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I bought cheapest ELW in Europe ;)

1.8K views 24 replies 6 participants last post by  szczur333  
#1 · (Edited)
About month ago totally randomly I was checking ads in my country (almost no electric motorcycles used) - no inted to buy - just checking market

I saw 2020 HD ELW for 30000PLN (divide by 4 to get USD price - its 7500USD)
its crashed but working

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2 days ago I drive 3 hours to check it
  • some scrapes
  • some cracks
  • bent handlebar
  • no tail lights

I bought it for 28200 (7000USD) with delivery to my adress with no further research about repairing or something like this (I just presume/guess repair cost for abuut 10000PLN level.

Still great price - cheapest ELW cost about 65k in my country

After I got it at my house I started to search in parts catalog.
I was no experience in repairing/replacing parts in any vehicle before)
At first I emailed my local HD dealer about parts and they COST a lot
  • middle fairing 600
  • belt cover - 3 parts 700
  • tail light 1000
  • rear turn lights 1500
  • licence plate light 500
  • handlebar 900
  • twist throtlle by wire 1000 (even used cost 750-850 here)

I dont expect THAT MUCH.

Hopefully I found few parts on ebay in UK in very very very LOW prices :O

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I wanted to buy new bar but I decided to try unbend this one - I have nothing to lose anyway

it turned out bar is made from very hard alloy - even with some heating and hammer work - its still very rigid - its not possible to break :O

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previous owner custom tail tidy

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fixed by me
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also right faring is broken (but from inside - so glue do the trick)

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soldering wires for throtle (before it was just wrapped by insulation tape)

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#2 · (Edited)
in meantime I accidently broke front FORK LOCK sensor wire - I have to remove fork "bridge" I dont know if its right term to remove it

unfortunantly without sensor bike shows CALL SERVICE message and its no rideable (part cost 1200PLN) :O

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it snapped right before plastic shell so i have to scrape plastic to see PCB

I soldered wires and it works :O

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new rizoma grip (guy had only right one one - but it was CHEAP- 100PLN (new set cost 500)


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previous owner has aftermarket turn signals and tail light so he modded stock harness - wiress are very low quality so I made one from scratch) HD harness cost about 600PLN and still its for nothing bcoz it for original fender- i have tail tidy mount now so I have to extend it anyway

I order connectors from aliexpress and use automotive wires (0,75mm) and cost me only 100PLN (wires will be taped later of course)

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new mirrors from alixpress (80PLN) for me same quaility as HD
and overal look
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TOTAL repair cost - about 2000PLN (500USD) - with HD parts will be about 8000PLN
labor probably 4000PLN

I will replace throttle sensor someday but now it works fine (onlu plastic part is damaged/grinded)
 
#3 · (Edited)
BONUS:
- I bought it from trader in my country - he inported it from Denmark, it turned out HD dealer in Denmark imported in from my country - original owner didnt even unregistered it so I had hard time to register it again (bureaucracy shenanigans)

- HD logic - no front fork lock (call service) - no rear lights at all - no problem

- I found previous owner and he said - it has TUNED ECU + 15% on sport mode :O

- I read a lot about bad bluetooth connection - I connected at first time

- unfortunantly something is going on with display - I cant change language and I can change units to metric but they stays until next boot - also speedometer is very very laggy - it has 5-10s lag :(

- its hard to find detailed info about charging power - I only charge it for 10minutes at AC right now - but it appears OBC is POWER (not current) limited -
as on picture i got 7,1A on 233V, when voltage drop so about 220V current go up to 7,5A but power remain the same

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sometimes voltage drop to about 205V so if I have that chance I will test it but I think there will be not surprise
with 205V i should get about 8A
 
#5 ·
Great to see it going back on the road.
Feels a bit expensive given the damage. But I guess the prices are generally higher in europe then in the US.

Your AC charging is correct. The bike will draw around 1,6kw, limited by the OBC.
The voltage drop should be your house installation. Try a better connection with thicker cabling.
Voltage drops are not good, somewhere heat is generated.

Unless you get more information about the tuned ECU, I would doubt it is for real. First time I hear of this.
I never had the feeling of missing power, after a while I did set the power down to 90 or 95%. It felt to aggressive on 100%.

The language issue could be the start of a broken display. I read about this somewhere else. As long as it works, don't touch it.

From where in Poland are you?
 
#6 ·
Great to see it going back on the road.
Feels a bit expensive given the damage. But I guess the prices are generally higher in europe then in the US.

Your AC charging is correct. The bike will draw around 1,6kw, limited by the OBC.
The voltage drop should be your house installation. Try a better connection with thicker cabling.
Voltage drops are not good, somewhere heat is generated.

Unless you get more information about the tuned ECU, I would doubt it is for real. First time I hear of this.
I never had the feeling of missing power, after a while I did set the power down to 90 or 95%. It felt to aggressive on 100%.

