A lot of people don't really think of Motorcycles as vehicles it seems in the US anymore. They think of them either as
A. Those asshole kids at the intersections doing wheelies and waking the neighborhood up at 3 am doing 140 down the side streets. at 140 decibels
B. Those grubby bike gangs, hells angels, and all the dirtbags that ride harleys like you see in the hollywood movies.
C. Some kids toy to go ride in the dirt on.
As also mentioned, the generations today are a lot whimpier than their grandparents were. Oh that looks scary, not for me !!!! Let me yelp out on twatter that I got scared just thinking about it, it should be worth some likes !!!
When you do bring an electric bike around the groups that do appreciate motorcycles, a lot of them, well, never really heard of them, or just maybe heard about them, yah I heard those existed now, but never really seen one up close. I am getting this a LOT on the track. So many people saying, wow, this is the first electric bike I actually seen up close. It gets their curiosity, then after they actually see one in action, or after I let them take it for a spin, they are like, HOLY SHIT, that thing is crazy, I never had any idea they were THAT GOOD! I have had several people take pictures of my bike to show others, and pose with it, Hey look, THIS is an ELECTRIC bike! I guess they have never seen a real electric bike that was not ... scootery looking.
I let a few folks take my bike for a spin on the track, a few of them raced, one guy was racing a Ninja, the other a Ducatti. Their reaction was at first, oh WOW, there's no clutch? Umm nope, just gas and go baby, please be careful. After giving them the basic spiel, It's a motor, no shifting, it's top heavy until you hit about 7 or 8 mph, it's 600 lbs and it's VERY torquey, it can brake stupid fast, and finally, there is no kickstand switch, please press the kill switch when you stop it. After taking their 20 minute session, they were just blown away and wanted to ride it some more. I did not mind letting them ride it at all, I got to ride his race ninja, and THAT bike was stupid insane as well!!
Even when I am not at the track, but just hanging out with other bike groups, on my Ribelle, they are of course giving me the shit, it's an E bike, typical banter
but then, oh wow, that's SWEET, and it's electric?? followed by the usual, how fast, how far, any problems with it etc. We'll go on a ride around town, after doing 120 miles or so, at the end of the ride / day, I tell them, yah I got another 80 to 100 miles left on it, they are like, wow, that bike CAN keep up with the regular bikes, I didn't think they were that good.
I really think the electric bike companies are doing themselves a dis service by NOT advertising more. People just don't know they exist. Given that Energica as an example only has what 4 or 5 dealers nation wide in the US, THAT is not helpful either. The guy who rode mine at the track, asked, where is the dealer at around here, I told him Orlando and he's like, I need to go check them out, I told him, you can goto their website too, which you will NEED to do, and talk to them personally if you are looking for a race bike, to configure it exactly how you want it. Whether he was serious or not, who knows, but the point being, there are so many opportunities that the e bike companies are missing out on, for advertising, often times FREE advertising of their products.
I'll be honest, I like showing off my bikes, and the more people we get to see them, the better e bikes are known, the better chances the companies are going to be around for more years to come, to service the bikes WE already have! Id like to see an Energica dealer in Jacksonville, and not have to drive 200 miles every time I need service.
I'd LOVE to see Energica rent the track out for the day, bring a trailer of their E bikes and let people romp em up and see what it's all about. Maybe bring the street legals too, slap a plate on them and let them take it for a ride around town too, to see what the road bikes REALLY are about. it'd be a great PR thing, something they could probably even get the local news stations to do a story about given the area. To be honest, the Energica dealer, who is also a BMW and Euro bike dealer, already DOES rent out the track one or two times a year for a shin dig. Maybe he could work a deal with energica to partially sponsor one of the race days, and have a hand full of Energica's to let people try out.
Again, anything we as a community can do, to increase public awareness of E bikes, helps us all down the road.
Aaron