IC can be very quiet, too (Score 2)

I'm not saying a hybrid electric motorcycle is bad, but I wonder if they've really done the due diligence necessary to completely write-off the internal combustion engine? A decade ago I had a Honda VTX 1800, which had a 1795cc V-Twin on it, and with the stock pipes it was *unbelievably* quiet. Other bikers - proponents of the "loud pipes save lives" school of thought - would warn me that I should swap out the pipes to make more noise lest I get killed by some inattentive automobile driver. I'm sure an electric bike can be very quiet - but with current muffler and noise cancellation technology, I wonder if they could achieve the same results with lower cost / less complexity / higher reliability than the proposed hybrid electric.