Sounds to me these are the kinda people that are not mechanically inclined.

 

I'd go with it. Tell them you have a recording under the seat that makes it sound like it has a gas engine with shift points.

 

wow times have changed I think we have real reason to worry about the millennials OMFG

 

I have had the same experience but usually once I point out the spark plug with a quick explanation about how it means "electric starter" the topic is dropped.

I did have some bogus "ELECTRIC" stickers printed for a truer, more realistic picture of what a natural TW should look like.

Cut out with a sharp razor blade and covered with clear coat:

Going from blue to yellow. See the real electric decal on the TW behind the yellow one?

 

Yet another reason to peel stickers off your motorcycle! layful:

 

I think my 93 has them but it has rarely been spoken of. I ran my motorcycle on a lawnmower gas tank before. When gas was nearly $5.00 bucks a gallon I was tempted to run hoses with a bubbler and some blinking lights on a 5 gallon water bottle in place of the gas tank just to mess with people while running off the little lawn mower tank.

 

Different sticker for different times. Lots of other bikes had that sticker too shouting out "hey, I'm modern, not just a kick-starter". Seems pretty funny nowadays.
Keep the sticker. I think it's cool.

 

I'd tell these knuckleheads "YUP, it's electric and gets about 75 miles per gallon of gas after I push the Electric button"!

GaryL

 

lol yeah definite sign of the times...

Interesting how 20 years ago the thought of an electric motorcycle would never have crossed anyones mind.

Definitely keeping all the stickers on the bike! One of the reasons I love mine with the 90's graphics!

 

Haha never thought of this but definitely relevant these days! Can understand how they'd be confused.
I love old skool graphics and fonts - don't take the sticker off! Maybe get a NOT one like you say though :laughing7:

 

Carry a hand crank flash light with you. Tell folks that's how you charge the battery.

 

I think in the 80's Yamaha was sticking the same exact sticker on anything they put an electric starter on. My '88 Warrior 350 ATV has the same "Electric" stickers on it. And no kick starter, which I think really sucks on an ATV.

 

"Yep, one of them fancy 'lectric hybrids all right. I use that thar gas motor ya see to charge the battery. It can go quite a spell before needing a re-charge"

 

for an extra $8k you can get a hella'va trials bike... 100 lbs less, 7+ hp, bucket full o torque... short range.

https://advrider.com/ride-off-road-in-silence-on-the-uncompromising-cake-kalk/

laugh, but electric bikes have come a long ways baby! 10 yrs the price will come down, the performance will go up, and they will be wicked fun.

 

They are coming..... as are a transition from all vehicles currently powered by internal combustion engines....and really, the facts are that battery powered vehicles will eliminate all the noise related concerns ….unlike me....there are people who's only objection to motorized recreation is noise and that has resulted in both federal and local regulations and ordinances....and closures in wildlife and urban areas..

I suspect that the go kart industry will be among the first to transition ……

I love the sounds of racing.... of a high performance internal combustion engine....and the smell of burning money....

 

I'm am sooo gonna get some electric decals for mine. :icon_thumbright:

 

I couldn't take it any more and peeled my "electric" stickers off my 99 and ordered the same YAMAHA" stickers as on my 15.

 

I visited this place a few years ago. One can see the reflection of my TW in the glass in the door on the left. Here is the website: https://www.zeromotorcycles.com/

Zeroes aren't cheap but like Teslas I think the snob factor is very strong for some people.

 

I have no particular negativity toward Electric motorcycles. That said, we TW owners seek to add the deleted kick starter after 2000 just in case our battery dies out in the boonies. On that same note, when your electric bike runs out of juice out in nowhere land they should incorporate into the design some sort of fold away pedal arrangement that is connected to a small electric generator. Put the bike on a center stand and just pedal for 15-20 minutes that will recharge the battery in the bike. Technology moves at lightning speeds but every one of us has been stranded at some time in our lives when a battery either got drained or fr no apparent reason it just quit and was dead for ever more. The last thing I will ever do is depend upon a battery.

GaryL

 

A healthy person can only put out about a quarter horsepower through their legs. Recharging the amount of energy that e-bike's used to get you into trouble and a state of discharge would likely take a good 6 hours of peddling, not 15 to 20 minutes.

 

If they could devise some folding solar panels they would work great here in AZ

At home base a big panel array would be easy

 

I rode a ZERO FXS yesterday. The seat height measures 34" regardless of what the specs say.

P.S. IT'S AWESOME! Clearly the future of motorcycles.

 

If I only had the choice of an electric motorcycle I would quit riding. Long live the internal combustion engine.

 

I doubt you'll have to make that decision, but your off-spring might.

 

Why I sold my TW's (but still kept a BMW 1150GS)
https://newatlas.com/juiced-hyperfat-1100-ebike/55863/

While timber companies up here in the PNW are closing down more, and more to internal combustion motors, they are gracious to electric bicycles, and bicycles at large. Additionally, hunting off a E-Bike is far more stealthy than the TW which gets you back into areas closed to motorcycles and tough to pack in to when you're pushing 70. I love it!
If I keep the speed down and use the motor as an assist I get about 50 miles a charge. It all depends on how you manage the use

 

Why I sold my TW's (but still kept a BMW 1150GS)
https://newatlas.com/juiced-hyperfat-1100-ebike/55863/

View attachment 187916

While timber companies up here in the PNW are closing down more, and more to internal combustion motors, they are gracious to electric bicycles, and bicycles at large. Additionally, hunting off a E-Bike is far more stealthy than the TW which gets you back into areas closed to motorcycles and tough to pack in to when you're pushing 70. I love it!
If I keep the speed down and use the motor as an assist I get about 50 miles a charge. It all depends on how you manage the use

I don't understand why or how it could be to fast...makes no sense....obviously you can regulate your speed......nor do I understand why it is not street legal or could not be made to be street legal.....here in Wenatchee ....electric bikes can use bike lanes and trails....

I won't be giving up my street legal TW....but I like it....

 

Gasoline is taxed to pay for roads and bridges etc. In California I have heard that money has now gone into the general fund and the idiots in Sacramento say we need a new tax to pay for our crumbling roads and bridges. To include electric cars I have heard it has been per-posed to charge by the mile....does a dime a mile sound excessive? Maybe it would be better to start at a nickle a mile now and work it up to a quarter a mile in 4 or 5 years.

 

It's like that everywhere Elime. Tax dollars designated for particular necessities such as Social Security go right into the general fund and squandered and then they claim those funds are broke. Here in NY some years back when Cuomo's father was our governor, Mario Cuomo, that bastard robbed $500 Million from our NY State Employees pension fund to keep the state afloat, supposed to be in a "locked box", and untouchable and has never paid it back. That's how states like Illinois can't pay their pensioners because the officials have been draining the accounts and/or the administrators have made some very poor investment decisions. Here in NY if they can't tax it they ban it. Tax revenues from tobacco sales are supposed to go toward health care but don't plan on getting any low cost health care from that fund that gets robbed faster than it gets funded.

GaryL

 

Lots of places are looking at this scheme. Most of them are like California. They have raided dedicated tax revenue streams to bolster their general funds. If we ran our personal finances the way local, state, and federal governments do we would be in jail for fraud.