Scattered all over America in dusty barns, garages, and basements sit old motorcycles that haven’t run in potentially decades. These once-proud steeds are sometimes extricated and scrapped, their stories and histories vanishing with them. One American company wants to keep these old bikes around for the future while also making them cleaner. Beachman Bikes says that it can take your old, broken motorcycle and turn it into an electric motorcycle with real, usable range.
Back in my early days of motorcycling in 2018, I had a hobby of buying worn-out motorcycles that hadn’t run in years and then bringing them back to life. There were few things in life more gratifying than taking a vehicle out of an extended slumber and putting it back on the road again. These bikes, which I purchased for no more than $500, often needed nothing more than a fuel tank and carburetor cleaning to get their juices flowing and a fresh battery to bring them back to life. Some might have needed a clutch or a wiring short fixed, but nothing too major.
Sadly, not all of these motorcycles were within my ability to be rescued. Some had grenade transmissions, some had cracked engine cases, and some had so many things broken that fixing it would cost more than buying one that wasn’t broken. These motorcycles had a likely future of either rotting away in another barn or, worse, getting scrapped. It was through fixing motorcycles that I learned that you cannot save everything. But maybe these down-and-out machines can have one last shot at life before retiring to the Route 66 in the sky.
That’s what Beachman Bikes wants to do. It’s specifically looking for down-and-out old motorcycles to revive as electric machines. To show what it can do, it converted a customer’s broken Honda CB500 into an electric motorcycle.
Beachman Bikes
If Beachman Bikes sounds familiar to you, it’s because I covered the startup last year when it was selling a stunning vintage café racer-style “e-bike” that looked suspiciously like an urban electric motorcycle with pedals tacked on. Here’s how Beachman Bikes tells its origin story:
The story of Beachman begins in 2016, as an idea for a retro brand that stood for the best in life. Experiences like enjoying an afternoon by the water or a weekend on the road. The goal of Beachman was to build incredible things that would make these moments even better. The iconic Beachman logo was designed in 2018 by Jeremy Grice after Ben described his vision over a casual Tuesday afternoon lunch. 3 years later, Beachman paid Jeremy for his pro-bono design with the delivery of his very own bike.
Fast forward to 2019, and our two founders Ben Taylor and Steve Payne have a chance encounter at a coffee shop. Ben, the creator of the Beachman name with the dream to build a wildly new 50cc cafe racer, and Steve, the wild cafe racer builder who could bring that dream to life – on the condition that the bikes were electric. This simple suggestion changed the course of Beachman forever.
In the fall of 2020 Steve completed work on the first prototype, a modified 1979 Kawasaki KZ200 which we simply refer to as “Zero”. With a battery system hand-built by Steve, a modern electric drivetrain, and authentic café racer styling, the pair knew they had something special. Around this time they found a factory who trusted the vision and was capable of building a production model. Using queues from Bike Zero and building off of a classic 70s 125cc platform, the first production bike was designed using mostly standard motorcycle and E-bike parts. After crossing their fingers, the founders ordered 30 bikes to be produced and prayed they would live up to the dream.
I did criticize Beachman Bikes for selling its ’64 E-Bike model as a Class II E-Bike despite having a top speed of 45 mph and an output of 4.02 HP. To the credit of Beachman, one of its founders, Ben, reached out to me. He explained that the company was transitioning to becoming a motorcycle manufacturer, but hadn’t quite finished jumping through the regulatory hurdles yet when the ’64 launched. From Beachman Bikes:
Just wanted to say that I totally get your criticism of the platform. Our intention is to have people register the bikes, but we are transitioning from e-bike company to actual motorcycle manufacturer right now, and so the bikes is a hybrid in order to allow maximum flexibility to our customers. Lots of people just leave it at 20mph and ride happily as an e-bike, and since we don’t sell to children we hopefully aren’t contributing to the madness of kids on surrons.
In Canada we are right now swapping over to a legitimate low-speed motorcycle with no pedals, but in the US we still have work to do before we can fully do that jump. Sometime next year we’ll be dropping the e-bike thing entirely and becoming a bonafide moped/motorcycle company. It just takes a lot of work and huge resources to do that process legally & operationally when you don’t have the resources of Harley, honda etc.
True to Ben’s word, the company is now officially a motorcycle manufacturer and does sell a road-legal and license-plated electric motorcycle. The ’64 Light Motorcycle is basically the ’64 E-Bike, but without the pedals and with a higher top speed of 50 mph. That’s a good move in the right direction! But it’s what Beachman Bikes is currently doing that has piqued my interest the most.
