“You’ve got to be pretty hard up for editorial material to print this sort of rubbish. Like all the Italian start ups who were going to be in WSB, this load will never get off the screen, much less to the IoM!”
-Bruce, MD Reader, May 8, 2009
Bruce, I hope you have a delicious sauce to pour onto your plate of crow (May I suggest Pickapeppa?). Photos and video of Michael Czysz’s electric E1pc racebike have hit the blog-o-sphere, and it looks ready to rumble.
I had a lengthy conversation with Czysz last month, and the designer described a high-concept bike, intended to be available to the general public. The bike will take advantage of a modular design to offer flexible pricing and performance for all levels of motorcycle enthusiasts. But the whole process got under way just five months ago: I kid poor Bruce, but I can understand his incredulity.
And yet, there are photos of the bike in all its glory on the MotoCzysz website, as well as video of the bike getting dyno-tested next to an excited Michael Czysz. The bike is allegedly capable of accelerating from 0-120 mph in under 8 seconds, thanks to three motors and 10 battery packs. Expect the weight to be about the same as a modern inline-Four superbike. Front suspension is the oval-section fork developed for the C1 MotoGP bike, rear shock is Öhlins, and for an instrument panel? An iPhone.
The bike is now at the Isle, and should have gone through tech inspection Saturday the 6th. The race will be the final event on Friday, June 12, with American Mark Miller on board the MotoCzysz. There is no official information about pricing or availability of the consumer version.
MD Readers Respond:
- Yeah, it IS good to see the Czysz on the Isle and ready to take part.
TTXGP in general is a horrendously cool thing, and I’ve been especially
interested in seeing how the Czysz team does.
But they haven’t actually posted a competitive time yet. Matter of fact,
it doesn’t seem that they posted ANY times at all.
By all appearances, they ran out of juice in both practices.*sigh* I had very high hopes for Czysz and the E1pc. So far, it seems a lot
like the C1: lots of hype and promise, no real results to speak of.The qualification requirement for tomorrow’s race was waived, and
apparently only after the 2nd practice. In that light, I don’t think we
can assume that the team were sandbagging — seems to me they stood a
very real chance of being sent home without being able to take part in
the race.Nonetheless, history WILL be made tomorrow, and I’m excited to see it.
The Agni bike already went near-as-spitting to an 85mph lap. How long
did it take the gas-powered bikes to get there? 30 years or so? Very cool. —
Stu - You were awfully quick to bag on Bruce’s comments. So far, they’ve failed to complete 1 full lap. It sounds like they rushed it to get there while overlooking some rather serious issues in battery capacity. I’d say Bruce was just about dead on. Sounds like you need some crow pie yourself. Sincerely (and snickering), Justin
- re: “Motczysz E!PC completed”
(pls forgive me for beginning to sound like a broken record, as i’ve written about this already. still….) (BTW, gabe, kudos again, i love your writing, and MD.) i am THRILLED to see motoczysz thrive, and got the goosebumps thinking of the historic new day with the IoM e-race. it’s incredible and beautiful. but i still want to add, that many times in my life i’ve wondered which time period in the entire history of humanity it would have been cool to live in. i do think i was born into and live in an AMAZING time period. and the more i thnk about it these days, the more i FEEL things, the more i’m sure that one of the most undescribable experiences, seriously, i will be able to say i’ve been living my life with, is the sound, the sound, the sound, of a combustion engine, beneath me, on the road, with me. the song. the sound. the song. it’ll be thrilling to experience e-bikes, which i think i will in the next years. i can only imagine the beauty of the semi-silent “woosh” as i twist the throttle and i imagine it will be a beautiful experience, i imagine it might feel like i slide through the air. can’t wait. what an exciting time in history. to be living this transition. but, man, the combustion engine. what a vibration. what a song. what a roar. andrea - As clever as you think it may be, it is normally not good business to mock your customers in public.
It will be interesting to see what the results of the IoM electric bike race actually are, as opposed to the pre-race hype. For those of use who have followed the MotoCzysz story with interest for years, it is hard to get excited about upcoming results. It is noble to dream and to strive, but even brilliant ideas often do not make it to production. Clyde
- It may have gotten there but it isn’t looking too good:
http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2009/06/motoczysz-may-not-qualify-for.html
I hope they make it though. George
