Minutes of a Motorcycle Addict

Honda has unveiled that it will bring an electric bike to the market in 2010, thus joning the likes of KTM, Vectrix (if they survive), Zero and some other smaller brands to compete in this newish segment. But it is through racing bikes electricity will get the advantage it needs to become the future of moto power.

Personally I'm not addicted to petrol combustion engines. Even though I like the sound and mechanics of them, I enjoy much more the ride. Whatever powers my bike is secondary as long as I have at least the power, range and longevity of my current bikes. I have been drooling over a new diesel offering as well as looking hard at some electric cross bikes from KTM. Whereas diesel pollutes for sure, the  electrically powered vehicles are emission free (not taking into account manufacturing pollution).

Electric power racing: Evo Design's TT Racer (UK)

There is no doubt that the combustion engines as we know them will be history in some years. The remaining question is: What will replace them? More and more manufacturers jump on the electricity bandwagon. As battery technology improves, so does the usability of the bikes.  But is electricity from some sort of a battery really the answer?

Many argue that it seems that batteries will never get to a level where they can replace the combustion engine with regard to how far you can go and how powerful you can get it. Let alone the obstacle with charging up the cells within a reasonable time: It must not take longer than it would take refuelling a ordinary petrol fuelled bike. Many believe tomorrow's engineers will come up with some other alternatives. And they might.

However:

What electric bikes of today offer, though, is quietness. On sports bikes that is perfect. Road racers, crossers, enduro, trial - all can be done with electrically powered bikes. This means that you can have tracks closer to where people live because the noise will be gone. This again means that you can bring the sports that so many of us like closer to home, attracting a new breed of spectators. I mean, people look at other people coasting down a slope on a board - why couldn't they be interested in fast paced el-cycle action? I think it will only be a matter of time before we'll find racing tracks that are exclusively for noiseless vehicles, e.g. battery powered bikes and cars, in our back yards.

That again may create a new breed of racing. Not the dull "how-far-can-you-go-on-solar-power-in-30-km's-an-hour"-competitions. No, here we're talking fast paced action "motor" sports like the electric equivalent of MotoGP, Superbike, Cross, Motard and Enduro races. History has shown us that racing drives new solutions, innovations and ideas that shows up in ordinary products available for consumers sooner or later. The sooner the race is on, the earlier we may expect viable emission free solutions for the street.

In April this year the producer Zero arranged an el-cross race. The 12 June this year, the first el-race at Isle of Man is taking place. The Electric TT, so to speak. These are the first attempts to create new leagues of racing. I believe we'll see more of them in the decades to come.

If we riders choose not to go with our backs into the future, we might discover that these are actually quite interesting times.