Electric motorcycles move, but do they move you?

As the owner of an old-fashioned Royal Enfield motorcycle, I somehow don't see the appeal of modern motorcycles powered by electricity.

My brother Phil, a motorcyclist and mechanic, agrees — and he disagrees.

Modern electric motorcycles are mechanical wonders, he says, having read about them in recent editions of motorcycle magazines.

"They're really thin," enthused Phil, who is also really thin. Thinness is good, I suppose, although I never thought of it as a  reason to choose one motorcycle over another.

"The only trouble," Phil said, "is that they don't vibrate, make noise or leak."  I suggested that electric motorcycles might also be very reliable and, thus, slightly boring.

Phil theorized that electric motorcycles separate motorcyclists who really love riding from people who want to make noise and tell amusing stories about breakdowns.

An electric motorcycle removes the distractions of noise, vibration and harshness.

"If you really want the experience of moving on two wheels, what could be better?" Phil asked.

This made sense to me, since I have noticed that partisans of electric motorcycles include many experienced and capable motorcyclists. Perhaps theirs is the more pure experience.

But I'm not buying it. Would climbing Mount Everest be as big a deal if there was an escalator to the top?

"Well, it still has a great view," Phil said.

But, then he noted that "You could helicopter to the top of Mount Everest. You could fly your Alouette SA 315 right to the top. You could rendezvous with the people who walked up. But would you be equal?"