SUPER SOCO TC MAX
It was always going to happen, wasn’t it? At some point we were going to have a look at (whisper it) electric bikes…
Ten plus years ago, while working for another magazine, I rode an electric bike, which I won’t name, that was lightning fast, but had a range of barely 35 miles, carried its batteries high up above the motor and so was frighteningly top-heavy, and cost a fairly staggering amount (more than £5,000 more than the equivalent sports bike of the day).
It was fun, but not really a practical solution to the problems of internal combustion engines adding to the greenhouse effect.
Fast forward to 2021, and an electric bike at the other end of the scale: the Super Soco TC Max. This isn’t a sports bike – it’s a 125cc (equivalent) learner/commuter. Its electric motor makes just 6.7bhp which is, yes, less than a petrol-powered 125cc (12bhp), but because it’s electric all of the claimed 180Nm of torque (a Ducati Panigale V4 makes 124Nm) is available instantly, meaning that away from the lights in town (this bike’s natural habitat) this thing’s a veritable little rocket ship! Top whack is a claimed 60mph, but it feels happier about 55, which’s enough for a first bike or for jinxing ’cross town on your way to work through the traffic.
And it is a bit good through town traffic – it’s really skinny, ideal for squeezing through gaps between stationary cars, and weighs just 100 kilos (I saw a review by a bloke who weighed five kilos more than the bike who wasn’t impressed with the performance… no shit, fat boy) making it light enough to not get you into trouble if you get caught offbalance while filtering.
Range is a claimed 60 miles but, I suspect, in the real world that’s going to be closer to 45, which may not sound much, but how long’s your commute to work? Three miles? Five? Ten? Any more than that, and perhaps a 125 (petrol or electric) isn’t the ideal bike for such a journey, eh?
Once you’ve arrived at work, or back at home, charging’s either done on the bike via a handy port on the side or, if access to power’s a problem, the quick-release battery (quite heavy at 20kg) has a carrying handle and can be plugged in indoors. It uses just a normal three-pin plug, takes about five hours from empty, and costs you about 50p a charge (or free if you plug it in under your desk or tea-room at work, wink wink). That’s right – if you’re clever, you could have absolutely no going-to-work costs (for at least the first year of ownership before the tyres, brake pads, drive belt, etc., start to wear, just as they would on a ‘normal’ bike). Compare that with even a frugal petrol 125 – most of them have a tank of about 11 litres which, at average fuel prices, would be between £13 and £14 a fill.
So that’s the practicality looked at, so what’s it like as a bike? Well, as I said, it’s the equivalent of a 125 so if you’re expecting it to be anything else then you’ve perhaps got the wrong idea. It hoons up to about 50 at a rate that leaves most other (four-wheeled) traffic standing, and zips along at that quite nicely, feeling more planted than such a light bike should. There is, of course, no clutch lever (the rear brake’s operated by the left ‘bar lever,
like a pushbike) – all you do to go is open the throttle. There is, thankfully, a very slight lag (very slight) between you twisting the grip and moving; this is A Good Thing because electric power’s instant and that meant that, on the aforementioned ’leccy sports bike, you had to take your right hand completely off the ’bars at lights in case you accidentally leant on the throttle and the bike leapt forward into traffic. The TC Max’ll still leap forward if you give it the beans, but it won’t do it when you’re not expecting it to – as I said, A Good Thing.
Once moving, it’s fun. It’s weird, the first few times out, but it’s fun. It’s weird because of the lack of engine noise – all you can hear at 55mph is the wind noise in your lid, and the tyres on the road, nothing else. It is, to us lot brought up wi’ noisy zorsts, a bit odd, but I found I quite liked it (and, actually, so quickly got used to it that when I first started the Future Bike the following week, it made me jump). That there’s no exhaust note’s always going to be a bone of contention with older, more blinkered folk, but may I advance an idea that they may not’ve thought of?
These are, you see, early days for electric bikes, and the main market for them’s going to be in the years ahead – the powers-that-be’ve announced that there’ll be no more new petrol or diesel vehicles after 2030, just nine years away, so all new bikes, cars, vans, etc., from that point’ll have to be electric. Now, given that the average age of a BSH reader’s 57, nine years from now we’ll be in our mid-to-late sixties and, most probably, coming towards the end of our riding careers. Bikes like this, electric and, I’m sure, the hydrogen fuel cell bikes to come, aren’t aimed at us – they’re aimed at our grandkids. They’ll not’ve grown up with noisy exhausts, the dink-dink-dink of two-strokes, the potato-potato of big vee-twins, the howl of a Jap four, so they won’t miss them – really it’s just us old gits (of which I proudly class myself ) who’ll have a problem with them, and we’re not their target audience, so… So, as a first bike for a young ’un, or as a commuter for going to work, the Super Soco TC Max is hard to beat. Yes, it costs about the same as the latest gen’ Japanese 125 at £4349 for the top spec option, but that’s balanced by the fact that, as I said, if you’re clever you could have, pretty much, no running costs whatsoever. That’s quite an argument for, don’t you think?
