Waiting, waiting...

[FreepZ]

So, the Empulse has been revealed. Yay! Brammo is doing well at the races. Yay! Brammo's funding is going great. Yay!

That's all very nice. Do you think that we can get some news about owning one of those fine machines? Brammo is back to their wall of silence in regards to actual ship dates. I would have thought that someone on this forum would have gotten a mail by now telling them that they are 90 days away from their bike. According to (I think) Steve, they put together the bike for the commercial in record time. Couldn't they do that a few more times and at least let a few journalists play with it for a while and let them tell us about it?

Oh well. On the positive side, it is reassuring to see the Empulse finishing races while other bikes are tripped up by technical difficulties. When the bike finally does materialize, at least I can be confident that it will be solid.

[EmpulseRider]

They arent doing the 90 day thing anymore... AFAIK the latest news is that its going to "assembly" this month and production in August. They probably ran into a few bumps while trying to dial in the manufacturing process... the ones they have now are pre-production builds meant for testing.

[05Sultan]

Well if they are not going to do the 90 day thing,how are they going to run it?
Ist still 'R's' first then street Empulse next production schedule?
Bank account wants to know........

[Gavin]

I think they will be going down the list...

"Hey, insert name here, we have a nice shiny Empulse R ready for you if you want."

You can either buy now, ask to wait for the non R, ask to be moved back or ask to be removed.

That R bike is just beautiful. And the front lower area is not nearly as bulky looking in person as in photos...plus the bike is a bit smaller and more narrow than it looks.

I will say the reaction at SECA was very VERY promising...Everybody loved it and, surprisingly, almost everybody thought the price was ok...many thought it was around 30k (thank you Mission Motors and Brutus and others for making 17 and 19k sound affordable )

Gavin

[AJ Nin]

Does Brammo plan to ship it to your house or do you have to go to the closest dealer to pick it up after they uncrate it and check it out? If it is the former, how will people deal with problems that develop?

[protomech]

I can't speak to how Brammo will handle it, but here's my experience buying a Zero while living most of the continent away.

After I arranged insurance and financing, the dealer I was working with put in the order to Zero and processed the paperwork. I got a tracking number and a few days later a truck with a box showed up at my house.

I've had a couple of service issues with the bike - in one case Zero shipped me a new board and tools to remove it. (My other option was to take the bike to my nearest Honda or Yamaha dealer and have them service the bike under warranty. I opted for DIY because I wanted to learn more about the bike).

More recently, the throttle has developed a glitch. Zero is shipping the bike back, correcting the problem, and then shipping the bike back to me.

Brammo has shown similar dedication to servicing their bikes in the past. I believe they will take care of their customers, even the remote ones.

[oml]

More recently, the throttle has developed a glitch. Zero is shipping the bike back, correcting the problem, and then shipping the bike back to me.

Brammo has shown similar dedication to servicing their bikes in the past. I believe they will take care of their customers, even the remote ones.

Then i sure hope they will build a service center in europe - shipping a bike over the ocean can be estimated at 500-1000 $/Euro (there isnt much difference any longer, thanks to the EU)
Additionally, about 3 metric tons of paperwork ...

But since my nearest dealer (the only dealer) of the Empulse labels the non-R version at 15.150 Euros (~18700$), shipping it myself and doing the tons of paperwork might be worth it.

Well thats for the future anyway, i first have to get my drivers licence (difficult process over here, takes minimum 3 months and costs at least 1.5k) and have to wait 2 years until I can drive bigger bikes than those with 11kW power output.


oml

[Deadly Silent Ninja]

Then i sure hope they will build a service center in europe - shipping a bike over the ocean can be estimated at 500-1000 $/Euro (there isnt much difference any longer, thanks to the EU)
Additionally, about 3 metric tons of paperwork ...

Brammo has a plant in Hungary, so I think that, if you ever need to ship it anywhere, that's where.

[oml]

Brammo has a plant in Hungary, so I think that, if you ever need to ship it anywhere, that's where.

