The Honda Grom is a funny motorcycle, if one can call it a motorcycle, that is. With 12″ wheels, it has the stature of a scooter. With a 30″ saddle height, it can be a reasonable steed for riders of all heights under 6’1″. Before woke became fashionable, the Grom was the reasonable one, a flexible machine with a please-all demeanour.
The Grom-like minibike format works at so many levels. It makes the motorcycle lighter. That lightness, coupled with the tiny wheels aiding low turning inertia, makes the typical zig-zag-zip through traffic easier. The small wheels also help with low-end torque, putting more to the ground, making the otherwise sedate 9.7bhp entertaining. Put the same engine on a 17″/18″ wheel size motorcycle, and you are likely to get a snooze fest.
It’s a unisex, height and age-agnostic form factor that makes sense to everyone looking for a fun commuter. Almost everyone can go feet flat on the Grom, offering an unparalleled sense of confidence, making it one of the most popular two-wheelers in the USofA.
Unlike Asia and Europe, the US has a small scooter market. The Grom fills many gaps in the market: teenagers, girls, learners, first-timers, riders with low confidence and/or skill, etc. Not to mention, with a 125cc powertrain, the Grom is very cost-efficient and frugal.
This makes the Grom and everyone who followed a very popular product segment. Analysts estimate that the Grom sells about 10,000 units in the United States, year after year.
For Honda, the Grom is their most likable product. It walks the sweet line between being a common-folks street commuter and a cult classic.
The noun Grom is the short form of grommet and, over the years, has come to represent a skilled young individual. It is most commonly used in the context of windsurfing, surfboarding, snowboarding, skateboarding, etc. Essentially, that means Grom represents youth, agility, freedom, and excitement.
Clone Wars
Nothing clones like success, and the Grom’s success has seen similar stature products from Kawasaki, CF Moto, Benelli, Kymco, and a few more.
The above are just the popular Grom alternatives in the US Market. There are many more – typically cheap Chinese imports being white-labelled by US-based importers.
Suitability for Electric Powertrains
While Honda does not have an electric Grom out yet, the Japanese giant has filed a patent. But then this is Honda. They file a lot of patents.
The Grom, or something that looks like one, makes a lot of sense when the powertrain is electric. With a single-stage reduction that is there in typical electric street cred powertrains, the Grom-type’s small wheels make it an ideal electric runabout, putting more torque to the ground compared to large-wheeled machines. At the same time, the motorcycle body style offers nearly the same packaging space for batteries and components as one would get in a typical 125cc motorcycle.
With the popularity of minibikes in the US Market, it is a no-brainer that electric twins of similar motorcycles would be planned. While Honda’s ‘electric Grom’ may not have yet materialised, the market has a few electric minibikes already in play.
Tromox Mino
Tromox is a new-age Chinese brand that sells Mino B electric minibikes in the US. At a USD 1,800 price, the Mino is built affordably. However, Tromox offers the motorcycle in a non-street-legal variant only for the US market, even though there is a headlamp.
The 1.2kW (2.5kW peak) mid-drive motor coupled to the chain drive takes the Mino to a 45 kph top speed, and the twin-removable battery packs will keep it going for 90 km.
CF Moto Papio Nova Electric
The CF Moto Papio Nova 125 ICE is already available in the US. The electric variant, which looks very different, has not made it to the US markets yet, but it’s just a matter of time.
Unlike the Papio Nova ICE model, the electric packs in some edgy bodywork that makes it decidedly sportier. A 22 kW motor also indicates that this is not your neighbourhood runabout but a motorcycle with serious capabilities.
That 22 kW (peak) motor translates into a 112 kph top speed. The Papio Nova is energised from a 4.4 kWh fixed pack that the company claims will make the minibike go on for 150 km.
CSC City Slicker
CSC Motors, the Azusa, CA-based importer and white-labeler of Chinese motorcycles, sold the City Slicker electric motorcycle till a few years back. It’s not available in the US anymore, but at about USD 2500, it was a good option while it lasted.
With the City Slicker not on offer anymore, any electric Grom or even the CF Moto Papio Nova still to make an appearance, it makes the Tromox Mino the only electric minibike available in the market right now. Even that is not street legal.
The Americans Challenged
However, the attraction of the minibike segment is undeniable, and we have a bunch of new offerings headed to the US Market in the near future. Even better, it is the American manufacturers who are forced to go that way.
Livewire
Livewire Motorcycles has been in trouble for some time. We chronicled it some time back.
InsightEV – Global Electric Mobility
Arguably, being backed by Harley-Davidson, Livewire has no immediate financial troubles to speak of. However, last quarter, they sold all of 33 motorcycles. That is small even by the standards of a manufacturer making expensive electric street motorcycles. Even with three models in the portfolio, Livewire has not been able to attract US customers.
InsightEV – Global Electric Mobility
Livewire needs volumes, and nothing can do them better than an electric minibike. So, it was a pleasant surprise when Livewire unveiled two new motorcycle concepts at the recent Harley-Davidson homecoming event.
The first, dubbed Trail, is a non-street-legal fun motorcycle. With no headlamps and a bare bones bodywork, the Trail concept is what a minimalist mini-enduro should look like.
The second concept is the Street, essentially a similar motorcycle sharing the battery, the frame, and most of the mechanicals with the Trail. This one is street legal, and we see it going into the beginner’s license class.
While hardware details are not yet revealed, these concepts look like in the advanced stages of development.
Zero
Like Livewire, Zero Motorcycles does not have any immediate financial problems. It is adequately supported by Invus Partners. However, like Livewire, Zero has a sales problem. There are not too many buyers for large, electric motorcycles in the US, or elsewhere.
Consequently, Zero has been working on moving down the pecking order. It has an initiative termed All Access, essentially focused on bringing Zero close to the mass market.
Two new motorcycles – the XB and XE – were launched last year. These are off-road-fun kind of light electric motorcycles, the kind that have been popularised by Sur-Ron and Talaria. Zero sources the motorcycles from Zongshen to keep costs and prices low.
Zero XB and XE off-road motorcycles are manufactured by China-based Zongshen.
The third Zero that is awaited is the Neutrino, an electric minibike.
Unlike the Papio Nova, the Neutrino is targeted at the entry-level biker with commuter-level specs. Unlike other Zero machines, the Neutrino’s proposed specs indicate that Zero wants to make a dirt-cheap motorcycle. The LFP battery pack also points to Chinese influence and means that the Neutrino may be sourced from Zongshen as well.
The Price Gap to fill
Both the Zero Neutrino and the new Livewires are important for their respective companies. The take-off for electric motorcycles has been extremely slow in the US market, and the high prices of Livewires and Zero motorcycles do not help matters. That makes the Zero Neutrino and the Livewire Street concept even more important.
Barring the EX and EB models, Zero’s street range starts from USD 12,500 onwards. The Neutrino, when it goes on sale, would be a sub-USD 4,000 motorcycle. Similarly, Livewire’s range starts at USD 15,000+, while the Street should start at around USD 5,000. These new models would likely get a whole lot of new buyers to showrooms, buyers who otherwise would not look at electric motorcycles.
