I own a Cake OR, a 72v SurRon and the Escape version of this trials bike. (and I have gas dirtbike) The EM Escape is my Favorite! Its so fun on a tight tricky trail with obstacles. You will seek out that kind of riding. I use my electrics in my neighborhood to practice and have fun. Its quiet, so no one cares. Plus on the trail, dirt biking is more social on electrics. You can hear your buddy shout when he's having fun, you talk more. Ahhhh.... I want to go ride now. stupid snow.
EXCELLENT REVIEW...Love to get this for backyard training with little to no noise; the ONLY problem I foresee is the price tag that comes with a limited warranty 🏁
I like premix too much to own one until I have to. I have 4 buddies with these new EM's. They like them. I have videos of them at trials events. One guys battery just totally died on him at an event. It had plenty of juice, but it just died.
You mention that maybe in the future a clutch wont be needed but my thought is that they could create a "clutch" that would simply be a potentiometer on a physical clutch lever that would act as semi reverse throttle based on throttle input. In other works you throttle position determine the power ready to be applied and the speed the lever is released determines the % of throttle input and speed of the lever release determines ramp up of that power. It would also work as a fail safe like a regular clutch. Another benefit is it could also be programable. I think once someone figures out the logic for this system an actual clutch would no longer be needed. They can also program a simulated flywheel by slower removal of power to the motor rather than most with current on off feel is already doable but no way to have it shut off when wanted which is where the clutch comes in to disengage flywheel programing. Just my thoughts as someone who has an electric dirtbike(surron) and get where a clutch is needed but think that its one extra maint part that could be eliminated.
In our Trials Club several EM are used and they are good - just as you reported. It makes more sense to go electric in Trials than MX, as the CO2-Footprint from manufacturing is lower due to smaller battery and motor. Electric is not greener per se on vehicles with low mileage Footprint comes mostly from production and not the relative small amount of Gas burned in operation. Plus electricity too often is made from fossile burning with no benefit to CO2 footprint for E-bikes as they are then fossile powered too. Just my comment for those, taking care of greenhouse gas consideration. For the others - Electric is silent and therefore has less problems for finding riding spots plus motor maintainance (plugs, filters, pistons do not apply) is zero. Best regards, Hacht
Rich, thank you for a great review. Your riding skills are also great fun to watch! Recently I was able to take a short demo ride on a Zero motorcycle and the whole experience was amazing, and one of its maps was customizable. Your review of the ElectricMotion EM trials bike clearly demonstrates what a great future motorcyclists are headed for. On a minor point, engineers today use the word 'motor' to refer to the electrical rotating machine that powers an electric bicycle, an electric motorcycle and all other electric vehicles. Back in the 1880's when the early bicycles were first fitted with cumbersome steam engines and later with electric motors and the first dry batteries, the term 'motorcycle' was adopted. After internal combustion engine, gasoline and oil the became widely popular for all vehicles, the word motorcycle just stuck. Today with the popularity of STEM careers worldwide, and now the modern push toward electric vehicles, the technical usage of the word 'motor' refers to an electric motor of some type while the term 'engine' refers to some sort of internal combustion machine.
This is awesome! Going to pick up in the spring -I have to replace my driveway retaining wall in a few other areas on the side of the house, going to turn it into a trials, friendly course!
Have just recently gotten into trials as a skill builder for "hardish" enduro with a Beta 300. Picked up a gasgas txt 125 and could not agree more about this type of riding being pure joy, it takes you back to riding as a kid just for fun. Thank you for the well laid out and informative interview, putting the descriptions into things we can relate to is one of the reasons you are probably the best riding couch on youtube. Please keep up the great work!
Love this review Rich. I have a 22 Epure race and I completely agree, I use it more often than I ever did my gas bikes. It’s just easier and I ride around my yard a lot in the evenings after work. I am glad you are keeping one in your fleet and I look forward to watching some skills videos with your Epure race !
As a cross-training bike for balance control and riding obstacles I would absolutely ride one of these! It would make it easier on the bystanders, and probably me, too, noise-wise, when you are doing exercises at very low speed. Thanks A LOT Rich for this awesome review - very detailed and highlighting what I think will matter to potential riders. Cheers :)
Finally someone with skills on one of these. I've lost interest shortly after they were released because youtube was littered with old guy putting around on hiking trails. They talk up the clutch but don't do anything that requires one. Thanks for the review!
"Not a trials rider".... Wish I was half that good as "not a trials rider". Great review and photography! My 1985 TY350 would be great at that weight :) Would love to try one. Thanks for posting.
