The April issue of Motorcyclist Magazine has a couple of articles on electric motorcycles. The first article is on page 18 and 19. Tim Carrithers writes about the Mission R superbike. Among other things he discusses the chassis design (by James Parker) and mentions some other features of the bike, including its weight of 545 pounds, its 24-degree rake, 3.8 inches of trail and that the battery and motor weigh 300 pounds. Wheelbase is 57.5 inches. One item I thought was interesting is that the motor's iron-copper rotor is cooled by ATF, as are the high-voltage switches inside the controller.
On page 19 is a paragraph by Aaron Frank about Chip Yates' performance against IC bikes at WERA West's Heavyweight twins Superbike division.
Perhaps more interesting is James Parker's column on page 34. Mr. Parker uses his column to discuss the differences between IC engine and electric motor torque and the problems you can have when trying to compare the torque output of the two systems. One reason is due to the fact that IC motorcycles multiply their torque via 6-speed transmissions, while electric motorcycles currently run with only one speed. It is an interesting discussion and one that could generate some thoughtful discussion by the more technically minded.
