool lanes and managed an average of 60mph (96kph) most of the time. Once I got out of LA and started the trip down to San Diego, the speeds picked up to a 75mph (120kph) average.
Made it home just in time for Burgendy Carne Asada marinade tacos with avocados from our trees. A nice warm shower and time to relax. Made sure the bike was pugged in should I decide for a quick ride in our local hills come morning time.
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Glad you got it, the bike looks great. How was the charging speed?
Steve
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Congrats on the new bike! Looking forward to hearing more about your riding/charging experiences :)
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Glad you got it, the bike looks great. How was the charging speed?
Steve
Typical of bikes with these batteries. 20kw charging at 75amps.
The hardest part was people kept telling me I couldn't park in an EV charging spot.
Then they started wondering why I had the power cable connected.
One lady insisted to her family that I had a Kawasaki and had just removed the labels.
Fun stuff...
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So you didn’t opt for the LFCS? How much more would that add to the cost?
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Hey awesome!! Glad you made it. A few car drivers have asked me to move when I'm charging, too. I tell them it'll only be another 10min and they get really confused. It's like nobody knows electric motorcycles have been around for 10+ years!
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5 years of riding electric and I've never encountered anyone who told me I *couldn't* park in an EV spot. Yes, I get the, "is that electric?" question a lot but not once has anyone told me I couldn't park there. Anyone else experienced that?
In regards to the LFCS option it looks like, according to the site, that is an additional $8,000 because it also adds another 4kWh to the pack capacity.
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I only had someone ask me if I could move once, and that was because the way the chargers were situated, she could not get the cord to reach her car, and if I parked up on the edge she could get in there. she was polite about it so I absolutely was happy to move for her. Otherwise Ive had plenty of people stop and ask me the obvious questions, who makes it, how much range, do you like it etc.
Curious, those asking you to move, were they other electrics wanting to charge themselves, or Karens wanting to play world police?
Aaron
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I had a nastygram note on my Zero while it charged and I stepped in for an espresso. The woman was furious I took an electric CAR spot for a motorcycle. She apologized profusely when I showed her it was electric.
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I had a nastygram note on my Zero while it charged and I stepped in for an espresso. The woman was furious I took an electric CAR spot for a motorcycle. She apologized profusely when I showed her it was electric.
That is pretty much the effect I received. People see the bike and get unhappy I have taken a charging spot. Then they realize I am charging and they understand.
I think I only had an issue at one location. As I arrived there were three charging stations with one available. I pulled in and hooked up the charging cable. Soon after there was a line of four cars waiting in line to charge. Others arrived, noted the line and my motorcycle took a spot. At first glance they were not happy, but after a closer inspection saw the cable connected. But there is always one lady who wants to be first, asks me to move my motorcycle while it's charging so she can park her car in the charging spot, etc. I just whipped out my phone and took a picture. She immediately left.
Fun all around..
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I came out of a store to find that someone had parked NEXT to my bike in the same space, removed the cable, and plugged in. I left him a note on his window, fortunately I had been on a hardware run and had some adhesives in my shopping bag. On top of that, it was a dead charger anyway. I had left it connected so I wouldn't get angry people thinking I just abused the space.
In my area I don't recall ever seeing a totally full charger station at all. Plenty of dead ones though.
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I've discovered the PERFECT response to clowns who do what this one did to you:
Carry a bunch of these... you'll never know when you need 'em... ;)
https://www.amazon.com/stick-wheel-weights/s?k=stick+on+wheel+weights
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I've discovered the PERFECT response to clowns who do what this one did to you:
Carry a bunch of these... you'll never know when you need 'em... ;)
https://www.amazon.com/stick-wheel-weights/s?k=stick+on+wheel+weights
I am upset that I hadn't thought of that before. Make sure to put them on the front wheel.
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For non-destructive fun, a BB placed underneath a valve stem cap will cause a perpetual slow leak. If you glue it in, when the tire place checks the tire and finds nothing, they will put the problem right back on!
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I've discovered the PERFECT response to clowns who do what this one did to you:
Carry a bunch of these... you'll never know when you need 'em... ;)
https://www.amazon.com/stick-wheel-weights/s?k=stick+on+wheel+weights
I am upset that I hadn't thought of that before. Make sure to put them on the front wheel.
Of course!!
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How did the pickup go, Apollo?? What's the bike like to ride long distances? We're dying to know how your trip home went!
Picked up the bike! Richard from Lightning went with me to the DMV for the California new vehicle inspection and registration. No issues. Received my Plate and Tags. Richard mounted them on the bike for me and I was off to San Diego. It was about a 400 mile (644km) ride, so I decided to break it in half. The nice folks at Lightning asked me to check in with them at each charging stop to ensure charging and batteries were behaving properly.
Everything went well except it started getting colder than I expected. At my last charging stop, it was 37F (3C) outside. I only brought my summer riding gloves so my fingers started complaining loudly.
The next morning I hopped on the bike and continued south. Immediately hit a big hill named the Grapevine just north of LA. The bike has so much power it was easy to look around and wonder why everyone was going so slow.
The next stop was in Pasadena for a charge. Grabbed some Starbucks and a muffin and headed back on the road. A fair bit of traffic for a Saturday afternoon, but I used the carpool lanes and managed an average of 60mph (96kph) most of the time. Once I got out of LA and started the trip down to San Diego, the speeds picked up to a 75mph (120kph) average.
Made it home just in time for Burgendy Carne Asada marinade tacos with avocados from our trees. A nice warm shower and time to relax. Made sure the bike was pugged in should I decide for a quick ride in our local hills come morning time.
That's awesome and congratulations. Bike looks great.
What kind of range do you get?
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[quote
That's awesome and congratulations. Bike looks great.
What kind of range do you get?
The bike is working well and is lots of fun.
I have been having some issues with range when using heavy-throttle applications. (My Favorite). We ran the logs up to Lightning and they found that one of the cells is not performing properly under heavy loads.
Lightning has said, "We will make it right". Today a giant truck showed up at my door and it's being shipped back to Lighting for them to review the cell pack and repair the battery structure. Then they will test it and ship it back.
Although the bike has an issue, Lightning has been very eager and interested in ensuring the bike is working properly. Every phone call and every email has been answered right away.
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Wait so you got a new battery? Or you're bike-less while they figure out this problem??
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[quote
That's awesome and congratulations. Bike looks great.
What kind of range do you get?
The bike is working well and is lots of fun.
I have been having some issues with range when using heavy-throttle applications. (My Favorite). We ran the logs up to Lightning and they found that one of the cells is not performing properly under heavy loads.
Lightning has said, "We will make it right". Today a giant truck showed up at my door and it's being shipped back to Lighting for them to review the cell pack and repair the battery structure. Then they will test it and ship it back.
Although the bike has an issue, Lightning has been very eager and interested in ensuring the bike is working properly. Every phone call and every email has been answered right away.
VERY cool!
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Wait so you got a new battery? Or you're bike-less while they figure out this problem??
Sounds like he is bikeless while they figure it out.
The things that typically could cause this to happen are.
A. A balancing leg got disconnected somehow and that arm is not balancing properly.
B. The cell(s) had a manufacturers defect in it, and stuff needs to be replaced
C. The battery was old to begin with, and this would be normal wear showing. Much like the zero's have chronic battery problems as they age.