Excellent review. Means a lot to me as an ex trials rider approaching 70. Like you I always felt they needed a clutch. I tried the electric KTM Freeride around an indoor MX track and it was great fun. Once I got used to both brakes on the bars, no clutch, no gears, no foot brake - it was a blast. Less to think about. PS the correct term would be smiles per Wh. 😏
Thank you so much for this review! I am thoroughly intrigued with electic bikes and this seems like the most ideal usage of current electric motors and technology
Great aerial shots!! It was so fun to watch you on the rocks! If you get to keep this one, you gotta add the progressive rear brake lever. (way better than the button) Also, if you take it on a long trail ride, don't trust the battery meter below 25%. It exaggerates how much you have left once you get that low. I think I agreed with everything you had to say about this machine. Curious if you think its beginner friendly? (I think mine is) ... and I have to add, as an owner of several different electric dirtbikes, and gas dirtbikes... You want the clutch if you do tricky stuff. And since doing a whisky throttle is so much easier (and consequential) on a electric, the clutch is super handy as an extra off switch for your throttle hand. Great Review Rich!
I believe it’s perfect for a beginner rider! It really hones in your ability with the clutch! I appreciate your support Mitch!! Thanks for everything! Glad you enjoyed the new drone shots more to come!! 😁
Another great video Rich and good to hear your thoughts. I got mine for the same reason, I can ride it anywhere (even the local playing field/park) and nobody complains when they see me. Also the weight is a good thing in my eyes as it help when I jump back on the husky 350 👍
Great content. BTW when you demonstrated the very slow drop in engine RPM(?), you had the clutch in. Does the RPM drop rapidly when there is a slight or significant load. I gourds I'm asking how much "flywheel inertia" does it carry at zero throttle?
Excellent review with an open mind. I believe you're right that it's good for the majority of us. I would ride it. The dog looked concerned when you had it in the house. 😆
Surprised you did not mention how incredible EM did at RedBull TKO this year. Not only did it win the electric class but it placed 3rd against the 326 gas bikes. I don’t think anybody expected the electrics to do so well at TKO.
Neat, I agree the characteristics of an electric bike are well suited to trials as long as you uave that clutch. I had always kind of written them off due to not having a clutch, which is probably your most important input, especially when it's about enhancing your dirt bike game, so this kind of changes things, makes me wish I had a spare 11k
Great review and feedback on the clutch, there's a purpose built hard enduro E Bike being released in Australia next year, it'll feature in the Australian Hard Enduro Championship.
Interesting, I'm on my second ebike build with two very different motors on the same bike. The first motor had monster torque from zero rpm but quickly ran out of power. It would pull hard as long as you could feed it more gearing. It only rev'd to 800 rpm as I recall. the second motor rev'd to 6000 rpm and its power built as the revs increased. I needed lower gearing to run at lower speeds to keep it from stalling out on a steep climbs but it would pull more speed from the same gear. Both motors would pull the same top speed (40mph) with the same battery, but gearing was very important with the higher reving motor. I later felt that the first motor would give a higher top speed if I added more gearing but top speed was not what I was after. I wanted the compactness for ground clearance on my mid drive downhill bike and after I figured out the gearing I'm sold on the higher reving motor. It sounds like your test bike is a low reving one which is what you would expect from a trails bike. Grunt! 👍👍
Super great review and really like your knowledge in the two wheel Arena!! Although, not just you but many other reviewer's in the electric vs fuel powered vehicles are getting their terminology incorrect. "Motors" are electric & "combustion" or "fuel powered" are engine's. A lot of time's when I and others watch review's on the new stuff coming out and they get it wrong, I immediately turn them off. You are a very smart and good teacher/informer and have a lot of respect for you, so I painfully watched the whole review on this bike with a motor. Respectfully, a review well done. Take care.
You should check out the Mecatecno Dragonfly. Another serious Electric trials bike. The major problem with these bikes is the novelty factor, that makes them very expensive in comparison to ICE powered bikes. They are in the price range of a Montesa, where in reality they are nowhere close to that bike. They need to come closer to parity in price to a Sherco, TRS, GAS GAS.
MX rider here, I would be all about it as a training tool, something I can practice bike skills on in the yard or neighborhood where a gas power bike would be too loud. The price makes it infeasible though.
And... it's not the bike, is the rider. And the rider is / you're good! 🤙 Always wondered how could someone who is used to use the clutch would perform on a cluthcless electric bike. The French company is on the right track here.
Thanks for watching. This is very close. Much like the two stroke versus four stroke debate everyone has their preferences now there’s another form of propulsion that comes into play. ⚡️
Thanks for a great, complete review! I owned & attempted to ride trials on a 2016 EM Escape. It looked like a trials bike, but I could never master its throttle-only power control in competition. It needed a real clutch. Was a great plonker on local hiking trails though. ;-) The new 2023 EM Pure Race seems like they have progressed to the point of maybe luring me back for another try. :-)
The clutch is a game changer! They are continuing their development, I think I’ll keep one in my stable! Glad you enjoyed the video, thanks for watching!
