What's the latest on the Empulse?!

[davidsoulen]

Just joined and pre-ordered the Empulse.....order# 1152

I just wanted to know if anyone has heard anymore information on the production of the bike.

I'm pretty excited about this motorcycle.  I havent owned a car in almost 5 years and I ride everyday.
I have owned all kinds of bikes and have had up to four at a time but I havent been this excited about a new bike in a while.

[Brammofan]

Welcome to the forum David.  Most of the recent talk about the Empulse has been discussion about the likelihood of Brammo adding the 6-speed gearbox and how that's likely to affect the production date.  2012 is looking promising, but no idea of any specific dates.  Check out the Empulse subforum for more information.

[Deadly Silent Ninja]

My problem right now is that the Empulse is more and more sounding like the flying car. Everyone promised that we would have one in 1980s and 30 years later... well, I am still not flying to work.
I would set for riding an electric bike, but we are on this for some time now. The original promise was in the mid 2011, now it's any time in 2012 (maybe, who knows? It''s obvious that no one at Brammo has a clue).

Like Gavin said in another post, the big brands are starting to catch on with the whole electric bike discussion and they will probably be able to put a cheaper and more reliable product in the market in half the time that is taking Brammo to make the first good looking electric bike that a regular Joe can afford (if you live in a state that actually gives any incentives for electric bikes, which I don't).

Best Buy looks like is backing off the distribution deal, the bike doesn't get ready, and the money continues to flow... it's not looking good. Much more important, from a consumer who is trying to buy a decent electric motorcycle, it's starting to sound like too much trouble and no real advantage to keep waiting and waiting, just like the flying car.

Even if the Empulse comes out to be every single bit of the promise Brammo is making it out to be an entire year from now, how they want to keep a loyal client base without a product?

Sorry for the rant, but all this means is: I WANT MY EMPULSE! But for now, I think I'll have to go with loud, smoke-blowing Ninja (I know Ninjas are not as bad as some cruisers, but they are definitely not silent and clean). At least they have one for me to see when I go to the store and it costs less than $4k.

[Gavin]

I'm sure Brammo has looked at this from every angle. And they have decided to wait.

While I respect their decision...after all they are putting up the money and taking all the risks...I still think they should release the trannyless Empulse this year and the trannyrrific Empulse next year....just make sure buyers of the 2011 version understand a new version is coming next year. Heck the 2012 Empulse could come in both versions.

I'm sure many will want one now...if fact some might prefer a single gear bike.

But that is just my opinion...and I am not the one taking those risks so I correctly get no say in Brammo's final decision.

Gavin

[Gavin]

I will add that waiting has some real risks from the big boys.

Waiting did not help Aptera, Th!nk nor Coda. And now Nissan and soon Ford will have electric cars out...with Mitsubishi and others coming soon after. Aptera is toast...Th!nk is toast. Coda is...well you get the idea.

Only time will tell about Tesla...but Tesla survived by getting product out. They will survive likely into the future because they are going niche high-end...you don't have to sell a ton to survive as a niche car company if you have something special...and so far Tesla has something special (the S is sexy cool).

 Brammo is going more main-stream bike, so they are a bit different than Tesla...at the same time, Tesla got some time to grow by releasing the roadster first and then fixing the tranny. Perhaps Brammo should do the same?

Gavin... who wants Brammo to kick the big boys behind...while knowing that is hard and a rare thing...they aren't the big boys for nothing.

[FreepZ]

Perhaps waiting a bit more for the technology to mature a bit is best. In his article, Steve Atlas mentioned some shutter issue with the bike that wasn't quite resolved until just before the race. I would like to be assured that all of those issues are resolved before the bike goes into production.

Then again, perhaps those specific problems are limited to race bikes, and the regular street bike can't have problems like that.

P.S. Can anyone tell me what a "shutter" is?

[Gavin]

Good point...new tech still needs to work basically flawlessly when you are selling to consumers. There will be Empulse buyers who take their bikes to tracks days or just run really hard and fast on the highways or mountain twisties...similar to what Brammo is doing on the track...

So yes if they are finding some issues on the race tracks, well those issues need to be addressed. One of the good points of racing.

I assumes the shudder was a hesitation or dead spot. A twisting of the throttle and nothing much happens...an actual vibration shudder would be more worrisome.

Gavin

[Deadly Silent Ninja]

The problem still is the wait expectation when they announced the new Empulse, the predicted date to start production, and now the big question mark. They don't really know when they will be able to start production, but they got many of us to sign up saying we want the bike. When I first got interested, the number one selling point iwas that I would have to wait less than a year to get it. Now, it sounds like an empty promise, which is a bad way of doing business. If they are finding problems with the bike now, it means they shouldn't have started getting people to sign up to get a bike earlier. It reduces my confidence that Brmmo was being upfront with the information in the first place. They should have tested the bike before signing people up and creating false expectations about when we would have them.
That's why I am talking about getting another bike now and, when and if Brammo decides it's ready to release the Empulse, I will check back again. The problem is that, by then, the Empulse might not be the only good looking one and might not even be the best cost-benefit.

[1lesscar]

The problem still is the wait expectation when they announced the new Empulse, the predicted date to start production, and now the big question mark. They don't really know when they will be able to start production, but they got many of us to sign up saying we want the bike. When I first got interested, the number one selling point iwas that I would have to wait less than a year to get it. Now, it sounds like an empty promise, which is a bad way of doing business. If they are finding problems with the bike now, it means they shouldn't have started getting people to sign up to get a bike earlier. It reduces my confidence that Brmmo was being upfront with the information in the first place. They should have tested the bike before signing people up and creating false expectations about when we would have them.
That's why I am talking about getting another bike now and, when and if Brammo decides it's ready to release the Empulse, I will check back again. The problem is that, by then, the Empulse might not be the only good looking one and might not even be the best cost-benefit.

   The fools like myself who signed up early and do end up buying an
Empulse should get a special edition version or SOMETHING!! I'll take mine in RR style