For more information on the Super Soco TC Max (spec, dealers, etc.) go to their website at www.supersoco.co.uk
“Once moving, it’s fun. It’s weird, the first few times out, but it’s fun. It’s weird because of the lack of engine noise – all you can hear at 55mph is the wind noise in your lid, and the tyres on the road, nothing else.”
I had tried to ready myself for this. Testing the LiveWire was not going to be straightforward. People who know their onions have called it the best electric bike yet. Others have called it an abomination. It divides opinion, it raises arguments, and it probably helps sell more blood pressure tablets than any other bike.
Adding to the confusion is the fact that it comes from such an unlikely manufacturer – the petrol-guzzling, sledgehammer-engineering Harley-Davidson. The whole thing seems oxymoronic, but this looks to be where motorcycling is heading. Even adventure-riding Ewan and Charley chose modified LiveWires for their Long Way Up TV series, where they rode the bikes from the southern tip of South America to Los Angeles – that’s bound to help sales, but how many will part with £29k for one of these? Stranger things have happened.
I wasn’t at all sure about how I was going to feel about this test, but I was looking forward to it with morbid curiosity.
Surprising start
This test was bound to be full of surprises, and the first one came as soon as I saw the LiveWire in the flesh – it’s so small! From pictures I had imagined it to be much bigger, but in real life it seems unexpectedly dinky, narrow in particular. The whole thing is not much wider than its rear tyre. That’s electric bikes for you I guess – you don’t need much room to hide a hundred e-horses.
The second surprise came soon after as I pushed the bike into position for take-off: it doesn’t feel anything like as heavy as 245kg. The weight is comparable to big petrol machines, but the centre of gravity is very low, which makes a big difference, and the manageable size of the bike also helps make it a doddle to manoeuvre.
And there was one more surprise before the wheels had even turned: the TFT dash and switchgear were very simple to get your head around, and nicely uncluttered for a bike so highly charged with electronics. The only negative for me was the classic Harley approach to indicators – separate buttons, one for left, one for right, at opposite ends of the bars. I’m not a fan.
Aesthetically, this is perhaps the first electric bike that looks like a ‘real’ motorcycle. There’s no dummy engine, but the shapes and lines are classic, colours subtle but effective, and the whole package striking in a traditional motorcycle kind of way. It looks like less of a jump into the future than many other e-bikes.
Sound of silence
I remember the first time I rode a Harley. When I sat on the bike and started it up, there was an almighty shudder from the big V-twin engine, a mad bark from the chrome-coated exhausts, and I could feel vibrations all over the place.
This time it’s different. There’s no V-twin, no exhaust, no vibes and no sound – you just press a button, roll the throttle, and off you go. It feels clinical in comparison.
As you set off riding any electric bike it takes a few moments to get used to the lack of a clutch lever, gear selector, and especially the lack of any noise from the engine. Once you’re cool with that, you can appreciate the bike for what it is. And with the Harley, the first impressions were all positive.
There are plenty of nice details on the bike, some visible, some not. One of the
latter is the heartbeat sensation of pulsing torque that can be felt when you activate the powertrain. It’s just a gentle nudge from the bike designed to let the rider know the bike has come to life and is ready to ride. The pulsing ceases when the motorcycle begins to move, and resumes when it comes to a stop. It’s a small thing, but a nice touch.
Getting jiggy with it
The LiveWire has been built to a high spec with fully adjustable Showa suspension, Brembo brakes, and sporty Michelin Scorcher tyres. You might argue that Harley had little choice with this as the heavy bike needs good rolling gear to handle well, and the end result is that the LiveWire does just that. It’s the besthandling Harley I have ridden, a far cry from the big, lazy cruisers that the marque is better known for.
Before riding it I was a bit worried it would feel like cruising in an overweight golf buggy like some electric bikes do, but the dynamics of the bike are very much like those of a conventional petrol bike – it accelerates, brakes and turns in a familiar way, and you can even have some regenerative ‘engine braking’ dialled in so it doesn’t feel like a big two-stroke running away from you.
The electric motor connects to the rear wheel through a belt drive, and the power delivery is deliciously smooth and predictable. On paper, the power and torque figures of 105hp and 86ft-lb aren’t earth-shattering, but don’t let that fool you – this is one rapid motorcycle, with the electric motor delivering all it’s got from the word ‘go’. Harley claims that it can do 0 to 60mph in three seconds, and I can believe that. Acceleration is not only fast, it’s also incredibly easy to achieve as there is no clutch and no gears; you simply twist and go. It makes joining busy traffic a doddle, getting out of other road users’ way a breeze, and attacking an empty road an absolute delight.
