LiveWire S2 Del Mar Review: Fun, Fast, Limited Range

Once throughout the bridge, we discover our approach to the Palisades Parkway, a collection of sweeping curves bordered by forest working alongside the Hudson River that’s a favourite of take a look at drivers. Here I get to modify between the opposite experience modes—Sport, which dials up the ability and dials down the traction and slip controls; Eco, which maximizes smoothness and effectivity; and Road, a stability someplace within the center. Switching modes whereas driving is easy—simply press a button inside straightforward attain of your proper thumb—and seamless. The Del Mar may also be the primary bike to supply over-the-air software program updates, which might embody new experience modes or methods to customise them.

Wheelie management operates when in Road mode, however because it’s not put in right here, I open up the throttle simply as a lot as I dare. This proves to be not very a lot. At 50 or 60 miles an hour, the bike assumes that in the event you’re giving it some “gas,” you imply it. 1 / 4 flip is sufficient to make me really feel fairly nervous, regardless of getting nowhere close to the complete 184 foot-pounds of torque accessible. Interestingly, at this velocity, the distinction in acceleration between the totally different experience modes doesn’t really feel all that huge; even in Rain, the Del Mar might be loads responsive if it is advisable to give it a sudden kick to get previous an erratic driver. I don’t come anyplace close to its high velocity (as but unspoken), however I can depart any of the automobiles careening down the Palisades at a standstill. For the courageous, or foolhardy, LiveWire is stating a 0 to 60 dash time of three.1 seconds.

After we come again over the George Washington Bridge, I swap over to the LiveWire One for comparability. It’s greater than 100 kilos heavier than the Del Mar’s 431 kilos, and it feels a tad extra strong going over the appallingly rutted paving of FDR Drive. Its electrical whine can be distinctly louder. The firm designed the LiveWire One’s engine sound to be noticeable, which can be a security characteristic, however I might think about it getting irritating on an extended experience; not so with the Del Mar, whose sound virtually vanishes behind the wind noise when you’re as much as reasonable speeds.

Back in metropolis site visitors, the Del Mar has a noticeable edge over the One. It’s nippier when slaloming out and in of lanes and round obstacles, and the extra upright driving place feels extra relaxed, extra comfy, and safer—I really feel extra conscious of my environment. And as soon as once more, it’s quite a bit calmer to deal with in stop-start site visitors on potholed roads than an ICE bike.

But No Fast Charging

All that is by design. The Del Mar is aimed squarely on the city biker. It affords a most vary of 110 miles on the town, and whereas LiveWire hasn’t but mentioned what its freeway vary might be, an apples-to-apples comparability with the One (146 miles city, 95 freeway) suggests it may very well be about 70 miles. Moreover, not like the One, which may go from zero to full cost in about an hour, the Del Mar surprisingly doesn’t supply DC quick charging, however solely Level 1 and Level 2, that means it might take a number of hours. The firm claims the Del Mar can handle a 20 to 80 % Level 2 cost in 75 minutes, however this isn’t ok for extending your day vary in most settings. The Zero SR/S, as compared, has a 187-mile metropolis vary and might fast cost from 0 to 95 % in 60 minutes. Yes, it is a comparable value to the fast-charging LiveWire One, but it surely additionally beats that bike’s vary.

Whether that is the bike for you, then, is dependent upon the place you reside and the place you wish to experience. I cut up my time between New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area. Within Manhattan, public transport or a bicycle is nearly all the time sooner and extra handy than a automobile or bike. For out-of-town driving, 70 miles will get me solely half means up the Hudson Valley and never so far as the Catskills or the Hamptons—the sorts of locations that these individuals who would shell out just below $17,000 on an electrical bike would possibly wish to spend their weekends. For a day journey with no few hours to cost, I’m restricted to 35 miles every means, which does not get me very far out of town. 

In the Bay Area, in the meantime, the Del Mar can be positive for getting round San Francisco and the East Bay, however in the event you lived in a kind of locations and wanted to spend the day in Silicon Valley, or vice versa, you’d run out of vary—until, once more, you may depart it parked someplace for a number of hours to cost. Almost any day journey north of town or down the peninsula can be out of the query, too. 

So the Del Mar isn’t for me. Which is a disgrace, as a result of it’s a beautiful bike. It manages to be highly effective and nimble, thrilling and forgiving , and it has a particular identification and nice type. If you reside within the type of metropolis the place getting round on a motorcycle is sensible and don’t care about longer journeys, it may very well be the one. The remainder of us must anticipate battery tech to rise up to hurry.