Saving Busted Bikes
Electric motorcycle conversions are as old as the motorcycle itself. Seriously, back when guys in sheds were strapping gasoline engines to bicycles, there were others juicing bikes up. I even considered doing an electric motorcycle conversion in 2018 when I had a few bikes that were broken beyond economical repair. Ultimately, I did not go forward with a conversion because I had no idea what I was doing. Nor did I really have the time or space for such a huge moto surgery.
This month, Beachman Bikes has officially launched its Special Vehicles Division (SVD). Beachman Bikes says that SVD operates as a sort of skunkworks where the company’s builders take ruined old motorcycles, restore them, and then modernize them.
Beachman Bikes says that SVD kicked off when a customer approached them with a 1974 Honda CB500 with a blown engine and a destroyed clutch. Normally, such damage would lead to the retirement of a bike like this. Beachman Bikes thought the bike was deserving of a second chance at life, especially considering the fact that the CB500 is a great part of Honda history.
Honda says that the CB500 Four was built in response to the massive success of the CB750 Four, and the 500 was designed to be lighter and more manageable than the 750. In marketing the CB500 after its launch in 1971, Honda called the CB500 the “500 for the Quiet Man,” and Honda hoped the more accessible motorcycle would get more people on a Honda Four. The CB500 was also the first Honda to feature a helmet holder, which was meant to encourage riders in regions without helmet laws to actually wear a helmet.
Despite the CB500’s marketing as a more dignified motorcycle ride, it was still plenty fast. Bill Smith took a win at the 1973 500cc Production TT on a CB500. So, I get why Beachman Bikes wanted to save one, even if Honda made a gazillion of them.
Beachman Bikes says that it did not just convert the CB500 to electric. During the restoration process, the company updated the motorcycle’s design. This started with a 3D scan of the motorcycle’s frame. This allowed Beachman Bikes to figure out just how much room there was to stuff electric vehicle bits into the frame without weighing down the bike or throwing off its original balance. Beachman Bikes then designed a battery pack to specifically fit in the void left behind by the engine and transmission. The resulting 14.4 kWh lithium battery is built by Beachman’s existing supplier.
This battery is housed in a custom box draped over the area where the engine used to be. From there, Beachman Bikes added some more touches like a digital dashboard, a tracker-style seat, and of course, the characteristic café racer touch of exposed framework. The charge port is where the filler neck would be on what is now the false tank.
The only part I’m not really a fan of is the battery box, which presents itself as a huge black monolith in the middle of an otherwise retro design. I would have also chosen a tank color that’s a bit more bombastic than a desert tan, but, obviously, this bike was built to the tastes of the customer, so that’s not a Beachman problem. I also think the Beachman logo would have been better on the tank, too, but then the monolith battery would be even more barren.
Beachman has not provided specs for the hub motor or range figures, but does say that the motorcycle has “highway speed capability.” Given the pack size, I think an 80-mile real-world range is attainable if the rider takes back roads. Apparently, the client who ordered this motorcycle specifically wants to use it to ride between the city and his rural farm.
Beachman also notes that while this motorcycle build is the feature vehicle for the launch of Beachman Bikes SVD, it wasn’t the company’s first conversion. In the past, Beachman has converted a 1974 Volkswagen Thing, a 1979 Kawasaki KZ400, a Volkswagen Squareback, a 1974 Meyers Manx, a 1979 Kawasaki KZ200, a 1958 Chevrolet Apache, and a 1974 Alfa Romeo Spyder to electric. Typically, the converted cars use systems transplanted from Nissan Leafs, Toyota Prii, and Teslas. So, the company seems to know a thing or two about turning ICE vehicles into EVs.
Not The Worst Pricing We’ve Seen
If you want your own Canadian-made electric conversion, Beachman says it’ll convert your broken motorcycle for a starting price of $10,000. It’s specifically looking for broken bikes, too. Beachman says it’s not interested in chopping up working classic motorcycles. SVD wants to save ruined bikes from going to the scrapper. There are plenty of other shops that convert working machines.
I like that. They’re not butchering classic two-strokes or trashing legendary inline-fours. They’re taking motorcycles that were on their way to the junkyard in the sky and are giving them a renewed life.
