Elevators Sound Better Than Electric Bikes

[Penderic]

If Guzzi starts making electric motorcycles in the future,  , I hope they don't make them sound like these current offerings!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFw63GSt4QY

I bought my V7Classic based mainly on the sound and looks of the power-train, and these electric motor whine sounds I find most irritating. Near the end of the vid linked above, there are amazingly fast drag races that are boring to watch without the added soundtrack of stimulating percussive music! That TT race was a snoozer mostly too .... kind of like watching a meteoroid shower .... you dont hear em coming or going, a fast blink and their gone! Spectators need some sounds of the approaching and departing vehicles to be part of the scene.


Well, there are times I guess, that there should be a "Stealth" mode too.

 

[Penderic]

Maybe a directional whistling speaker or siren (but not loud to the rider), noisy tires? Gotta hear that Doppler effect!


Do these work?


Seen a lot of them on cars and a few bikes too.

[Penderic]

Audi is working on it. Interesting job for a sound engineer. Sounds good when moving but should also have some sounds too when "idling.

I wonder what could Guzzi could create. They would have to copyright every sound the bike will be making in the future! Beeps and chimes and background noises made for the riders benefit could be standardized but maybe the "engine" audio will be unique to each maker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iKQgsECw4U

[Huzo]

If electric bikes take over before I CARC it, I’m buying a boat..!

[cliffrod]

the simple obvious way to do it is exactly what we did as kids.  Just need to do it hi-tech by using adjustable electronic pickup with trigger on wheel & frame and speaker instead of a playing card & clothespin against the spokes.   

bet it would be a lot easier than trying to find the stiffest cards, enough rubber bands and clothes pins to keep everything "properly tuned"- especially when you've running the multi-card straight pipe hipo set up...  That sure was fun.

[Lannis]

If electric bikes take over before I CARC it, I’m buying a boat..!

How are electric bikes going to "take over"?

I'm putting more miles on motorcycles from the 1950s and 60s than most riders are putting on their 2010s and 2018 bikes.   

We could ride 100,000 miles a year each, and in our riding lifetimes we wouldn't use up .001% of the available motorcycles from Triumph Speed Twins to Ducati Multistradas, whatever it is you like to ride.  Our great-grandchildren will still be putting miles on the hundreds of thousands (nay, millions) of low-mileage Harley-Davidsons that are sitting in the backs of shops and garages everywhere ...

The Cassandras shake their long thumbs at us and say "Oh, you sad old-timer, IT'S COMING, you just can't see it, your world is passing by, you'd better get used to it, it's all changing, gloom, despair and agony on YOU ....".   I've been hearing that smack for 50 years of riding and almost nothing has changed, not even the bikes I ride.   And I don't think that simply publishing stories about hydrogen powered or fission powered or electric powered bikes in end-of-the-world type in popular magazines is going to cause some sort of seismic change in it.

So Keep Calm and Carry On Riding!

Lannis

[Penderic]

  Funny to see a Hollywood stunt man pissed off at the sound of a 4 cyl. sport bike being dubbed over his electric motorcycle he was riding in a movie stunt scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDLuZpKuPQY

Why would you want to listen to what sounds like a dentist's drill or a table saw on two wheels?

Overdub time!  ..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=15&v=KKW4wRDTI6Q&feature=emb_logo

[Lannis]

Maybe a directional whistling speaker or siren (but not loud to the rider), noisy tires? Gotta hear that Doppler effect!


Do these work?

Seen a lot of them on cars and a few bikes too.

Yes, lots of those "Wildlife Warning Devices" on cars.

I think that their purpose (intended or not) is to Warn The Wildlife that you are coming so that they can run directly at your vehicle under some twisted herbivore "prey reflex" logic ....

Lannis

[RinkRat II]

  Funny to see a Hollywood stunt man pissed off at the sound of a 4 cyl. sport bike being dubbed over his electric motorcycle he was riding in a movie stunt scene.

      I'll bet he wasn't upset when he cashed the check for his services.

