Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman are back on bikes for the fourth series in their epic motorcycle saga around the world. Over twenty years ago they filmed their first series, Long Way Round (2004), which followed the duo, still in their thirties, riding from London to New York鈥攚hat McGregor calls 鈥渙ne of the highlights of my life.鈥�

From his breakthrough role in Trainspotting to playing Star Wars鈥� legendary Obi-Wan Kenobi, McGregor鈥檚 star factor surely has skyrocketed since that first series. But in Long Way Home he鈥檚 still playing himself, riding along with his best friend Boorman as they film each other from cameras mounted on their crash helmets.

鈥淏ecause of the shared experience of doing these journeys together there鈥檚 this bond that we have that I don鈥檛 share with anyone else,鈥� shares the Scottish actor. In Long Way Down (2007), the two rode from Scotland through 18 countries down to Cape Town, South Africa. And in the last installment, Long Way Up (2020), McGregor and Boorman rode on prototype electric Harleys from the southernmost tip of South America through Central America to McGregor鈥檚 home in L.A.

A lot has changed since filming their first Long Way series two decades ago, but you wouldn鈥檛 know it from their bikes: McGregor rides a 1974 Moto Guzzi Eldorado while Boorman chooses a rusty BMW R75/5. After riding into the future on electric bikes that they had to plug-in along remote stretches of Patagonia, McGregor said “the only way to go this time was back.”

In addition to riding vintage bikes, this time the two also are adventuring closer to home, from the rolling hills around McGregor鈥檚 childhood home in Scotland to Boorman鈥檚 house in England. But as always, they’re taking the scenic route. Zipping along a 17-hairpin pass in Norway up to the Arctic Circle, and then down to the Baltics and through the Alps they clock 7500 miles through 17 countries in 63 days. But they still manage to dive into different cultures and take on challenges along the way, including picking themselves up after a few hairy stretches and falling off the bike.

OUTSIDE: So why Long Way Home now? It鈥檚 been 20 years since your first Long Way motorcycle road trip.听

Ewan McGregor: We did our last trip, Long Way Up, just before the world was locked down with the terrible pandemic. It was in sort of a lucky accident that it happened, when it happened.

It had been a long time since we did Long Way Down. We got this very strong sense that it had meant a lot, to a lot of people who had been stuck inside, who hadn’t been able to travel for two years. And just by sheer luck or whatever Long Way Up came out when people were still sort of struggling to get back into coming out of their homes. It meant a lot to people, and it meant a lot to us doing it.

Long Way Up had its own complications鈥攚e did the trip on electric bikes which were quite difficult to find a plug for in Patagonia and such places [a fast charger would have been nice too, laughs Boorman]. But we did it, and we just love being back on the road together basically.

On that trip, when we were in Bolivia, we started daydreaming about another one. We came up with the Scandinavian idea; 鈥淟ong Way Scandi鈥澨齱e used to call it in our helmets as we were chatting to each other. I suppose after we’d been on the cutting-edge-of-technology motorcycles, the only way to go was to go back the other way.

Last time you were riding on super fast electric Harleys, now you鈥檙e riding a bit slower on old temperamental bikes. Why old bikes this time around?听

McGregor: Oh, I’ve always loved old bikes, and I always fancy doing a trip in old classic bikes. We just wanted to do one that was less stressful, more fun. More chance for us just to f***听around and have a laugh. And this sort of loop came out of that idea where we weren’t going to be. We’re not going to have to rush to get a boat from Egypt to Sudan on this one day, or else we wouldn’t be able to do it for another week. So we took the stress out of it, and we just had such a great time.

There were some intense moments when the power went out in Long Way Up and you needed to charge your bikes in the middle of Patagonia. What were the challenges this time?听

Charley Boorman: I don’t want to point any fingers [points to Ewan in the chair beside him]. With the high-tech bikes you can’t really fix them if they go wrong. But old bikes you can. There’s always somebody somewhere that you bump into who can help you, who has a little workshop in the garage. So the breakdown becomes part of the adventure. The times you get stressed because your bike is broken, you end up meeting all these extraordinary people that can help you, and then that becomes one of the highlights of the journey meeting these interesting, like-minded people. That bumping into strangers is part of it.

McGregor: No computers involved. There’s no chip. There’s not a chip on that bike, except for the occasional french fry that’s falling out of my pannier. They鈥檙e mechanical and therefore fixable, and on an adventure that’s quite a good idea. You don’t want something that can catastrophically fail.

So Ewan, you’re in all these films now, what do you like about working on something were it鈥檚 unscripted; you’re yourself?听

McGregor: I’ve always made documentaries. I did one about polar bears a long, long time ago up in Churchill, Canada.听I’ve made three different movies with my brother about the Royal Air Force because he was a pilot in the Royal Air Force. I’ve always enjoyed them because I don’t have the pressure of playing somebody. It’s just me.

I suppose it鈥檚 like a busman’s holiday in a way. We are filming, and we are filmmakers. Charley and I were thinking about getting things across for an audience while we’re doing these trips, but also at the same time, we’ve got an amazing, talented cameraman, Claudio von Planta, and Max Curtis who we picked up in Chile as our fixer there. And he’s such a great addition to the filming team that we had him come on all of this trip. So Claudio and Max sit on the same motorbike, and it’s just the three bikes for most of the time.