The proper fix, would be to just replace the entire battery with a new one, since this supposedly new bike, supposedly had a new battery in it to begin with, and is only a month or two old. This is so they can get his bike back to him in a timely manner. Then they can disassemble the old battery and do a thorough failure root cause analysis at a later time at their leisure, when it is not disrupting their customer, while his warranty runs out with the bike in the shop!
I have seen Energica do this a few times, just swap it out, or actually send a tech and battery, or whatever, out to the customer to fix it on site if possible. When a company goes to that extent to take care of their customer, it shows they are a Top Tier Corporation.
The short version:
He has a battery problem on a brand new bike.
Fine.. swap it out
Get him back on the road NOW, rather than weeks or months later.
Keep the customer happy.
Figure out WTF happened to the battery so it don't happen again.
It'll be interesting to watch the process. Hopefully they get him taken care of in a timely manner, especially since the weather is heading towards nicer times to be riding !!
Aaron
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Sounds like he is bikeless while they figure it out.
Yes, I am Lightning-less while the issue is resolved. Fortunately for me, I have other toys to keep me busy. My Karts and my Ohvale GP-2. Both are track toys. It's been a river of water coming from the sky this last week so missing the bike won't be a big issue. I didn't bring up the thought of a loaner bike as it would be a liability challenge for everyone. I can easily live without the bike while it's getting repaired. I asked them to not worry about downtime for me, it would be better to keep it an extra week and work the bike hard. I am not in a hurry.
Lightning has stated on the phone they plan on swapping out the battery pack and doing diagnostics to find out why the original pack had a bad cell. They also mentioned they are going to do a filmed dyno run to ensure the bike is putting out good power and mileage under heavy load.
Realistically I think they are doing pretty much everything I can expect. Remote diagnostics, eager to service, shipping back and forth, repair, and proof the repair has fixed my issues before returning the bike to me.
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Just a random factoid because so many people don't know this. Loaner and rental bikes are not a liability problem at all, at least with Progressive and Allstate. I've talked to both and they fully cover any rental, even P2P rentals, and any loaners.
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This is all well and good when you live near the factory where they're made... but without any kind of dealership presence, it doesn't do the rest of the world much good. Electric bikes may not require as much maintenance as their ICE brethren, but when they DO need service, they need trained specialists and those are a rare breed at the moment.
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Sounds like an occupation begging for people to come to it, good money maker, get in early. People may be kicking and screaming now but it appears that the world IS eventually going to transfer to electric, just like it went from Horse and Buggy to ICE, against their kicking and screaming.
It's not that exotic of a field. Know how to use a 457, 2020, multimeter, maybe a hart communicator or brand specific, a bit of basic IP protocol. Something they would teach in a week or so long class I'd assume. First year electronics student should pick this up easily. Then there's just basic electricity and mechanics.
Aaron
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"Kicking and screaming" is right. Last year, I needed to get two new tires mounted on my Zero. A friend recommended a local mechanic but he turned out to be a real asshole. As soon as he heard it was a Zero, he said "I don't want no electric bike in my shop!" I told him the tires have NOTHING to do with the power plant but he was adamant. What an IDIOT. Finally did find a local mechanic who was more than happy to do the job for me. Needless to say, he got a GLOWING review on both Google and Yelp from me. The other clown? Not so much...
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Jaime you find those assholes everywhere. Just have to smile at them and go elsewhere, it's not worth the high blood pressure and sour stomach to deal with them.
There are plenty of regular / real shops that are more than happy to work on your bike. I had to shop around for tires, well, the first time was an emergency and was basically told, as long as it's not something that is manufacturer specific to your bike, we are more than happy to fix it, BUT they also cautioned me, on my end to make sure it would not void a warranty, which of course, tires would not.
They also were zero dealers, but were getting out of it because Zero was not supporting them very well and they got tired of the warranty work and waiting forever to get paid for it. I tried my hardest to talk them into becoming an Energica dealer, because I really would LOVE having one here in Jax, but they were under a non compete clause with zero still, they could not sell another brand of E bike, and the contract was still going so they couldn't, at least that is what the manager told me when I was talking to him about my bike.
Was he pissy because it was electric or because it was not made in his country? Ive seen both types of tards.
Aaron
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That doesn't make sense. My Zero dealership in Manhattan also carries Energica.
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Same with Fulgora in Southern CA. Maybe they have to ask ahead of time?
I just realized I didn't re-check the belt after having my rear tire replaced. (550 miles, got a large screw in it, sigh.)
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That doesn't make sense. My Zero dealership in Manhattan also carries Energica.
Oh I agree with you on that, even at high incompetence corporate VP levels, why would you want to limit your income possibilities like that? I think it may have been zero who said that, or they had some sort of exclusive rights with the company to be the only bike or something. I was not interested in trying to call the guy out or really worry about it at the time. Wasn't looking to buy a new bike, just a new tire.
Aaron
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Lightning has said, "We will make it right". Today a giant truck showed up at my door and it's being shipped back to Lighting for them to review the cell pack and repair the battery structure. Then they will test it and ship it back.
Was it a HaulBikes truck, and did they make the delivery on Monday? When I took delivery of my new Energica the driver was telling me he'd just dropped off a Lightning in Hollister.
Small world, hope you're reunited with your Strike again soon.
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Was it a HaulBikes truck, and did they make the delivery on Monday? When I took delivery of my new Energica the driver was telling me he'd just dropped off a Lightning in Hollister.
Small world, hope you're reunited with your Strike again soon.
I would suspect it was. Lightning has already contacted me to review the initial findings and we are discussing the appropriate fixes.
I also asked for some "minor changes" that are not offered by Lightning but may be possible.
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What is there to discuss about the appropriate fixes?
If it's under warranty they should fix it, plain and simple.
What ARE these appropriate fixes they are discussing, that needs a long thought out thorough discussion?
Since the bike is so new, if it's that broke ass already they should probably just give you a new one, instead of making you wait months if that's what the hold up is for a battery or something, or at least a loaner until then.
Aaron
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What ARE these appropriate fixes they are discussing, that needs a long thought out thorough discussion?
Since the bike is so new, if it's that broke ass already they should probably just give you a new one, instead of making you wait months if that's what the hold up is for a battery or something, or at least a loaner until then.
Aaron
The log files from the bike show that one of the cell packs is not reporting for duty when under heavy load. Cruzing down the street or freeway things seem fine. Under heavy load one of the cells seems to break down much earlier than the rest and go resistive. This causes total milage available to go down abruptly.
Lightning had a tech drive down 8 hours to my home to inspect the bike. We drove it normally and at full throttle. (my favorite). It works well, but it looks like a cell is bad.
I asked for some different gearing, a USB port near the dash, the dash to be mounted at a different angle, and a few other minor things. Nothing that would require major reengineering.
Naturally, I want a NACS charging port and an extra 100 HP. But Lighting seems to be doing its best to fix the issues.
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If you end up going back to HQ to pick it up you might considering heading North a bit and testing the bike out at the Magic Dock Supercharger in Scotts Valley to test for compatibility. Energica, for example, had to update their firmware to make it interface correctly with Tesla and I've not heard anything from LiveWire owners if they've checked either.
https://www.plugshare.com/map/tesla-ccs-locations
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If you end up going back to HQ to pick it up you might consider heading North a bit and testing the bike out at the Magic Dock Supercharger in Scotts Valley to test for compatibility.
https://www.plugshare.com/map/tesla-ccs-locations
This was very important for me when before I originally picked up the bike. Lightning mentioned they have employees that live up past that area and check in once every couple of weeks to ensure their bikes work with the Magic Dock. They said they have never had an issue and are very happy it worked on the first try.
