Amber DaSilva / Jalopnik

Back in 2023, I reviewed the Zero DSR/X, an electric motorcycle that didn’t quite live up to its adventure marketing but made for a fantastic city commuter. I called it the bike of a future better than ours, a motorcycle built for a world less cyberpunk than our own. But that was two years ago. What are electric bikes like now, in 2025?

To find out, I spent some time on Can-Am’s Pulse naked motorcycle. It’s smaller and lighter than the DSR/X, narrower between the legs, and, crucially, cheaper. It’s a better fit for our cities than the Zero, and a better bike for our real-world future — it’s just here a little bit early. Unfortunately, that’s not entirely a good thing.

Full Disclosure: Can-Am brought me all the way to the far-off land of Greenpoint, Brooklyn for a presentation and demo of the Pulse, followed by a monthlong loan of the bike I’d demoed. The company also loaned me a charger, which I returned with the bike, and paid for rideshares to and from the event and end-of-loan dropoff.

Torquey, but not powerful

Amber DaSilva / Jalopnik

The Pulse is one of Can-Am’s electric two-wheeled twins, sharing its drivetrain and much of its construction with the Origin dual-sport bike that Andy borrowed earlier this year. It makes 47 peak horsepower (27 continuous horsepower) and 53 pound-feet of torque, the latter of which can be had right from zero rpm Can-Am claims a dry weight of 390 pounds,though without a fuel tank to fill up, the bike likely doesn’t weigh much more when ready to ride. The seat is a nice, approachable 30.9 inches above the ground, and the bike is extremely narrow between the legs, so it’s easy to stand over.

Its battery has a capacity of 8.9 kWh, which Can-Am claims is good for 100 miles of city riding. That battery can charge from 20% to 80% in just 50 minutes from a Level 2 charger, though don’t expect to go road tripping on it — the Pulse tops out at 80 mph, and at a sustained 50 mph Can-Am only claims 55 miles of highway range.

Sleek and clean looks

Amber DaSilva / Jalopnik

The Pulse looks, in a word, clean. Stark colors, sleek straight lines, a taillight built into the pillion cowl, and a single-sided swingarm. I rode the Pulse’s ’73 trim, a model commemorating the first Can-Am bikes made back in 1973, which adds a nice silver color and a spoiler blending the lines from the headlight to that 10.25-inch touchscreen dash. The paint even echoes the old Can-Am MX better than the Origin does, with a bright-colored tank and everything below left dark.

That paint pairs with the ’73’s daytime running light ring to echo the metal tanks and round headlights of old, but those are about the only nods to tradition in the Pulse’s styling. It’s a modern bike, made of modern materials that contribute both to its low weight and its futuristic looks, and I personally think it all makes for a very sharp appearance.

EVs are nimbler than ICE bikes

Amber DaSilva / Jalopnik

If you’ve never ridden an electric motorcycle, prepare to relearn a bit of muscle memory. The Pulse doesn’t hide its weight as well as the Zero did — a rider can feel each of the bike’s 390 pounds — but the Can-Am still manages to be nimbler at low speeds than internal-combustion competitors, even those with shorter wheelbases.

See, electric motorcycles don’t have the rotating assembly of an internal combustion engine, which means there’s a noticeable lack of the gyroscoping stability that all that rotating weight lends to most bikes. Remember keeping your revs up and feathering the clutch while doing the dreaded U-turn box in your MSF course? That’s not an option here, which can be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it makes the low-speed maneuvering necessary for navigating cities a breeze; on the other, you lose the ability to clutch-feather your way through a tight parking lot.

Quick off the line, but runs out of juice fast

Amber DaSilva / Jalopnik

The Pulse makes comparable torque to my own Suzuki GSX-8R, though from zero rpm, and puts it all in a package that weighs about 40 pounds less. That gives the bike a sort of eager, rowdy character down low, an almost supermoto-ish feel, but the torque writes checks that the horsepower can’t quite cash once speeds increase. It runs out of steam quickly, especially on the highway, once again confirming the city-riding specialty of the Pulse.

In the city the Pulse is truly excellent at cutting through traffic. Its narrow stature and high torque make it perfect for lane-splitting, and its wide bars make tight maneuvering a breeze. My own Suzuki is slower through Brooklyn traffic than my Orbea gravel bike, but the Pulse is faster from point A to point B — all without the heat of a gas engine cooking your legs when you are, inevitably, stuck in stop-and-go traffic.

