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I'm David Brown and this is Business Wars.

Today, we conclude our series, Harley and the Biker Wars. The Milwaukee-based company is an American legend, but it's fought hard for that title,

Fending off rival companies bankruptcy and even the hell's angels. Harley Davidson survived government trust busting and the onslaught of sleeker and cheaper Japanese bikes made by Yamaha and Honda. Biker riots, world wars, recessions and depressions you name at this company senior all hundreds of motorcycle companies have come and gone, but it's Harley Davidson that has stood the test of time. It's heavy, loud bikes came to embody freedom in the American dream.

But in the past few years, Harley has seen its ridership dwindle. Baby boomers, once the largest generation of diehard hog fans, they're increasingly aging out of the sport. Today, younger buyers want sleeker, lighter and cheaper bikes.

The company has often been criticized for not changing with the times, but this fall it is set to publicly release its first electric motorcycle, the live wire. It's a huge shift for the century old company.

It goes from zero to 60 in three seconds, making it the fastest Harley Davidson ever. It's also the first global motorcycle brand to make an electric bike. But question is, will it bet pay off our guest on today's episode is Bradley Brownell. He's a contributor to jelopnic.com and Bradley recently got a chance to test drive Harley's live wire. We'll talk with Bradley about his test drive as well as the larger electric motorcycle market and the future of the industry.

Bradley Brownell, welcome to business wars. Thank you for having me. You've gotten to be something of a part of history. I know that you test driven Harley's new live wire, which is the cutting edge of Harley Davidson. How do you feel?

It was very exciting. I mean, it did feel like the future. It was something completely different from anything Harley's done before. And it was a blast.

Harley's well known for having a particular kind of feel that's unlike any other motorcycle. It's big. It's burly. It's heavy. You can feel the vibrations of the engine. That's intentional. When you get on a live wire, does it feel like a Harley in a way it does, but in others, it doesn't. So stylistically, they attempted to add something of like the peanut tank sportster to that cover on top where you know a gas tank would normally be.

There are a few things like the switch gear and the mirrors that are carried over from other Harley models. They're they're obviously still using the belt drive and that was intentional because they've been using that since the 1980s.

But everything else feels completely different. You know, you've got this is their mode. They're sportiest bike. It's got the most lean over angle of any bike that Harley's ever produced.

It's probably their quickest bike that they've potentially ever made with a 3.1 seconds 0 to 60. So the live wire weighs about 550 pounds without a rider. That is a little heavier than other street fighter style bikes. You know, you've got triumphs and decaddies and that type of thing. Those are in the 450 to 500 range. So it's not that much heavier, but it is noticeably different.

But otherwise, it feels like something entirely new. There's not much Harley DNA in this bike. I mean, Harley engineers have been working on it for over a decade and they definitely did turn out a home run, but it doesn't feel like anything they've done before.

In fact, if you were to squint or maybe if you were a little bit, I don't know, near side or something, it would look a little bit more like a Japanese bike, wouldn't you say?

Yeah, you could say that for sure or at least an Italian. I see a lot of like Ducati street fighter in it or something like that. It definitely is a very rider-forward sporty ride experience, something that's completely foreign to the Harley lineup.

It's interesting. I remember seeing the first YouTube's and it doesn't sound anything like that potato potato potato that you get with the OV twins.

Yeah, that's true. It sounds as I would describe it a little bit like George Jetson's car. It's got a gear wine with you can hear the belt drive, you can hear the brakes working and hear the tires on the road, but there's not a lot of engine noise.

And this is actually the second development of the live wire engine or motor. They had a different motor before that they used and they, you know, as technology has advanced, they've moved to a different style. So this production ready one is very good.

You say that it has this gear wine. To me, it sounds like a jet.

There is a bit of that. I mean, it's a 90 degree bevel gear coming out of the electric motor and going to the drives to drive sprocket for the belt drive.

And so that 90 degree bevel is what's creating a lot of that noise and to Harley's credit, they engineered in some of that noise to that to that gear.

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