What I want to preface first is that I’m by all means not an expert on motorcycles, I’ve only ridden a handful of bikes out there (2023 BMW S1000RR, Ducati SFv2, Triumph Trident 660, Triumph Thruxton, Honda CBR500RR, Honda Africa Twin 1100, Harley Davidson Sportster S, Livewire One) thus please take this review with a grain of salt. I’m just here to throw my two cents into the pit on how these bikes ride.
What we have here today is the Livewire S2 Del Mar. One of the few readily accesible EV motorcycles.
This something I would personally say is what EV motorcycles are supposed to be. The S2 Del Mar is as heavy as your average bike coming in at around 198kg.
The power and acceleration feels incredible even on the lower power and acceleration modes. I was riding this around for a little bit while looking for a photoshoot location and it felt more active than my current motorcycle, the BMW F650ST. It is, as expected, silent compared to any other motorcycle and that is one of the downsides of this motorcycle amongst another topic.
Lets get into the spec’s of this motorcycle:
– 825mm (32.5 inches) seatheight
– 165mm (6.5 inches) ground clearance
– 24° degree rake
– 2225mm (87,6 inches) wheelbase
– 198Kg (436,5lbs) weight
– 10.5 kWh battery
– 84pk/63kW peak power
– 263nm (194 ft-lb) of torque
– 0-100 km/h in 3.0 seconds flat
– 163km/h (101mp/h) top speed.
– €18.790 MSRP
The bike
The bike is, to me, an absolutely great attempt at creating an EV that can and will still pass as a regular motorcycle. It looks to me as if it takes of inspiration from some dirtbikes as well as flat track bikes(which is the main inspiration of this bike). It accomplished the look exactly in my eyes. The LED lights all around make it also extremely visible, especially when filtering through traffic and traffic jams. The seat is stiff but it has enough give for it to not feel like you’re sitting on the frame, its exactly what i hoped for when sitting on it for the first time ever. There is space for a passenger, more than that would be on a sport bike, tho I doubt it would be as comfortable as the riders seat.
Riding the Del Mar
So, how does it feel to ride the Del Mar. I’ve got a few words for it, one which is great. it feels extremely agile with its high bar and relatively short rake angle(compared to most harley’s). It’s agile enough for me to comfortably filter through traffic and not feel like i have to put my entire weight into it to turn it, unlike my experience with the Livewire One. On top of it being agile, the recharge system or otherwise known as the engine braking system to me was incredibly powerful when put on eco mode. It slowed down as if i was applying about 50% rear brake on my BMW which is something I adore on this bike. to recreate that feeling without actually having to break except for the last few meters to come to a complete stand still is amazing and would save on brake pads and rotors in the long run for me.
Brake feel of the bike wasn’t the greatest, but that could also be chalked up to it being brand new and just be put on the showroom floor for people to try out. I would imagine that after a proper pre ride inspection it would feel a lot better. On the demo bike it felt a little bit as if the brakes hadn’t been bleed well enough.
It having brembo’s on the bike are a good sign at least and they will prove to have enough stopping power, I would’ve loved to see two rotors on the front, but for it being more built as a commuter bike its not that big of a problem.
The mirrors are a negative point for me, at least for how they’re currently mounted. If theyre put up to the outside instead of the inside, you’ll get a lot more vision from them and only then would I be able to set them up to how I like it personally. (left mirror to the lane next to me, right mirror aimed behind me)
Another negative thing would probably be the range for a lot of people, 10.5kWh battery giving you enough range for about 130km isnt a lot, but for how light the bike is I think its more than enough.
The bike feels more to be aimed at people who dont have a long commute or those that just wanna enjoy the power of EV. Which ,to be honest, I am all for.
The Handling of the bike is about as good as it gets if you want to commute around with it. if your commute is about 10-30km you will only have to charge it every 2-3 days and if you charge it before the weekend, you’d still be able to take it out for a longer ride out there if you have preplanned the route with your buddies, or lack of because you’re riding an EV and they will crucify you for it.
Stigma
Yes, there is a stigma around EV bikes and it is something I’m personally not fond of, but with how much attention and how much the biker community love their performance bikes, their gas bikes and overal the heritage that is behind the freedom of riding. It’s understandable. I feel like people view EV’s as a valiant action against gas bikes, but it should be more seen as an addition and not a replacement.
In Short
So in short, the Livewire S2 Del Mar is an EV motorcycle with plenty of power to zoom quickly of the line even in its lower power modes, it’ll keep up with most other bikes thanks to its immense amount of torque and it’s range has something left to be desired. It steers and rides like any other bike thanks to its lower weight coming in at 198kg and it can be charged up very quickly with level 2 chargin, 80% in 78 minutes.
The Del Mar has plenty of beans in its system to do almost everything, it has the styling as well to still fly under the radar as a regular bike.
If I were to go EV, this would definitely be the bike for me. I absolutely loved riding this even on the rainy surface i had ahead of me when picking it up.
