The well-endowed Curtiss Hades electric motorcycle gets a little more modesty

Above we can see the original design for the Hades electric motorcycle. That design, which we first reported on back in July, sent shockwaves (and grade school jokes) around the internet for its distinctive design.

Now as the bike approaches its spring 2020 production goal, we’re seeing new updates to the design.

Curtiss Motorcycles updates Hades

If you aren’t familiar with Curtiss Motorcycles, then you might remember them as Confederate Cycles.

In 2017, the company made the brave decision to rebrand and head full force into the world of electric motorcycles.

They released a series of prototype designs for their Zeus electric motorcycle and continued pumping out impressive and high powered electric motorcycle designs.

The Hades was introduced with high performance specs, including an extremely powerful 162 kW (217 hp) motor that was coaxially mounted with the rear swingarm and gave the bike a torque rating of 200 Nm (147 lb-ft).

The 16.8 kWh battery pack certainly came with a distinctive design with its battery cells housed in a rocket-shaped enclosure that was cantilevered under the frame.

Check out the original design below:

The company deserves some serious design props for thinking outside the box. But as innovative as the design was, it was also met with a fair amount criticism as well. While I initially questioned whether the design could support such a large bending moment on the frame caused by the heavy battery, others questioned the resemblance that the positioning of the battery enclosure gave to a certain aspect of the male anatomy.

Curtiss’s next redesign took a step towards addressing both concerns by providing a second mounting point at the tip of the battery and adding some extra jewelry around the base.

Now the bike is inching ever closer to its anticipated production start date of spring 2020.

And as production approaches, the latest updates we’re receiving from Curtiss show further redesigns to the battery enclosure.

We can still see the signature Curtiss girder suspension upfront, but the rear suspension linkage has been placed directly above the battery. In doing so, it removes the negative space above the battery that had been key to its original design characteristics.

Here’s the new design:

The price has also been dropped by $15,000 – though the Curtiss Hades still isn’t a budget electric motorcycle. The MSRP is set at $60,000 and requires a $1,500 deposit to pre-order the bike. Though if you put your deposit down by February 20th, you’ll get a $3,000 carbon fiber suspension upgrade for free.

The bike will also be available in two variants: short wheelbase and long wheelbase.

Electrek’s Take

Where do I begin?

Look, here’s the thing. Curtiss Motorcycle’s designs are way out there. And in a way, I love them. I mean, just check out their V8 electric motorcycle. That’s pretty awesome. Sure, some will wonder why we need to design electric motorcycles to mimic their gas-powered ancestors. But the great thing about Curtiss is that they have so many off the wall, far out there designs that if you don’t like one, surely there’s something else coming out of their design studio that will tickle your fancy.

So I really appreciate the effort they’ve put into designing innovative electric motorcycles.

That being said, these are obviously still ultra-premium motorcycles. Or perhaps even higher than that – they’re luxury electric motorcycles. They make the $30,000 Harley-Davidson LiveWire look affordable. And as much as I love these designs, I wish some of that innovative thinking could be put into producing bikes for the common man, not just the elite.

But hopefully, Curtiss is just going the Tesla route. You’ve got to sell a few Roadsters before you can get to building Model 3s. So if Curtiss can sell enough $60,000 electric motorcycles, then maybe we’ll see their lower-priced offerings finally making it to market.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!