Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire electric motorbike has been pretty high profile as these things go. It’s therefore something of a surprise to learn that the firm’s been making more from electric balance bikes for 3-7-year-olds.

Harley-Davidson recently announced plans to sell its electric motorbikes under a different brand name. If and when LiveWire is listed on the stock exchange, it will mean Harley-Davidson itself will no longer sell any electric models.

Except for the ones it sells for kids.

Electric balance bikes – children’s bikes which have a motor but no pedals – are becoming more and more common. If some manufacturers seem reluctant to acknowledge that such vehicles are, to all intents and purposes, motorbikes, then others seem more comfortable to present them that way. We recently reported on KTM’s "race-injected" electric balance bikes, for example, which are unashamedly styled as mini versions of the brand’s MotoGP bikes.

In 2019, Harley-Davidson acquired StaCyc (pronounced ‘stay sick’) who produce a selection of electric balance bikes for around $1,000 and just under.

These include two Harley-Davidson branded models: the $799 IRONe 12 for 3-5-year-olds and the $949 Brushless IRONe 16 for 5-7-year-olds – the latter boasting a top speed of 13mph.

According to Electrek, who have trawled through Harley-Davidson’s financial reports, the firm made $41.3m selling StaCyc electric balance bikes across 2019, 2020, and the first nine months of 2021. This compared to $29.9m attributed to selling electric motorbikes.

Electrek does go on to point out that the motorbike figure factors in $15.3m in concessions to dealers for investment in electric vehicle equipment. But either way, the central point is that electric balance bikes are clearly proving a winner.

As far as electric motorbikes go, a new, slightly-more-affordable model going by the name of the LiveWire Del Mar is reportedly due later this year. It’s been described as a “powerful, nimble electric motorcycle and the foundation for future variants.”