The catch is that $10,000 isn’t cheap, and if just saving a dead motorcycle is all you want to do, a broken old bike can be brought back to running condition for less than that price. I’ve done it many times for less than $5,000. But if you want to save a bike, electrify it, and not do any of the work yourself, I can see this conversion as an option. Assuming the motor makes decent power and the battery can be charged relatively fast, I could also sort of see someone considering a converted retro bike over something like a new Can-Am or LiveWire S2.
Either way, as a fan of taking discarded objects and turning them into something functional again, I like the concept of offering customers a turnkey electric motorcycle conversion. So, if you find some busted motorcycle in a barn and happen to have $10,000 to burn, maybe going electric is an option. One of these days I have to ride a classic motorcycle that’s been converted to electric to see what it’s like.
Top graphic image: Beachman Bikes
I’ve built a few of EV motorcycles… both fast and slow. All were absolute basket cases which were never going to see the road again. One moped was actually pulled out of bulk trash pickup. The vast majority of motorcycles die a sad, slow death by neglect… get a misfire one day, don’t get around to figuring it out… carbs gum up, 12v dies, keys get lost… a decade goes by and that’s the likely end for that motorcycle.
Once you go EV , that motorcycle is changed, completely, but it still has sooo much texture compared to a modern bike. My old daily was. ‘74 ‘DT250’ conversion, and it still had those spindly loooong forks, great honkin rear drum with a tiny front, skinny little drums. The big difference is that now I can ride it every day without wondering if I’ll make it home.
On the same token, I have pulled a mini chopper from a burn pile and pre-tariffs, I could replace every part except tires and tins for under 400 dollars. I was amazed a 3 speed semi auto 125 Lifan style GY6 was under 200 from some of those chinese resellers, though I imagine they were blems from Lifan or something. I was able to buy a 140 jug/head/piston from a US machine shop and the thing was pretty stout. Not sure if the bottom end survived since then though. May have to see if I can find the guy that won the raffle.
I like that they’re using a hub motor and not an inboard motor and chain drive. Chains are noisy, and without an engine, it would be the loudest thing you’d hear.
SO basically the same as converting something like say a nice VW Bug with a busted motor to Electric with the EV west kit. end result is limited range, but loads more power I suppose. and the archaic brakes and other lack of amenities are still present. all for about twice what it would cost to restore it yourself? Not pay someone, but if you are handy and committed, you can probably upgrade a CB500 and rebuild the motor and trans for under 5K still. I could be wrong though. and in the end it woudl still be an old CB 500 that is worth at best 2K. They are only worth what someone else will pay for them,
“These bikes, which I purchased for no more than $500, often needed nothing more than a fuel tank and carburetor cleaning to get their juices flowing and a fresh battery to bring them back to life. Some might have needed a clutch or a wiring short fixed, but nothing too major” – Tell me you mostly worked on old Japanese bikes without….you know the rest.
Unless they sat a while and the rubber rotted on the intakes and brakes, or the oil got gas in it trying to start the last time, this was often than case for lawn mowers, Foreign and domestic cars, and even the occasional Harley. though for a while there even basket case Harleys were selling for far more than 500.
Just sell me a damn kit to do it myself. I am capable of (but do not want to) designing and sourcing an electric drivetrain and battery to convert a vintage motorcycle. I’m hella lazy though and just don’t have the time to do it. I want a company to sell me a crate solution: battery, controller, motor. I’ll design up the mounting if needed. But $10k and up for them to do the work and have it look so… bad…. They’re tripping.
they do make chinesium Bicycle converion kits, pretty simple too. but you get maybe 40 miles range and no more than 30MPH on a regular bike, the added weight of even a CB500 frame and what not would be tough. Also, not sure how the lights and signals connect or affect the function of those kits.
I want a reasonable EV conversion for VW Beetles. I wouldn’t do it to any particularly valuable ones, but there are still Supers from the 70s.
There’s a dead Beetle sort of rotting away near me that I have daydreamed of somehow buying and then doing an EV conversion to. A reasonably priced EV conversion kit would go a long way to making that reality, even if it doesn’t overcome my spouse preventing it until I downsize on my other project vehicles.
Define Reasonable?
https://evwest.com/volkswagen-vw-beetlebug-hyper-9-120v-26-5kw-ev-conversion-complete-kit-regen-brakes-battery-packs-1956-1977
Those have gone up a lot in the last 20 years. Of course 20 years ago the conversions were using AGM lead acid batteries and 60 miles of range.
before and slightly into the pandemic they were in the lower teens on the website. I kind of liked the idea of a Karman Ghia E-Rod. I don’t think the battery type changed, but I am also unsure if the drive unit is the newer tesla unit without the cooling issue of leaking into the motor.
