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Now that Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman’s new Lengthy Means collection is offered for streaming, everybody will get to find the blessings and the woes of touring with an all-electric fleet. Whether or not it’s the Rivian vehicles operating out of juice in the midst of nowhere or the crew having to roll the bikes into the resort to cost them—there’s no scarcity of extra and fewer lucky occasions within the collection’ first few episodes.
As we’re launched to the Long Way Up’s premise and what impressed the crew to journey on electrical bikes within the first place, we additionally get a peek behind the scenes at each Harley-Davidson and Rivian, the businesses that offered the autos for the journey. As a lot of you could have seen already, whereas the fellows clearly rode on a pair of Harley LiveWires, each bikes had been significantly modified to fulfill the journey’s demanding necessities. The usual mannequin isn’t very trail-friendly, which is one thing the Motor Firm addressed with its crew of engineers. Right here’s a have a look at all of the work that went into modifying the LiveWires for the Lengthy Means Up.
When the crew began forming a plan for the South American chapter of the Lengthy Means, the then-new Harley-Davidson LiveWire was nonetheless within the prototype stage. That posed a problem from a technological standpoint but in addition provided the producer the unbelievable alternative to place the bike by way of its paces in one of many very first cross-continental electrical adventures. It additionally meant having to dedicate a crew to modifying the in any other case street-friendly mannequin to show it right into a rugged adventurer.
The bottom.
The inspiration.
The bike’s underpinnings remained the identical, however it was closely labored over to make it a principally competent adventurer. All the pieces from the chassis, Revelation powertrain, and Rechargeable Power Storage System (RESS) expertise remained untouched—it’s every part round these core elements that was modified.
The crew notably fitted the electrical ADVs with rotors, wheels, and tires borrowed from the Pan America and custom-built a number of the different elements, together with a touring windscreen, a triple clamp, a steering head, and a rear shock to enhance off-roadability. These modifications resulted in a two-inch floor clearance enhance and gave the rear suspension an extra one and a half-inch of journey. The crew additionally reworked the front-end meeting to accommodate the brand new wheels and the change in floor clearance and suspension journey.
“(…) the engineering crew mixed the dynamically succesful on-road efficiency of the LiveWire mannequin with adjusted geometry and suspension primarily based on the upcoming Pan America journey touring mannequin to shred filth roads, single observe, and desert trails whereas sustaining its on-road dealing with prowess,” Harley’s PR supervisor Paul James wrote in a press release concerning the corporate’s involvement within the mission.
The result’s a pair of gnarly-looking electrical adventurers that made ADV lovers hope we’d sooner or later say a manufacturing model of such a motorbike launched. Curious, we reached out to Harley and requested our contact whether or not the corporate would ever take into account providing an journey model of the mannequin, or perhaps a package that might permit homeowners to make their rides extra versatile.
We obtained a cautious reply: “We’ve got just lately modified our technique on speaking about future merchandise upfront of their launch, and subsequently I can not touch upon future product choices,” PR for Harley Jennifer Hoyer commented. “Extra particularly, the LiveWire bikes utilized in Lengthy Means Up had been specifically modified with prototype elements from the upcoming Pan America journey touring motorbike. Thus, it could not be doable to alternate the components to the LiveWire immediately.”
It isn’t a sure however it additionally isn’t a no. So, you’re saying there’s an opportunity? Guess we’ll have to attend and see whether or not Harley makes the bounce.
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