Episode 28 – EV Bike Shootout & Erik Buell’s Return

Aside | | Jonny Roadblock

Today we are discussing Erik Buell’s Fuell and having an EV Bike Spec Sheet Shootout

Erik Buell For Those Don’t Know Him

  • Buell was an AMA Superbike and Formula 1 motorcycle racer back in the mid to late 70’s while he was attending college to be an engineer.
  • He got his start at Harley-Davidson in 1979
  • While at Harley, his primary notables were for fixing the stability issues with the FXR and the chassis refinements that made it a great bike, and implementing the company’s electronic chassis testing program
  • In 1984-1985 Buell had left HDMC and started Buell Motor Company where he was selling the RW750 race bike for the AMA Formula 1 series. That spring, AMA announced that Formula 1 would be discontinued, making his bike have no buyers
  • He then built the RR1000, using Harley’s XR1000 race motors. With this motor, he created a super stiff and light frame, where he also patented the Uniplanar system, which is where the engine was rubber mounted to the frame allowing for vertical and longitudinal movement, but prevents lateral movement of the motor and rear suspension.
  • During this time, Buell had a ton of innovative ideas that caught the eye of Harley-Davidson.
  • In the early 90’s, Harley ended up buying a 51% stake in Buell, and in 2003 they bought complete control, distributing the Buell lineup in a few Harley dealerships
  • It is during the Harley Part 2 years that Buell came up with the “Fuel in the Frame” and “Oil in the Swing Arm” concepts where his bikes had some of the lowest centers of gravity on the market.
  • In 2008, Buell broke away from using the Sportster motors of the past and developed a 72 degree V-Twin with Rotax for the 1125R and CR bike, which produced 146 HP
  • In 2009 Harley shuttered Buell due to the economic downturn and the fact that Buell didn’t have a profitable year since Harley bought them
  • Erik then started up Erik Buell Racing (EBR) that ran from 2009 until 2015 when it went bankrupt
  • Erik holds 38 US Patents, the latest one being published in 2012

Erik Buell is now the CTO of Fuell which stands for Freedom, Urban, Electric, Love, Life They are starting out with 2 “bikes” an urban motorbike and an electric bicycle. We don’t care about the bicycle, so we will only focus on the “Flow” which is a sportbike inspired urbanite with the following specs:

  • 35kW and 11kW power plant
  • 0-60 in 2.7 sec.
  • 85mph top speed
  • Range: 150 miles
  • Charge time is 30 min.
  • Price: $11,995 for the 35kW and $10,995 for the 11kW

Check them out at Fuell.us where you can pre-order one today!

 

EV Bike Spec Shoot Out:

We are comparing the stated specs on the top bikes from major manufacturers

 

 

Zero SR/F

Harley Live Wire

Lightning LS-218

Arc Vector

Fuell Flow

Range

161 mi

140 mi

180 mi

270 mi

150 mi

Charge Time

270 min*

60 min

120 min

40 min

30 min

0-60

~3.9 sec

3 sec

2.2 sec

3.2 sec

2.7 sec

Top Speed

124 mph

95 mph

218 mph

125 mph

85 mph

Price

$18,995

$29,800

$38,800

$117,000

$11,995

Coolness (0-10)

JB – 8

UK – 5

RB – 8

JB – 7

UK – 6

RB – 6

JB – 8

UK –  10

RB – 7.5

JB – 10

UK – 4

RB – 10

JB – 7

UK -7

RB – 6

 

Zero:  https://www.zeromotorcycles.com/

Harley:  https://www.harley-davidson.com/us/en/motorcycles/future-vehicles/livewire.html

Lightning:  https://lightningmotorcycle.com/

Arc:  https://arcvehicle.com/the-vector.html

Fuell:  https://fuell.us/