“It’s a paradigm shift that hasn’t been seen in 120 years. This is it, now, and it’s here today,” says Alex Earle. Alex is a designer for Audi, an instructor of motorcycle design at Art Center College, and the man behind Earle Motors. And he’s excited about the future of electric motorcycles.
Alex has a unique take on the custom motorcycles he builds. Far removed from social media trends and fashion, Alex finds inspiration in unexpected and conceptual places. For his recent build, Electric Mulholland, he was inspired by liquid cooled computers. “A lot of the concepts I presented with this design are very theoretical and optimistic,” he says.
Electric Mulholland, a customized fully electric LiveWire ONE, considers the future of electric bikes. Alex centered the front-end aesthetics around a bold heat exchanger. “It’s essentially a radiator inspired by customized computers that have liquid cooling to keep key the key electronic components at a relatively low temperature.”
What he calls “water jackets” were custom-built for the side panels to help the electronics perform better. Instead of hiding the needs of electric-powered bikes, Alex shone a spotlight on them. “This bike is a harbinger of everything to come. The design approach is going to have to be entirely different.”
The bike both asks and begins to answer what the future looks like. “Where do we go now that we’re not doing the same routine as the past 100 years? It’s time for the next 100.”
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- “I wanted to make Electric Mulholland something that would be a tool in the canyons, like a real weapon, and optimized everything for that particular usage,” says Alex Earle of Earle Motors.
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- To get the most out of the LiveWire ONE, Alex built a new steel subframe designed for his exact height, lowered the bars, and added additional lighting.
A version of this article originally appeared in Sixtysix Issue 09 with the headline “Electric Mulholland.” Subscribe today.