And because they’re so skilled we don’t really have to worry too much, just about being ourselves and meeting people and appreciating what we see, recording it, talking about it, and then hopefully inspiring people to look at this world that we鈥檙e lucky to live on. And if we can inspire some people to get out there and travel and experience the world, then we’d be very proud.

Charley, you’ve been in some serious motorcycle accidents over the years…What keeps you getting back on the bike鈥攅specially with the camera on you?

Boorman: Ah, there鈥檚 been a lot of crashes, and 2016 was a bad one, lots of operations to get back together. And then 2018 [crash] was much worse. But all my life, I’ve ridden motorcycles, I’ve ridden horses and stuff like that, and you tend to fall off, and you get back on again. The first one with the broken legs I woke up the next morning having gone through a lot of surgery. I’d broken three limbs, and I’d broken my left hand as well as my right hand.听 I was starting to go down into a into a very deep, dark hole.听

Then I realized there was someone in the room with me, and I looked over and there was a guy in the other bed, and he was in a much, much worse place than I was. And I remember looking at him, and I remember looking down at myself, and I remember thinking it’s not that bad actually. So from then on I was lucky enough to be able to sort of jump out of that hole and start to look at wanting to ride a bike again and wanting to have more adventures.

Somehow the motorbike was my therapy to get back on it. It鈥檚 very easy to get stuck in a trauma and let that trauma dictate your life and it’s a real rabbit hole. There is nothing you can do about what’s happened, so you may as well look forward.

And having friends like Ewan and knowing that people are around you to help but it’s taken a long time, 30 odd operations to get back and be walking again properly.

So I’m happy to be here with Ewan.

So what鈥檚 next? Will there be any more Long Way adventures?

McGregor: Well, you just have to wait and see. Who knows? We’re planning a big luxury RV trip.

Boorman: With helicopters.

Long Way Home premieres on May 9, exclusively on Apple TV+.

The post Ewan McGregor Is Back on His Motorcycle for His Latest 国产吃瓜黑料 Series appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

I was gunning it toward Split Mountain in the Sierra Nevada and my Subaru was begging for mercy. The 鈥渞oad鈥� to the trailhead was like the surface of the moon, rife with ditches, potholes, and boulders techy enough to have a V-grade. The sunglasses hanging from a strap on my rearview mirror swung wildly, smacking me in the face as I dove the car in and out of potholes. I鈥檇 already taken two wrong turns and had been driving this dirt road for the better part of an hour. I was sweaty, stressed, considering canceling my weekend backpacking trip鈥� and I hadn鈥檛 even made it to the trailhead.

Whether you’re hiking, packrafting, rock climbing, or fly fishing, you have to get to the trailhead first. Sometimes, that鈥檚 a mission in and of itself. Most of us just send it in whatever car we drive on a daily basis. In some cases鈥攍ike my trip to Split Mountain鈥攖his means borderline destroying your vehicle.

A lifted 4×4 makes reaching remote trailheads less sketchy, but not everyone can (or wants to) own an expensive, gas-guzzling adventure rig and rumble around pumping fumes like a mobile smelter. And even these won鈥檛 make it up some rugged, poorly-maintained access roads.

There are other options. You can park your car at the edge of the pavement and walk or pedal. This is a noble choice, but some access roads are so听lengthy that this听adds several hours to your trip, zapping energy before you reach your objective. If you鈥檙e a weekend warrior like me, you may not have time for that.

But I’ve learned there’s another option: You can ride a motorcycle.

I鈥檝e been backpacking and rock climbing since I was a kid and riding street motorcycles since I was a teenager. But for most of my early twenties, I saw these activities as disparate pursuits. The roar of dirt bikes and ATVs in the backcountry is enough to bring any hiker鈥檚 blood to a boil, and it feels like cheating, so I never thought powersports had a place in the wilderness.

But I had never considered making motorcycles my vehicle to get to the wilderness.

That changed during a two-month trip to Guatemala in 2021. I wanted to see the country, but I couldn鈥檛 afford to rent a car, and the roads were so bad I didn鈥檛 feel comfortable driving one. Instead, I rented a 250cc Honda Tornado motorbike for a few hundred bucks. I spent several weeks taking that little bike to trailheads across Guatemala, from the black sand beaches of El Par茅don on the south coast to the stratovolcano Tajumulco (13,789ft), the highest peak in Central America.

Instead of feeling like my adventure started when I stepped out of my car and got to the trailhead, the whole trip became an adventure, and I was able to do so much more than I could鈥檝e with a car. I rode the bike up rocky mountain roads to hike volcanoes and crossed streams and rivers to access remote beaches, bodysurfing and snorkeling along the coast.

Even the seemingly shitty parts about riding a bike had hidden benefits. Initially, I was frustrated that I couldn鈥檛 pack nearly as much on the bike as if I鈥檇 rented a car. I had to pare down my hiking kit, bringing only bare necessities, but this made me a more sustainable, thriftier packer.

One day, a rainstorm stuck me under a tin-roofed gazebo for three hours. I was joined by five other riders during that time. We all swapped stories, shared coffee, and poked around on each others鈥� bikes. I didn鈥檛 get where I was going that day, but I made new friends and was better for it.

Those two months in Guatemala hooked me on motorcycle adventures. When I returned to Alabama鈥攚here I lived at the time鈥擨 began riding motorcycles as much as possible when heading into the outdoors. I slimmed down my usual climbing kit so I could take my bike to the sport crag, bought a packraft that fit in my saddlebag to paddle flat water, and dove into minimalist backpacking.