I was looking at EV West conversions back in the early 00’s when I had a Porsche 914. If I remember correctly they were about $10K back then but didn’t include a battery.
It’d be reasonable at that price with 180 miles of range, depending the charge rate. That kit looks like it’s still in the spec Jason reviewed it at the German Lightning site in 2013.
This makes very little sense money wise.
https://www.classic.com/m/honda/motorcycles/cb/500/four/
Seems like they are trying like hell to justify a business that will gobble dollars ’til it’s gone. How many will they sell?
Well since the customer supplied the donorcycle I would say all of them
I’ve been thinking this would be a great idea for ICE cars, except you kind of have to start with a vehicle designed from the beginning to take electrical motivation. There isn’t sufficient volume for batteries otherwise. About the only vehicle you could really make it work for consistently would be compact pickups, especially if you can use an electric axle and eliminate everything from the driveline tunnel.
There isn’t room for the batteries in many cars now, but maybe in the future the energy density will increase to the point where the batteries can occupy the tank location and part of the engine bay.
I would love to see kits that allow for EV motors to bolt up to existing drivetrain and retain the transmission. Make the EV pretend to be the gas engine and have a rev range and let me shift my own gears. Motor could be smaller that way because you are using gearing. No need for 600ph EV motor when the 80 or 90 HP hybrid motor could do the same thing with some computer control.
Or you could put millions of dollars in a burn barrel and light it on fire?
The energy density is the thing holding it back, agreed. That’s why i say compact pickups with all the original driveline bits removed could be a viable recipient segment for a more-or-less standardized swap package: the space between the frame rails, especially with the driveshaft, exhaust and tank removed, is a kinda-sorta consistent size with nothing else going on. There’s a fair amount of volume there, especially if you also take advantage of the engine bay, to slot in a decent amount of battery even with current energy density.
I say dump the transmission. It adds in a LOT of unnecessary friction. Toss it.
I’m also really hoping someone comes up with a fairly generic kit at some point, I think old 4x4s would be perfect. If replacing an old, heavy engine, 500 lbs could get you probably ~35kWh of LFP batteries currently, which could be enough for 60-100 miles of range to use locally without adding weight or taking up more space. Add in a small, light 100 hp, 200-300 ftlb motor bolted to the transmission- should be possible to do if Yasa can make a 30 lb axial flux motor that can peak at 1000 hp.
Unfortunately, it’s probably the Chinese that could make it happen, at least at this point.
I hold out hope for a car like the AE86 Lexus built last year I think with a Tundra hybrid motor. It was a cool idea with toyota factory parts.
https://discoverlexus.com/stories/lexus-ae86-bev-concept
But you are still driving an old vehicle with all the age related problems unless you restore the vehicle. Cheap to do a motorcycle tens of thousands to do a car.
How much of the original bike is left after this work, especially considering the weight increase of going to a battery pack?
This kind of feels like washing an old bike’s VIN onto a new vehicle.
I have bought several $150-$250 bikes in my 20s and even some free bikes and they always needed more work than expected.
It’s interesting the same way some of the restomod ev projects are. They way they sell that as way for some collectors to enjoy their vehicles keeping the original power train on a rack. I can see a market a limited market. Plus it might be cheaper to use their drive train then a stock form with a better overall experience for most of the people owning them.Now there are these gen zs that want retro vehicles and are using large amounts of their parents money to get them in some cases. Might be even more of a use case.
I’m not sure about this one. Motorcycles are more about style for most people not the actual year and model unless someone is super into them. It’s also as much about the engine as the style. If someone is into their retro bike they will likely want it back to stock or stock+. Most random people know an old car and might know it’s a 911 or a mustang. Motorcycles they don’t have a clue. That’s limited their market significantly. You could build a new retro bike and they would be none the wiser and the Chinese do. They are doing the same.
If he thinks the Surron kids are buying their own bikes, I’ve got news for him. The biggest problem with the Surron kids is that their parents think it’s adorable when little Timmy rips an emoto down the bike path. At least that’s my observation of the discussions that ensue when the bike community tries to rein in this kind of behavior.
All these so-called “ebike” companies are complicit in the regulatory nightmare that is definitely coming. You can abuse the system all you want, but then you don’t get to be surprised when the system’s response sucks.
parents need to be held accountable. More of these “ebikes” need to be impounded. What if kids could be docked to push getting their drives license back? For example, kid gets a traffic violation, push back the age they can get their license by a year. There needs to be better regulation (punishment) to change behavior.