I checked the map and there are about three Magic Dock charging stations in the western US. I don't hear much about new MD installs. I think Magic Dock is a temporary solution that will probably go away. Tesla is now going to provide supercharger support for all licensed manufacturers. As Ford/GM are the bigger boys on the block, EV Bike manufacture are at the bottom of the pile for support from Tesla Licensing.
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This was very important for me when before I originally picked up the bike. Lightning mentioned they have employees that live up past that area and check in once every couple of weeks to ensure their bikes work with the Magic Dock. They said they have never had an issue and are very happy it worked on the first try.
I checked the map and there are about three Magic Dock charging stations in the western US. I don't hear much about new MD installs. I think Magic Dock is a temporary solution that will probably go away. Tesla is now going to provide supercharger support for all licensed manufacturers. As Ford/GM are the bigger boys on the block, EV Bike manufacture are at the bottom of the pile for support from Tesla Licensing.
Just get yourself one of these thingies (https://a2zevshop.com/) and use any of the V3 & V4 (250 KW) Tesla Superchargers.
Must use the Tesla App and then go to "charge my non-Tesla". A little tricky to find, but download the app and then I can explain how to get there.
-Don- Auburn, CA
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The point is not about being Magic Dock compliant, but being SuperCharger compliant. And that is something one would initially test at the Magic Dock pending the opening of the future SC network. But if it already works then good; that's the important bit.
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I am pretty sure that Energica and other companies have already reached out to Tesla trying to score deals on using their charger network.
As many of you have mentioned, the other companies, their shit is always broken it seems, but Tesla's seem to be kept in a good state of repair. So with that, go with the winner and do what needs to be done to make the bikes compatible.
Id still want to see an adapter fairly cheap so you can use both a tesla and a ccs charger so no matter which is available, the Energica can do it.
Aaron
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The point is not about being Magic Dock compliant, but being SuperCharger compliant. And that is something one would initially test at the Magic Dock pending the opening of the future SC network. But if it already works then good; that's the important bit.
I have not yet used my Tesla Supercharger to CS1 adapter and neither of my bikes have the FW update (but both soon will),
Anyway, I will test my adapter on a V4 Tesla Supercharger (that has no Magic Dock) in Sparks, NV (https://www.plugshare.com/location/475865) in the next day or two. I only expect an 8 KW charge until I get the update. But I will soon report here what happens.
Notice how this location says "For Tesla Drivers only". I will have Plugshare remove that after I prove I can charge my Energica there.
I will soon have both my Enegicas updated to the new FW and test them again on the same Tesla SC.
The weather will soon be improving over the summit so I can get my Experia to A&S cycles in Roseville. The Experia is still in Reno which means I need to ride over 7,240' Donner Summit.
-Don- Auburn, CA
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Until Tesla opens their network up you will not be able to use a SuperCharger with a vehicle not on the approved list. And right now that's Tesla and Ford. The stations check the VIN of what's attempting to charge and if it's not the list you cannot use it until Tesla says you can.
Yes, the Energica bikes are fully compliant with their standards, but no motorcycle brand has been given approval to use anything outside of Magic Dock stations. It will error out and say something like "invalid vehicle" on your app.
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Until Tesla opens their network up you will not be able to use a SuperCharger with a vehicle not on the approved list. And right now that's Tesla and Ford. The stations check the VIN of what's attempting to charge and if it's not the list you cannot use it until Tesla says you can.
Yes, the Energica bikes are fully compliant with their standards, but no motorcycle brand has been given approval to use anything outside of Magic Dock stations. It will error out and say something like "invalid vehicle" on your app.
I thought that was only for the "Plug & Play". Anyway, I will try to activate it from my Tesla account just as I did with the Magic Dock in Placerville. I will post here what the exact error I get, as I will try it anyway. I just hope it doesn't try to charge my Experia at 250 KW! ;)
But if they are going to later read the VIN from Energica, I assume even Energicas will then be plug & charge, just as with Fords & Teslas. That could be worth waiting for. But with Energica, a long wait has been the norm lately. My Experia was promised last September, came in Feb of the year after. And I am still waiting for my Experia Centerstand for more than a year. It may take a few years for Energica to give Tesla a list of VINS. Or perhaps Tesla will let us send in our own VINs.
-Don- Reno, NV
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It's not going to work until Tesla flips the switch. It is entirely in their court. Energica is fully compliant and ready.
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Of course Tesla is going to want YOU to provide the VIN. It's not Energica's job to provide them the vin for every vehicle sold as I am sure there are probably very few tesla stations in certain parts of the world. When it comes time to pay for the charge, it will be YOU that pays, not Energica, so they will need YOUR info. How would Energica know if a private sale was made and who owns the thing now?
They made themselves fully compliant with the latest update, and are just waiting for Tesla to turn it on basically at this point. This does not mean that protocols won't change further for any or even all vehicles in the near future as the universal charging rolls out and they may find they need some extra controls in the protocol.
As for over charging your vehicle, it won't happen, that's why they talk to each other, if they do not agree, then the charge does not happen.
Aaron
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It's not going to work until Tesla flips the switch. It is entirely in their court. Energica is fully compliant and ready.
Any guesses of when "Tesla will flip the switch"?
I don't think either of my Energicas are "fully" compliant until I get the FW update which should be fairly soon now that I-80 looks clear enough for motorcycles going over the summit.
I hear I will get around three times the charge rate (8 KW) at Tesla Superchargers after the FW update(24kw).
-Don- Reno, NV
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Any guesses of when "Tesla will flip the switch"?
Sometime between now and 100 years from now is my best estimate.
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Any guesses of when "Tesla will flip the switch"?
Sometime between now and 100 years from now is my best estimate.
Unless he has a 99 year mortgage / lease on his factory so it'll have to be in 99 years, give or take a decade or two.
What would be nice is if he just puts out the adapter thingie and just says ok, for all of you who have CCS1, buy the adapter, sign up with us, give us your vin and you have an account. Pay as you charge, or however he plans on doing this.
I wonder if you have a Tesla vehicle already if he'd let you charge other CCS stuff there as well w/o any prior agreements between him and the manu? I can understand early on why he'd want some sort of agreement with say Ford, to get them to pay for part of the cost of putting in the adaptations etc, but after that, the more people that can use his product the better you'd think?
He just needs to be careful so that the government in their efforts to continue hating on him, don't try to cry Monopoly and steal the network or sue him for it or some other stupid dim crap.
I know he hates motorcycles for whatever reason but man that would be sweet if he did end up doing one, just to get some support for the rest of the bikes out there.
Aaron
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Any guesses of when "Tesla will flip the switch"?
Sometime between now and 100 years from now is my best estimate.
Well, then it could just work by the time I test it. Which could be tomorrow.
I will let you know what happens. But I do expect the error.
-Don- Reno, NV
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I would definitely be surprised if it started working before they made an announcement.
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Unless it's a 'Tesla Fault' ie them turning on the charger for 'their' customer error, it actually might work Morgan, 43 corrected a lot of the timing issues with the CCS.
The only quirk I have seen with it is, if you Do have an error, like a timeout, because you thought you had the plug all the way down and it wasnt, even if you correct it almost immediately, that charge attempt probably will NOT initiate properly, and you are better off just cycling power on the bike and just resetting everything and going again fresh, with a GOOD seating of the plug and no errors floating around in memory of either the charger or bike.
