LiveWire Del Mar S2 First Edition – First Look

LiveWire’s second model, the LiveWire Del Mar S2 First Edition, breaks cover in a flat track-inspired dress.

In 2021, Harley-Davidson divorced itself from the LiveWire brand to make it its own company. But like alimony, Harley-Davidson is still paying the bills for LiveWire, and the fruits of those bills (and labor) have started to ripen with the 2023 LiveWire Del Mar S2 First Edition.

This is the second all-LiveWire — not Harley-Davidson — we’ve seen (the first being the original LiveWire from Harley that was renamed the LiveWire One). Details are a bit sketchy on the Del Mar S2 First Edition, but it will be limited to 100 examples, all of which will be delivered in the Spring of 2023 costing $17,699, and, all of them are sold.

But, if you must have a Del Mar S2, never fear, for there will be a second iteration/base model that will debut after the First Editions are delivered, so expect sometime in the last quarter of 2023.

Both bikes share the same powertrain which LiveWire has dubbed the “ARROW architecture”, a proprietary collection of the motorcycle’s battery, motor, charging and control system. The company is claiming 430 pounds, 80 horsepower (but torque has not been disclosed), and a projected 0-60 mph time of 3.5 seconds.

“The S2 Del Mar model represents the next step in the evolution of the LiveWire brand,” said Jochen Zeitz, Chairman, President, and CEO of Harley-Davidson. “The ARROW architecture underpinning the Del Mar, developed in-house at LiveWire Labs, demonstrates our ambition to lead in the EV space and establish LiveWire as the most desirable electric motorcycle brand in the world.”

One of the big deals with any electric motorcycle is the range and charge time. The latter has not been disclosed but the former is a claimed 100 miles of city riding, which means next to nothing as the range depends wildly on how you ride the bike, not just where you ride it.

Harley-Davidson, I mean, LiveWire, has covered their butts by also stating in the press release “Range estimates are based on expected performance on a fully-charged battery and are derived from SAE J2982 Riding Range Test Procedure data on a sample motorcycle under ideal laboratory conditions. Your actual range will vary depending on your personal riding habits, road and driving conditions, ambient weather, vehicle condition and maintenance, tire pressure, vehicle configuration (parts and accessories), and vehicle loading (cargo, rider and passenger weight).” We’ll know how far the real range is after we ride one, I guess.
There are four riding modes on the S2 and a custom map, so this will also affect not just power and torque delivery characteristics but also the range.

The battery is a fully stressed member of the chassis and runs off Level 1 and Level 2 charging, but not the more common Level 3 charging that’s found for fast charging of cars.

Given its flat track style, it’s not surprising to see a single-disc, four-piston caliper Brembo brake set-up on the front end, although LiveWire has not disclosed the suspension specs.

The already sold-out Launch Edition will come in either Jasper Gray or Comet Indigo, and both paint schemes are applied by hand over the space of five days. No word on what the base model colors will be.
LiveWire has stated this will be the first S2 with another two editions to follow in the near future. And there are also rumors of another full-size electric motorcycle joining the LiveWire One, but no confirmation has been made by the company.

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Peter Jackson

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