NOT SO FAST

Reader comments on Cycle World web stories show that a fair segment of readers now expect simple, rational electric vehicles to quickly take over the nation’s highways.

This is an attractive proposition. Abe Askenazi, an engineer 15 years with Buell, moving to Zero in 2010, put it well, asking us to compare electric drive, with its —the motor’s armature—with the detailed complexity of any form of internal combustion drive. A typical motorcycle engine consists of hundreds of parts, the failure of any of which can spoil the rider’s day (a head bolt, a valve cotter). The fact that such myriad parts generally fail is testimony to the tremendous investment of