Aaron
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Again, Daren in San Diego tested this. When connecting to the station it reads the VIN. Presumably there is a check run against Tesla's internal database of approved VINs/manufacturers and if that check fails the charge session fails. So when Daren started a charge session with his Tesla app and plugged in his v43 firmware Ego, the station ran the check. It rejected the bike.
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Again, Daren in San Diego tested this. When connecting to the station it reads the VIN. Presumably there is a check run against Tesla's internal database of approved VINs/manufacturers and if that check fails the charge session fails. So when Daren started a charge session with his Tesla app and plugged in his v43 firmware Ego, the station ran the check. It rejected the bike.
I just got back from the V4 Tesla Supercharger in Sparks, NV
It did nothing at all when I tried to charge. Same as not being connected. And the "Charge your non-Tesla" in my Tesla app said the closest Tesla Supercharger I could use was in Placerville, CA, which is 125 miles/201 KM from Reno. IOW, the one with the Magic Dock that I have used before.
-Don- Reno, NV
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Exactly as I expected. Oh well, at least we know for certain.
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There is a Tesla charging station out here by the supermarket that has like 8 or 10 charging stations at it, people pull up and charge while hanging at the coffee shop right behind it.
How do I know if it's a magic dock station or not? I checked one or two of the chargers and they are tesla cables, but I didn't check all of them. Is there a quick way to tell, like it has 2 cables hanging off it or something?
Aaron
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Exactly as I expected. Oh well, at least we know for certain.
I assume it will now work on Fords, but nothing else that is non-Tesla.
-Don- Reno, NV
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Exactly as I expected. Oh well, at least we know for certain.
I assume it will now work on Fords, but nothing else that is non-Tesla.
-Don- Reno, NVF
I read an article the other day which said that the Ford/Tesla system is not quite ready to go. Ford needs to send out a Ford/Tesla adapter device to Ford EV owners before Ford EVs can work at certain (but not all) Tesla Superchargers.
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I read an article the other day which said that the Ford/Tesla system is not quite ready to go. Ford needs to send out a Ford/Tesla adapter device to Ford EV owners before Ford EVs can work at certain (but not all) Tesla Superchargers.
Pre 2025 models need the adapter. The same one I have, but that is NOT the issue with Ford. The Fords need an OTA update and not all of them have received the update. For now, some Fords will work (with the adpater) and some will not.
But perhaps by now all the Fords have received the update. So perhaps they all work by now.
BTW, I changed the charging ECU in my 2018 Tesla M3 so I could also charge it with CCS--with and adapter. kinda the opposite from the Ford issue. But to make it work, I had to go into the "Service Mode" (which Tesla owners are not even supposed to know about) and force a new OTA update before it would work for CCS. Likewise, the Fords need an update to use Tesla Superchargers.
-Don- Reno, NV
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before Ford EVs can work at certain (but not all) Tesla Superchargers.
They should all work on V3 and V4 Tesla Superchargers. But NOT on the countless V2s still out there, which are probably most Tesla SCs for now.
When/if we can charge our CCS motorcycles on Tesla SCs. we will also have that same issue. Must be V3 or V4 to be CCS compatible. V2s are NOT CCS compatible. Neither are V1s (but I don't think any of the V1 exist these days).
BTW, it easy to tell the V4s by looking at them. They are solid, no hole in the middle of the charger.
The V2's are 150 KW. The V3's are 250KW. That's how you tell the difference between V2 and V3, look at their max rating.
Or perhaps a better way to remember---the Tesla SCs must be 250KW or better to work for CCS-- even for a 20 KW charge.
-Don- Reno, NV
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How do I know if it's a magic dock station or not?
Aaron
The easiest way is to go the Tesla App, and look at the map under the "Charge Your EV" find a charger button. The map will show little grey icons for destination chargers you can use (with a Tesla Tap or similar) and red lightning bolts for superchargers with magic docks. Thats how it is for me, I have no tesla so the app knows I can only use Magic Dock equipped stalls.
Alternatively you can actually see the big black plastic hump that is the magic dock where the NACS plug is held in the SC.
You can also go to Plugshare, toggle all networks off but Tesla and only select CCS as the plug.
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I do use plugshare, and it did show the one by me, but they did not work, they are all the tesla connectors.
I am picking up some steaks to grill out thursday night with my buddies at the power plant for our monthly get together and gossip thingie, so I'll be right by it so can take a better look at it and see if there are any that have diff plugs on them.
Last time i really just glanced at them but not really looked hard. Maybe one or two of them are different, I don't know yet
Aaron
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There's also this...
See here. (https://www.plugshare.com/map/tesla-ccs-locations)
-Don- Reno, NV
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There's also this...
Yeah, they added a few more since the last time I checked, such as the new one in Los Gatos.
But not even one in the entire state of NV as well as several others.
-Don- Auburn, CA
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Any word on if Apollo got his bike back?
It's been a few months. My inner snark is giving way to my shady CEO hound. At this point, I would rather flood social media with "Give Apollo his bike back" on every Lightning employees post than relish in any "I told you so" schadenfreude.
I'm pretty sure we all watched that guy light $25,000 on fire. That's not a great feeling.
Back in 2006 BMW sold me a turd that was polished up to look like a brand new R1200GS. I swallowed the rage that I felt at spending $19,000 on it and it being terrible, by telling my friends how awesome it was and how much I loved it. There were plenty of people that told me the Beemer wasn't as good as, or as good a value as a Vstrom, Super Tenere, KTM Adventure, or even KLR 650. I just couldn't bring myself to validate them. I eventually complained (discreetly) enough for them to trade that in, 1-for-1, on another turd that was polished up to look like a K1200R Sport. It was still a turd, though. I was much more vocal in my complaint and took a bath when I sold it to a guy who really loves turds. I feel like I know how Apollo feels, to a lesser degree.
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If I remember correctly, Apollo was warned a few times about his pending purchase but was already drunk off it, and well... you know how the rest of that goes. A fool and his money....
There should be some sort of lemon law or something he can get his money back on the bike overall isn't there? CA is one of the more consumer protecting states, Id think they'd have something in place for a situation like that, unless the company just goes totally tits up and files for bankruptcy. This is beyond small claims court but a lawsuit can work too. Id say he has a very good chance at winning it. Even if they never pay,or try to weasel out, at least get a lien on any income that does make it's way to them to recover the cost of the bike.
There is a third scenario.
Apollo was just a shill, trying to sleaze whore the bike, he was in on it from the get go, he got his money back, never paid any money, just did the bike whoring thing, and now will just disappear into the memory hole. Seems that way so far from what we ae seeing here.
I really do hope he gets it back, Id really like to go head to head with him on the track with my EGO. At least we know that bike exists and runs.
Aaron
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Apollo - got his bike back - twice - it had a bad cell originally (Farasis battery - some other electric manufacturers are having same issue with Farasis since new owners took over) a new 20kWh battery pack was installed at no charge - plus the bike was dropped and new bars, mirror and brake lever installed at no charge. Then I heard Apollo crashed his bike after the new battery was installed (thankfully he was okay) - I heard he hit a pothole and lost control - damaged the bars, brake lever, mirror, carbon fiber body damage and damaged the CCS charge port. Even though it was a crash - it was all repaired at no charge - plus Lightning decided to upgrade his battery pack to a new 24.3kWh that has about 20% more range, not Farasis this time - all at no charge. How many manufacturers fix crash damage (twice) and install a larger battery at no charge? You can check with Apollo -
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Wow, that's very specific.
