Motorcycles

Aero E-Racer: Blistering performance, gorgeous looks ... Terrible range, too expensive

Aero E-Racer: Blistering performance, gorgeous looks ... Terrible range, too expensive
Aero E-Racer: one of the best looking e-moto concepts we've seen, with blistering performance figures. Sadly, price and range will likely kill it.
Aero E-Racer: one of the best looking e-moto concepts we've seen, with blistering performance figures. Sadly, price and range will likely kill it.
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Aero E-Racer: LighTech spiked footpegs
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Aero E-Racer: LighTech spiked footpegs
Aero E-Racer: angel eyes on the stacked headlights
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Aero E-Racer: angel eyes on the stacked headlights
Aero E-Racer: side bodywork is aggressively styled
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Aero E-Racer: side bodywork is aggressively styled
Aero E-Racer: high powered, 55kW (74hp) Tacita electric motor
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Aero E-Racer: high powered, 55kW (74hp) Tacita electric motor
Aero E-Racer: Ohlins TTX forks and serious Brembo monobloc brake calipers
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Aero E-Racer: Ohlins TTX forks and serious Brembo monobloc brake calipers
Aero E-Racer: spoked rims
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Aero E-Racer: spoked rims
Aero E-Racer: LighTech bar guards add some welcome bling
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Aero E-Racer: LighTech bar guards add some welcome bling
Aero E-Racer: Brembo brake levers and LighTech bar guards
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Aero E-Racer: Brembo brake levers and LighTech bar guards
Aero E-Racer: CLF rims
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Aero E-Racer: CLF rims
Aero E-Racer: diamond stitched leather seat
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Aero E-Racer: diamond stitched leather seat 
Aero E-Racer: the power button is positioned to respond to rider excitement levels
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Aero E-Racer: the power button is positioned to respond to rider excitement levels
Aero E-Racer: Ohlins TTX shock
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Aero E-Racer: Ohlins TTX shock
Aero E-Racer: built-in GoPro Hero 4 session action camera
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Aero E-Racer: built-in GoPro Hero 4 session action camera
Aero E-Racer: LighTech spiked footpegs
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Aero E-Racer: LighTech spiked footpegs
Aero E-Racer: even the brake lever's a bit sexy
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Aero E-Racer: even the brake lever's a bit sexy
Aero E-Racer: gorgeous twined metal trellis subframe
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Aero E-Racer: gorgeous twined metal trellis subframe
Aero E-Racer: comfy looking leather seat
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Aero E-Racer: comfy looking leather seat
Aero E-Racer: right handgrip with underslung mirrors
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Aero E-Racer: right handgrip with underslung mirrors
Aero E-Racer: left handgrip and switchgear
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Aero E-Racer: left handgrip and switchgear
Aero E-Racer: RSA leather seat
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Aero E-Racer: RSA leather seat
Aero E-Racer: fancy coloured bolts and snazzy motor covers
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Aero E-Racer:  fancy coloured bolts and snazzy motor covers
Aero E-Racer: leatherwork on the seat looks top-notch
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Aero E-Racer: leatherwork on the seat looks top-notch
Aero E-Racer: uses an iPhone as the dash, with the fingerprint sensor as the ignition button
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Aero E-Racer: uses an iPhone as the dash, with the fingerprint sensor as the ignition button
Aero E-Racer: twin stacked headlights with angel eyes
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Aero E-Racer: twin stacked headlights with angel eyes
Aero E-Racer: a face many mothers could love
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Aero E-Racer: a face many mothers could love
Aero E-Racer: 74 electric horsepower, 160 kilos.
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Aero E-Racer: 74 electric horsepower, 160 kilos.
Aero E-Racer: a good looker by any measure
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Aero E-Racer: a good looker by any measure
Aero E-Racer: 70 electric horsepower with a 5-speed transmission will make for extreme acceleration
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Aero E-Racer: 70 electric horsepower with a 5-speed transmission will make for extreme acceleration
Aero E-Racer: that trellis subframe is a terrific design statement and very Italian
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Aero E-Racer: that trellis subframe is a terrific design statement and very Italian
Aero E-Racer: at a svelte 160kg, this should be a lot of fun to throw around
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Aero E-Racer: at a svelte 160kg, this should be a lot of fun to throw around
Aero E-Racer: high end suspension and braking, as well as light weight and low reciprocating mass should make this thing carve corners like a madman
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Aero E-Racer: high end suspension and braking, as well as light weight and low reciprocating mass should make this thing carve corners like a madman
Aero E-Racer: stacked headlights with Angel Eyes
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Aero E-Racer: stacked headlights with Angel Eyes
Aero E-Racer: the black road series bikes feature coloured subframes
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Aero E-Racer: the black road series bikes feature coloured subframes
Left: the Road line. Right: the Tender line
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Left: the Road line. Right: the Tender line
Road series bikes look just as good in black
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Road series bikes look just as good in black
Tacita T-Race M supermoto: a little lacking in style.
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Tacita T-Race M supermoto: a little lacking in style.
Aero E-Racer: one of the best looking e-moto concepts we've seen, with blistering performance figures. Sadly, price and range will likely kill it.
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Aero E-Racer: one of the best looking e-moto concepts we've seen, with blistering performance figures. Sadly, price and range will likely kill it.
View gallery - 37 images

There's so much to be excited about with this Aero bike: massive electric performance with a 5-speed transmission, light weight, and some of the sexiest looks in e-motodom. But its range, and the astronomic pricetag will, we expect, keep it out of serious contention. Pity, we kinda want one.