Narrow, rocky 4WD access roads were no longer a stressful, time-wasting obstacle. They were a thrilling part of the adventure, one I could comfortably tackle on a dual-sport or adventure motorbike. Long commutes to the wilderness were no longer boring drives, either, tackled with windows up, A/C on, coffee in hand, and podcast playing. On a motorcycle, the adventure began as soon as I pulled out of my garage.

I discovered other advantages. Motorbikes have much better gas mileage than cars, so I started saving money getting to the trailhead, and I felt better about putting out less carbon dioxide. I also took up less space on the road, reducing traffic and congestion.

The next year, I spent three months in Ecuador, riding a Royal Enfield Himalayan, Honda XRE300, and Suzuki DR650 to camp and climb some of the country鈥檚 5,000-meter peaks. The trailheads for many of these mountains were impossible to reach in a normal car. I would have had to hire a guide or enlist a local with a 4×4, but those bikes allowed me to tackle the adventure on my own.

I rode up to Tungurahua (16,480ft) with a wild dog running alongside me. I shared beers with two teens riding dirt bikes when we all got stuck in a mud pit on the heinous 鈥渞oad鈥� to Cayambe (18,996ft). (Admittedly, when a snowstorm hit the latter mountain, I was the last guy stuck at the shelter as everyone else left in 4×4 trucks, but it just made the adventure feel more real.)

In the years since, I鈥檝e adventured off of motorcycles in a dozen countries. Most of the time, motorcycles weren鈥檛 the adventure鈥攖hey were the route to the adventure鈥攂ut they always magnified it tenfold. My girlfriend and I rode a Harley-Davidson Pan America to a slew of remote hikes and campsites across the Balkans, and I used a Honda CB500X to in the Peruvian Andes for Climbing magazine.

If you haven鈥檛 ridden a motorcycle before, you might be surprised at how easy it is to get started. Small-to-medium displacement motorbikes are far cheaper than cars. You can pick up a new Himalayan鈥攑erhaps the flagship bike in the small adventure class鈥攆or a mere $5,000. Older bikes routinely go for ~$2,000, smaller bikes even less.

I hiked on the South Island of New Zealand off a 125cc Honda that I bought for $900. Lightweight, slim, and nimble, bikes like these are easy to keep on the porch, under the stairs, or in a sliver of garage space. As for the riding, consider taking a Introductory Motorcycle Experience or Basic RiderCourse to see what you think.

At home or abroad, motorbikes can turn sketchy, stressful, car-destroying wilderness access roads into exciting parts of the adventure. You鈥檒l also feel better about your carbon footprint, pack lighter, and get more in touch with your environment.

Just keep the rubber side down鈥�

The post I Thought Motorcycles Didn鈥檛 Belong in the Wilderness. I Was Wrong. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The Wall of Death, a cylindrical wooden stage where talented riders pull off all sorts of stunts on motorcycles, was once a mainstay of American carnivals. Only a handful are in use today, passion projects for a few dedicated fanatics. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not going to make too much money doing this,鈥� says New York City photographer Jay Kolsch. 鈥淵ou have to maintain it while you鈥檙e on the road, and build it up and take it down everywhere you go. It has to be something you care deeply about.鈥�

Kolsch went to a carnival in upstate New York to document Danny Weil鈥檚 Wall of Death over several days in the summer of 2022. At the time, a back injury prevented Weil from riding the Wall he鈥檇 built in his Florida backyard, but he continues to feature it in carnivals up and down the East Coast. Initially, Kolsch was drawn to the discipline and athleticism involved in riding the Wall. But ultimately, he decided on a different approach. Instead of focusing exclusively on the flashy motorcycles and death-defying riding, 鈥淚 also wanted to give space to the Wall itself,鈥� Kolsch says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 beautiful to see this imperfect thing someone built with their own two hands give joy to a bunch of children and thrill all these people.鈥�

The post The Wall of Death Is Still Alive, Thanks to These Devoted Riders appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Natasha 鈥淭ashi鈥� Smith is a self-described 鈥渦nprofessional鈥� athlete and member of the Ebony Beach Club, a group committed to introducing more Black people to the ocean through beach parties and surf lessons. An avid surfer and traveler鈥攜ou can find her on and and she appears in the film 鈥�she chases waves up and down the California coast in her van and regularly makes international trips to explore different cultures. Smith is passionate about teaching people that there are no age or cultural restrictions on being active in sports and activities. Her essay below is excerpted from Been 国产吃瓜黑料: 国产吃瓜黑料s of Black Women, Nonbinary, and Gender Nonconforming People in Nature, edited by Shaz Zamore and Amber Wendler, out this month from .听

鈥�They’re Just Activities鈥�

Before I say that I am anything, I must first declare that I am Black. I am a Black woman, a Black skateboarder, a Black motocross rider…the list goes on. I love the distinction. It means that no matter what, I am never plain, and I am always adding to the list. Black surfer is one of my newest titles, and my favorite. I think the universe was saving that one for just the right time.

On my first visit to California, I wanted to experience as much of the place as possible. I took a surfing lesson and had a great time but didn鈥檛 actually get it. When I got home to Virginia Beach, my dirt bike broke and, to be honest, I wasn鈥檛 that interested in fixing it. It was hotter than usual that summer, and a lot of my friends weren鈥檛 riding regularly. The instructor had mentioned Costco had surfboards for $100, so I picked one up.