The fly wheel is present it feels like a regular bike other than the rate of RPM decline. When you are holding traction or loading before an obstacle it feels very similar. This is my initial review. I found out you can adjust and change the size and I’ll be doing a separate episode totally on that.
If there are no issues with the individual cells groups(usually around 200 cells with batteries the size of these) then you should get 500 charge cycles and still have ~70% of original capacity. Same tech in a phone and people can usually get 2-3yrs out of a phone battery(1-2 charges per day so over 1000cycles) before major degradation of 50%. According to his review thats still 2hrs of riding trials. The most likely issue would just be age or some other failure such as electrical connection/bms or a few of the many cells having an issue which are hard to repair. As far as cost I havent seen the actual pricing but typically batteries of the EM side are $2-3k and if aftermarket ones come out they may be more but could add alot of range(similar to the surron market where double the range is easily possible)
I'm considering buying one of these bikes. I got a kick out of disciplined Rich has been at calling the thing that powers a motorcycle an engine. But in this case, it really is a motor.
I love anything that brings trials more into the mainstream, I’ve ridden an electric motion and will say they’re not for me yet, I still like my beta evo 250 a little more. I also like that you said that almost no one needs a 300 trials bike.
I wonder why they didn't mimic the rpm acceleration characteristics of a 2T exactly? I really wonder if they even thought about it at all, or if they did think about it, why they weren't able to execute to the point of humanly imperceiveible differences. Would love to talk to their controls engineers! with electric motor technology that's available these days, i have to think it's completely possible to exactly minic the exactly characteristics of the gas 2t with an electric motor. It must come down to the dollar, as usual :(
its just the physics of a rotor with electric currents vs a engine that limited by friction and throttle opening. Its possible they could put an rpm limiter per throttle position but the reason for the clutch it to be able to use the flywheel effect and more rpms means more affect so I think it would be counterproductive for just the case where you sit like he did for that long, typically you wouldnt do that, maybe 5sec as you analyze your next move
@mrskywalker115 yes its physics to a point. But to limit the responsibility of the characteristics to only physics means they did not completely program the motor controller. Depending on the motor controller in the bike, they should have the ability to control the motor exactly how they choose. In fact, with a powerful enough motor, they may likely be able to mimic the exact feel and performance of the wet clutch, through the use of good software programming and eliminating the wet clutch hardware, and all the additional weight associated with it minus the lever.
Those Denzel GB200 motors with the 4 speed have been around in the DIY world for a few years. They are not very robust, every single one I’ve seen has not lasted very long, and most guys that I’ve seen building their own bikes lack considerably in the riding skills department compared to someone with the skills of Rich, or even your local fast/skilled A and B class guys.
All the weird powertrain behavior stuff is because they programmed it to act naturally like an electric motor, rather than artificially more like a gas engine: gas engines have A LOT of internal friction, electric motors have almost 0 until you get to really high speeds. When you throttle on, you're requesting torque, not a specific RPM. 1/4 throttle isn't enough torque to overcome the high RPM friction of a gas engine so it only revs a little, but for the electric motor that's enough torque to spin it up really fast, just takes a while because of momentum. Same reason for RPM going down slowly, lots of motor momentum, not very much internal friction.
Much more sophisticated take on this bike than other reviews on YT. The electric fan boys go on and on about Surron this and Surron that, but no matter how much power they have, how is that power actually used. I see them constantly spinning their rear wheel. In hard enduro or trials situations, you need a clutch to apply the traction, plain and simple.
Appreciate your comment! I agree it’s all about the application of power and the ability to hold traction. This bike does all of that well! 👍thanks for watching!
The Rpm decrease speed is just a matter of different programming. If you turn off the tko the Rpm decreased as fast as a two stroke. I like that Rpm decrease better, as that's what I'm used to. But the Tko really helps with keeping ballance and carrying momentum over obstacles, so i try to adapt. I still prefer my old TRS 250, but I just get so much more ridetime with the EM.
@@IRCTireUSAMoto I think its a combination of programing and if irc the EM has a flywheel that you can change weights which would affect this as the electric motor doesnt have the same friction to slow down the mass of the rotating assembly like a piston. If it had less mass it would rev up and down faster but its the opposite problem from the climbing from steady input, a heavier flywheel would slow the rpm climb but unlike gas its not limited by a true throttle, its simply a power input so as long as you apply power, it slowly accelerates the mass until external forces counteract further acceleration. Just some engineering explanations for what you've seen