The real news with this model is the bump in range. The Lightning currently owns the world land speed record for electric motorcycles, of which 40 examples have so far been built for delivery to customers as far afield as South Africa, China, and Guam, though most have been sold in the USA. Lightning Strike Carbon Edition Review: Run for Cover. It's bad. Lightning's LS218 is a true electric superbike. This new model would be called the Strike, and it took the attention of prospective buyers by storm. With a top speed of 150 mph, this Lightning Strike Carbon Edition is the highest trim of the lot, with a 20 kWh battery delivering 150 miles per charge. The owner we talked to told us Lightning instructed him, "not to let the bike go below 100 volts." Lightning has a lot of work to do before this bike is safe. Okay, absolute top speed won’t be anywhere as fast as the LS-218, but that’s not the point of this real world E-motorcycle, which represents a new departure for Lightning—away from the outright performance, towards real-world rideability. More performance for fewer dollars is a potentially winning formula, and Richard Hatfield deserves enormous credit for creating it, but this time for his business acumen and far-sightedness, as much as for his groundbreaking engineering that’s already been rewarded on the racetrack. There are many missing features beyond these. Wanting to know more, we reached out and he responded. My opportunity to become the first person outside Lightning to ride the prototype Strike happened in Glendora, California, whose steep inclines and switchback sequential turns provide a stern test of handling and especially torque, ideal terrain to test an E-bike to best advantage, and even in raw, undeveloped form, the Lightning Strike didn’t disappoint. LIGHTNING MOTORCYCLES have just announced their newest and most technologically advanced motorcycle ever. It’s called the Lightning Strike, and unlike the high-dollar, flagship LS-218, the Strike is an electric motorcycle for the masses, according to Lightning. Next Lightning integrated the race proven technologies into their customer products – the Lightning LS-218 in 2015 and the Lightning Strike in 2019 which were well received by the market. The LiveWire also has a large housing around the cells to protect them. However, since I was riding what was primarily a proof-of-concept model closely based on the LS-218, there’s lots of time for Lightning to address these issues before production commences, as they must. These criticisms merely amount to suggestions at the prototype stage, and for that reason, it’s also pointless to comment on the Strike’s brakes and suspension, since the hardware carried by this early prototype won’t reach volume production. Watch Drako's $1.2M supercar in the snow. Lightning Strike. “We’ll do the engineering and product development in California, but will manufacture the majority of the parts in China before shipping them to the USA, where we’ll assemble bikes destined for North America, and certain of our export markets. The Lightning Strike Motorcycle Corp. lets Alan Cathcart loose on its prototype new Lightning Strike E sport bike. China is definitely going to be one of the biggest markets in the world for electric motorcycles as opposed to scooters in the next few years, but we think India will be right there with them, basically to address the environmental problems that they face at present. No moisture protection. Pre-orders started immediately following the announcement early 2019, and then very little was heard. 15. Because these vehicles are basically programmable computers, it's not a big stretch to add rider comforts like different settings. https://www.cyclenews.com/2019/03/article/lightning-strike-prototype-review Copyright 2021 CycleNews. It promised incredible specs at reasonable prices from $13k-$20k USD. The fact that the build of power and especially torque all the way to the 15,000 rpm limiter is so smooth and linear, with no spikes in the delivery ready to get the rear Pirelli unhooked via a sudden spurt of power as on an ICE Supersport, makes it feasible to exploit the reserves of performance of the Lightning motor. The brand is currently taking reservations for the Lightning Strike Carbon Edition, an affordable two-wheeler that promises steadfast specs and comes in a handful of colours. Show any 2020 Lightning Strike Carbon for sale on our Bikez.biz Motorcycle Classifieds. It got to 91. Lightning Motorcycles Tests 400-Mile Range Lightning Motorcycles aims to set a new electric distance record in 2017. It also meant that I could barely reach the front brake lever, instead relying on the rear brake pedal in its conventional place rather than on the left handlebar, scooter-style, to slow the Strike down. The color drained from their face. It's bad. We’ll also build complete