I got an invitation from “Pat”, CTO at NIU Antwerp, if I wanted to go with him to test the LiveWire at Harley Davidson dealer American Lifestyle in Zwijndrecht? “Just a little ride of +/- 1 hour” he said, “We don’t have the motorbike all day.” So, Saturday October 2nd, at 10:00 AM, we were filling in some legal forms at the reception desk and off we went with this matt orange coloured electric motorcycle. Pat on the LiveWire, and me on Pat’s Zero Black Forest. 1 minute later we were already on the highway heading direction Haasdonk to discover some little curvy roads at the countryside.
The sitting position was slightly sportier than on the Zero SR/S I rode last week. The control I had over the bike was phenomenal. You hardly had to make any effort to control a curve, it was that easy, so smooth. Taking turns, driving very slowly (in the city) without having to adjust and balance too much. We were both pleasantly surprised.
The charging cables were nicely concealed, no rattling and this is the first motorcycle with a heartbeat. Really true! While standing still you feel a small vibration like a beating heart, very subtile but I felt it !! Charging is possible through DC Fast Charging and CCS Charging. Both connectors are included. We noticed a wide belt which has a better protection than most Zero models, for example against stone impact.
We did not like the placement of the mirrors, my forearms were constantly in the mirror and took away a large view. The direction indicators were placed left and right. Left button no problem but if you wanted to activate the right indicator light, you almost had to let go the “throttle” lever. This button is also the MODE button (you can change modi while driving).
This LiveWire was an elegant and powerful appearance, an impressive technical product and believe it or not, people in the streets were noticing it too … typical Harley Davidson? It’s still unclear if LiveWire will launch their own dealer network or are they going to work with the existing HD network? Or will they focus on online sales? Still a lot of questions … also about the price … There is a difference between the 2020 HD LiveWire and the LiveWire 1 launched by the sub brand. It is not really clear yet whether the LiveWire 1 is available here in Europe.
