When I first saw the Johammer J1 electric motorbike I was in two minds; the external skeleton looked like some ancient bakelite radio on first sight, but this was soon tempered by the Easy Rider chopper-style position that the rider can take on-board, and we all like that look don’t we…
The Johammer is the brainchild of Austrian pair, Leonie Lawniczak and Jean-Marie Lawniczak of Yellow Design and has some pretty impressive performance stats under its ribbed aluminium shell.
As with all electrically powered modes of transportation, the crucial element to any pending long-term success is – and always will be – how far can it go on one charge. This is where the Johammer pulls out its trump card with a pretty decent claim of around 124 miles maximum. Now that’s pretty impressive, so what’s the catch I hear you ask?
Ok, the downside to this is that you will need to purchase the top-of-the range J1.200 with a 12.7 kWh battery. Although the J1.150 with an 8.3 kWh battery still packs an impressive amount of storage under its chassis able to reach 93.2 miles from your starting point before you need to plug in again. The in-house designed lithium-ion battery has a guaranteed lifespan of 123,000 miles at 85% or above capacity too.
Top speed is 74mph, so not much use for your mid-life-crisis burn-ups on a bank holiday, but that’s not what this is all about (and it reaches the maximum UK speed limit, so no issues there).
What is also pretty impressive is that the Johammer only takes 3.5 hours to replenish its charge once it’s gone – that’s about the same time it takes to power up your smart phone.
The Johammer J1 is jam-packed with mouth watering technology – after all, why shouldn’t a motorcycle get to use app-like tech’ when space and design within such a small area is so crucial?
Packing electric brakes and electric gears, the Johammer has the majority of the controls and functionality incorporated in the back wheel (more of that later). There is also a unique double wishbone front suspension system up front plus the ability for regenerative braking when cruising down a slope – always a good thing.
I really like that the bike allows you to see your speed and range in the giant stalk-like rear-view side mirrors. I’ve not used anything like this before, but would imagine anything that encourages you to use your mirrors more can only be of benefit to everyone.
Of course, for a near silent cruiser like this you will have to pay a decent amount of money and the Johammer J1.200 will set you back £20,640 with the J1.150 at £18,999.
Now what about those design aesthetics though, as I said at the beginning of this article I am in two minds, having seen this speeding along I can’t help but feel that the overall appearance would benefit from the rear wheels having a cutaway rather than being entirely enclosed. Although Yellow Design say there is a perfectly good reason for the large protective covering – it’s an electric motorcycle and all those electrically powered controls in and around the back wheel coupled with water just don’t mix!
Ok, so accepting that, you can get the Johammer in a choice of colours through yellow, white, silver and green to blue – but not black unfortunately.
For something this new to be able to offer such accomplished technology and distance ability makes it worth the 20 grand asking price in my mind, and a choice of those Easy Rider cruising footrests or standard for built up traffic is a nice touch – and I bet it’s easy to clean.
You now just have to get over the fact that from the front, it looks rather like a startled giant locust.
Images – huffingtonpost.co.uk
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