Land Moto District ADV is the end of the beginner bike as we know it, and I feel fine – Jalopnik

There is one specific, verifiable way in which things are actually not going well for the children: They don’t buy motorcycles. This is a problem if you’re a company that sells motorcycles, because they all keep whining at every investor meeting, but it’s also a problem if you’re an enthusiast: this community you love, this activity you want to share with others, is at risk of dying out. Unless you ask the kids themselves, of course. They will tell you something completely different.

Gen Z and Gen Alpha are buying fewer motorcycles, that’s true, but there’s something else they’re buying en masse: e-bikes. Not only the civilized dentist movers with pedal assistance from companies like Specialized, but also Alibaba specials with crappy batteries and improved motors. The modern hot rod, the modern cafe racer, is the e-bike, and Land Moto understands that. The folks in Ohio are working on building a factory model: the District ADV, our modern two-wheeled GTO.

Full disclosure: Former Jalop Bradley Brownell, now PR at Land Moto, asked me if I wanted to take a look at the company’s prototype District ADV while he was in New York over the holidays. I returned everything but half of the front brake lever to him, after dropping the bike in almost exactly the same way as the day before. We’re not that different, current Jalops and former Jalops.

Land Moto wants to turn e-cyclists into motorcyclists, and that is no easy task. In fact, it’s so difficult that even Harley-Davidson — a brand that needs new riders like the rest of us need oxygen — gave up when former CEO Matthew Levatich’s term ended in 2020. Graybeards blame the iPhone or the Internet before trying to gift their grandchildren a third copy of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” to leave unread on a shelf, but I’m more likely to agree RyanF9’s review of things: Children don’t start riding motorcycles because e-bikes offer 90% of the fun with 10% of the effort.

Motorcycles require licensing, registration, insurance, inspections, compliance with speed limits and EPA regulations, knowledge of how and when to shift gears, feel for a clutch – it’s a lot for someone coming from a bicycle. E-bikes, on the other hand, don’t require anything. Maybe you need to learn how to throttle, but even that’s a question in the age of pedal assist. But with modern hardware, these easy-to-ride, unlicensed bikes are starting to reach highway speeds. If you were a 16-year-old speed demon today, which one would you be more likely to buy? A Temu e-bike with a motor that can turn the earth and pedals that will make your parents think it’s the same as any old Trek, or a beat-to-hell Rebel 250 from Facebook Marketplace?

This is where Land Moto comes into the picture. The base District bikes almost look like a scaled-up Super73; their lever-operated brakes are more familiar to novices than internal combustion motorcycles where the controls are at the rider’s feet. There are no gears to shift, but torque is always available when you turn your wrist. The bike’s battery even comes out so that city dwellers can charge it in an apartment. Land Moto wants to be the first step out of the world of e-bikes, and into the world of electric motorcycles.

The new District ADV appears to be the company’s most serious offering yet. A new engine package with integrated gearbox not only increases torque to a claimed 221 pound-feet at the wheel (the Ascent launch version makes 277 lb-ft, despite both having the same 23 hp as the standard District), but adds off-throttle regeneration to the system – not only a way to increase range at city speeds, but to introduce riders to the feeling of engine braking. It’s taller than the base District, with a 36-inch seat height that dwarfs most gasoline engines, but its claimed 250-pound weight rating is lighter than just about anything on a dealer floor. It even has a fairing and a windshield, like real motorcycles, yet they are resilient when dropped. Sorry, Landmoto.

It’s almost funny to call the District ADV ‘serious’. It’s so narrow between the legs and so responsive to rider input (even if dulled a bit by the weight of the tubeless spoked wheels), that it’s almost impossible not to ride it like a bike that simply doesn’t need pedals. There are no tank recesses to lock your knees into, no round footpegs to rest the balls of your feet on, but there is a rear brake that is more than happy to lock up the tire and leave you with a trail of rubber every time you approach a red light. It is said.

If you ask nicely, the District ADV will spin its rear tire. The suspension can handle not only the imperfections of broken sidewalks or cobblestones in Brooklyn, but also the bumpy curbs. It’s slim enough to cut through traffic, quiet enough not to raise eyebrows if you accidentally turn off a bus-only stretch of road, and balanced enough that you can easily come to a stop with both feet on the pegs.

However, all that idiosyncrasy comes at the expense of a number of all-round possibilities. The District ADV, despite its adventurous name, is not a bike with which you can explore the hidden corners of the world. Range is 65km for the small battery, 130km for the mid-range and 180km for the top spec, but you’re unlikely to reach the limits of that range before you reach the limits of comfort on the thin, hard seat. The reach of the bars is also strangely awkward – adventure bikes are usually some of the most comfortable out there, but even at 6ft I found myself wanting a set of bar risers that would sit a little more upright. Can you get bar risers for small electric motorcycles made in Ohio? Your guess is as good as mine.

The District ADV is not a touring bike. It is a city bike with an adventurous twist, but the new parts provide a total package that is more comfortable and powerful in the city. But above all, this bike is just fun. Even when my lips were frozen while riding the District ADV on Christmas Eve, the bike kept putting one stupid grin on my face. Was I a bit of a dick on the road? Absolutely, but I loved it.

Kids are buying tricked-out e-bikes with more torque than some commuter cars, and they’re modifying them to be even lighter and faster. If that’s not hot rodding, I don’t know what is. But most classic hot rods didn’t come with the risk of catching your house on fire; lithium fires from questionable batteries are a very real fear. If there’s anything that will make young speed demons take up motorcycling for real, it’ll be something that gives them the thrills they’re used to without the dangers that come with it. At least not the dangers out the bicycle.

That’s what Land Moto does with the District ADV. It’s just on the motorcycle side of that gray area – it has turn signals and a license plate holder – but it has the torque, electric whine and ability to slide, wheelie and jump curbs that kids crave. If we want to keep the two-wheeler community alive after the deaths of Tri-Glide owners, we can’t do it by demanding that today’s youth really get into carburetor rebuilds. Land Moto meets the kids where they are and gives them something really worth upgrading to.

That upgrade is of course not free. The Land Moto District ADV comes in at $11,200, which is a pretty penny more than the $6,700 Surron Ultra Bees that the kids seem to love these days. It’s a real investment, but one that brings the benefits of street legality: no matter how many Surrons wear license plates abroad, they are not properly registered and insured here. I hope the kids will join in, I want to see this on-ramp from the world of e-bikes to motorcycles develop, but I do have to wonder if a five-figure price tag won’t be too much for a beginner. Perhaps, as the price of battery technology continues to fall, EVs will soon be price competitive with entry-level bikes.