I spent that whole summer at the beach. Several times each week, I packed my surfboard into my car early in the morning and drove out there. The surf community at my first beach was small. By the time I started to figure out surfing, I knew all the other surfers by name. They taught me a lot and encouraged me to try surfing in California. A year and a half later, I found myself sitting in a van on the Pacific coast, surfing more than I was working, and living well. A ninety-minute surf lesson at Pleasure Point had changed my entire life.

When I talk to Black people about surfing, one of their first questions is how I got into such a predominantly white activity. The brief story I just shared always feels too simple. There should have been a beloved teacher or family adventure, but really it was just me with a Groupon on a work trip. When I thought of California, I thought of surfing, so it felt like a natural decision. My race and gender have never affected whether I pursue a new hobby or project. Before my lesson, I never thought about the fact that I would be the only Black person in the water that day. The only thing on my mind was how cold the water might be in April (and I was right to be concerned). I quickly learned the difference between the chilly, peaky waves of the Pacific and the warm, mushy Atlantic I was used to.

Virginia Beach is a really big town that spans from a newer downtown to the touristy oceanfront, then winds through some pretty countryside that touches North Carolina and all the way up to Norfolk, home of the largest naval base in the world. I grew up near the tourist area, so we dealt with the yearly influx of people from the north and west seeking a coastline. With the community being home to a lot of high-ranking government and military officials, as well as the poor leftover Confederates, misogyny and racial tension swirled through constantly.

I was fortunate enough to maintain a childlike na茂vet茅 about the effects of race until much later in life. I tended to blame any negative attention on the fact that I was a girl. Now, when people ask if I feel safe as the only Black person at the beach, I almost have to laugh. I grew up racing motocross in the backwoods of the Southern states, so the beaches of California are far from the most challenging racial environment I鈥檝e ever had to navigate鈥攁nd I used to do it without a second thought. I鈥檝e slept in many homes that had Confederate flags stamped with Southern pride hanging in the garage. I just figured we needed a new flag for Southern pride because I knew I couldn鈥檛 fly that one.

Because of that type of social ineptitude, I never know if I鈥檓 qualified to give advice on starting new things. The biggest part of starting a new hobby is simply getting over the anxiety of participating. I know I can鈥檛 just say don鈥檛 think about that, but that鈥檚 what I do. Once my helmet is on or my wetsuit is zipped, I shouldn鈥檛 be thinking about who鈥檚 looking, because I have to do a thing. Focusing on bettering myself a little each time attracts positivity from other people. I鈥檝e also realized that many altercations start because a beginner does not realize they鈥檙e in the way. I always focus on learning how to stay out of the way first because of motocross. If you鈥檙e not going as fast, stay to the right. Hold a predictable line. If you fall, do your best to get off the track. These are things that keep the more experienced riders from landing on you.

Similar rules apply to snow sports and other sports where people of different experience levels share the same course. Learning how to be predictable can help maintain the vibe and make it a little easier for you to figure everything else out. Lessons and camps are my favorite ways to start new things because I鈥檓 someone else鈥檚 responsibility. They鈥檒l tell me right from wrong until eventually I鈥檓 comfortable navigating it on my own. And there鈥檚 very little chance I鈥檒l get yelled at.

That鈥檚 not to say that each reaction is not influenced by prejudices. I鈥檝e seen the same infractions, such as dropping in on someone else鈥檚 wave, but people of different demographics get different responses in the session. When I find myself in those situations, I try to think of it as lightly as possible. I don鈥檛 have the energy for hate, so I鈥檒l make an empathetic analysis of their actions, telling myself they don鈥檛 have the coping skills they need, so that I can go back to focusing on whatever I wanted to do that day. Even if there is a bad interaction, I can always find some small victory at the end of each session if I at least participated. If the surf is bigger than I鈥檓 comfortable with, I don鈥檛 even make it a point to ride a set wave. I will take the small victory of having made the paddle out, and if I catch a bigger wave, cool.

Small victories lead to eventual success. I have plenty of sports-related testaments to this statement, but building out my van is a more universal example. I didn鈥檛 actually know how to build anything before I got my van. A strong base of knowledge in Legos made me the family furniture constructor, but I had no freehand carpentry experience. The first bed in my van was a piece of plywood on Ikea table legs. My dog has only recently become brave enough to sit on its much sturdier replacement while I drive because it used to flip over when I hit the brakes hard.

Once again, persistence and focus on the task at hand brought the right people to me鈥攁 small victory. One day while I was working on the van in a parking lot, a hardware store employee who was collecting carts taught me how to build a basic box frame and how to brace it. From there, I built it over and over, better each time, until I had the home on wheels that I wrote this piece in. There were many small victories and some defeats, too, and I don鈥檛 know if any project of mine is ever truly finished, but I鈥檓 glad I didn鈥檛 save up and let a company do it for me. After all those small victories, I gained a wealth of knowledge鈥攁nd a van. I鈥檓 proud of it and everything I do in it, and I can develop and specialize it for any of my new interests.

I hope some of this resonates with someone out there. I hope you can remember to just focus on the task when you start to feel people鈥檚 eyes on you. I hope you can excuse some weaker-minded person in the moment so that you can maintain your focus. I hope you choose happiness whenever it鈥檚 available. I will say a million times: if you have ever seen anyone do anything that you thought looked fun, you are just as human as they are and you have every right to try it out too. And if you like it, I hope you share it with someone else who didn鈥檛 think they could do it either.