Italian company Tacita Motors has been making a series of low-powered off-road focused electric motorcycles since around 2014. They look like decent enough little jiggers, notable for the fact that unlike most e-motos they use a 5-speed transmission and clutch. But to be blunt, they're pretty dull to look at, and that's hardly the Italian way. Here, try and get yourself excited over this:

Tacita T-Race M supermoto: a little lacking in style.
Tacita T-Race M supermoto: a little lacking in style.

I mean, it's fine. It's just not sexy. Which opened the door for another company, Aero Motocycles, to step in and make it a whole lot spunkier. Meet the Aero Motorcycles E-Racer:

Aero E-Racer: a good looker by any measure
Aero E-Racer: a good looker by any measure

Keeping the Ohlins TTX suspension and the main frame of the Tacita bike, Aero juiced it up with a larger Tacita motor offering twice the power of any of Tacita's production bikes – a 55-kilowatt (74 horsepower), 120 Newton-meter beast of a thing that offers slightly greater peak power, if about 30 percent less torque, than the awesome Zero SR. And let's not forget, it's got four lower gears than the Zero bike and a clutch to play with – acceleration will be utterly ridiculous off the line, and this will be a genuine wheelie monster.

From there, the Aero team gave the bike a comprehensive cosmetic makeover, starting with a gorgeous trellis subframe that extends over the "tank" area and some aggressive-looking side bodywork that wouldn't look out of place on some of KTM's recent streetbike concepts.

Aero E-Racer: gorgeous twined metal trellis subframe
Aero E-Racer: gorgeous twined metal trellis subframe

A diamond-stitched brown leather seat stretches from the front of the tank right back over the taillight, and the handgrips are color-matched to it.

From there, this thing becomes bling central. The dash is a removable iPhone to start with, running a custom Aero IOS app to manage information from the drivetrain. The speedo is straight-up GPS rather than having any connection to a wheel or motor sensor. The fingerprint sensor "arms" the bike, like a biometric ignition switch.

Aero E-Racer: side bodywork is aggressively styled
Aero E-Racer: side bodywork is aggressively styled

Above the two stacked headlights (complete with Angel Eyes), there's a built-in GoPro Hero 4 Session mount to record your ride. Brakes are Brembo, the supermoto rims are by CLF, and everything else that can be farkled has been farkled, primarily with tasty bits out of the LighTech catalogue.

It looks a million dollars … And there's the first problem. While Aero gives no price estimates, the lower-powered and unfarkled Tacita bikes are mind-bogglingly expensive. You're looking at between EUR€20,000 and EUR€30,000 – or US$21,357 and US$32,035. God knows what you'd have to shell out to land one of the Aero bikes. Let's put it this way: the white bike pictured here is known as the "tender" line, and it's waterproofed and supplied with hook points so you can easily get it on and off your yacht. Mmmmhmmm.

In all probability it won't be far shy of the awesome, 250-horsepower Lightning LS218's US$38,000 pricetag. As hot as this Aero bike looks, that Lightning bike's just as pornographic, and it goes much faster and much further. I know which one I'd be taking.

Aero E-Racer: high powered, 55kW (74hp) Tacita electric motor
Aero E-Racer: high powered, 55kW (74hp) Tacita electric motor

There's the second problem: range. With a tiny 5.3 kilowatt hour lithium battery, the good news is you can charge the thing off a wall socket in just 1.5 hours. The bad news is that your range is "up to 1 hour" before a low-power reserve mode kicks in to limp you to a charge point. We estimate the actual range to be around 40 miles if ridden very sensibly. And while that's great for 90 percent of people's daily commuting work, it's not the kind of figure you'd expect from something that will probably cost more than twice the sticker price of a current Yamaha R1.

The Aero E-Racer made its debut at last year's EICMA show, and the bike got such a terrific response that Aero has decided to try taking it to production. We suspect enthusiasm might simmer down when it's got a price tag on it, but you can pre-order yours right now.

Aero E-Racer: uses an iPhone as the dash, with the fingerprint sensor as the ignition button
Aero E-Racer: uses an iPhone as the dash, with the fingerprint sensor as the ignition button

It's a beautiful thing, and a quiet indication that Italy is ready to take the lead in electric motorcycle design the same way it's out in front of gas bike design.

The E-Racer will accelerate like Bruce Lee's fist, wheelie like a shot stallion and carve corners like nobody's business. For about 20 minutes. And then you'll be glad it looks so good as you sit by the side of the road staring at it, waiting for your mate to rock up with a truck to get it home in.

Source: Aero Motorcycles

View gallery - 37 images
5 comments
5 comments
Gizmowiz
eBike makers are a decidedly illogical lot. What were they thinking on price jeeze this is ridiculous it shouldn't cost more then 5 grand with that tiny battery.
Tommo
20 minute battery time? This thing is dead in the water with a range like that.
Oh, also, in the UK if you make something 'spunkier' it has a completely different meaning to the one you were trying to imply..
usugo
The dull model still looks much better than any zero motorcycle. And the look of the aero is spoiled by those white side flaps on an otherwise great minimalist look. Beside, 5 gears on a ebike seem an unnecessary overdoing. When you have one economy, one normal and one hell yeah, you have pretty much everything covered.
cheers
f8lee
A 5 speed transmission on an electric bike - what's the point of that? Can't you just "Twist and Go" with an electric as you can with a CVT scooter?
ljaques
Ebike manufacturers, could we please (pretty please?) have an intermediate electric motorcycle priced like the Kuberg Freerider but with the style and performance of the Zero FX? Thank you!