For bopping around town, these things rule. It's like a 50cc scooter but doesn't carry the maintenance or smell of a Vespa. True pedelec mopeds are way more legal on bike paths but that 20mph top speed really limits how far you can go. 45% of all trips in the US are 3 miles or less, which is the perfect use case for something like this. Great vehicle for the single-person apartment dweller.
Love the idea of electric bicycles. Don’t love the news reports of apartment blocks catching fire when people charge electric bicycles overnight in their apartments when they sleep.
Clues in name. Motor? check...cycle? check....Its a definitely a hyper light motorcycle even if it uses some cycle components...And at 24hp its almost 2X the power of a euro learner legal 125cc.
@spitescorner can you give the name of the place where you were riding? I live in San Antonio, so if I buy a Surron or a Solar E-Clipse electric motorcycle I'd like to throw it in the back of my Tundra and take it there.
@@spitescorner Agreed. Especially with the popular 18/21 wheel conversion! The only obvious drawback is the limited range, especially for us heaver fellas. How tall are you btw?
I’m 80 and I’ve been riding a SurRon for a few years. I recently upgraded to a 72 Volt 38AH CHI GLADIATOR Battery and a BAC4000 Controller. SurRons Rule!
@@blackpepe Yeah, I don’t ride it off road anymore except to run over my dog’s leash when she’s starting to get somewhere I don’t want her to go, like when she’s chasing something into brush. I have 17” SuperMoto wheels and tires. I stick to the road.
My Surron is what caused me to get bit with the motorcycle bug. Put a 72v conversion on it and it does 70+mph and is a wheelie machine. But it can’t cover any real distance on the freeway without depleting the battery hence how it was the gateway to the motorcycle world. But it’s great for single track and tearing around the neighborhood/city. It can go places a bike with an engine can never go.
I have to respectfully disagree with both of you there. As a novice dirt rider, learning to use the foot controls while standing is a significant learning curve. Even as an expert, I've been told, foot controls still force you to shift your weight when you might not want to-essentially forcing a compromise (at times) between keeping your line and managing your speed. Of course an expert has the skills to minimize this constraint, but all else being equal they'll still be faster if you remove it entirely. And to state the obvious, you have _way_ more dexterity and fine-grained control with your hand, vs. your foot (let alone your foot wearing MX boots!) To be totally transparent, I'm a dirtbike novice and I've only ever spent a few minutes on an electric one, vs a couple dozen hours on an ICE one. But at my level at least, the electric one was so much easier to ride that it almost felt like cheating. I have my work cut out for me reading the terrain and focusing on body position; having greatly simplified controls is really a godsend and makes me wonder if I should trade my ICE bike for one of these, at least initially.
Just got my talaria mx4 delivered, goes 53mph stock, been riding it everywhere my motorcycle can’t go, I’ve also been wearing my moto helmet while riding, when I pass people on the sidewalk I just go real slow and give them plenty of room and they usually just smile and wave as I ride by, it helps that it’s super quiet too
Great overall assessment and very accurate descriptions based on my experience! I guess I am an early adopter as I got mine in 2020 and after riding it stock for a few years I just started upsizing and upgrading it. I've never owned a motorcycle of any kind before but have been mountain biking for decades and wanted something fun. I think there is a huge potential cross-over market for mountain bike riders who are getting older - you can hit the same trails and it's very quiet allowing you to enjoy nature in the same way. You can ride this in places where people would call the police if they saw someone on a gas powered bike. In fact in my experience people are mostly very curious and think it's cool. The possible modifications can't be over-stated as you can transform this bike in multiple ways. Sur Ron was ahead of the market for sure.
The price IS steep if you're comparing it to a pit bike or a Honda Navi but, if you're comparing it to a name brand pedal assist mountain bike, the Sur Ron is stupid cheap. Trek and Specialized e-bikes are like 7 grand!
Thwy are defo pricey for what they are in terms of parts and build value.. but they are so quiet and incognito that you can take them so many trails that you couldn't take an IC bike on without upsetting people and getting the cops called on you... that is what makes them worth every penny. No regrets at all, for smiles a minute per dollar it's one of my best buys ever.