Did you hear about it from a Lightning employee or do you know Apollo?.
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Apollo - got his bike back - twice - it had a bad cell originally (Farasis battery - some other electric manufacturers are having same issue with Farasis since new owners took over) a new 20kWh battery pack was installed at no charge - plus the bike was dropped and new bars, mirror and brake lever installed at no charge. Then I heard Apollo crashed his bike after the new battery was installed (thankfully he was okay) - I heard he hit a pothole and lost control - damaged the bars, brake lever, mirror, carbon fiber body damage and damaged the CCS charge port. Even though it was a crash - it was all repaired at no charge - plus Lightning decided to upgrade his battery pack to a new 24.3kWh that has about 20% more range, not Farasis this time - all at no charge. How many manufacturers fix crash damage (twice) and install a larger battery at no charge? You can check with Apollo -
Just casual knowledge that any common man that doesn't work for Lightning or have insider knowledge would know! I feel so enlightened from this definitely-not-agenda-driven-account likely posted by Dave Swock.
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So, let's say I wanted to buy one of these wonder bikes myself, so I can compare it head to head with the EGO I currently have, and have posted pictures of it along with me, and it running on the track. How would I get one of these new bikes. Id appreciate it being brand new, like the EGO if you order it, not some cludged together cancer made from various prototype parts. How much would that set me back and is that even possible?
Are there any pictures of this new improved battery pack bike on the net anywhere? Is it available for us mere mortals?
Seriously, Id want one so I could head to head it with my own EGO and see how each performs under ideally the same conditions.
But let's not just take my limited skill word for it....
Im getting to know several decent people who actually KNOW how to ride a bike, and how to ride it well, unlike someone like oh say.... me...
One of them even said he knows the owner of Lightning, tested his bike way back, etc. I'll leave out the rest of what he said...
Im sure they'd LOVE to hop on a new E bike for a rip run, especially after riding my EGO and going oh holy shit!!, this thing is fkn Crazy~~~! I KNOW they'd love to test one of these Lightnings and give me HONEST feedback on it since the EGO blew them away so wildly!
Honesty is a good thing in this world, this sport, whatever you want to call it.
I got honest feedback on my curent EGO. I had handling issues with the front end, didn't know what to call it or how to properly explain it, so had a few PRO's ride the bike who DO know what to call it, and explain it properly. Now We have a very good idea what's not right, We have a solid plan now how we are going to work the front end to perfection!! It's mostly tuning.
Nothing wrong with problems, it happens, but being shady about them, and all this hidden extreme apparent altruism.. yah that don't ring true most the time. I get it if a company did a HUGE solid deal for someone and told them, please keep this to yourself, it'd cause us issues if it went public what we did for you. I totally get that. but to just disappear like happened here? Nobody buys that.
Why isn't appollo posting anymore, unless that was really you, and this is just your newest moniker. The way he was bragging up how awesome bla bla, the bike was, we'd have expected to hear a lot more, not just a hit and run. So he crashed, big deal, it happens, I ran off a few times already, once being stupid, the other 2, learning my limits. Luckily I did not crash, but I am sure, sooner or later it's waiting for me. NOTHING to be embarrassed about, that is how we learn.
You said we can check with him if what you say is true. Well we ARE checking with him, he's not answering, which add's even more strength to the pole waving the BS flag. You seem to know a lot about him and have a rapport, tell him to get his ass over here and give us an update!
Let's do this, Lets go head to head with these bikes. Let's get an honest ride of both, and see how they run with each other.
At the very least. Man if we video'd this, this could be a total blast!! shit ...imagine if we rented out a track for a day, up here it's only about 3 or 4k, I could that that very easily. Have an E bike get together where we just show up, run our bikes, brag em up, have a great time and talk bikes !! The camaraderie, this could be an awesome event!! We could even invite our friends who run ICE bikes, so we can talk crap with them too!! :) Have a party after the track closes for the night....Let's make it happen.
Where to get the new improved Lightning at so we CAN do this ????
Aaron
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I do not believe Apollo is a made-up person. I do not believe they are the same person as user socalmoto91.
I do, however, believe socalmoto91 is Dave Swock listed as Head of Sales at Lightning viewable on this page. https://lightningmotorcycle.com/about-us/
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I know Apollo - I am a Lightning owner in SoCal - he filled me in on the details. Just ask Apollo. Rich that MVetter accuses people when he is an Energica Sales Specialist - real unbiased.
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Are you saying you are not Dave Swock?
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Just because he may be biased, does NOT mean what he is saying is false.
Why are YOU deflecting the question? Speaking of rich...
You know Apollo? great, ask him to come here and answer our ?'s then. This way we can put all this speculation to rest once and for all, and clear your tarnished reputation. If you say you don't care, then why even bother answering as far as you have, if you honestly don't care.
Aaron
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(https://i.imgflip.com/7j67i0.jpg)
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So, is that your segway to join the fun, or are you just asking for a beer to go with that popcorn?
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IPA please, freezing cold.
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I know Apollo - I am a Lightning owner in SoCal - he filled me in on the details. Just ask Apollo. Rich that MVetter accuses people when he is an Energica Sales Specialist - real unbiased.
OK, this doesnt add up. Why do you qualify your knowledge with "I know Apollo" in this thread but say "I heard..." in the other thread about What ever happened to Lightning?
I heard the owner had some serious health issues so he isn't riding any longer. Also he dropped the bike and damaged the carbon fiber body. It was in for repair plus re-paint.
Why not "Apollo told me he's going through some health issues and that he dropped the bike"?
Are you sure you don't work for Lightning?
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Those are referencing two different people and two different bikes.
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Those are referencing two different people and two different bikes.
Oh, my bad.
Got it, thanks for that Morgan.
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(https://i.imgflip.com/7j67i0.jpg)
The longer I watch this thread the greater the drama gets. This hasn't been as much fun as the old Dark Shadows soap!
On the way home from Lightning delivering the motorcycle, I stopped at a sidewalk before entering the street but didn't notice the hole in the ground next to me. When I put my foot down, it landed in the hole, which had a gravel texture, causing me to lose my balance. I leaned over to prevent the fall, but the bike was too heavy. I focused on lowering it slowly, ensuring I wasn't trapped underneath. The damage included a broken mirror stalk, scratched brake lever, bent handlebar, and minor scratches on the body and footpeg, but no damage to the charging port.
I was in front of a sheriff's station, so I waved down a couple of officers who were leaving in their patrol unit. They came over and helped me pick up the bike. Everything was fine, and the motorcycle drove normally. I wouldn't call this a crash, but it's more of a tip-over, and a rather embarrassing one.
I only have one account in these forums, and I am no shill. Lightning offered me the opportunity to test some new batteries from a vendor, and I accepted. Since these batteries are not considered production batteries, I am under an NDA. Currently, my bike is back at Lightning for scratch and dent repairs. I don't think the batteries I or others have will be available until Lightning considers them ready for production.
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Ive learned the hard way that when the bike starts to go over at a stop or a very slow roll and you are on it, just hop to the side, try to guide it down as gently as you can but just get out of it's way. How much does the lightning weigh? Id assume it's top heavy as well?
Glad you didn't get caught up with it and / or injured. The weight of these bikes will find you VERY quickly!