There’s plenty of electronic wizardry going on in the background, with corner-detecting traction control and ABS headlining the safety package. The ride modes are Rain, Road, Sport and Range, plus three that you can customise to suit your personal riding style. They all have a different feel and a unique selection of power, regeneration, throttle response and traction control settings. Road and Sport are good for the sort of riding that puts a smile on your face, while Rain and Range are best reserved for foul weather and crawling to the nearest charging station when you’re running out of juice.
Range life
One of the big questions about any electric motorcycle is the range. Those who advocate e-bikes call it range anxiety and many feel it’s nothing to worry about. Those who prefer petrol bikes criticise the battery capacity, lack of charging infrastructure, long charge times and the limits that all these impose on electric motorcycles.
As with any technology that’s in the early stages of mass adaptation, all of these things are improving rapidly, but what’s the reality with this bike?
Well, in terms of battery life, it’s safe to say that if the type of riding you do is commuting and day rides you’ll probably be absolutely fine. If, however, you want to do a big miles tour, it’s not so simple.
The official figures from Harley suggest that the high-voltage battery (which has a five-year, unlimited-mileage warranty) provides 146 miles of city range or 95 miles of combined stop-and-go and highway range. In practice, those mileages are hugely dependant on how you ride, which ride mode is selected, and what kind of environment you are in. I found myself looking for a place to charge the bike after riding about 60 miles at motorway speeds. You could get another 10-20 miles more, but to do that you need to be sure that you can reach a charging point without adding any more miles to the journey.
Charging ahead
For charging the battery, there are two options. The first one is what you would most likely use if you commute and do short stints on the bike. This is using the Level 1 charger that’s stashed under the seat. It will get the battery full while you’re at work or overnight using a standard domestic plug.
For more rapid charging, the bike is able to take the power from a CCS-type DC fast charge point, which can provide 0-80 per cent of battery charge in 40 minutes or 0-100 per cent charge in an hour. This is very handy if you find a charging point at your coffee or lunch stop when out for a ride. However, the charging stations tend to be concentrated near bigger roads and cities, so exploring the countryside may require careful planning for charging. Another problem is that there are different types of charging plugs, which don’t all fit this model, and even if you find one that does fit, if it’s in use by someone else you will have to wait until they are done charging. That could delay you a good while.
The longest day ride I did on the LiveWire was 139 miles, which Google maps estimated to take just over two hours. It was mostly dual carriageways with 70mph limits. Theoretically I could have (just) done the journey with one stop for charging, but because of where the charging stations were I had to stop twice to charge the bike. Both times the charging points were in use when I got there, so I had to wait to use them. As a result of the wait and charge time, the charging stops doubled the journey time to four hours. It seems that if you are riding short journeys, the LiveWire will be in its element, but longer journeys are not as easy.
I usually charged the bike about 35 minutes at a time when I reached a fast charging station and this gave me about 60 per cent charge (from 20 to 80 per cent) at an average cost of £2.50. In addition to that I usually spent another £2 on a coffee while I waited. Of course, if you only charge the bike at home or work the costs will be much smaller.
The whole range and charging question is a difficult one, and it depends hugely on how and where you ride. But the fact is that for bigmile journeys it is still a limiting factor until such time that batteries offer a longer service, and charging is faster and/or more widely available.
Is this it?
So, what is the LiveWire then? The saviour of motorcycling or an electric horseman of the apocalypse?
Well, as emotive and divisive as it is, I would argue that it’s neither.
The LiveWire is a giant leap for Harley-kind, but only a small step for electric bikes. It’s good, no doubt about that, but there’s a way to go yet for it to be at a point where it could be widely accepted as an equal amongst internal combustion engine bikes.
From a pure riding point of view, the LiveWire is spot on. It’s not my favourite bike ever, but it’s so much better in many respects than many current petrol bikes.
It’s a motorcycle that happens to have an electric motor rather than an e-vehicle that happens to be in the shape of a motorcycle.
But as good as it is to ride, there are still too many buts that sneak into any conversation about the bike. It looks great, but the range is still an issue. It handles better than any other bike in the H-D range, but it costs a small fortune. It’s fairly maintenance-free and cheap to run, but the charging infrastructure is not quite there yet to convince everyone. It’s a case of the cup being half empty or half full. Only you can decide which it is for you. But one thing’s for sure: this is only the beginning!
“The LiveWire is the best-handling Harley I have ridden, a far cry from the big, lazy cruisers that the marque is better known for...”