Natasha “Tashi” Smith is still chasing waves in her van and enjoys surfing, motocross, skateboarding, mountain biking, and most other sports that involve motion. She has a devoted following on .

The post 鈥淏lack Surfer鈥� Is Natasha Smith’s Favorite Title appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

A Trail for Everyone, produced by showcases the development of a . The plan will create a vision for a recreation-focused lifestyle through community investment, shared stewardship, economic opportunity and important new local jobs, all benefiting economically disadvantaged communities in Plumas, Sierra, Butte and Lassen Counties.

Donate to help build Connected Communities.

The post Add This New Trail System Through the Lost Sierra to Your Bucket List appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

听believes in 鈥渆ndless curiosity.鈥� That听guiding philosophy听led her to set听the goal of听trying a new outdoor sport听every month. When Blount听told us about her challenge, we thought, Now that鈥檚 something we can get behind. So she and 国产吃瓜黑料 teamed up with the folks at 听to bring you Beyond Familiar,听a video series about 鈥渢he journey, the joy, and the try.鈥�听Follow along as Blount attempts听activities for the first time. In this听episode, she learns to ride a electric dirt bike听across the sand dunes and salt flats of Knolls, Utah.

The post 鈥楤eyond Familiar鈥�: Episode Two appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The motorcycle world is full of contradictions. On one hand, innovation is relatively inexpensive. It can cost as little as $5 million to $6 million to develop a new motorcycle, whereas for a car, that number is closer to听$5 billion or $6 billion. On the other hand, motorcycle riders are incredibly conservative and don鈥檛 typically welcome change.听

Adding to that conundrum, motorcycles make ideal personal transportation for the increasingly congested roads in our increasingly urban world, but our society is becoming so averse to risk that motorcycles are seen and used as dangerous toys鈥攏ot practical transportation.听

All that explains听why we saw a boom in the development of electric motorcycles a decade ago, before electrification really took off in the car world, then a stagnation in available electric听motorcycles听over the last few years, even as electric cars started to become more commonplace. Now听the largest motorcycle brand in the United States鈥擧arley-Davidson鈥攊s finally putting its first electric bike on sale. If you鈥檝e got $30,000, 听for August delivery.

Why has it听taken so long to get an e-bike from Harley, and why does it cost so much? I think I鈥檓 uniquely positioned to answer both questions.听

Back in the late 2000s, when the first electric motorcycles were beginning to hit the roads, I started a little motorcycle blog as a side project. I was eager to create content for it听but couldn鈥檛 compete with the big motorcycle magazines for access to the Ducatis and听Hondas of the industry. But those听same magazines were incredibly skeptical of electric vehicles, so I was able to leverage my enthusiasm for seat time on those. I ended up reporting on a bunch of electric tech developments during what ended up being a time of exciting change for the motorcycle world.听

Because it was so much cheaper and simpler to develop electric motorcycles, a host of innovators saw them as a way to try new ideas听and develop expertise around batteries, electric motors, and the software that controls them. The idea was that, by building some really neat bikes, they could then sell all that intellectual property back to the much richer car world once the inevitable electrification took hold. And that competition to develop electric vehicle (EV)听technology led to real-world competition, as those innovators started taking to racetracks in an attempt to prove who had the best ideas. Electric motorcycles went from dorky little commuter bikes to unprecedentedly fast-racing prototypes in just a couple of years.听

While the hope for a big payday remained听that a car maker might come knocking, that the rapid pace of innovation and the racetrack success began to make the prospect of a mainstream-production e-motorcycle seem viable, too. Someone just needed to figure out how to pack a feasible range into a fun package and听bring that to market at a price people would pay.听

The first manufacturer to bring a genuinely good electric motorcycle to production was a little startup called Brammo, based out of Ashland, Oregon. Its听Empulse was the first electric bike you could buy that had a maximum range of over 100 miles听and a top speed of over 100 miles per hour. On top of that, , something I discovered in the mountains above its听headquarters, where I spent a couple of days carving up twisty听roads with Brammo鈥檚 in-house racer, Eric Bostrom. Thanks to the relatively quiet nature of electric motivation, it was the first time I could actually hear the leather peeling off my knee sliders as they scraped along the asphalt through corners.听It felt like the future had finally arrived.听

That ride took place in August 2012, a date which feels particularly relevant because it was听exactly seven years before deliveries of the LiveWire would听begin, and it was around that same time that Harley started development of that听bike. Also,听the new LiveWire appears to be shockingly (get it?)听similar to that old Empulse.听

The LiveWire鈥檚 top speed is claimed to be 110 miles per hour. I maxed out an Empulse at 105. Measured under the Society of Automotive Engineers鈥� test cycle, Harley says its LiveWire will have a maximum urban range of 110 miles. The same metric听for the Empulse was 121 miles. While Harley isn鈥檛 releasing the capacity of the LiveWire鈥檚 battery, we can extrapolate from the similarity in performance and range that it will be close to the Empulse鈥檚 9.3 kilowatt-hours. Batteries remain the most expensive single component on electric vehicles, so this transitions us nicely into a discussion about price.听

Most signs pointed toward the Empulse听becoming a success. Brammo听had secured the investment necessary to put it into production. It was winning races around the world. The company signed major manufacturing partnerships that could have given it the scale necessary to respond to huge demand. But that demand never really materialized, in large part because, at nearly $20,000, the Empulse cost more than twice as much as the internal-combustion-engine bikes Brammo identified as the competition. Rights to the Empulse were eventually acquired by Polaris, which sold the bike under its Victory brand. When that brand went under a couple years ago, it took the Empulse with it.听