Dark Shadows, I remember that one! But... all the DS junkies moved onto All My Children I believe when DS finally went off the air. Well, there was the Night Stalker but that was a regular TV show.
Aaron
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How much does the lightning weigh?
Dark Shadows, I remember that one! But... all the DS junkies moved onto All My Children I believe when DS finally went off the air. Well, there was the Night Stalker but that was a regular TV show.
Aaron
As far as the bikes weight goes, I think 95% of all EV Bikes weight comes from the batteries. As they all use similar batteries, it will probably be close other other brands. How different is an EGO from a Ribelle? But yes, it is very heavy when lying on its side.
I was a young pup when I would come home and watch DS with a couple of high school girls. They were supposed to be watching us kids. I remember it being in black and white and very scary. A couple of years back I watched the first couple of episodes on YouTube and was surprised at how cheap and cheezy it was. I was also hoping for some skimpy long nightgowns! But alas, TV was different back then and the young girls the Vampire was after seemed to sleep in thick clothing. Oh well...
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The only time I ever dropped my 2018 Zero S with Power Tank happened the same way as Apollo describes his accident. I had just come to a stop at a traffic signal and I managed to put down my right foot right into a pothole at the street gutter. Once my bike started to tip over, there was no stopping it due to the weight of the PT. Fortunately, since my bike was blocking the travel lane, several people behind me got out of their cars and helped to pick the bike up for me so that they could be on their way. The only damage was a scratch on the bar end and a broken foot peg that was easily replaced with the passenger's foot peg, which turned out to be an identical part.
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The only time I ever dropped my 2018 Zero S with Power Tank happened the same way as Apollo describes his accident. I had just come to a stop at a traffic signal and I managed to put down my right foot right into a pothole at the street gutter. Once my bike started to tip over, there was no stopping it due to the weight of the PT. Fortunately, since my bike was blocking the travel lane, several people behind me got out of their cars and helped to pick the bike up for me so that they could be on their way. The only damage was a scratch on the bar end and a broken foot peg that was easily replaced with the passenger's foot peg, which turned out to be an identical part.
I once dropped my Zero SR with Pwr tank. (https://www.electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=9964.msg89361#msg89361) It was not possible to get the bike up without help. MUCH harder than a thousand-pound Harley! Because the SR falls down very flat. No way for one person to lift it up without special tools or help.
I recently put crash bars on my 2017 Zero SR with Pwr Tank. I have not dropped in since that one time, but perhaps the crash bars will help keep up the bike up far enough for me to be able to lift it up using the normal & correct procedure. But not yet tested in the real world and I hope to keep it that way.
-Don- Auburn, CA
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Dave?!? Is that you?
I know Apollo - I am a Lightning owner in SoCal - he filled me in on the details. Just ask Apollo. Rich that MVetter accuses people when he is an Energica Sales Specialist - real unbiased.
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Just watched the trailer for The Accountant 2, and noticed an LS-218 in it. At least one exists out there!
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I saw that - it is a Lightning Strike R in the Accountant 2 not an LS-218. There are videos online of Ben Affleck riding his blue Strike R and some photos in people magazine - I see he owns one. So I guess no LS-218s ever existed.
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There are at least 2 LS218s. One I have seen out and about belongs to a Lightning employee and another I have seen in the background of pics of the shop is a "customer's" bike that is perpetually getting finishing touches/inspections.
I'm surprised that Ben Afleck used his personal bike in a film.
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The Ben Affleck's Strike R is blue on YouTube and People magazine - it seems the bike in the Accountant 2 is gray or silver. Lightning is still in business - so many other electric motorcycle companies are out of business - Brammo, Mission, Alta and Energica. Damon promising their bike by end of 2016 or 2017. Verge? Livewire losing over $100m a year. Zero seems healthy. Hopefully one day more electrics than gas bikes.
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Hey @Apollo, how's it going?
Did you get some miles on your bike? Lightning seems to be the only CCS1 man standing with Energica gone and Livewire circling the drain. With the renewed publicity of the bike being in the Accountant movie are they making any headway towards production?
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Well, Richard moved out of Corbin's and apparently built a small facility at his home and moved everything there. So there's that.
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Energica is out of business, Mission, Brammo, Motoczysz, Alta, Cake, Fuell are gone - Damon most likely is not going to survive, LiveWire is losing over $100m a year, Zero has gone through over $600m - so there is that too. The electric motorcycle business is not easy. I guess you have to do what you have to do to survive in a tough market. Whatever - good for them.
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Maybe they'll lean into the fact that they are a small boutique maker of bespoke electric motorcycles and drop the charade that they are a volume company that has sold hundreds of bikes since 2016 and holder of several production electric motorcycle records.
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Agree with you. Definitely a small boutique electric builder but I haven't seen claims of high volume but seen low volume and as you said record holder at events like Pike Peak. I watch them for innovation from a very small builder. Electrics are a tough segment especially with the whole motorcycle industry struggling. H-D and KTM having serious challenges.
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I would genuinely be a fan if it didn't seem like every owner has to sign an NDA.
When people ask in public forums about whether the bikes are weather tight and can be ridden rain or shine, the response is always "Lightning is a high performance machine and it'd dangerous to ride such a high power bike in conditions of compromised traction". Never yes they are weatherproof or no they are not weatherproof.
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translation we dont have any power mapping, just balls to the wall when you twist the throttle.. hope yer good!!
Aaron
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Except that it routinely cuts out on the highway and you have to reboot the bike by ripping off your left glove and pressing the hard reset button deep into the left fairing cowlings near the headlight
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oh would that suck!
Dangerous as hell too when people behind you in traffic, you slowing down due to power loss, and with cpu locked up, are not going to get the flashing brake warning that you are coming down.
accidentally hitting the kill switch is... annoying and embarrassing ,but man a hard reset. put an extended push bar on it and move it out so you can reach it while going or something, good god.
All bullshit aside though. Has this and other stuff been finally fixed?
Right now, lets say I won a lottery and wanted to buy the company, or fully fund them or whatever....
this point in time right now... how close are they to having a bike that is street ready? All the bugs and bullshit worked out, so the bike is safe reliable, and ridable. Lets say, to the point that a normal Energica bike currently is, or a Zero... with their development.??
They are giving vague verbs and such, and being deceptive. How about a hard fact check. What is left for you to tackle to get a product on the shelf for a normal person to buy with normal expectations?
Aaron
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who the fuck cares
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well, if they are supposedly looking to get back into the business, so to say, it'd be nice to get some sort of update on what they been up to and how far along the path they are to actually being viable. These issues are known, have they been fixed?
you keep screaming they are a scam, well if so, then zero progress towards fixing known issues gives you more fodder to use, so you should care. if they have made progress, then it'd be nice to let potential investors know.
Aaron
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You have to remember that Hatfield is a narcissistic bully. Deny. Deflect. Threaten. That's his playbook. He'll never change.
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Get your LS-218 while they are still available and before they all sell out. ::) Attached is an ad that was on the wall of the Lightening display at the 2014 NDEW show.
