Around the bend comes Benda
Around the bend comes Benda
Would a Heritage EV brand ever make sense?
We know the (cheesy) heading and the subheading above are unrelated. We plan to spend the next 2000-odd words making the connect.
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The rise of Benda
In recent weeks, our social media feeds have been flooded with Benda. This upcoming neo-Chinese brand, part of the Keeway group, has decided to forge an identity through aesthetics and industrial design.
Unless you have been living under a rock, you would have noticed that Chinese motorcycle brands are the talk of the town. QJ Motor, CF Moto, Benelli / Keeway, Kove, GWM Souo, and Benda are being discussed over forums. They are taking on the mighty Japanese and the not-so-mighty Europeans with machines that now compete on specs with established brands.
Benda decided to compete and surpass on aesthetics. The brand came about in 2017, although most of the range has been unveiled in the last three years. The focus on aesthetics is unmistakable. In the company’s own words: “BENDA considers the industrial design of its motorcycles as one of the most crucial core competitive strengths. This stems from the design team’s anticipation and grasp of aesthetic trends, coupled with generous investments in resources."
It cannot get more direct than this. They have a focus on the show.
Presently, the Benda range consists of cruisers in various flavors. The focus started with heritage, but new models have introduced delightful elements, making Bendas Le nouveau cool in motorcycling.
Take the Napoleanbob250—a bobber with 18” front and rear wheels. It could have been another run-of-the-mill commuter-fun bobber with a 250cc V-twin making about 25 PS. But then Benda decided to put a multi-link front suspension.
It’s completely unnecessary! It does nothing for the dynamics or handling. Even the bigger 500cc version of the Napoleanbob has regular USD forks with a plastic shroud, but Benda still put the multi-link on the smaller bobber.
It looks damn cool! It tells motorcyclists that the brand is fun and a little mad, which are the right attributes if you want to create a ‘brand’ in a business where everyone is fast creating commodities.
At the top of the Benda range sits the LFC 700, a 676cc/77PS cruiser rather large in disposition. The large size is intentional—steel is cheap. It rides on a 1720 mm wheelbase and 19”/18” front and rear wheels. The ubiquitous big cruiser, the Harley Fat Boy, is only 1665 mm on 18”/18” wheels.
Then, to add even more spice to your life, Benda puts 310-section rubber at the rear. Again, this is completely unnecessary and borders on the ludicrous—the monster cruiser like the Ducati Diavel V4 has 482 more cc and 91 more PS, yet rides on a 240-section rear rubber. Benda’s 310 section is not needed, yet it is there because it looks good.
The outrageous design does not stop there—the headlamp, or what should have been that, is a jet engine-turbine-shaped air intake, and the actual headlamp is a rectangular strip right over that. The turbine adds more attitude than a cruiser should ever be allowed to pack.
The industrial design team packs the final knockout punch with the tank shrouds that lift up twin auxiliary riding lights to pop out. Complex, mechanical linkages, some nifty motors, and additional BoM cost, but we love them.
Some A lot of the stuff in the LFC 700 is unnecessary, but the overkill leaves an impression. There was no way we would have otherwise talked about an ICE cruiser motorcycle in this precious space.
What is a heritage motorcycle?
From Benda, we jump on to heritage motorcycles. There are similarities—both want to look good.
When we say heritage, we hark back to a classic motorcycle…
…aesthetics over function…
…romance over practicality…
…cool over speed.
In short, heritage bikes make a business case out of looking good.
Theoretically, the British Roadster and the American Cruiser body styles lend themselves best to heritage. Both formats have long histories stretching from the big wars to today and resonate with riders.
Heritage motorcycles solve one of motorcyclists' most significant problems: looking good. They are focused on aesthetics and ignore the other attributes.
There's nothing wrong with that. In doing so, these brands cater to the purists. The high brand loyalty offsets the limited volumes. And if done well, it may open up a goldmine of lifetime merch sales.
The biggest heritage brand in the world is the India-based Royal Enfield.
Being a heritage brand, RE gets away with a lot—quality levels that fall short of Honda's, power outputs that are a fraction of what similar capacity motorcycles in the Indian market offer, and prices that are more than 2X of what that country pays for their most popular motorcycles.
RE still sells nearly a million motorcycles every year. They also have very high brand loyalty, with sales hardly impacted in a market where rivals from H-D and Triumph to Hero and Bajaj all want to steal some numbers. RE remains unflustered.
Then there are the Harley-Davidsons.
By definition, every H-D is heritage, but we picked up the Hydra-Glide Revival to illustrate what heritage means for a motorcycle brand still running on heritage.
Even more modern brands like Triumph make their bread and butter from Bonneville and its cousins.
Even when the brand is not heritage, once in a while, the industrial designers win against the marketing guys and create something cool that speaks to the heart, like the Kawasaki W 800.
The beauty of the W800 is that it looks like nothing else in the Kawasaki portfolio. Kawasaki makes some impressive motorcycles, so the W800's getting a pamphlet of its own speaks volumes for industrial design and engineering.
Details are the key
Heritage—as the name suggests—also focuses on history. Royal Enfields, Harleys, and Triumphs all have a century+ history to hark back on. Not every brand has that luxury of history. However, the styling should suggest something classic and historical about the machine, even if it may be a thoroughly modern motorcycle, which almost all of the above are.
As any of the above examples illustrate, Heritage brands focus a lot on details. They create cherishable micro-features throughout the motorcycles that connect emotionally to motorcyclists. The owner feels a sense of pride when riding the motorcycle, even more so when standing still.