I don’t think these need licenses and the kids don’t care
At least one of their models is street legal and has a mounting bracket for the (presumably) required license plate and tabs.
Agreed but the system response doesn’t suck it does the work awful parents refuse to do.
How did Flanders parents put it?
You have to Help us doc we’ve tried nothing and we are all out of ideas.
This ^^^
I’m all for more and more motorcycles to be out there, but this insanity has to stop.
Any bike that is worth putting $10k into electrifying is worth putting $10k +$1 into fixing correctly. And very few bikes are worth doing that.
Which means that by definition this company is in the business of destroying collectors.
This is what I was thinking. Every time a barn find isn’t worth restoring, its a pile of parts for those that are. How many times have you seen an old bike being sold with a parts bike for this reason.
Electric motorcycles are good. I kind of want one, but I don’t want to make take away the ability for some one else to restore their beloved bike. (2 stroke or 4 cylinder or not)
The way its supposed to work is, a weirdo who loves a thing builds a collection over their life to support that love. Then, when its time, they send it off in whole or in part to other weirdos who will love those things in their own way again.
Can’t this company just get the rights to the frames of the bikes they want to “convert”? Or is it all about having the VIN in place to avoid modern requirements?
The good part is that we likely won’t hear from them anymore, except when they eventually come up with the inevitable straight from China thing that will turn out to have taken ten years of deep thought and engineering.
This is interesting and I wish them the best of luck, and thank you Mercedes for letting us know about them. If I were still interested in riding, this might be something I’d consider, though you can get a fairly high-end eBike for $2-3K it seems these days. I much prefer the look of an old motorbike to a fat-tire eBike, but I’m not sure I could rationalize how much more a conversion would cost.
If you’ve got an old ’70s bike which can’t be repaired for well under $10k, it’s probably too rare or valuable to turn into an E-bike anyways. One of the huge selling points of UJMs like a CB500 this is how cheap and easy they are to repair.
A few years ago I had an old Yamaha which needed a valve service. it was cheaper to just buy an entire new motor and swap it in – like $500 total
I wish them the best of luck. But I have to say, if I was looking for an electric bike, there are numberous good Chinese electric bikes that could be had for 25% of the cost or less.
OR… for CAD$7000 more, you can get a Zero electric bike if you want something with HUGELY better performance.
You can buy a road-legal, highway-speed-capable Chinese electric motorcycle for $2,500 or less? Available in America or could be shipped here? If so, send me the link because I’ll write about it tomorrow.
Well they’re “legal” as long as they are “officially” limited to 32km/h.
For someone who wants a ‘motorcycle’ to just run errands around in a city, they’re great.
Now for a true highway rated electric bike? Those will be more… but not as much more as you’d think. Definitely less than CAD$10,000. Here are some examples
https://joulemotorcycles.com/highway-motorcycles/
Most of those can only have a 90-100km/h top speed… so you won’t want to take those on actual highways with speed limits of 100km/h or more.
But on roads with 80km/h speed limits or less? They could definitely work.
This one:
https://joulemotorcycles.com/product/super-soco-cpx/
Has been discounted to CAD$3500… which works out to USD$2510.74
However, due to the Trump Tariff Taxes, I doubt these will be available in the USA for a cheap price like that.
https://www.bicycleretailer.com/industry-news/2026/07/23/bikes-hit-new-section-301-tariffs-take-effect-tonight
So… will you be booking a flight to Canada? LOL
I’m not a big fan of hub motors in bikes but I assume they wanted to maximize the battery size so that makes sense. It’s also not a superbike so the limitations of hub motors are way less of a factor.
Definitely agree with you on the aesthetics though. The Beechman 64 looks way better with those chrome ‘fins’ to break up the large mass visually. I know the battery case is custom, so maybe the buyer wanted it that way?
Also I wonder if you could get a discount if you brought them a bike they had already done the work for. A lot of the cost is in the labor to measure everything and design the battery to custom-fit the bike. If I had the same CB500 to convert, all that work has been accomplished.
This is a very nice idea, but it has issues, as do all bold undertakings.
1) $10k gets you a name brand 14.4kWh battery and not much else. If they can do a conversion for $10k, where’s that battery from?
2) Hub motors are not great. There’s a reason why even electric bicycles are turning away from that approach.
