When you think of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, I would bet you think of the loud and flashy bikes with lots of chrome and big roaring motors that you see on the street each day. The company has a new motorcycle that it is showing off that is nothing like you’d expect.
Rather than a big V-twin engine under the seat, this bike has batteries and an electric motor, producing a much different sort of sound than gas-powered motorcycles.
Harley-Davidson says that the prototype bike is good for 100 miles per charge and can hit 60 mph in under four seconds. The styling of the bike is futuristic and reminds me quite a lot of a Ducati Monster.
The bike probably won’t hit market for another two years. However, Harley wants feedback from customers and will let licensed drivers ride prototype versions of the bike to get feedback. If you’re interested in checking out the ProjectLiveWire bike, it’ll be going on tour around the U.S. starting on June 24th. You can check out tour dates here.
[via WSJ]
Who says big companies can't be bros when it comes to trademarks? Since Apple had no need for its Lightning connector to appear on "motorcycle parts, slot machines or tachometers," it buddied up with Harley Davidson to secure partial use of the cycle maker's IP for its new iDevice interface, according to recent info from the European trademark office. That allowed it to use a name that's sympatico with its Thunderbolt moniker, while presumably letting Harley retain the rights for its heavier metal accessories. Also, should Cook & co. run up against a mid-life crisis, at least they'll have quick relief on speed-dial.
Filed under: Peripherals, Apple
Via: Gizmodo
Source: OHIM (European trademark office)
In March of 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japanese coastal areas leading to the death of over 15,000 people. The tsunami also led to a nuclear reactor in the area leaking radiation in one of the worst nuclear disasters ever. Amidst the disaster, one of the more unusual things to surface in the post-tsunami news was that after more than a year, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle lost in the tsunami was found.
This particular Harley-Davidson was found 4000 miles across the Pacific Ocean on an isolated beach on the British Colombia Graham Island. The man who discovered the Harley-Davidson was a Canadian named Peter Mark. The rusted and beaten motorcycle and the remains of the insulated shipping container it was stored in were found on the beach at low tide.
Harley-Davidson offered to return the battered motorcycle to its rightful owner, Ikuo Yokoyama. The man turned the offer down and instead asked the motorcycle manufacturer if it would place the motorcycle, as is, into its museum collection is a tribute to the people who died in the natural disaster. Harley-Davidson agreed, and plans to put the motorcycle on display in the Harley-Davidson Museum are underway.