The Volta 102 is not your typical motorcycle. But James Hammarhead is not your typical motorcycle builder.
Hammarhead is a clinical neuropsychiatrist and expert in fMRI paradigm design. When he isn’t doing research at University of Pennsylvania, you’ll find him riding an old-school motorcycle or wrenching on an old-school motorcycle. He’s got a thing for British bikes and usually has a project in the works.
That passion for vintage iron led him to launch Hammarhead Industries, a boutique builder creating retro British bikes with a twist.
And, in one case, a cord.
Hammarhead (a mashup of his last name and his wife’s last name) goes by his given name James Loughead in the academic world. The Volta 102 that he built in just three months is one in a growing field of electric street bikes but the first to go retro.
The old-school aesthetic follows Hammerhead Industries’ mission statement, which comes down to “keep it simple, stupid.” Hammarhead isn’t interested in fuel injection or ABS or carbon fiber components. His love affair with minimalism was cemented riding a Royal Enfield through India. The bike was elemental and irresistable.
“That sealed it,” he says. “I decided I was interested in going into smaller, more simple bikes.”
The Volta started as a 2005 Royal Enfield Bullet 500, a modern take on a ’50s classic. It was ideal because the simple steel frame was roomy enough for an electric drivetrain. The Bullet’s engine is a stressed member, so Hammarhead had to fabricate a subframe, but the conversion was straightforward.
“I wanted to do it as a a vintage conversion,” he says of the Volta. “The thing about vintage bikes that makes them so attractive is they’re simple, they’re robust and they’re durable. And that is just as green as alternative fuel.”
The Volta uses an EnerTrac hub motor. It makes 10 kilowatts (13.4 horsepower) continuous and 30 kilowatts (40 horsepower) peak. That’s a big jump over the Bullet’s 18 ponies. Both the Volta and the Bullet weigh 368 pounds, so the conversion made the bike faster. The motor is, in theory, capable of 118 mph. Hammarhead is shooting for somewhere around 100.
You’d think the unsprung weight of a 45-pound motor would bugger the handling. But Hammarhead says it isn’t an issue “because we’re not at the edge of the performance envelope.” The motor was designed for motorcycles and scooters, so durability isn’t a concern, says Mark Gelbien, the guy who designed it.
The lithium iron phosphate battery pack is rated at 6 kilowatts. It has 32 cells but can take as many as 36 to increase range or power. Hammarhead says it’s good for 50 to 70 miles, depending upon how hard you’re flogging the bike. The fake fuel tank houses two 110-volt, 15-amp chargers that will charge the battery in four hours. An external charger drawing 110 volts at 20 amps does it in two.
Regenerative braking returns energy to the pack, and you can dial it in anywhere from 10 to 90 percent. Hammarhead says the system “works and feels like engine braking.” Hammarhead built the bike with off-the-shelf parts to ensure reliability.
“The first goal was making it robust,” he says. “We didn’t want bleeding-edge technology.”
He’s taken the Volta out for a few runs through Philadelphia and says the bike “is a blast to ride. It is nearly silent and has that ‘lazy’ handling of the [internal combustion] Enfield.”
Hammarhead unveiled the Volta, along with the Woodsman 500 and Jack Pine, April 16 at a gallery in Philadelphia. The Jack Pine, a riff on the Triumph Scrambler, got the most attention but the Volta got some love too. The first Volta is a prototype that Hammerhead is still refining, but he plans to build as many as three more this year and five next year.
They aren’t cheap at $18,500 and Hammarhead knows the Volta is a niche bike. That’s the point. He says filling a niche will be the only way to survive once the big manufacturers make the startups building electric superbikes and dirtbikes irrelevant.
“This will all be moot when Honda and Yamaha and KTM introduce their electric bikes,” he said. “And they will. They’re waiting for the market to turn, and it will.”
Hammarhead is planning a more conventional electric motorcycle with an upright riding position. He’s also kicking around the idea of a biodiesel bike. He’ll always love retro rides but says alt fuel is the future.
“I’m passionate about all motorcycles,” he says. “But the future of our sport, and our industry, is in bikes that are efficient, bikes that are quiet and bikes that use alternative fuels.”
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