+1 on the reviewers' not spending enough time with the Empulse to really get it. At least he's honest enough to state that if he spent more time on the bike "I would start to figure out how to best use it."
+1 about the ridiculousness of carping about the low center of gravity and how that interferes with the "playful character of the electric motor", whatever that's supposed to mean. Actually Adam showed me where the center of mass is and it's pretty much the exact center of the bike. Heck this thing corners like it's glued on rails and he's quibbling about a low COG making it feel like a scooter? Well, sir, I have a very good scooter (TMax) and the Empulse out-corners it and provides way more "playfulness."
I really don't grasp the intent of his complaint that the Empulse is "too much like a conventional motorcyle." Because it has two wheels (very good wheels!) and brakes (very good brakes), and corners like nobody's business? What did he want that's lacking? To me his statement reads like he's saying something, but the something evaporates upon closer inspection. But of course, I'm not his editor!
At one point, Gabe says, “And it's really fun to ride, giving up little to any middleweight commuter I've ridden. Would it be a rational purchase? Not really. But what motorcycle really is?”
Of COURSE it's rational: it gives up little to any middleweight commuter he's ever ridden, and my cost in commuting 40 miles a day is about $15 a month and a total absence of tuneups, plus I'm not creating toxic fumes for Gabe to breathe on his commute. Rational? Hell yes! Oh yeah, and "it's really fun to ride."
And of course it's not throttle management software that's cutting this dude out of his power wheelie jerkoff fun; it's simply that there's no significant rotational mass, even at 8000 rpm to pull the bike up. Rev the motor, pop the clutch and the bike soaks up what little momentum there is faster than any computer could react. You can just FEEL what's going on! He IS right in saying the software doesn't deliver enough power to do a wheelie. The EBoz wheelie was on a special machine with the current limiter softened to supply about 10% more juice. Personally, I think holding the power delivery to just short of wheelie-land is a GOOD idea. I see the squids doing their wheelies in the city all the time... NOT a great activity to live past 30!
After putting almost 2K miles on the Empulse, almost all in San Francisco, I'll say he's dead wrong about the transmission's ratios and the clutch. At first, I too, felt there were too many gears. The Empulse will, in time, simply change your relationship to rpm's and how motorcycles use them. Still, since I don't do more than 80 mph, five gears would suffice. The advantage of the gear ratios is that I can hold the bike in the economy zone of 5000 rpm at any speed above 38 mph. Also, in SF in particular, he should have appreciated the generous regen braking effect on the steep hills in 1st gear and Sport mode. Even on the steepest hills, it keeps me below 18 mph without braking. He couldn't have appreciated that if, as he says, he'd drive around in 3rd gear all the time in the city. He's likely a lot younger than I am, but I really dig the fact that I don't have to move out of 1st gear and use the clutch at every corner in the city; my left hand is way happier.
I don't know who calibrated his butt dyno, but I can easily tell the differences in Sport mode between the acceleration in the different gears. First-gear getaways are WAY nicer than 2nd or 3rd. And 6th is way too high for the highway unless he's breaking the speed limit. (While he wheelies?
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While range concerns will always be with us until graphene capacitors are in production, I disagree with his hypothesis that unless charging stations are ubiquitous, we will have to be satisfied with a defined-range ride. In my experience, all I need to know: "Is there an available charge station near where I want to go?" Did he look?
He closed with “It seems to me that e-bikes are maturing rapidly, but are suffering some growing pains.” I think he may be mistaking the industry's growing pains with the discomfort in truly opening his mind to exactly what fresh and practical and ethical and cost-effective and damned fun statement the Empulse makes, IF he had only ridden it long enough. At least he had fun!
(And Implovator thought HE was a fanboy!)
