LiveWire S4 Honcho Street Joins MSF FleetThe idea, says the MSF and LiveWire, is to create a stronger bridge between kids moving from e-bikes to motorcycles. Will it work?It's been a while since I took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's Basic RiderCourse. If that's also how you learned and got your motorcycle license, then chances are excellent that you remember in detail what bike you rode for the duration of the class. In my case, as a 5'3" individual with a 27-inch inseam, I rode a pre-redesign Honda Rebel 250, as I noted in my First Ride review of the Honda Rebel 300 E-Clutch.And it's there, too, that I talked about why I think something like Honda's E-Clutch makes total sense for reducing the intimidation factor for new riders. It's not an automatic transmission, although some who clearly haven't ridden with it have mischaracterized it that way. You still very much have to learn how to shift gears if you use it. However, at the same time, it gives the rider the option of whether they want to manually engage the clutch or not; something that could make things just a little bit easier for a new rider who's trying to wrap their head around several control details at once.Fast-forward to October 2026, and LiveWire and the MSF have just jointly announced that the S4 Honcho Street is joining the MSF RiderCoach Tour's training demo fleet. With a curb weight of 266 pounds and a seat height of 29 inches, it's approachable for a wide variety of riders. Also, like most EV motorbikes, it has no clutch because it needs no clutch. All the rider needs to do is worry about throttling, braking, turning, and leaning.LiveWire S4 HonchoLiveWire S4 HonchoLiveWire S4 HonchoLiveWire S4 HonchoLiveWire S4 HonchoLiveWire S4 HonchoLiveWire S4 HonchoLiveWire S4 HonchoLiveWire S4 HonchoLiveWire S4 HonchoLiveWire S4 HonchoBuild Them Up, Don't Tear Them DownPolaris and Minnesota's 4H Want Youth Riders To Be Safe WithUpdated Safety ProgramHere's What Happens When You Plug In, Share Knowledge, And Do Cool Things TogetherI'll admit, when I first read this, I wondered if this will place new riders at a disadvantage when it comes to potentially moving on to motorcycles that use traditional clutches in their operation. I learned to drive on a car with a manual transmission, and while they're still quite common in markets outside the US, they're fast going extinct everywhere outside of enthusiast circles here.But as the MSF and LiveWire frame it, the idea behind bringing the S4 Honcho Street into the training equation is intended to function as a bridge between the e-bikes that many kids are already riding, and expanding their two-wheeled horizons into motorcycles.I don't know what it's like where you live, but anecdotally speaking, that math checks out around here. You pretty much can't go anywhere now without seeing kids riding e-bikes (and some on e-motorcycles as well). As our own EIC, Jonathon Klein, has pointed out, it seems like the kids are much more into motorbikes than industry handwringing would have you believe; it's just that they're not what's considered to be a traditional motorcycle that seems to be causing confusion and consternation amongst the oldheads."We're happy to have LiveWire's Honcho join our training demo fleet at the MSF RiderCoach Tour. This gives our coaches an opportunity to experience an electric motorcycle in several MSF exercises while broadening the range of options available to training providers as they consider motorcycles for their programs," MSF's director of rider education expansion, Corey Eastman, said in a statement.You know what? I think that framing makes a ton of sense. Kids now, as ever, don't appreciate being told what to do or forced into a single way of doing things. They want to come to a thing and figure out whether it's for them or not on their own terms. If they're already enjoying themselves on e-bikes, then something like the S4 Honcho Street makes perfect sense as a logical step toward a more full-fat motorcycle experience. One that could be a more powerful EV motorcycle, or one that could be a clutch-having combustion bike.More choices = more better, in my opinion. But what do you think? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.