      Paul B

[Motormike]

I'm putting more miles on motorcycles from the 1950s and 60s than most riders are putting on their 2010s and 2018 bikes.   

We could ride 100,000 miles a year each, and in our riding lifetimes we wouldn't use up .001% of the available motorcycles from Triumph Speed Twins to Ducati Multistradas, whatever it is you like to ride.  Our great-grandchildren will still be putting miles on the hundreds of thousands (nay, millions) of low-mileage Harley-Davidsons that are sitting in the backs of shops and garages everywhere ...

This!  Sadly, there are more perfectly good motorcycles in the U.S. alone than there will ever be riders for.  Many fully operable bikes will end up as scrap metal I fear.  Over-production combined with a shrinking ridership, shrinking marketplace.  The math no longer works.

[Big_Jim59]

How are electric bikes going to "take over"?

I'm putting more miles on motorcycles from the 1950s and 60s than most riders are putting on their 2010s and 2018 bikes.   

We could ride 100,000 miles a year each, and in our riding lifetimes we wouldn't use up .001% of the available motorcycles from Triumph Speed Twins to Ducati Multistradas, whatever it is you like to ride.  Our great-grandchildren will still be putting miles on the hundreds of thousands (nay, millions) of low-mileage Harley-Davidsons that are sitting in the backs of shops and garages everywhere ...

The Cassandras shake their long thumbs at us and say "Oh, you sad old-timer, IT'S COMING, you just can't see it, your world is passing by, you'd better get used to it, it's all changing, gloom, despair and agony on YOU ....".   I've been hearing that smack for 50 years of riding and almost nothing has changed, not even the bikes I ride.   And I don't think that simply publishing stories about hydrogen powered or fission powered or electric powered bikes in end-of-the-world type in popular magazines is going to cause some sort of seismic change in it.

So Keep Calm and Carry On Riding!

Lannis

The first time I rode a Zero I knew the future of internal combustion bikes was numbered but it's not yet. The storage and charging factors will have to improve 5 to 10 times over before they will be really viable but it's coming. First the manufacturers want this. Electric bikes make building bikes simpler with fewer parts in manufacture and in the supply chain. Governments want this as well with the promise of zero emissions. The performance gains will be incredible along with computer enhanced everything. This will not happen over night but when the battery technology becomes available it will happen pretty fast. Battery power has been sneaking into the market and gaining acceptance in small way through battery powered hand tools and lawn equipment. The car market is already chomping at the bit for a viable and affordable electric.

[Big_Jim59]

This!  Sadly, there are more perfectly good motorcycles in the U.S. alone than there will ever be riders for.  Many fully operable bikes will end up as scrap metal I fear.  Over-production combined with a shrinking ridership, shrinking marketplace.  The math no longer works.

So true. The glut of used bikes is going to be huge. I am waiting for the inevitable Harley-Davidson crash as Boomers slow down, retire or their bikes hit the liquidation estate sale market. There are too many dresser hogs and not enough Millennial interest in touring bike ownership. I have a feeling that these bikes slumber in sheds and garages all across America as their owners hold on to their last shred of a normal life. H-D knows this and I believe they live in fear of it. Harley keeps prices high with the aura of a premium brand. This can't be maintained in the face of over supply and their market's resistance to new innovation. I believe that the LiveWire project is a desperate attempt to break out of the straitjacket they have made for themselves.

[Bisbonian]

The first time I rode a Zero I knew the future of internal combustion bikes was numbered but it's not yet. The storage and charging factors will have to improve 5 to 10 times over before they will be really viable but it's coming. First the manufacturers want this. Electric bikes make building bikes simpler with fewer parts in manufacture and in the supply chain. Governments want this as well with the promise of zero emissions. The performance gains will be incredible along with computer enhanced everything. This will not happen over night but when the battery technology becomes available it will happen pretty fast. Battery power has been sneaking into the market and gaining acceptance in small way through battery powered hand tools and lawn equipment. The car market is already chomping at the bit for a viable and affordable electric.

I recently sold my old daily driver Miata and replaced it with a plug-in hybrid. The electric drive is so much nicer than anything I've experience through gasoline power.

