At $12,800, Is This 2020 Harley-Davidson LiveWire A Two-Wheel Deal?
With a reported urban range of around 100 miles, today’s Nice Price or No Dice LiveWire could traverse even the biggest of cities with electrons to spare. Let’s see if this electric Harley is priced to saddle up.
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As shockingly well-preserved as yesterday’s 1985 Nissan 200SX appeared to be, it didn’t seem to engender much enthusiasm for its $6,800 asking price. Lots of consternation was evident in the comments, particularly surrounding the car’s lack of A/C and a manual transmission. In the end, that left the price lacking, and earned the car a 55 percent No Dice loss.
Roller coasters, scary movies, and all-you-can-eat buffets offer thrills but hopefully no actual physical danger. It seems that for many of us, while death and injury aren’t all that popular, the endorphin-pumping excitement brought about by the mere threat can be. That extends to our vehicles and the names manufacturers give them. No one wants to be caught up in a Typhoon or attacked by a Marauder, but we sure wouldn’t mind driving either.
Today’s 2020 Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric bike is named for something that we’ve been told all or lives that we should stay away from. For many, that sense of inherent danger implied by the name only adds to the thrill in the same way bookish teenage girls are attracted to rebel boys.
Harley announced the LiveWire at CES in 2019 and began sales a year later. The bike represents the venerated manufacturer’s first foray into the electric age. As such, and befitting the company, it’s pretty large and in charge. The deets are a dry weight of 549 pounds, an overall length of 84.1 inches, and a seat height of 30 inches. It also looks the part of an all-electric halo bike, rocking cast aluminum for both the frame and the mono-shock rear swing arm and a cantilever two-place seat. Dual-front and single-rear Brembo discs aid in stopping, along with the electric motor’s regenerative braking.
The bike’s minimal bodywork exposes the longitudinally-mounted electric motor and the 24Wh Lithium-Ion battery back, nestled underneath the faux gas tank. Per a contemporary Cycle World dyno test, that water-cooled permanent magnet DC electric motor makes 92.8 horsepower and 74.2 lb-ft of torque when in top Sport mode. That’s a bit off Harley’s 105 hp and 86 lb-ft claims, but it’s within spitting distance. The bike uses a CCS1 plug for charging, and riders can expect to get around 100 miles between plug-ins. The bike’s computer allows for four pre-programmed performance settings as well as a number of custom combos so riders can balance that range against performance.
This LiveWire comes with a clean title and just 2,157 miles on the clock. The black bodywork isn’t the model’s most expressive, but it’s probably its stealthiest. According to the seller, the bike is “Practically new,” and has been garage-kept since actually being new. The fat—and Harley-Davidson-branded—Michelin Scorcher Sport tires look barely used, and there’s probably equally low wear on the brake pads. Those are pretty much the bike’s only consumables.
On the downside, the TFT screen that sits above the triple tree and serves as the instrument cluster, is leaking glue, leaving it looking like it’s been in the pool for a week. This is a very common problem on these bikes and requires screen replacement, although the screen should work just fine despite its appearance.
Other than that funky screen, there doesn’t seem to be anything amiss with this LiveWire. According to the seller, this is one of three bikes they own, and that’s at least one too many. These bikes came with a nearly $30K price tag when new, but just like in the electric automotive world, prices on electric bikes with a few years on them seem to have plummeted. The seller of this LiveWire is asking $12,800, which, if they paid full price when new, means it has cost them around $4,300 a year to own. Will that steep fall in value continue under a new owner? That’s yet to be seen. What we know now is that it’s time to take that into consideration while we vote on this bike and that $12,800 asking.
What’s your hot take on this LiveWire? Does its price give you a jolt? Or does it leave you flat?
You decide!
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H/T to John Toth for the hookup!
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