Jay Leno reviews the Mission-R

[Richard230]

Here is a link to a 18-minute video showing Jay Leno reviewing the Mission Motors Mission-R motorcycle: 

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/05/14/mission-motors-mission-r-electric-motorcycle-checks-in-to-jay-le/

[Mr.Rodgers]

Good video. You can also see that he has an Enertia and a Zero off to the right in his garage.


Oh, and I really like Jay in his automotive and motorcycle passion as well as his comedy, but could he really not find a helmet that was long enough to cover his chin?  Or maybe that's on purpose? Gotta show off the trademark as much as possible, I guess.

[Brammofan]

David Salguero, the guy from Mission in the video, is one of the nicest guys in the industry.  He was in the announcer's booth during the qualifying session of the TTXGP - ePower race at Laguna Seca last year and did a great job of helping the announcer understand electric motorcycles.  To his credit, he did not 'dis' the other bikes or brands - just provided a factual, to-the-point narrative during the session.

I'm amazed that they let Leno ride the thing.  Given that it's one of two working prototypes, it's probably valued in the high six figures. 

The whole group that showed up to Laguna Seca was pretty amazing.  They invited me and the TTXGP folks up to their RV for a barbecue the night following the first practice.  There was a guy inside the RV, busily working on a laptop that had lots of graphs up on the screen.  David indicated that the real secret to their success was what was going on inside that RV. 

If they actually sold some motorcycles, I'd be sorely tempted to adopt the moniker of "MissionFan".

[Richard230]

I thought using an I-Pad for the Mission-R's instrument panel was pretty neat.  However, you would probably need the "mil-spec" version to make it last on a production motorcycle.

[Brammofan]

Actually, it's an android pad.

[protomech]

It's a prototype piece. Jay said it was non-operational during the ride, and you could see it doing the screen auto-dimming thing after 30s or so during the video.

I don't doubt that it's functional, but clearly it's more of a headline grab than a production-intent component......... so much like the rest of the bike.

[Vibetrippin]

Someone get that man an Empulse stat!

[protomech]

Given how much he kept mentioning how quiet the bike was, or resisting the temptation to shift gears .. I guess he probably doesn't ride his Zero (2009-2010 S?) much.

[Mithion]

I think this is new-  http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/mission-motors-mission-r/1401426/

I wonder how legit those performance figures are.

Anyone know about this bike/company???

You also see several other electric bikes to the right side, including a Brammo Enertia!!!

***missed it at the end of the video- this bike will not even be produced by Mission***

[00049 (AKA SopFu)]

One of the attorney's in my office had one of the three founders of Mission in his undergrad class, and used to play cards with him.  He said this guy was one of the smartest people he has ever known. 

I don't think Mission will be competition for Brammo.  They are focusing on supporting the OEMs with their electric power trains.  I would not be at all surprised if they get bought out soon by someone.

That is one hell of a bike, though!

[Mithion]

If that bike does everything that is said in the video, which I beleive it does, and I trust Leno's opinion, how could they not make that bike, it's unreal!!!

[implovator]

LOL. Did anyone see how far Jay Leno's chin sticks out of his helmet? Poor guy. Right around 14:26. With that aside, that was a great video.

[Brammofan]

Okay guys... "Search" is a good start.

http://brammoforum.com/index.php?topic=1306.0

I'm merged these two threads.

[Mithion]

Mission could be the starting point for a start-up company to develop an electric bike without having to engineer and develop everything that Mission already has, thus saving time and money. Could be very interesting to see what others would do wi their products. Their website has a lot of info.

[Car Loss]

I don't think Mission will be competition for Brammo.  They are focusing on supporting the OEMs with their electric power trains.  I would not be at all surprised if they get bought out soon by someone.

Yes, how does the old saying go?  'When there's a gold rush on, the smart money is in selling shovels.'

Brammo looks like they will survive with Polaris backing... or they might still go under, for any of a thousand reasons.  Same thing with Zero, or BRD, or that European company or whoever.  But if you're Mission, selling parts or engineering expertise or consultation services or whatever to all or most of them, you'll come out ahead either way.  That Mission guy is pretty smart after all.