- 21 hours ago
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00:27Welcome to Southern Spain.
00:29Welcome to Cycleworld. Welcome to the launch of the new WN7 from Honda.
00:34Now the guys at Cycleworld was, Chad, while you're in Southern Spain, nip over and see Honda.
00:40See what their WN7 is all about. Because this is not just a hugely important bike for Honda.
00:45For me it's a hugely important bike for the motorcycle industry.
00:49Because this is Honda's first production electric motorcycle.
00:53Now there's been other electric motorcycles around from smaller brands.
00:58And obviously, hands up, you've got the Livewire.
01:00But the majority of bikes are scooters or kind of city commuters.
01:05And yes, this is kind of similar to a CB750 Hornet or a CB500.
01:11But it is an actual electric production motorcycle.
01:16Built by Honda. The biggest motorcycle manufacturer worldwide.
01:21And in Europe and in the UK, these are going to be available from dealers very shortly.
01:25So you can just walk into your Honda dealer and buy one of these bikes.
01:29In the UK, the price is just under £13,000.
01:32At the moment, the bike's not going to be available in the US.
01:36It's still a decision to be made by Honda.
01:38It's also not available in Japan and some other countries.
01:42Essentially because the infrastructure for the fast charging isn't there.
01:45In the UK and in Europe, we've got an abundance of CCS fast chargers.
01:50The ones you see charging Teslas.
01:52Which means this will go from 20% to 80% on one of those fast chargers in 30 minutes.
01:58Which is incredibly quick that no other motorcycle has.
02:01Yes, you've still got the kind of charge at home AC.
02:05Zero to 100%.
02:06But that'll take five and a half hours.
02:08And if you've got the kind of plug-in fast charger at home with the extension cable.
02:13You're looking at two and a half to under three hours.
02:17But essentially this bike's been made and designed to work with those CCS2 fast chargers.
02:22What we wanted to do at Cycle Raw was not only see this new motorcycle.
02:26But test ride it and kind of run you through what to expect.
02:29If this bike comes to the US.
02:32First of all I guess we've got to look at the looks and the styling.
02:36Which to me I think is really really high end.
02:38It's just got such a beautiful finish to it.
02:41And it looks very different to a normal conventional motorcycle.
02:45It's really really narrow.
02:47Because they're not constrained by exhaust and catalytic converters and radiators and an inline four cylinder engine or any of
02:55that.
02:56So they can make the bike as slim or as narrow and as stylish as they want it to be.
02:59It looks like one continuous structure.
03:01But I think it also looks like a Honda with a single sided swinging arm.
03:05That looks not too similar from like the bigger Hornet.
03:08The switch gear is again familiar Honda.
03:11So is the clocks.
03:14To start it it's keyless.
03:15Plus we've got a little, I think it's off a fire blade, starter button on the left hand side.
03:20Which is just press the button, hold the brake and the dash comes alive and we're ready to go.
03:24We've got four different rider modes to choose from.
03:27Which is sport, standard and wet and like an eco.
03:29That regenerates the batteries more to give you more longevity.
03:33To give you more range.
03:34Honda are quoting around 140 kilometers for range.
03:37Today we've ridden it fairly hard and we got 100 kilometers.
03:41Which is about 60 miles.
03:43Or maybe a little bit more depending on how and where you ride.
03:47If you're riding in San Francisco up and down steep hills then obviously the battery will be used less.
03:51Temperature and etc will affect battery life and range.
03:54And obviously the weight of the rider if you two up etc.
03:58But generally speaking we rode it reasonably hard today up in the hills in southern Spain.
04:02And we got a range of 100 kilometers.
04:05Within those modes that changes the characteristics of the drive.
04:10Because we're not on about engine characteristics.
04:12Because we can't compare it to a V2 or a V4.
04:16So essentially it's the throttle response.
04:18It also changes the traction control.
04:21And it also changes the regen.
04:23Or as I like to call it just engine braking to put it very simply.
04:27If you're in sports mode and you close the throttle.
04:30There's very little engine braking.
04:31It's like almost being in neutral or being on a two stroke.
04:34So you roll into the corner or you roll down the hill.
04:37And you've got very little engine braking.
04:39If you're in Eco you've got quite a lot of engine braking.
04:41And it almost feels like it's coming down a gear.
04:43Like you would if you were going down a steep descent on an enduro bike.
04:46And you wanted to use engine braking rather than conventional braking.
04:50And again you can play with that and trim it as you ride.
04:53So on the way back we had some downhill sections.
04:56Where I was adding a little bit more engine braking.
04:59So I didn't have to use the brakes.
05:00But then was putting recharge back into the battery.
05:04And when I was having more fun.
05:06I reduced the engine braking so it was more like a two stroke.
05:08So I could carry it into the corners.
05:10And have a little bit more fun.
05:12In terms of chassis.
05:14It's frameless.
05:15So we've got a front frame.
05:17The back frame.
