I like the tech and the bike but I don't like being force fed the "green climate" thing, the materials and manpower involved making the battery far outweigh the zero emission stats we see with the bike .. Electricity has been around for centuries and it's only getting promoted now to make all the various climate control stealth taxes look like they are needed and a good idea, I'll also warrant that if electric vehicles become very popular then the taxes on such vehicles and manufacturing processes will increase greatly.

I don't care about the size of the field (some of the classes at the Classic TT are pretty small...) - I'm just looking forward to seeing the bikes! I don't know why people are getting upset over track time- there wouldn't be time for another 3 lap race on Wednesday and what would it be? Another Supertwin or Superstock? None of these would need more practice time and what would be the point?

I think it's great that Mugen are putting in the money and effort to show us something different and hopefully some more teams turn up! (I'm not trying to start a fight - I'm still in happy mode having booked my trip roll on June)

(31-01-2015, 01:02 AM)Steady the Edward Wrote: How many this year ??

TT 2011,  4 bikes finished,  TT 2012  4 bikes finished,  TT 2014  6 bikes finished,   as most of the fans leave the island after the racing on the Wednesday can we ensure that the zero race is always set on the Friday so we can miss it.



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I like that Spanners , run the Senior at 10.00am then the Electric bike's and Subaru in the afternoon job's a good'n , that could just about tempt me to doing the full two weeks again

On second thoughts though Spanner's I still think my idea of running them at the Run what ya Brung ,Manx/Classic upcock , has legs


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Not the Mugen,but Keith McKay on an "electric" bike at the Southern 100. Is this the future?

Hope not it did not qualify, so never made it to the grid , pity the top Electric bikes could not be bothered to show up for what could have been a golden opportunity to showcase their product , suggesting they don't have confidence in their own product , outside a demo lap

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Dont get me wrong they are an engineering marvel but not very interesting to watch on the circuit ,no sound= boring.

Once upon a  time a few lads with bikes went to the Isle of Man.The people who lived there said,It's an engineering marvel but it's not very interesting.Not enough bikes in the race.

Not enough bikes Ericcane ?? 27 in the Senior and 35 in the Junior in 1907 ! bit different to 10 starters for the 6th running of the Electrics , on the sixth running of the TT there were 97 starters in the senior , with 37 manufacturers taking part , its one thing supporting the underdog , but you have to live in the real world and accept the limitations of what you are dealing with at the time , their time may well come and when it does I will be right there with you cheering them on but the numbers say that that time is not here yet I am afraid ,

Best of luck mate !!!! the old school are stuck in the past and don't understand that electric propulsion is the future !!!!!

Don't want to start an argument but when the grid sizes in electric bike races haven't grown (in fact they've shrunk) then please tell me why it's the 'future' ?

because fossil fuels aint and telling the guy to run it in RWYB is just sad

If it's the future then why have grids failed to grow?  Not just the TT version but everywhere else too.  Have a look on the web and see just how little there is going on right now.

We all know fossil fuels won't last forever but lithium won't either.  There is a school of thought that says it's a more finite resource than oil. 

I think your wrong Oset is growing rapidly WORLD championship already up and running Have a look on the web
lithium isn't the future either for shure

I have a lot to do with trials, so I know that OSET have a fairly significant presence in youth trials but we're talking road racing here and it's a hard fact that electric motor cycle racing is not growing.  If it had a future then surely after 5-6 years it would have a much greater presence than it has?  Lastly for now, if Lithium isn't the future then by definition, electric isn't either!

You may be right and Lithium itself (or alone) may not be the ultimate long-term answer, it might be Lithium or it could be hydrogen or flux capacitors (Back to the Future reference for you older ones out there!) or something we haven't even been made aware of yet, but I disagree that rules out electric.
In almost every form of transport, which by definition includes motorsport, there is a tremendous amount of development and research going into electric propulsion and it's almost a given that either your children, and/or your children's children will grow up with electric vehicles.
Therefore, as we are building for the future generations of Mugen we have elected to test our development and show our progress in the form of TT Zero.

The use of an electric motor as means of propulsion in a vehicle is the future, the use of batterys as the sole power source is not.
Never has been, and never will be, and the manufactures know it.

I think the problem we have Mugen is that a great many of us feel that you are not far enough down the road in development on a viable end product to justify being on such a high profile world stage , but as we all know by the Subaru involvement in the TT , the IOM can be bought , and that is sad as it devalues its status long term ,

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(07-02-2015, 10:52 AM)c iom tt Wrote: The use of an electric motor as means of propulsion in a vehicle is the future, the use of batterys as the sole power source is not.
Never has been, and never will be, and the manufactures know it.

Agreed.

There have been massive advances in battery technology in the last 30 years, I used to have to carry something the size of a car battery to power my surveying kit 35 years ago, now it's the size of a fag packet, but to pack the power density you need to run a credible road vehicle isn't going to happen any time soon.

As for the 'green' side, look at the environmental disaster that is lithium mining...