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[oobflyer]

This article is about the new Agility Saietta. The Founder/CEO Lawrence Marazzi compares his new eBikes to Teslas, while dismissing the existing eBike manufactures (presumably Zero and Brammo).  Check it out:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/10597940/From-Marine-to-master-of-a-new-universe-riding-electric-motorcycles.html

[Burton]

I don't think I would want to be known as the Telsa of motorcycles if I were them.

[Brammofan]

Agility was not the first company to try to crack this market, of course. A few other firms had already launched electric motorcycles before he even founded Agility five years ago, but none of them had caught the imagination of motorcycle enthusiasts.
Marazzi is too polite to name names, as he recalls one product that resembles “a mountain bike with headlights” or others that appealed to people “like a tea pot would”: that is to say, pretty- looking, but without any discernible oomph.
“When we kicked off, there were people selling you hessian sacks for shirts, saying, 'This is better for you,’ and 'Buy this because it’s green’,” he says. Most companies selling electric vehicles adopted a similar stance.
“All people were doing was taking a standard motorcycle, ripping the gas out and expecting it to work. They were not going to move the game on. That’s when I really thought there is an opportunity here. They didn’t get that motorcycling is an experience as well as a function. Motorcycles were a great opportunity. Even in the teeth of a significant recession, you had global growth in prestige motorcycle sales. Some markets, like Brazil, are growing at 180pc.”

What a douche.

[frodus]

Ugly as all hell.

Never been in a race against other electric motorcycles.... That doesn't really bode well.

Can you even buy one right now,  at this very moment?

[Justin Andrews]

Meh. The guy can be as much of a douche as he wants to be, the only thing that matters is how well the bike itself will fair against the existing bikes out there.

The Agility Saigata is expensive, and will need to compete against the Empulse and the SR in the US and Continental Europe. In the UK they have more of a free rein, given Brammo and Zero have no dealers here at the moment.

But yeah, the Agility "Droideka" is ugly.

[NoiseBoy]

Its corporate blustering.  Im not sure they have business economics classes in the marines so I assume he is just a front for the company with a COO or something in the background.

All it takes is for one of the bikes to fail on an episode of top gear and investors and customers will run a mile.  Taking pot shots at fellow EVMC makers doesn't seem like a great way to push the future of electric.  I'd much rather see an alliance!

[firepower]

Anyone know what brand DC motor they use? looks like Agnimotors I think.
Not as good as the 3 phase AC brush less motor Zero and Brammo use.
Also has chain drive which i dont like.
I dont mind the styling it is different and original so thumbs up for that.
spec are average for such a high price bike.
seems like a lot of marketing speak and selling him more than the bike.
I rather read more about bike and factory/production/staff

 

[NoiseBoy]

They won't be using an Agni. Nowhere close to powerful enough and they don't make them anymore AFAIK.

[protomech]

Definitely Agni-type.

Tesla = fast, expensive, capable, desirable. Tesla shatters perceptions of what electric vehicles can do, and is pioneering as it does so.

2008: EVs are slow. Boom, Tesla Roadster.

2012: EVs can't travel like ICE therefore impractical. Boom, Tesla Model S and Supercharger network.

2013: Short-range EV is expensive. Boom, LEAF S, Fiat 500e, Spark EV..

2017?: ICE-replacement EV is too expensive..

In MC land:

2009: EV bikes are one-off conversion lead sleds. Boom, Brammo Enertia and Zero S.

2011: EV bikes are slow. Boom, Mission R.

2012: EV bikes are low range. Boom, Zero S ZF9.

2013: EV production bikes are slow. Boom, Brammo Empulse and Zero S.

Bonus: EV bikes can't tour. Boom, Terry Hershner on his Zero. (Honorable mention Moto Electra)

2014-2015? EV production bikes can't tour..

.. see Agility on this list? Me either.

Agility = promises to be fast, expensive. Not any more capable than Zero or Brammo bikes, desirable and beauty in the eye of the beholder.. R will be slower than Zero SR, probably more expensive. R2 is competing against Mission / Lightning / Energica, if any of them are ever released..

[benswing]

The whole article is unaware of the current state of electric motorcycles.  Here is a quote from the article:

Agility was not the first company to try to crack this market, of course. A few other firms had already launched electric motorcycles before he even founded Agility five years ago, but none of them had caught the imagination of motorcycle enthusiasts.
Marazzi is too polite to name names, as he recalls one product that resembles “a mountain bike with headlights” or others that appealed to people “like a tea pot would”: that is to say, pretty- looking, but without any discernible oomph.

The whole article is full of bluster and ridiculous statements.  Not to be taken seriously, but it's too bad it is in a well known paper such as the telegraph.

[Richard230]

That is a great way to convince the public to buy your EV, tell them that all other EV's suck and your is going to be better.  If the goal is to sell your new product, which is the same as the ones that they are disparaging, they would be better off just hitting themselves over the head with a hammer.  That way they would get a couple sympathy sales from the market.   

It sounds to me like Agility is a little nervous about Brammo entering the UK market.  But I do agree that my reading of UK motorcycle magazines (for whatever that is worth) leads me with the impression that the UK market is not quite ready to embrace electric motorcycles.   

[Justin Andrews]

Thing is, if you actually get a proper biker on an electric bike over here, then the reaction is usually pretty positive.

Indeed, most of the bikers I've chatted too have been pretty interested in the ZF9.

The issue is not so much as hostility* towards EV's from my experience, rather its a deep seated conservatism.


(*Aside from the "Jeremy Clarkson factor" that is...)

[skeezmour]

Hey if we ever sound like that someone please smack me on the head.