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They claim the thing will travel 100 miles at full speed at one charge ?
what's the max speed of this thing 75 mph?
so 200 hp and only reach 75?
if the thing can do 175... which an Energica can easily reach, then there is no fucking way you are getting 100 miles per battery at that full speed. Hell my Ribelle before i tricked it, would only get about 40 to 50 miles WOT at 125 mph., before the battery was gone. Things would get a bit toasty too. When i get the ego back from the repair shop, ill try to do a 20 ish mile romp at 150 ish one quiet sunday for comparison, but honestly, am not expecting much more than maybe 30 miles. Those speeds take horrendous power to maintain due to wind drag, even crouched, and no it's not a comfortable ride. at 160 everything is trying to kill you. The wind is trying to rip you off the bike, bugs feel like bullets, potholes can be a death sentence, you get some crappy pavement and your front end wants to start dancing... the list goes on.
But i guess you can't get sued for false advertisement if you never put a bike out to underperform your claims with.
Aaron
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Lightning claimed that the LS-218 could reach 218 mph - at least at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Your experience might vary. ;)
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You mean a custom purpose-built bike with streamlining entered into the Special Construction Partially Streamlined (APS-O) category that has no relation to the Production (P-O) category? That bike that displayed 218 mph from GoPro footage but the measured record was 215 mph? That bike?
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A 5 can easily look like an 8 due to ocular strain caused by the blue shift induced by the acceleration. What you seen was a mere temporal anomaly where it was momentarily looking into the future. Those 1.21 jiggawatt batteries are no joke yanno!! Cut them some slack already.
So, at 218 miles an hour, full speed..... the bike can go 100 miles on a charge.... impressive!!
Aaron
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They claim the thing will travel 100 miles at full speed at one charge ?
what's the max speed of this thing 75 mph?
so 200 hp and only reach 75?
if the thing can do 175... which an Energica can easily reach, then there is no fucking way you are getting 100 miles per battery at that full speed. Hell my Ribelle before i tricked it, would only get about 40 to 50 miles WOT at 125 mph., before the battery was gone. Things would get a bit toasty too. When i get the ego back from the repair shop, ill try to do a 20 ish mile romp at 150 ish one quiet sunday for comparison, but honestly, am not expecting much more than maybe 30 miles. Those speeds take horrendous power to maintain due to wind drag, even crouched, and no it's not a comfortable ride. at 160 everything is trying to kill you. The wind is trying to rip you off the bike, bugs feel like bullets, potholes can be a death sentence, you get some crappy pavement and your front end wants to start dancing... the list goes on.
But i guess you can't get sued for false advertisement if you never put a bike out to underperform your claims with.
Aaron
How did you “trick” a Ribelle to get more range at high speeds? Some kind of fairing?
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what i was referring to was a regular ribelle can't even get that good of mileage at lower top speeds of 125 vs the so called superbike at it's alleged top speed.
otherwise, there are no tricks really, you can't trick physics, however fairings would help, and proper rider form..
doing 80 mph crouched in a tight race position .vs. sitting relaxed upright can easily cost you 10 hp or more and this only gets worse as your speed goes up, by a factor of 4 i believe it is for swept area. at 100 plus mph anything you can do to reduce drag will help significantly, at 130 mph and up, anything you do that is not optimal will hurt your overall mileage, even the shape of your helmet and it's aerodynamics can hurt power consumption..(plus if you don't have a racing optimized helmet, at those speeds, its trying to smash it into your face, it's buffeting,... its uncomfortable) however at those speeds, mileage is no longer a concern really as wind drag pretty much becomes just about everything.
stefano racing, well yah mileage IS a concern but there are there are other factors there as well ... not helping him out.
Aaron
ps. that would be an interesting experiment when i get the ego back. get on the highway do 20 miles or so on the ribelle .vs. ego and see how much a difference fairings and position do make in the long run, in a real scenario. start both with a topped battery and see what percent it drains down to. maybe make it 60 miles, ill head to the lake city charging station, flip and go back home.
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...Hell my Ribelle before i tricked it, would only get about 40 to 50 miles WOT at 125 mph., before the battery was gone.
Aaron
This.
This suggests that your Ribelle only got 40 to 50 miles at wide open throttle (WOT) , but then you employed some "trick" and can now get more miles (or maybe more speed) at WOT.
What do you do to trick it?
Like,.. trick it out with different sprockets? disable a sensor somewhere? What did you do to your Ribelle to trick it into getting more at WOT?
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I think he meant it would get 40 to 50 miles at the speed-limited 125 MPH, and then range was even worse when he “tricked” the ECU to unlock full speed?
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an un modified ribelle can get about 40 miles wot. i was implying, before i modified my ribelle, ie it was a stock one that anyone can get.
a modified one will get less because it can go faster, and need more power to do so.
their claim was that their bike that can do 200 mph can get 100 miles on a full battery. i was saying, my bike, in the most conservative of modes, can only get 40 percent of that and that is with nothing special going on, or no tricks. their claim, i am saying is false.
afaik there is no way to trick better mileage. it's physics, plain and simple.
yes mine goes faster than 125, there are no tricks. the faster you go, the worse your mileage gets due to wind drag.
THAT is what I AM IMPLYING... speed only harms miles per charge.
fairings can help MPC/MPG, different sprockets can help a little bit, but nothing major, you can get better top speed but mpc, umm sorry.
PLEASE DO NOT.. mess with sensors, you can disable / degrade abs, disable tc, and a whole slew of other problems, even damage the motor. unless you know what saturation ringing sounds like, you can very easily damage a motor you start putting the wrong pulses / freq to them because you decided to try and trick something.
Aaron
Edit: fwiw, the ribelle, also has aerodynamics of a brick when you are talking 160 170 mph and up. fairings down there make a huge difference. even stefano mesa's ribelle if i remember was fully fairing'd up.
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The Super Hooligan division Stefano competed in was strictly naked bikes with handlebars. Also all FIM-approved racing fairings post 1957 are borderline useless. And yes the FIM bylaws dictate US racing because the AMA adopted them.
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my bad then morgan, i could have swore when i was there his bike had more fairings, not just prettier !
aaron
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In a sea of orange and burgundy, the Petronas livery stood out. The 2023 Laguna Seca holeshot is so iconic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR57mPdCw2o
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im also getting another look at his fairings. yep just like my ribelle. i could have sworn though that i seen a bike with more fairings on it. either way, absolutely agree, that livery was absolutely a piece of artwork, not just bright screaming....whatever at you colors.
i really hope that something gets figured out here for them. After so much that has been put in, and so many records broken, the passion that they ALL have about their produxcts....to go out because of a piece of shit crooked investor looking to scam the green new steal program, is just so shitty.
i think im gonna play the lottery this weekend. if i can win 10 million, ill buy it myself and turn it back over to them to run.
maybe ill win 100 million so i can buy lightning too, that way i might actually get to one day race one side by side on my ego. Hey morgie?? do me a favor... can you lower your standards to ride the lightning while i do my ego, so we can pull this off ;D ;D 8)
Aaron
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Don't you need a fairing to post sponsor sticker on? ;)
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before i modified my ribelle
what
did
you
do
to
your
Ribelle
??????????????
I appreciate the advice and wisdom but I'm only asking what the trick was? what did you do to modify your Ribelle? Was it software? Hardware? new sprockets? Corsa Cliente Package?
What did you do to your Ribelle???
what was the result would be bonus. Top speed, harder acceleration?
I understand your Ribelle is not stock and gets worse mileage , but I just want to know what you changed compared to a stock Ribelle.
