Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 27, 2015 P85 far you twist the throttle back- wards, so while you can't select the maximum amount on offer, once you get the hang of using it you can select how much you're using at any given time. So this meant I could attack the twists and turns of Mulholland Drive in something approaching anger without using the brakes, just varying the amount of regen available by reverse twisting the throttle. But even closing it altogether and dialing in the most intrusive setting via your right wrist won't deliver any trace of the rear wheel chatter that will affect any bike not equipped with a slipper clutch if you get greedy with the engine braking. And the Brembo brakes do their accustomed great job in slowing the bike from terminal velocity in conjunc- tion with the regen, although it would be nice to have ABS fitted, as will be required shortly for European sales. Unlike the MotoCzysz E-bike, which wafted along completely silently at over 160 mph, the Lightning has a sound of its own which isn't quite as addic- tive and thrilling as the Mission R's scream of speed uttered via its straight-cut primary reduc- tion gears as revs mount, but is nevertheless enticing. It's a high-pitched whine that presum- ably comes from the motor itself rather than the chain, because there are no transition gears on the LS-218, whose drive goes directly from the motor output shaft via the chain to the rear wheel. "It's the most efficient way to transmit drive, and it's how we've been able to get more power out of the package, as well as get the weight down," says Hatfield. "Ev- ery time two gears intersect you lose two to five percent of energy power, so if you have two sets of gears you have four to 10 percent less performance, plus there's charge time dependent on the number of panels. Lightning has devel- oped its own liquid-cooled controller [aka ECU], which is entirely mapped in-house, and uses Korean-made cells in its different packs sourced from Indianapolis- based EnerDel. Rather than the nowadays more commonplace lithium iron phosphate cells, these are actually the LMNC/lithium manganese nickel cobalt variety, which according to Hatfield have a much higher energy density. These are flat pouch-type cells each about the size of a small A5 magazine, and the LS-218's stock 12kWh battery pack contains 180 of them encased in an aluminum battery box, which essentially acts as the fully-stressed chassis of the bike, connecting the motor to the front fork. Essentially, it's a broadly similar format to the Ducati Panigale, though here the motor is located in the middle of the swingarm, which pivots in the battery casing. Up front the fork con- nects to the battery pack, too, says Hatfield, who was however too coy about technical secrecy to let me see the bike without bodywork, let alone photograph it, so we'll just have to take his word for it! That fork is a fully adjustable TiN- coated U.S.-made 43mm Race Tech item with cartridge internals (an Öhlins FGRT is available as an upgrade) set at a 24º rake with 105.3mm of trail. This is matched at the rear to a cantilever monoshock from the same company (again with an Öhlins TTX36 upgrade option) operated by an aluminum swingarm machined from solid billet pivoting in the battery box. Twin 320mm Brembo discs with four-piston two-pad radially-mounted Brembo Monoblock calipers stop a bike weighing 498 pounds with oil/ coolant and the stock 12kWh battery pack, split 52/48 percent, with a single 245mm Brembo disc and twin- piston Brembo caliper at the rear, all backed up with supplementary adjust- able regenerative braking. The stock wheels are forged aluminium Marche- sinis, with forged magnesium or BST carbon-fiber items as an upgrade, and the Glynn Kerr designed bodywork is entirely made from carbon-fiber, with what appears to be the fuel tank actually comprising a shroud over the battery box. Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa rubber is fitted as standard, with the same hefty 200/55-17 rear as carried by all its fellow members of the 200hp club. Brembo M50 calipers haul the 498-pound beast up.

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