Take the Bonneville - as basic as the motorcycle may appear, there is detail in the cylinder head, the crankcase, the gearbox casing, the rearview mirrors, and everywhere else. The same is true for the much cheaper Royal Enfield as well.
Easy Ride Factor
All heritage machines also promise relaxed riding. None of them is in a hurry—power and torque may be adequate, but the emphasis is on giving the rider an easy riding experience.
The challenge for heritage electric
That brings us to the design challenges an electric motorcycle faces.
The major styling elements in an ICE motorcycle are the frame, lamps, cylinder head, crankcase, radiator (for liquid-cooled engines), exhaust routing, and the exhaust itself. Notice that many of these elements are not even present in an electric machine. What they get is a battery, motor, and some high-voltage cables, along with the frame and lamps. That’s not much for a designer to play with.
The battery is mostly the big mass at the centre of the motorcycle and that is a difficult styling element. It’s a sealed box with a focus on functionality. The designers can etch and paint styling elements on the surface, but these are superficial, and heritage motorcyclists are purists.
The same elements that offer elegant simplification in an electric motorcycle are also the ones that pull it down in aesthetics. The motor doesn’t help: first, it’s a boring cylindrical thing devoid of the character and complexities that an ICE engine offers. Second, it is placed low in the motorcycle for functional purposes and is often hidden beyond sight.
With these constraints, it is a big challenge for any motorcycle designer to create the detailing elements that heritage motorcyclists find endearing in their machines.
Attempts at Heritage Electric
Some still try, like France-based Ateliers Heritagebike. They make the Spirit Scrambler motorcycle, which can be bought in the L1e or L3e guise with top speeds of 45 kph and 99 kph, respectively. The moped variant can run for 50km (1.6 kWh battery) on a single charge and has a 4kW hub motor, while the 99 kph variant has a 3.2 kWh battery (optional 4.6 kWh) for a 100 km range.
The problem—one that we will see with every electric heritage motorcycle manufacturer we discuss today—is the price. You can pre-order the Spirit Scrambler for EUR 23,450 for the moped/L1e variant and EUR 24,950 for the L3e variant.
That makes these damn unsaleable. In comparison, the RE Classic, arguably a much more capable ICE heritage motorcycle, retails at EUR 5,400 in Paris.
There is also Sweden-based RGNT. The ‘heritage style’ motorcycle manufacturer handcrafts the No.1 Classic range of motorcycles. With a 21 kW (peak) hub motor and a 9.5 kWh battery, the No. 1 range has adequate performance. The styling harks back to the British Classic Roadster looks and does a decent job. A visual break in the unending mass of the battery compartment is provided by splitting the case horizontally into two sections.
More visual elements are present in the form of the powder-coated frame constructed from thick tubes. Spoked wheels with deep-wall tires and a flat saddle complete the British roadster look.
Like the Ateliers above, the price is the killer for RGNT. They are currently available for EUR 12k. It’s a warehouse sale; the original price is over EUR 16k.
The Maeving mania
UK-based Maeving is perhaps the best-executed heritage electric out there. Their styling is appropriate, and we like the bits that we see. Take the HV cable routing, which is made to look like the exhaust tubing. Everything else is kept intentionally bare and completes the look.
Heritage motorcycles are characteristically traditional, and most come with analog meters. Most electric motorcycles are quick to tom-tom a large flat display. That is one area where the Maeving scores again - it has a more puritan analog display.
Moving has also focused on practicality, and we find better industrialisation than RGNT and Ateliers. The batteries are portable, which adds flexibility to use. The RM1 has a 72kph (45mph) top speed and a 112 km (70 miles) range. The best thing about the Maeving RM1 is that at GBP 5k, it comes within striking distance of heritage ICE motorcycles like the RE Classic 350 (GBP 4.5k).
There is also the Maeving RM1S, which has a top speed of 112 kp (70mph) and is motorway compliant. Like everyone else above, the Maeving uses a hub-mounted motor—4.4 kW in the RM1 and 11.1 kW in the RM1S.
Hub motors are also common with RGNT and Ateliers, and we are not too happy with them. In our collective riding experience here at InsightEV, we have experienced that hub motors compromise the user experience, making the handling sluggish. They are okay for low-end commuter scooters but should not find a place on exquisite heritage motorcycles.
You cannot replicate the user experience.
If copying the ICE heritage styling with electric classics is a big problem, replicating the riding experience is even bigger. Classic motorcycles have lazy, slow-turning engines with strong aural notes. Further, they vibrate and transmit these vibrations to the rider. In doing that, somewhere, the motorcycle creates an esoteric connection with the rider. After the dog, the heritage motorcycle becomes the man’s closest friend.
At times, the dog comes second.
In comparison, the electric motor has as much connection to the heart as expected from a piece of code. It rotates smoothly, does not vibrate, and has no aural notes except for a sad whine. It is impossible for an electric motor to replicate the character and attitude of an ICE engine.
It doesn't help that the typical heritage motorcyclist is a traditionalist, the last guy who would find a sense of joy and pride in a 7” TFT display.
That’s a bummer.
All the manufacturers mentioned above are covered in detail in InsightEV’s upcoming Global Landscape and Prospects - Electric Two-Wheelers and Urban Mobility. Message us to ask for a sample company profile of Ateliers Heritagebike, Maeving, or RGNT.