I recently took a demo ride on the new Zero SR/F, that was an eye-opener. I mostly rode it in street mode, nice power and the regen braking was not intrusive. I swapped to eco for a bit and found quite a bit of "engine" braking on decel. For a short time I put it in sport mode; 150 lb/ft of torque with no need to rev then engine to get into the power band was frightening!

I run solar on my house and already generate more than we use, I embrace our electric future.

[screamday]

I don't know......I like it. I think they sound pretty cool. Kinda like electric slot cars.

If Guzzi starts making electric motorcycles in the future,  , I hope they don't make them sound like these current offerings!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFw63GSt4QY

[Penderic]

Yeah, you could make any consumer motorcycle completely silent (Honda  ), but only the gas (with cash), powered vehicles have the range and ease of refueling to challenge the Law! 

Dude, driving a Tesla, you would soon end your challenge at the first recharging station! Hi! 

Didnt get very far, did he!

[steven c]

 I wear ear plugs so not concerned about the sound it makes. I have test ridden a couple of Zeros and really liked them, though where I test rode them they dumbed down the power but the bikes where still fun. To me it's just another motor, just like I have owned 1,2,3,4 cylinder V twins, flat twins, vertical twins bikes, all different but fun in their own way. 

[Huzo]

This!  Sadly, there are more perfectly good motorcycles in the U.S. alone than there will ever be riders for.  Many fully operable bikes will end up as scrap metal I fear.  Over-production combined with a shrinking ridership, shrinking marketplace.  The math no longer works.

Isn’t it more a matter of the dwindling reliance on fossil fuels than the bikes ?
Extrapolating the curve forward 100 years will show that there are motorcycles if you want them, but it’ll be getting fuel for them at affordable prices that’ll be the kicker.
I’m not pretending to have any specialised knowlege on the subject, more idle musings than anything..
I’m reminded of when leaded fuels were phased out here in Oz. Blokes were shying away from 70’s machinery due to the fact that they’d have to upend additives into the tanks.
Point is, the stalwarts stuck with their older machinery, but the new ones coming along began to see unleaded vehicles as the obvious way to go.
Urban hipsters and the like will develop a whole new culture of electric commuters and our stuff will fall off the end due to natural attrition....(Like us..)

[Lannis]

Isn’t it more a matter of the dwindling reliance on fossil fuels than the bikes ?
Extrapolating the curve forward 100 years will show that there are motorcycles if you want them, but it’ll be getting fuel for them at affordable prices that’ll be the kicker.

A lot of people have lost massive bets trying to predict that "fossil fuel curve".    The doom-sayers in 1970 were universally predicting the complete end of fossil fuels and the complete exhaustion of all reserves by 1995.   In fact, today we have more known petroleum reserves than we had in 1970, vehicles are MUCH more efficient in using what we have, and we know how to burn them without smoking up the place as bad as we used to.   So I wouldn't put much reliance on extrapolating anyone's "curves" at the moment.

I’m not pretending to have any specialised knowlege on the subject, more idle musings than anything..

Neither do I.   Neither does anyone else on this list, come to that.   But a lot of folks seem mighty sure that they know what the future is going to bring when it comes to specific technologies.    Of course, the ones who say "Change Is Coming" are going to be right 100% of the time, but they don't know what that change is going to be, or how fast it's going to happen, any more than us idle musers .... !

Lannis

[cliffrod]

A lot of people have lost massive bets trying to predict that "fossil fuel curve".    The doom-sayers in 1970 were universally predicting the complete end of fossil fuels and the complete exhaustion of all reserves by 1995.   In fact, today we have more known petroleum reserves than we had in 1970, vehicles are MUCH more efficient in using what we have, and we know how to burn them without smoking up the place as bad as we used to.   So I wouldn't put much reliance on extrapolating anyone's "curves" at the moment.

Lannis

Yup, spend some time with a box of old Mother Earth News (especially the pre-glossy newsprint versions) and it's clear we didn't follow the script....