One of the most interesting stories in electric motorcycles in the last decade is that of Richard Hatfield and Lightning Motorcycles. I’d say they first came to national attention with the LS-218 Superbike, named after the incredible 218 mph it achieved at the Bonneville Salt Flats (and it also won Pikes Peak with Carlin Dunne, as featured in On Any Sunday: The Next Chapter.
A decade ago, things were looking great for Lightning. They were making headlines and getting attention with bikes that, on paper, were the future:
By 2020 though, publications like RideApart were running pieces like “Whatever Happened To Lightning Motorcycles?”
Normally I try to cover the highlights of a bike – this makes 244 horsepower, 220 lb-ft of torque, has top-tier components like Ohlins FRGT forks/TTX36 shock, Brembo calipers, and the whole thing weighs less than 500 pounds (lightweight for an electric). But all the news about this company recently (except maybe a cameo in the Accountant 2 movie last year) has been poor – check out these two threads on Reddit, for example: Part 1 / Part 2.
This example is from the good times – it’s the first production bike that Lightning sold. The buyer was Troy Helming, and the sale was covered by several publications as Lightning had a small event for it (the featured image at the top is from that event). A quote in that Motorcyclist Magazine article seems appropriate to come back to now:
“It’s one thing to produce a one-off jewel of a prototype like this; mass production is something tougher. We’ll check back in after serial number #1000 rolls off the line, but until then, the LS-218 puts Lightning CEO Richard Hatfield closer than anyone to making a practical, compelling, and (almost-) affordable electric superbike.”
Bike #1 has 1,989 miles on it and the seller notes that “a new owner would enjoy the benefit of being part of the “First Five” which means new upgrades to the LS-218 software and other electronics are added to this bike (and the other first four customers) at no charge.” I have no idea how many of these have been sold in total, the “First Five” might be the entire customer base…
Find this Lightning for sale in Richmond, California with a BIN of $12,995 here on Facebook Marketplac.