Its not theirs, its fully flextronics. They sell assembly time, and are specialised in assembly only.
Quite a cool concept, such a general-purpose-manufacturing line, and it works quite well, too.
Im even considering buying flextronics stock for long-term-investion-purpose, as such companies tend to have solid business.

[AJ Nin]

Still waiting. This has gone way beyond anticipation. It has now moved over into the irresponsible category. I've moved on. Bought a new motorcycle, Triumph Street Triple. If I decide to go with electric at some future date, it would be a Zero.

[Deadly Silent Ninja]

And another one bites the dust...

I really think playing "last man standing" with the very fans who would be happy to promote the bikes for free is not the best communication strategy. On the contrary, it can transform a fan in a very frustrated detractor. But what do I know? I've only worked with it for almost 20 years now. (Damn, I'm old!) 

As I said before, Brammo shouldn't be promising what they can't deliver. When you are upfront and realistic with the expectations, you get a lot more trust from the public. Of course, I still think Brammo is not really aiming at the individual customer as their main revenue maker. If they were, they would be shooting their own foot over and over again. I really think they are focusing on the bulk orders, where the real money is. A contract with local police forces, the military, etc. is immediately 100x more useful to the sustainability of the company than a handful of individual customers.

I think they are using the individual customers more to generate a buzz, especially around the Empulse RR and the Empulse Iconn team. The racing team is the poster for the big contracts.

Anyway, I still hope everyone on this forum get their bikes soon and this whole soap opera ends with a happy note. I just would like for them to be more transparent about the issues getting these bikes to the public.

[+progress-]

I emailed Brammo this morning, asking about upgrading to the Empulse R and received a very quick response that I thought I would share.

"
Michael, Thanks for the email. We will be contacting all the Empulse pre-orders shortly and that email will contain a unique link that will enable you to select either an Empulse or an Empulse R. Then as your motorcycle approaches production a dealer will contact you to discuss delivery, colors and deposit.
I hope that explains everything.
I am sorry this hasn’t all happened as quickly as we had hoped but we are obsessive about quality and don’t release a product until it meets our standards. Frustrating for customers and dealers but ultimately critical to our long term success.
Thank you for your continued interest and patience.
 
Kind regards
 
Adrian
"

My pre-order is just about 2 years old and I will continue to wait, as I did when they announced the delay to incorporate the transmission.
If this wait pushes close to the 2013 Zero S, then I may be switching sides and It would be sad to see it come to that after all of this time!

[skuzzle]

I am sorry this hasn’t all happened as quickly as we had hoped but we are obsessive about quality and don’t release a product until it meets our standards.

Here's a snippet from an old Aptera press release...

The Aptera was developed completely from a clean slate. It's the ultimate start-up," said Wilbur. "Lots of engineering and dedicated people have created this beautifully-designed vehicle. The objective is to assure that the safety, quality and overall efficiency of our first production vehicle are correct. No compromises. We have to get this right the first time, and we've contracted with the best and brightest in the industry.

That's sounds familiar.

[FreepZ]

"We will be contacting all the Empulse pre-orders shortly..."

We've been upgraded from "soon" to "shortly". I call that progress!

Thanks very much, +progress-, for the info. I just wish that that kind of info was in the mythical new letter, rather than through private emails that folks are kind enough to share here.

Come on Peter, how about another photograph of that production line to get us excited? I know that wasn't you, but perhaps you could arrange to show us another peek.

[protomech]

Hell For Leather just posted a nice review of a Honda NC700X. Nice bike, it's on my short list for a gas bike if I decide I want to do some touring. Love the engine, enough power and great fuel economy for a bigger bike.

Short blurb at the bottom:

Sorry for the stock images and short review, the CD Honda gave me with riding images won’t load on my computer and I’m (trying to) fly to Ashland to be the first journalist to ride the Brammo Empulse. Come back on Monday for that and hit this link if the gallery won’t load by itself:

Monday, monday monday.. why are you so far away!