I was taken听by surprise, then,听when Harley announced that the LiveWire would cost $29,799. Back in 2012, EV batteries . Today, Tesla has whittled听that cost down to $190 on its Model 3, while the Chevy Bolt鈥檚 batteries cost General Motors $230. Surely, given the economies of scale Harley is able to leverage (it sold about 230,000 motorcycles in the U.S. last year, while Brammo never sold more than a couple hundred)听and the time that has passed, Harley should be able to sell this bike for substantially less money. So I called up Marc McAllister, Harley-Davidson鈥檚听vice president of product planning and portfolio, and asked him what gives.听

鈥淲e don鈥檛 expect mass-market adoption,鈥� McAllister says. In addition to parts and materials, the price of a new motorcycle is a function of the cost it takes to develop it, spread across the projected-sales volume. Because this is Harley鈥檚 first electric motorcycle, the cost of new-production processes, equipment, and facilities, as well as employee training, are also a factor. McAllister wouldn鈥檛 tell me the number of sales Harley is targeting for the LiveWire听but, at $30,000, we can assume that number will be fairly low.听

https://youtube.com/watch?v=DRy9H_6qbtM

Rather than sell the bike in huge volumes, McAllister tells me that it鈥檚 the LiveWire鈥檚 job to drive interest in the idea of an electric Harley, because more of those are on the way. 鈥淭he LiveWire is the beginning of a portfolio of electric motorcycles,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e see this portfolio ranging from a few thousand dollars听all the way up to LiveWire.鈥� Harley has already shown an electric scooter and an electric dirt bike it plans to put into production soon, and its future range of EVs could include everything from pedal-assist electric bicycles听to heavy cruisers. The idea is that a lot of people will be interested in buying a $3,000 electric scooter from the brand because it shares some of the excitement of the $30,000 LiveWire.听

The big question hanging over the LiveWire, then, isn鈥檛 its cost, but whether it will be exciting enough to shine a halo on the rest of the company鈥檚 forthcoming EVs. The rest of the motorcycle world hasn鈥檛 taken the last seven years off. Right now听you can buy that has an urban range of 223 miles听and similar performance to the LiveWire. Lightning Motorcycles will sell you for $38,880, and it just announced that a new model, coming in March, will have a 150-mile range, a 150-mile-per-hour top speed, and cost just $12,998.听

I asked McAllister what the LiveWire (or other future Harley EVs) will offer that the cheaper, faster competition does not. 鈥淔irst of all, we鈥檙e bringing an authentic Harley-Davidson experience to an electric motorcycle that handles and develops power in a great way,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e also bring 115听years of experience of how to service customers, and we bring a lot more support and capability at ensuring riders have a great experience wherever they are.鈥澨�

McAllister says that, later this year, the LiveWire will be available at a network of over 200 Harley dealers nationwide, a number the company hopes to grow over the coming years. Neither Zero nor Lightning sells听more than a handful of bikes (they don鈥檛 release exact numbers)听and have scarcely any dealer presence. If you need service or support, or just want to take a test ride, odds are you鈥檒l have a Harley dealer who鈥檚 able to help you nearby. No other electric-motorcycle brand can say that.听

Why hasn鈥檛 another major motorcycle brand put together a mainstream electric motorcycle yet? To understand the answer to that question, you have to understand Harley鈥檚 unique position in a rapidly changing market. Motorcycle sales are in the toilet here in America. The industry focused almost exclusively on selling luxury bikes to baby boomers in a prerecession economy where credit was cheap. When the housing market collapsed in 2008, it took American motorcycle sales with it. Foreign brands like Honda were able to refocus their efforts on stable markets like Southeast Asia鈥攂ut Harley sells the vast majority of its motorcycles here in America. The company tried for years to market its existing product range to a new audience, before acknowledging that, in order to survive, it needs to find new ways to reach that new audience with new products. And those new products in the U.S. are going to be EVs.听

McAllister is keenly aware of the barriers to entry that have prevented his brand from reaching new riders听and is pitching this new portfolio of EVs directly at those barriers. Getting a motorcycle license is expensive and time-consuming, so he says Harley will sell products small enough that they can be legally ridden on the road without a motorcycle license. Think of those as a gateway drug to faster, more expensive Harley electrics. Motorcycles can be intimidating to ride, and in the hands of the inexperienced, they can be dangerous. So听Harley is adopting forward-thinking safety tech like . That鈥檚 present on the LiveWire, which is also fitted with programmable riding modes that alter everything from traction control intervention levels to the motor鈥檚 power delivery in order to make the motorcycle both safe for beginners听and exciting for experts. The American public鈥檚 buying power is now concentrated in cities听and in a younger generation, both of which are unwelcoming to the brand鈥檚 traditional cruiser archetype. As a result,听Harley is exploring ways in which it can translate its brand recognition to an entirely new generation of products that will exist across categories Harley has never before considered.听

Just like the wider motorcycle world, Harley鈥檚 path to success in an electric future is full of contradictions. It needs to sell affordable e-motorcycles, but in order to make you want an affordable electric motorcycle, it has to not sell you an expensive electric motorcycle first. If you want a LiveWire, but can鈥檛 afford one, then Harley has succeeded.听

The post Why Harley鈥檚 New Electric Motorcycle Costs $30,000 appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

From filmmaker and听apparel company , 听features motorcyclist escaping to the Mojave Desert in California for an endless oasis of riding.

