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 is definitely an interesting motorcycle from a historical standpoint but I don’t know how many miles the next owner is going to end up putting on it. Still, based on anecdotes it seems like you’ll have a better chance getting this one then getting one out of the manufacturer at this point, and it only has 30 miles on it .
Find this Lightning for sale in Las Vegas, Nevada with a BIN of $35,000 here on eBay.