Preorders Open For Erik Buell’s Long

Full coverage bodywork contains a storage compartment.

Motorcycle design maverick Erik Buell, who’s been thinking different about bike design both motorized and pedal-powered for decades, has opened pre-orders for his Fllow-1 and Fllow-S electric motorcycles. Yes, that’s Fllow with two “Ls.”

Following a multi-year incubation period that saw Buell’s new company, Fuell, first produce an impressive long-range electric bicycle, called the Flluid, Buell has now officially unveiled a curvaceous, innovative all-electric motorcycle. And while Buell’s engineering history has been largely dedicated to producing ever-faster motorcycles and race-spec machines, his turn towards electrification has landed squarely in the practicality segment of the market, albeit with some unusual features not unexpected from a designer who put fuel and oil in the frames of his motorcycles, rather than in tanks like everyone else.

Buell says the new Fllow motorbikes are focused on a future in which some cities will ban the use of liquid-fueled vehicles in order to cut down on pollution in urban centers and beyond.

Chief among the Fllow’s feature set: Upgradeability. During development, Buell told Forbes.com that over time, battery packs, motors and charging will continue to evolve, so those parts of the Fllow are all upgradeable instead of making riders buy a whole new vehicle.

Simple lines and curved surfaces should help with aerodynamics.

Helping to facilitate an easy upgrade path are some unusual tech choices for a guy who likes mass and weight centralized in his creations. Unlike many competitors, the Fllow houses the motor in the back wheel, an approach more common to electric bicycles than electric motorcycles. Competitors like Zero Motors and Harley-Davidson - where Buell worked many years ago - place their drive motors in the frame rather than in the wheel. This reduces “unsprung weight” in the wheels to enhance handling, but since the Fllow is not a racing-style bike, he said the in-wheel placement choice makes better sense for a motorbike that will spend the vast majority of its life plying urban grids, not open highways.

A large screen will show vital data and GPS. The Fllow pairs with your phone, of course.

That said, the 47-horsepower Fllow S will top out at 85 mph, so short highway stints are within its purview. An identical but lower-powered version, the 15 horsepower Fllow 1, will be limited to surface streets. Fuell states the range of the Fllow as 150 urban miles. Highway riding will lower that figure, as is common with EVs. The bike uses regenerative braking to feed power back into the battery as it brakes or coasts. Zero to 60 time is specified as a quick 3.5 seconds for the Fllow S. Weight is 400 pounds according to Fuell, with lightweight materials like magnesium used to keep extra pounds at bay. The Fllow has room for a rider and passenger, and a single rear shock that easily adjusts for preload.

In an unusual move, Buell put the motor in the rear wheel. That frees up space for the battery and ... [+] storage.

Also on the upgrade list: the battery and charging system. The bikes will come with a 10 kWh pack that’s both an integral part of the frame and modular to simplify swapping out for a new pack either for replacement or for an upgrade as battery tech changes. The charging system is also easy to rework, a good thing as the EV industry begins to (finally) settle on a single standard, which appears - for now - to be the “NACS” standard set in place by Elon Musk for his Tesla automobiles.

Who knows if that will be the end of that argument, however. Charging time from flat is only 30 minutes, says Fuell, but if the battery already has some charge on it - a more typical situation - a charge to 90% can be had in more like 15 minutes using a CCS high-rate connection, according to the company.

Rear monoshock is offset and connects to the hub motor. It's adjustable for preload.

Otherwise, the Fllow looks to be an urban scalpel clothed in a flowing, curving aesthetic. A small bug screen shields a large flat-panel info display, and the bike is packed with safety tech including a patent-pending braking system with ABS, front and rear cameras, collision warning, blind spot warnings, navigation and connectivity to a Fuell smartphone app for customization and tracking other metrics. A stacked dual-LED headlight array lives just below a small bug screen. Buyers can customize their Fllow from the factory to some extent with several choices of colored body panels.

With scooter-like twist-and-go simplicity, a huge amount of torque (over 550 pound feet) a slim profile and 10 gallons of internal storage capability, the Fllow is an urban commuters’ dream bike, but buyers should be prepared to get some attention from the unusual style and technology on display.

Serial production is expected to begin in 2024. Early-bird pricing starts at $10,495 with an eventual MSRP of $12,995.