There’s Something Different About That Moto Tom Cruise Rode Out of the Closing Ceremony

By all accounts, the 2024 Summer Olympics was a fantastic spectacle, loaded with stunning feats of athleticism and unforgettable moments. Naturally, the event concluded in epic fashion, as Tom Cruise rappelled into the Stade de France, retrieved the Olympic flag from Simone Biles, rode a motorcycle out of the arena and — in a pre-recorded segment, skydived down to the Hollywood sign to hand the Games over to Los Angeles, which will host the next edition in 2028.

Eagle-eyed viewers and motorcycle geeks may have noticed something unusual about the bike Cruise rode, however: It had no clutch lever. That’s because this particular moto was what remains a relative rarity in the industry — an electric bike. More specifically, it was a LiveWire S2 Del Mar, one of a few options offered by the Wisconsin/California-based Harley-Davidson offshoot.

LiveWire

LiveWire S2 Del Mar

• $15,499 at LiveWire

Dialing in on the Del Mar

If the first word in that product’s name sounds familiar, it’s probably because, in addition to being a catchy AC/DC ditty, it carries some Harley history. That’s right, LiveWire was the name of the brand’s initial foray into the electric space, way back in 2019.

While that bike launched to mixed reviews — in large part because a lot of hardcore Harley heads couldn’t stomach the very notion of a clutch- and petrol-free bike — H-D has continued to invest in the technology.

LiveWire

A few years back, Harley spun the electric division off into its own company, and in the fall of 2022, LiveWire became the first publicly traded electric motorcycle company in the United States.

These days, the brand offers three bikes: the flagship $22,799 LiveWire ONE, the performance-cruising, $15,999 LiveWire S2 Mulholland and the urban-oriented, $15,499 Del Mar, launched in 2022. The first bike built on the brand’s modular, scalable ARROW platform, the Del Mar boasts 194 ft-lb of torque, a city range of 113 miles and a 0-60 time that sounds insane but is not uncommon for electric motos: 3 seconds.

Packing 84 horsepower and 10.5 kilowatt hours of energy, the Del Mar can hit 103 miles per hour. Carrying a running weight of 436 pounds and a seat height of 32.2 inches, it offers both Level 1 and Level 2 charging, with the latter method capable of charging it from 20 to 80 percent in 78 minutes.

LiveWire

Cruise control

The actor himself is of course no stranger to riding motorcycles in a theatrical manner. Among a number of other cinematic sequences, he memorably fired up a Kawasaki GPz900R in 1986’s Top Gun and took Cameron Diaz for a ride on a Ducati Hypermotard in 2010’s Knight.

Later, in perhaps the greatest moto movie stunt ever (one inspired by 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me), he launched a Honda CRF250 off a cliff before deploying a parachute in last year’s Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Pt 1. His Olympic turn also ended with a skydive, but this one was a bit less dramatic, as he jumped out of a regular old airplane.

Availability and pricing

Like the look of the Del Mar? It’s available in four colorways (two shades of blue, plus gray and black), with a number of optional accessories, for a base price of $15,499.

Note: The bike Cruise rode out of the Stade de France looked pretty blacked-out and is probably one of one. Considering the momentous occasion it took part in, its MSRP is probably “priceless.”

LiveWire

LiveWire S2 Del Mar

• $15,499 at LiveWire

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