LONDON (AND BACK) ON A HARLEY LIVEWIRE
Turns out riding from Peterborough to London can be ‘challenging’.
Ewan and Charley rode their Livewires the length of South America, but – entertaining though their jaunt was – it proved diddlysquat about the bike. Today we will undertake a far more useful mission to determine the Livewire’s suitability for those of us living in Britain and not supported by a phalanx of backup vehicles.
The plan is to ride from Bike’s HQ in Peterborough to three Harley dealerships dotted around the south of England. I’ll charge the battery at each one, see what proper Harley riders think of the Livewire and, presumably, run out of electricity somewhere for comic effect. The total mileage is 210, so it’s by no means an arduous day for a normal bike but should be tricky on the Harley. And so it turns out… Arriving at Bike Towers I find the Livewire 97% full – the dash says it’ll do 109 miles – but I can’t locate the USB port to plug in my sat nav. This is a blow because the chances of me finding the second destination – Warr’s Harley in London – without assistance are zero. After rootling around for ten minutes I call Harley’s version of Siri, which is a PR man called Trevor who lives in the Fens. He tells me it’s under the nose cowling, which pops off at the top and hinges down. And there it is, a titchy USB-C port that’s of no use at all. In the spirit of Ewan and Charley, I bravely decide to press on. Perhaps the guys at my first destination – Sycamore Harley in Uppingham – can plumb the USB in somewhere