Harley-Davidson desperately needs a change. It is working very hard to revamp its image in a more youth-friendly way, which includes a plan for a full lineup of electric-powered two-wheelers. For now, Harley has the very good (and very expensive) LiveWire, but has hinted that more electric bikes are coming to fill in the gaps underneath that. This new “middleweight EV concept” is the next one coming, and it looks like a really good time.
We’ve already seen Harley’s e-Bike and electric scooter concepts, which are totally rad, but this XR750-inspired flat track EV looks like an incredible way forward for the Motor Company. If it comes in with a price tag a bit lower than the LiveWire, that’s a big win in my book.
Of course, being Harley, it’ll still come with a premium price tag, but hopefully, lessons learned with the LiveWire will trickle down into this thing to offer an even better riding experience that is more accessible to the average rider.
Here’s what Harley has to say about this concept drawing:
“The middleweight EV concept bridges our EV technology to our rich history of racing and the legendary XR750. As the ultimate city bike, high-performance run-about or next-gen short tracker, this is H-D’s vision of EV for the quick and competitive.”
I would love to see a bike like this one developed for the Super Hooligans series to fight head-to-head with Ducati, Indian, and Triumph riders. I don’t know if Roland Sands would allow these EV racers into the series that bears his name, but perhaps Harley could develop better EV tech through racing. What was old is new again, as they say.
While this is still just a concept drawing, it shows that Harley is dedicated to the EV lineup, and proves it might just know what it’s doing. By introducing the flashy expensive bike first, it was able to grab a whole lot of headlines and set expectations for the top end of pricing (about the same as many internal combustion superbikes like the Honda CBR-1000RR-R which was just announced with a $US28,000 ($40,941) price tag) before introducing more accessible lower price bikes underneath it.
If this bike is half as good as it looks, I may just have to plonk down some cash for one. I loved the LiveWire, it’s just a little too rich for my blood.