volume 7 | issue 09
OCTOBER 2016
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MOTORCYCLE NEWS
Apple in talks with selfbalancing motorcycle startup Lit Motors
Apple is rumored to be in talks with Lit Motors, a self-balancing motorcycle startup from California. This is actually the second Apple acquisition rumor of the day, as it was reported earlier that the brand was considering buying supercar manufacturer McLaren. For nearly two years, hype surrounding Apple’s clandestine “Project Titan” has bubbled to the top of the automotive charts. The tech giant’s debut in the car world would have serious ramifications inside the transportation industry as well as outside it, but that anticipation was hushed slightly when the brand reportedly laid off dozens of employees and shifted its resources elsewhere. Not one but two Apple acquisition rumors hit the airwave, the first of which claimed Apple was in talks to buy supercar manufacturer and data solutions specialist McLaren. McLaren has since denied the reports, but Apple may also be in talks with a company called Lit Motors. A self-balancing motorcycle startup from San Francisco, Lit Motors is best known for the electric C-1, which uses two single-gimbal gyroscopes to keep itself upright. According to the New York Times, three anonymous sources have come forward confirming the acquisition talks, and Apple has already hired several of Lit Motors’ former engineers. So instead of scaling down or squashing its automotive aspirations, perhaps Apple is simply refocusing. An Apple-branded two-wheeler akin to the C-1 would certainly make a big splash among young people, and the vehicle’s small size could be the perfect fit for those living in crowded metropolitan areas. Lit Motors says the $24,000 C-1 packs many of the same safety features as a modern car, including a unibody chassis with reinforced doors, seat belts, and multiple airbags.
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2016 Harley-Davidson Roadster The Motor Co. invents a Sportster that sports
Harley-Davidson calls its new Roadster a “mash-up,” a comingling of “styling genres” to be exact. One part Dark Custom (there’s barely a glisten of chrome), one part retro-rod (Harley evokes memories of its mid-’50s KHR racer, though I see more 1958 XLCH) with just enough modern sporting hardware for a soupçon of backroad bona fides, the Roadster would seem to be — along with the recently released Low Rider S — a bold move by The Motor Company into the performance cruiser market. More importantly, though, it’s yet more proof Harley is keenly aware of the styling trends affecting its brand long before they
hit the public eye. While other motorcycle manufacturers wait until a styling motif blossoms into a full-blown trend, Harley susses them out at the ground — or maybe we should say café — level. The Motor Company may be the hoariest of traditional motorcycle manufacturers but it is adamant about reinventing its clientele. So, what we have is one basic cruiser — the Sportster — upgraded with rear dampers that, well, really dampen, plus a set of inverted forks that look like they got lost on the way to a GSX-R. Throw in some café racer handlebars, a bobbed fender or two and enough matte paint to finish a Stealth
fighter and you have the production version of what a new breed of speed shops — think Speed Merchant’s Mulato, Deus Ex Machina’s Bald Terrier, etc. — have been quietly customizing for the last few years. But is it actually sporty? By Harley/cruiser standards, absolutely. Like the Low Rider S, the Roadster gains a set of tri-rate gas emulsion shocks. Not a huge leap forward for motorcycling, but a major advancement for the Sportster, especially since they come with a 20-millimetre increase in travel. That’s not a gain to be diminished; when you’re starting with the stock Sportster’s CONTINUED ON P.03