motorcycles in China for certain markets where it makes sense to do so geographically – not only China itself, which we see as a key market for Lightning but also India, in particular. But a close look at the seat/handlebar/footpeg triangle is needed, and Richard Hatfield realizes this. DO NOT ride one of these bikes until a battery enclosure is in place. Prospective owners wanting to get in line placed $500 deposits for the entry or mid level bikes, but people prepared to shell out more cash put down $10,000 deposits for the Carbon Edition. “We’ve made the throttle response very progressive because we want the bike to be comfortable to ride on the street,” says Hatfield. No countermeasures against oxidization, salt bridges, or even road debris. Underneath the bodywork is where you can find the Strike’s magic combination of electric propulsion. So we’ll have several options on that, and the same with the charger. However, he’s got the Strike’s essential architecture dead right, though physically smaller and with more accessible performance from the half-as-powerful motor, it feels chuckable and agile in a way the heavier, much bulkier, and less nimble LS-218 could never be, despite the Strike sharing the same 24º rake/105.3mm trail steering geometry as the bigger bike. Intended: In light of the daunting list of major flaws, we urge people to refrain from even test riding them in their current condition. The internet was desperate for information. Finally, to complete a full critique of the Strike’s ergonomics, the footpegs are much too high even with the excellent grip delivered by the Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa rubber fitted to the forged aluminum wheels made to Lightning’s design, expect less costly but still grippy Pirelli Angel GT rubber to appear on production bikes. Some of them are intended to be that way, and that is something of major concern. Yaakov to race 2021 FIM Yamaha R3 bLU cRU European Cup, Cardo Systems Announced as Official Communications System of Progressive AFT, Motion Pro Renews Partnership With MotoAmerica For 2021, Progressive AFT to Debut Atlanta Super TT at Atlanta Motor Speedway, MotoAmerica Goes Live Down Under With Fox Sports Australia, Bel-Ray Named Official Sponsor of Team Babbitt’s Monster Energy Kawasaki, R&G Continues Partnership With MotoAmerica, Lightning Motorcycles, San Jose, California, USA, 150V liquid-cooled three-phase AC induction motor with liquid-cooled inverter/controller, Lightning high-power 18kWh battery packs with integrated thermal management system, 70kw/96 bhp at 15,000 rpm at output shaft (90kW/120 bhp at 15,000 rpm), Maximum 120 miles at road-legal speeds with 18kWh battery pack, Under 40 min. Then we’ll ship each motorcycle as a CKD/complete knockdown kit into our US dealers and our distributors in other countries, where they’ll hand assemble them locally. In February 2020 two more owners surfaced. Price-wise, the base model LS-218 starts at $38,888, rising to $42,888 for the 15kwh version and $46,888 for the 20kwh model. The CSC City Slicker is an urban electric motorcycle designed to be ultra-affordable. According to Hatfield, the Strike is scheduled to be unveiled in March, with the production of complete motorcycles to satisfy what he says are the many sight-unseen pre-orders Lightning already has for the bike, starting in June. The Standard Edition Strikes (you know, the ones with that super enticing $12,998 price tag) aren’t quite ready to make deliveries yet. Very tight! Claimed wet weight is a contained (by EV standards) 455 pounds with all cooling fluids, 44 pounds less than the LS-218, split 52/48% along the Strike’s 55.9-inch wheelbase. Lightning Motorcycles may have been quiet from the electric motorcycle scene lately, but that silence ends now, as the company has announced its next model to accompany the LS-218. If you want to maximize range, adjust top speed, torque, and regenerative braking. True to its name, Strike Carbon Edition features full carbon fiber bodywork handcrafted at Lightning’s in-house carbon studio. It is, perhaps, no surprise that the best … The Strike is scheduled to be unveiled in March, with production of complete motorcycles to satisfy what he says are the many sight-unseen pre-orders Lightning already has for the bike, starting in June. This led Hatfield to insist on covering it with camouflage tape, even if the end result was surely so noticeable as to shout—“I’m a prototype, photograph me!”. Lightning Motorcycles is doing such great things with electric vehicles that we’re including them twice. The Strike, as Lightning Motorcycles calls it, will launch in March of 2019. In 2011, Lightning set the land speed record at 215.960 mph(top speed of 218.637 mph) and became the world fastest production electric motorcycle. 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