Crédit : Électric motion
1/ Because it's easy to ride
No gears, no clutch, no noise, so you can concentrate on the essentials: technique and trajectory.
Admittedly, the riding experience is a little different and requires a quick adjustment, but after that it's all good fun. Accessible, easy-to-ride bikes.
All the bikers who have taken part in our trips are unanimous: they never thought they'd be making such rapid progress, tackling such technical sections without feeling any danger.
When you think of electric motorcycles as a complement to existing bikes, they're an obvious choice for many of us.
2/ Because you ride in silence, and that's good for you.
As the playwright, aphorist and poet Gaetan FAUCER so aptly said: "One man's silence is another man's happiness". That could apply to motorcycling.
For many of us, everyday life means constant noise at all levels… So why put yourself through it on a motorcycle outing? On an electric motorcycle, you can enjoy the sounds of nature all around you. You can stop and talk without having to raise your voice.
The image you project is totally different, and the curiosity of the passerby outweighs any irritation.
3/ Because it's fun!
If the sound of a motorcycle on the road is intoxicating for us mechanical enthusiasts, the silence is just as much so. You lose your bearings, and the ecstatic effect of the first time takes hold of you and never lets go. It's crazy to hear nothing but the sound of the tires on the ground and the chain on the sprocket.
Add to this a staggering amount of torque, programmed into different handlebar-selectable engine maps, and you've got the perfect combo for an outing you won't be forgetting any time soon, so much so that it overturns current riding codes.
So much torque in dead silence, it's almost unsettling. Where before you could tell what gear you were in, or engine speed, now you can't. It's all about new sensations.
With their low weight, our machines glide along everywhere. Where we'd have turned back for fear of crashing or not being able to lift the bike, the electric motorcycle becomes a game, and we're back for more!
4/ Because you emit 0 emissions while riding
Let's face it, we're not exactly exemplary when it comes to ecology, yet we're more concerned than ever when we set off on an adventure.
So, yes, like many people, we weren't against the sweet, oily scent that hangs in the atmosphere when a combustion engine passes by, but that's no longer fashionable. And rather than see combustion engines becoming increasingly insipid, because they've been probed, catalyzed and electronically controlled to meet increasingly stringent standards, we're choosing electric motorcycles, which emit no harmful emissions when they're running, period.
5/ Because the autonomy of these machines encourages us to take our time.
Autonomy is THE issue that makes many hesitate to switch to electric.
It reminds us a little of the great adventures of two-wheeled travel pioneers like Anne-France DAUTHEVILLE, Robert SEXÉ and Thomas Edward LAWRENCE. How many times did they run out of fuel during their journeys? Did they know, when they set off in the morning, exactly how many kilometres they would cover in a day?
Like these icons, the electric biker is a pioneer. He accepts the unexpected and approaches his journeys with a different Distance/Time ratio.
The good news for you is that at Bike Out, we've anticipated the unexpected.
For example, on our trip, Ride alternative in the Black Woods, we ride for three days with Escape models from Electric Motion. They're perfect for riding on the small technical trails or the big rolling tracks of the Forez mountains.
Two and a half to three hours of riding in the morning are more than enough to give us a good dose of pleasure. Epicureanism, that nasty flaw that forces us to stop off at lunchtime in the local inns for an hour and a half to two hours, allows us to recharge our batteries both literally and figuratively. We continue with the same amount of riding in the afternoon and, judging by your initial feedback, that's quite enough.