Eagle-eyed viewers of yesterday’s Olympics closing ceremony might have noticed something different about the motorcycle Tom Cruise rode out of the stadium, through the streets of Paris, and up into a waiting cargo plane.
Of course, none of those feats sound out of place for the actor that many consider to be the last great action film star.
Tom Cruise has long been at home riding two-wheelers on the big screen, whether it’s drag racing an F-14 down the runway or any number of high-adrenaline chase scenes.
But after rappelling down from the roof of Paris’ Stade de France in front of over 70,000 spectators and taking possession of the Olympic flag, the motorcycle he affixed it to and rode through the stadium and out onto the streets wasn’t one of the classics we’ve long seen him ride. Instead, it was a LiveWire Del Mar, an American-made electric motorcycle produced by Harley-Davidson’s electric spin-off company LiveWire.
The action-packed cruise through nighttime Paris culminated in Cruise riding up the rear ramp of a waiting cargo plane before jetting off to Los Angeles, electric motorcycle and all, setting the stage for the City of Angels to host the 2028 Summer Olympics. But unlike all of Cruise’s former legendary motorcycle scenes, this one was completely devoid of loud exhaust and revving engine sound effects.
Sure, like any good Hollywood production, the sound effects were there. But this time, they were the high-revving sound of an actual electric motor, giving a true-to-form representation of how such electric motorcycles actually sound.
How do I know? Because I happen to own that very model, picking up a LiveWire Del Mar last year. And while I haven’t had the chance to ride it with a giant flag flapping off the tail (something I’ve done more than once, just not on that bike), I can attest that they did the bike justice with the proper motor sounds – something Hollywood often screws up when it comes to EVs.
Electric motorcycles have occasionally graced the silver screen, such as when Scarlet Johansson’s character Black Widow rode an original Project LiveWire electric motorcycle in the film Avengers: Age of Ultron. But live performances seem to be adopting electric motorcycles more quickly than major Hollywood productions.
The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris was only the most recent example, but e-motos have become a growing trend finding favor at live performances due to their lower noise and lack of emissions.
The singer Lana Del Rey recently made an impressive entrance at Coachella, as she and her background dancers rolled in riding pillion on a fleet of Ryvid electric motorcycles. In addition to not sending clouds of exhaust into the awaiting crowd on either side of the bikes, or overpowering the performance with exhaust noise, the clutch-less electric motorcycles could be operated extra slowly, making it easier to focus on the tricky task of balancing a standing passenger on back at slow speeds. And the last thing any rider wants to do is drop a world-famous singer in front of all of Coachella.
Hollywood motorcycle scenes are still dominated by traditional gassers, but live performances are quickly adopting more electric motorcycles. And as Tom Cruise has shown us, Hollywood may be taking notice.
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