I expect real world costs are more than the $10k quoted, and real world feel is…not spectacular. This is mainly a service for well off people who have a lot of nostalgia for THIER bike, and are willing to throw too much at it to keep it around.
Meh. I can get a brand new bike with solid state batteries from Finland for not much more than that.
Do nut
I’ll admit, I’ve never seen someone scrap a motorcycle due to total engine failure.
Lots of other reasons to scrap a motorcycle (and whether the engine turns over or not is subject to the other damage), but not the engine. And, at $10k, those people are getting a new bike for less than that.
Let’s be honest: this startup is clearly aimed at people just wanting to do an EV-conversion.
Old Hondas especially have so much aftermarket support plus most sold in high enough volumes that getting anything on ebay or marketplace is generally simple.
I could see a cracked case on a rarer bike being a bigger hurdle, and if it’s a bike you have an emotional tie to (grandfather’s old bike that sat in the barn for 30 years or something similar) you might want to bring it back to life as a usable EV conversion to enjoy it for years to come.
If I found a good condition CB500 with a cracked case, I’m going to go find another and combine the two into a nice bike for much less than $10k.
Honda’s support for old bike parts is unparalleled.
I’m sure if you had your grandfather’s CB500 with cracked case and wanted to revive it, you could probably have your pick of minty CB500 engines with a non-zero chance of finding a brand new one.
The early 70s bikes are tough, in my experience, because so much changed year to year. But that said, if you aren’t working on the tightest of the budgets that’s less of an issue.
And yeah, to your point, if not a brand new motor you can certainly get a rebuilt one or I’m sure a local shop would rebuild you one for a couple grand.
If you’re a purist or on a budget, you’re not shopping an EV conversion.
If you’re on a budget, you’ll rebuild with what you have.
For me, personally, $10k gets me 3 or 4 bikes, a few parts bikes, and some nicely reupholstered seats, new tubes and tires, etc. So yeah, I’m not doing this kind of EV conversion anytime soon.
I was hopeful that this article was going to be reporting on a kit for a battery and a motor that would drive a chain. That’s something I could see really making a dent in the “abandoned motorcycle” realm.
Now I really want a CB500!!
Honestly, I’ve only rarely seen scrapped motorcycles, period. However, I have lost count of how many broken bikes I’ve seen rusting away in barns and such.
I’ve been to a few motorcycle ‘scrapyards’.
All of them disassemble the bikes onto shelves in a barn/shed where you can quickly sort through the engines, bodywork, wheels, frames, etc… all sitting on shelves.
Being able to get a functional engine for an old bike is usually just checking those shelves for the brand you’re looking for.
I should not visit a place like this. I would walk away with far too many bad ideas.
Oh no, I didn’t even know that motorcycle scrapyards were a thing in America. This is going to be a bad Google search… lol
The motorcycle scrap yards that I’ve been to simply have rows and rows of motorcycles and have you pull your own parts. 2 were out in fields and one in a large old abandoned warehouse that was mostly dry. As you might expect a lot of those bikes had ruined engines as once someone pulled an exhaust, set of carbs, or side covers the rest of then engine was open to the rain.
I think maybe in part the scrap value of a bike is a lot less than a car (because it’s so much less metal) and it’s so easy to get rid of a parts bike for $200-300.
I have shelves full of spare moped parts from bikes that I bought for $75 to take a handful of valuable parts (carb, muffler), and also bikes that I bought “for parts” that I’ve rehabilitated. And all of that takes just a small corner of the garage for a (frankly too large) collection, versus a disassembled heap in the driveway pissing off my neighbors.
Pretty much the only reason the EV Car industry exists. They all cost more than similar ICE vehicles by about the $10k one of these bikes costs.
Respectfully, that is not a café racer seat; that is a tracker-style seat. A café seat will have the flat seating portion with the more or less vertical bum-stop piece at the back.
I applaud the idea here. In fact, a couple years ago I picked up a KZ1000 frame (with title) for the express purpose of electrifying it, and went with a liter bike because it has so much room for
activitiesbatteries.In contrast I am not planning to use a hub motor, choosing instead to use a chain and sprockets a) so I can keep the factory wheels and b) final drive gearing changes will be easy. Yes, there will be drivetrain losses and a bit more maintenance, but it will maintain more of the traditional motorcycle look.
Also it should be less than $10K, but I’m not planning to go into production 🙂
D’oh! I fully admit that I get my styles mixed up. Also, I suppose, as we see here, it doesn’t help that the people who build these things also get their styles messed up! I’ll have that fixed.