This story begins with the 2019 race season, an unproven motorcycle, and an intrepid journalist who was just curious (or crazy) enough to learn more...
I'll provide a synopsis of season 1 with the Lightfighter v1.0 below, but if you'd like to hear more, feel free to click on the links below to read Troy's take on the experience.
There's a lot of talking in the video below, but this pretty much covers our "geometry first" approach to the first version of the motorcycle.
As some may know, I was once the Team Manager for the Brammo Electric Motorcycle race team that competed in the first ever electric race on the Isle of Man in 2009, won the TTXGP North American Championships in 2011-2013, and took the World Championship at Daytona International Speedway in 2012. I also led Victory Motorcycle's racing efforts to the podium at the Isle of Man TT in 2015 and 2016 as well as at Pikes Peak in 2016. With Zero Motorcycles, I was the Executive sponsor for our 2019 run with Cory West aboard the Zero SR/F. So calling electric motorcycle development and racing a passion of mine would be a bit of an understatement.
While I enjoy developing, riding, and even racing production electric motorcycles, nothing quite gets me as fired up as developing purpose built race bikes. If it weren't for this obsession, I might be a much wealthier man... The Lightfighter came about because I found another like-minded individual in Ely Schless, the designer/fabricator for our 2016 TT Zero race frame - a chromoly steel tube construction. After Brammo was consumed by larger companies and our race program effectively mothballed, we both dreamed of finding a way to get back to the Isle of Man and chase the top step of the podium that had eluded us. In the end, we set our sights a bit lower and decided it would be better to focus on club racing and seeing if we could finally beat race-prepped Supersports in a head-to-head race with no excuses.
Me: "Hey, Troy... How 'bout you hop off that antiquated gas-burner and try electric?"
Troy: "Sure. It better not suck."
Me: "I can't promise anything..."
If I haven't lost you yet, you can check out this video as well for a bit less talking and a lot more shots of Troy and the bike in action... as well as how our 2019 season turned out.
I still love those flo yellow wheels and livery design. I think the grey may make a comeback in 2021!
Just making sure this comment thing works on the blog site. If you've got comments or questions, I'd love to hear them and respond!