urban vehicle with the ability to let loose on
your favourite back road on the way home.
The location for the world launch reflected
this, with a 38-mile loop set in Portland –
the USA’s answer to the question “What if
Hamilton was on Crack?” - providing the
backdrop for our introduction to the real-
world abilities of this history-making Harley.
With a dose of urban riding with plenty of
backroad shenanigans, we really did get to
see if LiveWire was a well-rounded package.
SPORTS NOT CRUISER
It’s hard to argue that it doesn’t have the
looks to get the heart pumping. While Harley
could have gone the same old route and
designed another cruiser, which possibly
would have been better for maximising
battery life, the LiveWire breaks the mould
44 KIWI RIDER
and is firmly in the naked roadster style. With
three colour options (Black, Yellow Fuse and
Orange Fuse), plus a host of accessories,
Harley’s first proper sporty bike since the
days of Buell really has the goods.
For instance, linked with the well-sorted
Showa separate function big piston forks
(BPF) and monoshock is a braking system
which is equally up to the task. Up front is
a set of four-pot radially-mounted Brembo
calipers on 300mm discs while out the back
is a dual-piston Brembo clamping down on a
260mm disc.
While the braking hardware might seem
just ‘average’ for those coming from race-
rep sports bikes, especially for hauling
up a 249-kilogram bike, the addition of
regenerative braking in all rider modes the
LiveWire is definitely not lacking in stopping
power. Basically, think of the regenerative
braking for the battery like strong engine