Hi Brian, I guess you might recognise my motives..
With the exception of Asia I’d say the global motorcycle market is dominated by performance requirements. With that in mind I’d say Brammo’s current approach is pretty close to the mark in terms of what’s required to grow their brand in the EV market.
The consumer issues with regard to ‘E’ motorcycles seem to be; Performance (range/power), noise and smell. (Aftermarket can sales, and glassy eyed reminiscing about the smell of Castrol R and 2 strokes..
It’s all got to be about educating the consumer. If you ask gas bike riders how often on a daily basis they ride beyond the range of one tank full of gas it will quickly reveal that most don’t. That’s going to knock a real hole in the ‘range’ argument…for those that do then they’ll just have to wait a little longer to join the revolution.
• If you want to prove E-motorcycle performance to the consumer you need to race against and beat gas-bikes…If you out-perform gas bikes people will care less about how they sound and smell. The sound an Ebike makes as it wups the living daylights out of a screaming multi-cylinder will quickly become as evocative as any open-pipe-special…
• If you want to improve the global image of E motorbikes you’ve got to have a recognised world championship following a well recognised format.(eRoadRacing)When people see BIG organisations like the FIM behind something they start to believe.
• Globally recognised, historic races like Pikes Peak and the Isle of Man TT will further cement public opinion but to a wider less ‘savvy’ audience, it will engage people who don’t normally follow racing on a weekly basis. The TT is always covered on National news channels. When I talk to ‘norms’ about my racing the TT is always the event they recognise..
Not go racing? Are you mad? J It’s the most fun and best value R&D you’re going to get and EVERYBODY cares! Racing proves the breed, only war improves tech at a faster rate than racing..and sometimes they’re not so very different.
I guess the question should really be; ‘How much money have we got? If we can't do them all, which ones are most important to the future growth of Brammo?’
In terms of cost…you can probably rely on some of your competitors to improve the global image by cherry picking major event wins like Lightning at Pikes Peak, they’ve probably done more for the image of electric bikes than their own image alone. For epically expensive events like the TT you could rely on well placed local partners who already have the resource and expertise to absorb some of the costs for you.(J)
For this poll I’d say, from the outside looking in, that the most important thing for Brammo at this still early stage is to race against and beat gas bikes…
However, you will be kicked out soon. If you make a habit of beating the gas bikes they wont be quite as welcoming as they have been. In the UK they already wont let us play, except for a few special cases..(running scared I reckon
) So you need contingency and the other points cover that. You’re going to have to find a way to do them all.
Fozzy
Darvillracing.com (UK)
Show Posts
)