The post 鈥楶ainted in Dust鈥� appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Facing declining sales, aging customers, and now a public battle with Donald Trump, Harley-Davidson desperately needed to do something to boost its stock prices. That something is revealing its five-year future product plan鈥攁 move that鈥檚 unprecedented from the typically tight-lipped motor company.听

To me, the most exciting motorcycle in that future product line is the Pan America, a large-capacity, liquid-cooled adventure bike in the BMW mold. Harley also plans to finally put into production the LiveWire electric motorcycle it鈥檚 been offering test rides on for the last few years, which will lead to a range of electrics that will include pedal-assist e-bikes. And there鈥檚 even an aggressive new unfaired sport bike that looks like it鈥檒l pick up where company鈥檚 Buell brand left off. Color this once very jaded motorcycle journalist excited about H-D for the first time ever.听

This being a future product preview, details are slim. H-D says the LiveWire is coming August 2019, and the Pan America is launching sometime in 2020. That model will be powered by an all-new 1,250cc liquid-cooled V-twin. speculates that that new motor appears to retain Harley鈥檚 traditional 60-degree cylinder angle (which should keep the uneven character), but will be equipped with dual overhead cams and a six-speed gearbox. Don鈥檛 expect class-leading performance or weight figures, but the bike should at least be of this century.听

Styling of the Pan America is an interesting mix of futuristic shapes鈥攖he very square front fairing and headlight鈥攃ombined with classic Harley features, like the shape of the gas tank. Components appear to be of good quality鈥攔adial brakes, spoked wheels with tubeless tires, upside down forks鈥攂ut the bike also appears to sit decidedly on the touring side of the broad adventure-touring spectrum. Expect some limited dirt capability to be mixed in with a heaping dose of long-distance comfort courtesy of a high curb weight.听

On the electric side, the styling of the LiveWire has long been established by various Marvel action movies. Over that prototype, the production model should benefit from Harley鈥檚 recent partnership with Bay Area electric motorcycle innovator . My sincere hope is that Alta will be able to give the production LiveWire听the performance edge that the prototype was missing.听

A more clear product of that partnership should be the other, lighter electric motorcycles Harley previewed in sketch form. A svelte electric street tracker with classic Harley styling and legit Alta Motors performance and weight? Yes please. The motor company will also be bringing other, smaller electric motorcycles and bicycles to market over the next-half decade, in a transparent attempt to attract new, younger riders to the brand.听

Then there鈥檚 the 2020 Harley-Davidson Streetfighter, which looks to all the world like a Harley-branded Ducati Diavel. It appears as if 鈥淪treetfighter鈥� will become a new sub-brand, partially occupying the role Buell once played at the company, with a range of performance-oriented models ranging from 500cc (likely using the Indian-made Street 500 platform), on up to one that shares the Pan America鈥檚 1,250cc motor. That first model in 2020 will be equipped with a 975cc liquid-cooled twin.听

Overall, Harley claims it will听bring听16 new models to market in the next five years, all part of an effort to recruit听two million new riders in this country by 2027. It's focusing on international markets, too,听namely in India and China, where the motor company is announcing plans to open between 25 and 35 new dealerships per year听over the next five years. In the meantime, look for even more听model announcements as H-D pivots toward听those markets.听

The post Harley-Davidson鈥檚 First 国产吃瓜黑料 Bike appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The founder of Sweden鈥檚 high-end snow and cycling protection brand POC is branching out and building a new generation of electric dirt bikes. Light, fun, silent, friendly, and clean, the is nothing like the motorcycles of the past and may even be the machine that gets you riding.

What鈥檚 Cake?

The new electric motorcycle company鈥檚 headquarters is in downtown Stockholm, but its heart and soul can be found in the tiny fishing village of Hallshuk, on the north shore of Gotland, a bucolic island in the Baltic Sea.

Founder and CEO Stefan Ytterborn has a summer home there and visits with his sons Karl and Nils, who are co-founders in the new company, to explore trails, surf the small Baltic swells, and fish its waters. This is where I visited to test their new motorcycle.

Their barn is filled with surfboards, fishing poles, protection equipment, and a motley assortment of electric motorcycle-bicycle hybrids that the family collected in the run-up to designing the Kalk. Trails snake from the property, up and over limestone cliffs and into the surrounding woodlands and pastures. Kalksten is Swedish for limestone, hence the bike鈥檚 name.

What鈥檚 the Kalk?

Blurring the lines between a gravity bike and a motorcycle, the Kalk weighs 100 pounds less than the next-lightest electric motorcycle, the KTM EX-C. At just 150 pounds, it鈥檚 far lighter than any gas-powered bike.

Over the past decade, dozens of small companies have attempted to build something similar, but their components were an odd mix of heavy stuff pulled from the motorcycle world and too-fragile parts from bikes. Cake has avoided that dilemma by making its own purpose-built components in-house and partnering with legendary Swedish suspension maker Ohlins to create the Kalk鈥檚 unique forks and monoshock.

By designing its own components, Cake is able to maximize this electric motorcycle鈥檚 low-impact qualities. The 24-inch tires are made from a unique rubber compound/tread pattern combo that鈥檚 meant to create low rolling resistance as well as high traction to avoid tearing up trails. The company offers a听solar charger that can recharge the Kalk鈥檚 2.6 kWh battery pack in 90 minutes.

