MOBILITY JUST GOT FAR FASTER
Taiwanese company Kymco is mostly known for mobility scooters, which I don’t plan to start reviewing just yet, and maxi scooters up to 550cc.
So its unveiling last week of the 155mph SuperNex electric supersports bike at EICMA – the world’s biggest bike show in Milan – couldn’t have been more surprising than if Stannah Stairlifts had announced plans for a mission to Mars.
The SuperNex will come with a six-speed gearbox unique to electric machines, albeit with clutchless shifts and a slipper clutch to stop the back wheel locking under aggressive downshifting.
A gearbox might seem weird on an electric bike, but it overcomes one disadvantage of electric motors: that they reach maximum power in the midrange, then fade a bit thereafter.
There is more innovation in the riding modes – Poised, Assertive, Bold and Extreme – which certainly makes a change from the usual Rain, Road and Slightly Too Fast for Your Own Good.
Kymco chairman Allen Ko said: “Poised will allow you to glide through the neighbourhood quietly, projecting your inner strength, while Extreme unleashes the beast.” There’ll certainly be no problem unleashing the beast with acceleration figures like 0-62mph in 2.9 seconds, 0-124 in 7.5 and 0-155 in 10.9, thankfully watched over by traction control to stop wheelspin, especially in the wet.
For bikers to whom the sound is a visceral part of the enjoyment of riding, what Kymco delightfully calls a multi-frequency acoustic generator will create any sound you want, from the syncopated beat of a V-twin to the unmitigated howl of an inline four.
You’ll be needing it – from the video we watched, the standard sound at full chat is like a thousand cats being tortured. Poor old Tiddles.
Kymco won’t reveal the price, range, power, torque, weight and when it’ll be available in the UK because the bike’s still being tweaked, but a source close to the company said they hoped it would be in the UK by Easter next year, and cheaper than the £26,400 Energica Eva, but more than the £15,690 Zero SR.
The bike itself looks like the pooch’s proverbial, but there’s just one thing that’s worrying me.
If Kymco applies all this tech to its mobility scooters, before long we’ll be terrorised by gangs called Hell’s Grannies speeding through the suburbs at 155mph wearing leather jackets emblazoned with Adventure before Dementia. In which case I’ll be moving to Taiwan to glide quietly through the neighbourhood projecting my inner strength.
Or booking myself onto that Stannah Stairlifts mission to Mars.