new electric bike 2013

Michael Rutter has once again proven he is the man, bringing electric race bike manufacturer MotoCzysz its fourth consecutive TT Zero win at the Isle of Man. And in a big win for the technology, battery-bikes are running at the same level seen from some of the gas-burning bikes that mix it up during the historic race.
Rutter handily beat the guys from Mugen Racing to take his third win in as many years in the electric bike class, which started racing in 2009. He and Mugen’s John McGuinness blew past last year’s TT Zero lap record during Saturday’s practice, then raised the bar again during today’s race. Rutter averaged 109.675 mph on the 37.7-mile road course, while McGuinness hit 109.527 on the Honda-funded Mugen Shinden Ni.
They easily eclipsed the 104.056-mph benchmark Rutter set last year. Such speeds might not seem like much compared to the high-strung liter bikes that regularly average 130 mph or so lapping the course. But the progress electric bikes have made in a scant four years is astonishing.
In 2009, Rob Barber set an average speed of 87 mph on an AGNI, a pace seen from the Norton Manx in the mid-1930s. The following year, Mark Miller hit 96.8 mph on the first MotoCzysz, matching the pace the fastest bikes set in the ’50s. Rutter was the man to beat for the past two races at 99.6 mph in 2011 and a tick more than 104 in 2012. The MotoCzysz is now on par with the fastest machines of the 1980s and ahead of some of the smaller V-twins racing this year.
We hear you back there saying, “Yeah, yeah. So he’s as fast as a first-gen GSX-R. Big deal.” But consider this: Electric bikes have accomplished in four years the jump in performance it took gas bikes four decades to achieve.
Unlike previous years, this was a race to the finish. Two teams were in contention to win, with the Honda-backed Mugen outfit the early favorite with the Shinden Ni. It weighs 44 pounds less than its competitors, carries more juice and relies on a sophisticated cooling system that utilizes both coolant and oil. Rumors say development of the Mugen bike eclipsed $4 million.
With McGuinness leading by 10 seconds in the latter half of the race, Rutter might’ve been out for the day. But he managed to narrow the gap, pass McGuinness and take the win with a scant 1.6 seconds to spare. It was one hell of a get-well-soon gift for team boss Michael Czysz, who is undergoing chemotherapy and couldn’t be on the Isle for the race.
With a nail-biting race powered by bikes that are developing quicker than anything in the field, electric bike racing is finally coming into its own, and we’re only four years in.