05:18And essentially the battery is the frame.
05:20So it's a frameless bike.
05:21We've got belt driven.
05:22Which is unusual.
05:24And I think the first for Honda.
05:26The rate, trail, wheelbase and things like that.
05:29Are very similar to the Honda CB750.
05:31Because other smaller manufacturers have kind of had to develop.
05:35Their chassis around the battery.
05:37Where Honda have gone.
05:39Well we do pretty well in racing.
05:41We've been building bikes for nearly 80 years.
05:43And that CB750 Hornet works.
05:47So we'll just use kind of those dimensions.
05:49Pretty simple and straightforward really.
05:52The wheelbase is a little bit longer.
05:54We've got a 150 section rear tyre.
05:56Just to keep it narrow.
05:57And I think to enable it to steer a little bit easier.
05:59Because the weight is really low in the chassis.
06:02Which gives it a really nice balance around town.
06:05That does hinder it a little bit when you get up to high speeds.
06:09Just for steering.
06:10So that narrow tyre and wider bars enables you to steer the bike.
06:13With a little bit more ease.
06:15Speed is limited.
06:16So what they quote is 129 kilometres an hour.
06:19A few occasions on unmarked roads with no speed limit.
06:22We saw 130, 133, 135.
06:260-60 times are impressive.
06:28So 0-50 kilometres is similar to a CB500.
06:330-60 mile an hour or 0-100 kilometre an hour.
06:35Is a little bit quicker than a CB500.
06:37And obviously there's no gears.
06:39It's instant drive and instant torque.
06:42But what for me that really stands out on this electric motorcycle from Honda.
06:46Is the feel and the build quality.
06:48And how it feels like a motorcycle.
06:50But happens to be electric.
06:52A lot of other bikes in this class.
06:54You feel noises and you feel like it's electric.
06:58Because you can hear the chain hitting the swinging arm.
07:00Or you can hear the bodywork creaking.
07:02Or you can hear the pads grabbing the discs.
07:04And all the noises and all the kind of things you don't want to hear.
07:07That's normally hidden by the noise of a petrol bike.
07:10Comes really evident when you ride other bikes in this category.
07:14But this doesn't.
07:15It's absolutely silent.
07:17You can't hear the motor.
07:19There's no like whizzy noise or hizzy noise.
07:21It's perfectly silent.
07:22And it gives you this kind of eerie.
07:25Kind of freedom and feel to enjoy the environment.
07:28And weirdly talk to other people.
07:30And listen to traffic.
07:32And hear music from other cars.
07:34And out on the road.
07:35It really feels like a motorcycle.
07:37The suspension works really well.
07:39217 kilograms quoted.
07:41Which is about the same weight as a fully fueled middle weight naked.
07:46And the suspension works really well.
07:49The brakes are really strong.
07:50The traction control works really well.
07:52With that instant torque on these slippery white lights.
07:55It's a really impressive bike.
07:58I personally like the looks.
07:59I really like the styling.
08:01And I think at 13,000 pounds in the UK.
08:03It's about on par with the competition like Zero.
08:08And Livewire.
08:09Which are a little bit more.
08:09But it's a little bit strange in the UK.
08:12And at Europe at the moment.
08:13Because everybody's discounting prices on electric bikes.
08:15Left, right and centre.
08:17It'd be interesting to see if the bike eventually comes to the US.
08:20I think the only thing holding it back.
08:22Is the infrastructure of the fast chargers.
08:25The times when I've been in America.
08:26In LA and San Francisco.
08:28And in California.
08:29There seems to be an abundance of them.
08:30So it would possibly work in California.
08:32Or maybe in New York.
08:34But would it work when you're in the middle of Texas.
08:36And your ranges are only 60 miles.
08:38Maybe not so.
08:39But we wanted to have the opportunity here at Cycle World.
08:43Just to have a quick look over the bike.
08:45See what you think.
08:46And take it for a quick test ride.
08:48And it's been a really enjoyable experience.
08:51I'm kind of embracing these electric bikes.
08:53I love to see all this new technology.
08:55And new way of riding.
08:57And using the engine braking.
08:58Rather than using the brakes.
08:59Having no clutch.
09:00And no gear selector.
09:02And no heat.
09:03And no noise.
09:03It's an unusual experience.
09:05But an enjoyable one.
09:07Hopefully we'll get this bike.
09:08In the US.
09:09And the guys at Cycle World.
09:10Can put some more miles on it.
09:12What's it going to be like.
09:13In different temperatures.
09:14What's it going to be like.
09:15In the real world.
09:15Commuting.
09:16Rather than riding really fast.
09:17In the hills.
09:18And what will it be like.
09:19Against the other electric competition.
09:22Hope you've enjoyed our quick review of the bike.
09:24Hopefully you've enjoyed it.
09:25As much as I've enjoyed riding it.
09:27And it'd be interesting to see your comments below.
09:29Whether it's a thumbs up.
09:30Or a thumbs down.
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