The language issue could be the start of a broken display. I read about this somewhere else. As long as it works, don't touch it.

From where in Poland are you?
28000PLN is half price which cost cheapest in EU - visual damages not bothering me at all ;) - ok , maybe in 1% - i cant complain - my best purchase with vehicles

grid voltage - this is normal - many ppl has PV - we got 250-253V at peak on sunny day and 225-230v at night, lowest voltages are between 6-8am and also 6-8pm - in these hours voltage sometimes can drop to 215V WITHOUT my car charging - if I start charging my car 1x32A only (1phase OBC) voltage on one phase can drop to about 20V with 195-200V (but even with 25-30V asymetric - 3 phase heat pump or other stuff works ok)


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- tuned ECU - I will test it in real world in next months - I know one girl which has same HD 2020 but stock

- as i said,language or even units is not problem,5-10s delay at speedometer is :(

I am from Kraków but moved near Busko Zdroj (90km up north-east)


PS
while charging, water pump is very noisy, is that normal ?

 
#8 ·
Does it sound like it is broken? Running is normal. On the video it sounds alright.


Interesting with your solar system. That does make sense with the drop then. But still....1.6kw charging is all you get on AC, with at least 10% of loss.

Yes, yours were cheap compared what prices are without damage. I expect prices to drop below 10k (no damage) in the next 2 yrs.
I have seen damaged bikes for below 3000 dollars in the US, but way more damage then yours.

Your english parts dealer doesn't have a Livewire fender? (No hole)


How is the charging situation in Poland? I am dreaming of a long tour in eastern Europe this summer....
Would it be possible to travel through Poland with a Livewire? I don't use highways on tours.
 
#9 · (Edited)
long story short:
in my small village we have 3-4 transofers for 120-140 houses
"MY" transformer operate 36-38houses, these houses has about 75kWp of solar panels (90% of them in south direction) and i have 25% of them :LOL:

i asked about replacing transformer but energy company said - it have to be done with cables/wires - no cash reserve at this time - maybe in 5-6 next years they can do it but depends of ppl if they report low/high voltages in grid - unfortunnalty many ppl dont care - if works its ok :(

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its FEBRUARY and already I saw 253V with 80-85% of peak power
I ask about chanigng transofrmer but I think in next few years they cant do it :(

my original plan was to import livewire from US - - not damaged - i saw prices about 8000-9000USD for perfect shape bike, even with import fees still cheaper than EU (at least 6-8 months ago)

PARTS - that was not a dealer- just random ebayer - conviniently has that exact parts which I looking for
I think i saw original fender on kleinanzeigen for about90eur but i am not sure - it was with hole but I think this is not much problem as 3d printer exist now

TRIPS/CHARGING in Poland
I bought enegica in 2022 - yes, charging was a problem back then, I have to plan a lot, but in first half of 2024 I make 1500km trip in 2 days and I Can even choose which company I want to charge
Last 6-8 months charging network grown even more
Also there are a lot of places worth a visit so you will stop a lot :LOL:

In few weeks I will get 20kW CCS portable charger so any e-moto is welcome for free charging in my place

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#12 ·
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I found station which shows voltage and current - max 80A (lowest I discharge was 29%) but I think even at 0% will be the same - max voltage at 100% i saw fo second before stop was 294,2V but this was charger side (at 20A still) so probably battery side will be a little lower like 291-292V
 
#13 ·
21kw is about the maximum you will see. Up about 40% then it starts to go down. On a tour it hardly makes sense to charge above 80%, just too slow then.

Here is a good video showing it:




Once I went with a cold battery at 5% to a CCS charger, it started with 8kw. And took around 10mins to go up to 20kw.
 
#14 ·
I saw 21,6kW once and from your video its accurate
max voltage with 80A charging current is 268V - so 268x80 = 21440

I wish there will be a possibility to update charging curve - max current till 70-75% (of course depend of temp) but in not hot day this will be achieveable
 
#18 ·
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FORK/BAR lock sensor cable snapped again

I use resistors instead it as I dont have a key anyway

I dont have 1k resistor so i used 680+220+100ohms and works, I already ordered plug and 1k resistor so in future I will tidy this up

without it - LCD says CALL SERVICE - bike not ride, also not charge on ac and dc

now I am free - I didnt mount lock again soI save some weight :LOL:
 

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#24 ·
I finally check diagnostic codes about laggy speedometer

INST error is (appear every time I turn bike on)
B122000 C which says wrong vehicle configuration

I made firmware update by usb two times, once normally and once again after I cleared codes

but nothing helped

I call to HD service and they said 1hour service cost 500PLN (120euro), firmware updates takes 30min so they can do it and it will cost 260PLN - but if this does nothing I still have to pay

they schedule me for lcd/inst diagnostic and it will take 1hour - but I am afraid they I will not find anything ann 500PLN is gone + whole day- bcoz i have about 200km one way