;D
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lets just say some mods were made and mine is like a street legal corsa like kit.
you are still missing the point. modded or not is moot, NO BIKE PERIOD...is going to go 200 mph and get 100 miles off a 20 ish kw battery.
the whimpiest of bikes is not going to go 100 miles at its top speed. even my experia, which is made for distance, and i think top speed is uhh 112 mph or so. ill take a guess and say might get 100 miles IF I keep the speed 80 or below. it's looking like at 80 mph i can still get 1 mile per battery percent, but i only tested this for about 45 miles NOT thru an entire real battery suck, once they hit say below 40 percent, they start dropping pretty fast. but even THAT one is not going to get 3 digits of range at 3 digits of speed.
don't know what the top speed is, was pushing thru 150s when I remembered i had my bags on and backed down before i tore them off. not to mention the @#^@!%&^ 4 pound grasshopper that exploded off the top of my windshield in the 140's and painted me with yellow slime kind of took the enthusiasm of the moment away as well. Try to NOT think about something. fortunately i got stopped without yakking in my helmet.
aaron
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lets just say some mods were made and mine is like a street legal corsa like kit.
you are still missing the point. modded or not is moot, NO BIKE PERIOD...is going to go 200 mph and get 100 miles off a 20 ish kw battery.
the whimpiest of bikes is not going to go 100 miles at its top speed. even my experia, which is made for distance, and i think top speed is uhh 112 mph or so. ill take a guess and say might get 100 miles IF I keep the speed 80 or below. it's looking like at 80 mph i can still get 1 mile per battery percent, but i only tested this for about 45 miles NOT thru an entire real battery suck, once they hit say below 40 percent, they start dropping pretty fast. but even THAT one is not going to get 3 digits of range at 3 digits of speed.
don't know what the top speed is, was pushing thru 150s when I remembered i had my bags on and backed down before i tore them off. not to mention the @#^@!%&^ 4 pound grasshopper that exploded off the top of my windshield in the 140's and painted me with yellow slime kind of took the enthusiasm of the moment away as well. Try to NOT think about something. fortunately i got stopped without yakking in my helmet.
aaron
Florida speed enforcement. ;)
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They are called Lubbers and they are god awful creatures. Supposedly their blood is acidic and will mess up paint and stuff, and they taste bad so nothing really eats them. The biggest problem imo, regular bugs you can turn head 90 and for the most part the wind will take most the crud off your helmet and visor. These, they are sticky like that foam insulation you can spray into walls, so they stick... just like that nasty foam insula.........
IF you wipe it off with your glove, now it smears, and now that glop is all over your glove. Just pit in, get some windex and a handfull of paper towels and clean the crap off if it managed to block your vision, then go back out after.
to add insult to injury, you can see the bastards hanging out too. is that a..... is that thing on the line. crap am i going SPLAT!! It's a slo mo to impact. or you'll catch it out of the corner of your eye. oh man i hope that thing isn't over the track.... i wonder where he is at ri....BLOP!!
but i guess it's better than the turtles and alligators that are on the track. not only do those make you feel bad if you hit one but they will also turn you into a lawn ornamen pretty fast too.
aaron
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Nasty! :o
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lets just say some mods were made ....
aaron
Ok I get it. you don't want to tell me what mods you made.
you are still missing the point ....
aaron
I asked what you did to your bike.
You said "trick" I asked what the trick was. You said "mod" (twice) I asked what the mod was (twice). You never said what it was.
I understand how incredulous Lightning's claim is about range at top speed is, because I also have an electric motorcycle. I get your point.
My apologies if my interest in your performance unlock overshadowed my expression of understanding of the effect speed has on electric motorcycle range.
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i put a corsa like kit on it, that's hardware and software, but the corsa is not street legal so the wiring harness had to be modified to control / bring 12 volts to the running lights, brake lights. rtc There are turn signals too... this stuff is not directly supported in the race software so had to fiddle to get things to fit and to work. i also put a kill switch on it to turn all this stuff off so i can run it at the track too w/o having to remove half the shit / tape it up so it don't shine... just flip a switch. Energica did some of it.... this was all planned and in progress before the bankruptcy announcement . they already had my bike to fix the previous damage to it. i did the rest. you know where the 12 volt out is on your bike, use it but make sure you don't exceed it's 10 amp capacity... lights can pull some amps now. for the blinky blinks i built an isolation kit to run a fhasher module and a supercap to store a charge to run them off. i have a limiting charge circuit on it so it'll throw 5 amp into the cap continuous to charge it, but if needed, can pull 15 off it to run all the blinkers / lights etc. this way i can keep a power reserve to keep the flashers running if im stuck for 15 minutes at a shitty intersextion but not have to worry about overloading the 10 amp power supply. i believe in the off / part of the blink cycle, since the charge is flowing in continuously, it easily replenishes what is used from the cap during the.. lets just call it 'on half' of the cycle. there is no part number for this circuit, i built it myself out of my elex parts box. the corsa kit, energica doesn't have the parts anymore, so we had to emprovise on some stuff, hence the corsa 'like' kit. Can you get one? NO!! why?? because parts are no more, that's why I couldn't get one, and had to 'tweak' it.
so that is how my bike is tricked out to make the shit work properly.
there is no magic code or secret wire or something you can clip to make your bike faster. there is no 'trick' to make it think it can go faster, which YES that is what you were really after. the only 'tricking' i had to do was not pull excessive amps and make the vcu? think there was a fault and throw an alarm and/or do some stupid stuff and shut stuff down. i know on an unmodded ribelle, a hi current fault will disable your lights, and since the bike is not 'overseeing' all the loads now, i didn't want to risk something like a total shut down of 12 volts, which might take out an abs pump or something too.
aaron
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They claim the thing will travel 100 miles at full speed at one charge ?
what's the max speed of this thing 75 mph?
so 200 hp and only reach 75?
But i guess you can't get sued for false advertisement if you never put a bike out to underperform your claims with.
Aaron
In my Lightning Strike R testing, I found the max speed to be about 110mph.
The dyno tests showed about 113HP. It was about as fast as a slow 600cc 4-stroke bike.
From 85% charged to 3% charge in about 30 miles under heavy load.
I had to stop at the end of the driveway to let the bike sit for a few min before I could get it up the driveway for parking.
And the smell! It smelled like a burning clutch, and we feared it would catch on fire.
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Welcome back to the forum. We feared the worst.
That is.... that your NDA was expanded in scope to cover all communication with the outside world. ;D
No seriously, It's bee a year (almost) since your last post.
Do you still have the Strike?
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Welcome back to the forum. We feared the worst.
Do you still have the Strike?
Not really. The bike was picked up by LM again due to a power failure on the freeway and refusal to charge at multiple charging stations.
Since then, LM has decided to make major upgrades to my bike without my request, and now they want $39K to get my bike back.
A bit expensive for some simple warranty work. But it's LM..
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did you sign anyting giving them permission to do the work? There are laws against that kind of predatory tactics. I smell a potential lawsuit, but you can't get wine from a turd, so there is that.
aaron
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F@ck!n A man, that sucks hard!
Dunno if you want to lawyer up and fight it or just cut your losses. Can you at least push back with lemon laws or something? Report the fraud to BBB maybe?
I'm not joking but maybe call your local news station. "7 on your side" or something like that?
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talk to a lawyer, call the news station, they love stories like that, you might even find a lawyer happy to do it pro bono, just to get their name out there.
after everything you paid for it, and it never did run right, that's lemon law right there.
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If they are under the BAR’s authority as a shop, you can file a complaint there, and BAR complaints actually do have teeth. Not sure if small manufacturers who repair their own vehicles are considered shops or not, though.