Comfy enough for urban riding

Amber DaSilva / Jalopnik

The seat is comfortable enough for bopping around the city, though after a few hours it starts to wear on you — it’s no Gold Wing, but it’s a comfy enough urban bike. The brakes are sufficient, not great, but the on-demand regenerative braking (activated by rolling the throttle forward, which is more intuitive than it sounds) has more of the bite that the front calipers lack. That regenerative braking won’t fully bring you to a stop, though, since it cuts off below 5 mph. Regen followed by actual brakes is the move.

As a lighter rider, I’m used to suspensions feeling a bit stiff, but the Pulse was plush even beneath my 142-pound frame. This had pros and cons: On the rough cobblestones of Red Hook, the bike was nice and comfortable, but under heavy braking, the fork dive was severe. The rider triangle is comfortable enough, upright and approachable, though the tank could use a good set of grips for your knees.

Tech and features

Amber DaSilva / Jalopnik

The Pulse’s gauge cluster is a 10.25-inch touchscreen, complete with all the accoutrement modern electronics can offer. It offers bluetooth for both phones and headsets, media controls, even Apple CarPlay — only wired, not wireless, though the bike has a built-in USB port to facilitate it. That touchscreen remains nice and unobtrusive when riding, to the point where I found myself inadvertently leaving the turn signals on far more often than on any other bike. Without a tachometer or gear position indicator to watch, why bother looking down to notice that turn signal indicator?

It also features onboard storage, both in the form of a phone cubby between the rider’s legs and connectors for snap-on bags out at the rear of the bike. I didn’t get to test that proprietary luggage, but I’d say that any trip big enough to require full panniers is probably big enough to require a more highway-ready bike. The phone storage does have a fairly cheap-feeling lid and latch, but between it and the CarPlay integration, Can-Am saves you the cost of a QuadLock or Peak Design bar mount for your phone.

The Pulse’s mirrors, though, are straight up bad. They’re too small, shaped for style over function, and they’re warped enough to look like tinfoil over cardboard rather than actual proper glass. They may look cool, but trying to look through them is anything but.

People either think it’s cool, or a DoorDash scooter

Amber DaSilva / Jalopnik

People seem split. On the one hand, I’ve never gotten fewer waves from other riders while out on two wheels — small, electric bikes don’t read as motorcycles here in New York, but as DoorDash delivery e-bikes. If every motorcyclist in the city waved at every UberEats rider we saw, we’d never have time to work the clutch.

On the other hand, I made a run to Micro Center on the Pulse one day, and was stopped three times just to talk about it. I didn’t even have time to take my helmet off before a driver in a pickup whipped into an adjacent parking spot to tell me how cool he thought the Can-Am was. I then ended up between him and another motorcyclist in line to check out, where both asked me for more details about this cool-running, nimble bike that didn’t require shifting. Both seemed very interested in the concept for city riding.

Wrapping it up

Amber DaSilva / Jalopnik

At the top, I said the Can-Am Pulse is the city bike of the future, available today. That’s exactly as much of a compliment and a criticism as it sounds. The Pulse is nimble yet approachable, torquey yet cool-running, it requires no valve checks or chain maintenance — it’s the way motorcycles should be.

But it’s not how motorcycles are yet. The Pulse is a city bike, yet I can’t stretch an extension cord out of my apartment windows and across the sidewalk to charge it without creating a trip hazard for pedestrians. Its regenerative braking system isn’t quite dialed in yet, and could use an update that allows it to function all the way down to a stop.

The most egregious failing of the Can-Am Pulse, though, is the big number that I’ve dodged mentioning so far: Its price. The Pulse starts at $10,999 before assembly and destination fees (and, admittedly, before any EV incentives still available in your area), yet its 47 horsepower is less than that of the $5,299 Kawasaki Ninja 500. For buyers who really want that EV feel, the nimble handling and cool running of an electric drivetrain, it may well be worth the premium. For people who just want a way to get around on two wheels, though, electric bikes aren’t cheap enough to compete at this A2 power level yet — and no amount of CarPlay is worth $4,700. The Pulse isn’t a bad buy now, it’s a bike I’d genuinely consider owning myself at that price point if New York City made charging a bit easier, but it’ll be an absolute killer in a few years when battery tech gets cheap. I truly hope Can-Am keeps the bike around long enough to see that day.