The 65-degree head angle and 205 millimeters of suspension travel also split the difference between mountain and dirt bikes. The Ohlins suspension is as good as it gets, with high- and low-speed adjustments for compression damping and a three-stage air-spring front fork that you can dial in for ride height and bottoming resistance.

Riding It

The Kalk鈥檚 visual elegance and simplicity is complemented by an equally straightforward riding experience. Predictable, intuitive, and enjoyable, this bike is unintimidating and loads of fun.

One of the chief advantages of electric power is that its components have no fixed arrangement like the cylinders, induction systems, exhausts, and gearboxes of internal combustion engines. That means designers of electric motorcycles are free to cluster heavy batteries and motors however they want. On the Kalk, that results in a low center of gravity and a slim width that combine to make its svelte 150-pound weight feel even lighter, making it easy to maneuver and control over almost any terrain. Despite its dirt-bike-tall 35-inch seat height, the Kalk remains remarkably friendly for smaller riders, thanks to that ultra-low weight and slim dimensions.

That ease-of-use is accentuated by the simple controls. Without the need for a gearshift lever or a clutch, the Kalk has hand controls only, with the rear brake on the left and the twist throttle and front brake on the right. All your feet do is stand on the foot pegs. If you want to switch to a bicycle-like lever setup, you can just swap those around.

The only noise comes from the whir of the electric motor鈥攖hink cordless drill on steroids鈥攁nd the tires interacting with the surface you鈥檙e riding over. Anyone with a motorcycle background will be shocked by how quiet this thing is.

Three preset riding modes鈥擠iscover, Explore, and Excite鈥攁llow the rider to dial in throttle response, while another setting lets you tweak how strong the artificial 鈥渆ngine braking鈥� actuates. This allows you to achieve the freewheeling feel of a bicycle or the strong deceleration you achieve when you let off the throttle on a four-stroke dirt bike. This feature also provides regenerative battery charging.

I spent a couple days riding the Kalk through Gotland鈥檚 tight forest trails and on Cake鈥檚 motocross track. It felt like nothing else I鈥檝e ever swung a leg over. Once up to speed on tight singletrack, it felt like descending on a mountain bike, no matter if the trail was going up, down, or staying flat. Flicking the rear around requires only a touch of throttle, and the tires lift off the ground over even the smallest bump. The slack head tube and short wheelbase combine stability with agile turning, and the large brake discs and hydraulic calipers make scrubbing all that speed a breeze.

The Kalk does without the brush guards that are standard on dirt bikes. This keeps it visually clean, but without that protection, your hands get slapped by passing branches. Depending on what types of trails you ride and how fast you want to tackle them, you鈥檒l probably want to add hand protection. The Kalk also does without a side stand, but even the smallest rider in our group (110 pounds) had no problem picking up the bike after laying it down flat.

The Kalk really shines on Cake鈥檚 small motocross track. Thirty pound-feet of torque is a lot on a 150-pound bike, and it鈥檚 delivered immediately, at any speed, with a simple twist of the throttle. Being able to ride without shifting really helped me maintain speed, and the suspension soaked up the whoops and landings, even when I cased the tabletops. The bike鈥檚 top speed of 50 miles per hour is more than enough on a track like this or through tight trails.

Who鈥檚 It For?

Ytterborn says he wants Cake to be 鈥渕ore Patagonia than Kawasaki.鈥� But given the $13,000 price tag, it鈥檚 hard to imagine someone without motorcycle experience picking one of these up on a whim. The Kalk鈥檚 strong performance, even in the mildest throttle setting, will also be a lot for a new rider to handle. It accelerates much faster than, say, a scooter, or 125cc learner motorcycle.

But if you already know how to ride a motorcycle, the quiet, clean, and ultralight Kalk will offer you a completely new riding experience. It makes even the tightest and most technical trails much more manageable. It gives you the opportunity to encounter wildlife while you鈥檙e out riding. On it, you can explore the woods without disrupting them.

If that sounds like fun, and if you want to burn fewer fossil fuels and don鈥檛 want everyone within a mile to hear you riding by, then the Kalk will change how you feel about motorcycles. Cake is hoping this describes more than a few of you.

Likes

• Elegant design.
• Flawless engineering and quality.
• Amazing suspension.
• Strong performance.
• Near-silent operation.
• Extremely lightweight.
• Incredibly easy to ride.
• Low maintenance.

Dislikes

• Only 50 miles of range on a trail.
• Not street legal (yet).
• Expensive.
• No headlight.

Should You Buy It?

Every time I test a new vehicle, I try to imagine owning one. I could strap this thing to the front of our military truck when my wife, son, and I set out on an overland adventure, charge it from our onboard solar panels, and use it to explore the areas outside our camps, ride it into town for supplies, and rely on it as emergency transportation, since that LMTV breaks down a lot. Honestly, I think it鈥檇 be ideal in that role.

But that鈥檚 admittedly a niche use case. Cake鈥檚 first motorcycle is a dirt bike for people who don鈥檛 like dirt bikes. Given the quality of the product, I think the company will be able to find a strong if small following for such a thing. But it鈥檚 what comes next for the new brand that鈥檒l be its real challenge. Will Cake move closer to the motorsports world or find new ways to put electric motorcycles in different hands?

If the Ytterborns can figure that out, then I think they might really be on to something.

The post You’re Going to Want the Cake Kalk E-Dirt Bike appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.