They cost more to buy but you save long term over maintenance and gas costs. In Mongolia, where I live, the Surron range is about $1k less due to being next door to China. A used LBX is about $2k and about $3k new. My Ultra Bee cost $5300 new OTD. My Storm Bee cost me $7k, slightly used.
my surron experience is actually what really opened me up to the world of motorcycles! last autumn i purchased a surron, mostly as a way to explore the forest roads in my area. within like a week of getting this thing, i was down the dual sport rabbit hole and signing up for an msf training course lol! overall i've found the surron to be an awesome gateway into motorcycling. the bike is light, maneuverable, and very forgiving. i'm only 5'6" 130lb, and i'm able to confidently load this into the truck bed unassisted. the seat height is probably lower than my road bicycle lol, so i always had a ton of confidence with this thing on trail - plus it's so light even my weak noodle arms can drag this thing out of the bushes (ask me how i know... lol). also worth noting, the battery charges super quick! and in a pinch i can hook this thing up to my portable solar rig, big points there for self-reliance! so if the surron is this amazing, why head down the motorcycle rabbit hole? and that answer is pretty straightforward: power and legality. riding the surron off road is incredibly fun, approachable and confidence inspiring; but once you start thinking about expanding your range and skills a little bit more - you hit a wall in what this bike is designed for. yes you can get a new battery and controller and get this thing up to 80mph - should you? probably not if you care about your own personal safety! anyway, even while you could extend the capability of the bike to be more rangey or speedy, then you quickly hit the issue of legality. and this machine just sits in too many grey areas to be able to confidently take this thing out on the road, and expect to be able to ride all the way to the trail without attracting unwanted attention from curious law enforcement agents :P so here i am, 9 months after purchasing my surron, heading to the dealership on wednesday to pick up my crf300l :) i'll letcha know which one wins the stable wars!
@@99Yeti hadn't heard of this bike before, but now i'm intrigued LOL! ended up not pulling the trigger on the 300L - the bike was just too big for me. so i ended up joining the tdub club instead 😂 suits my slow casual style. think im too small for those big boy bikes, maybe a crf125 big wheel in my future 🤣
Funny - I recently bought a DR650 fully modded (nice suspension upgrade plus just about everything else you could do to the bike) as my first bike and have been loving it. Then I saw these e-bikes and was wondering if that would round out the fun by being more portable and rideable nearby. Now that you have your CRF what are your thoughts?
@@mateostyle so quick note: ended up passing on the crf, and bought a tw200 instead (why? because i have really short legs lol) anyway! the tw couldn't be more opposite of the surron if i tried lol! two very different bikes, which i use for very different purposes. i like to cruise back roads and wider trails with the tdub. while the surron i'll use for quick errands around town (like quick enough for me to keep eyes on the damn thing, it'll get snatched quicker than any motorcycle!!), for scouting trails, single tracks, and when i solo ride off road. to me the surron still feels so casual and approachable. it's light, it's fast, i can cram it in the back of my vw golf!!!! i can push it inside a building for better security. i feel confident enough to ride it with just a helmet and gloves (maybe armor if i'm going somewhere sketchy offroad..), but motorcycle is all the gear all the time. end of the day i'm happy to have both bikes, and still extremely happy i got the surron before my motorcycle - it proved to be a great platform to learn and build confidence on. it's so easy to use, and so little on it to maintain, i highly recommend! but when it comes to distance, and ability to haul some camping gear etc - the motorcycle wins every time. you can't get that far on 30mi a charge, and the thought of hauling solar panels and the charger along with this bike does not appeal heh. if you want to go OUT THERE, you need a motorcycle. but! if you're overlanding in another vehicle, and can put the surron in the truck bed, trunk, or trailer etc - it is a beast of a scout vehicle and the utility there would not disappoint! and if you live in an urban environment, this thing will get you around no problem (you just gotta keep eyes on it...).
I love the idea of having a couple acres in the suburbs, building a little MX track in my backyard, and being able to rip around on one of these without having to go anywhere and without bothering my neighbors! I really think electric bikes could open up a lot of new riding areas in urban and suburban places, similar to the indoor electric kart tracks you see in many cities. The main reason that riding areas get shut down is the noise, and honestly I do feel kinda bad riding my ICE bikes around in pristine wilderness.
I put a 72V battery (60V stock) and a KO nano motor controller. It literally more than doubles the power. The brake pads fail if you work them hard. Replace them with Shimano Saint pads. Springs are cheap and available. But mine needed some love to make it fit. I replaced the fork with a higher spec unit. It's actually about eight horsepower stock.
I wondered if this day would come.... other channels have dipped their toe in this pool... beware my friend... there could be a very loud "REEEEEEE" sound comming from the comments section...
When people ask me whether it is a mountain bike or motorcycle, I call it an uphill mountain bike. What is nice i can do a little urban off roading, or flogging it out in Anza Borrego. Its totally fun, but still love my ICE bike. It was also a great way to get my son into riding.
I don't like electric bikes... as a main, but as an addition? This is actually very tempting. My gf is learning to ride, but we have go to empty places in the morning so we don't bother others with noise and so it isn't hot. With this, we could practice in and the around the neighborhood enough to consistently drill fundamentals on a whim. Add the versatility: we can hop on and make a quick dash to the store or theater down the road, throw them in the truck and hit up trails, maybe even go through walking areas if it allows us to go slow enough... I'm really considering .
Just got mine 2x days ago, loving it!!! And it's less than 1/2 the price of a emtb. WTAF. Been mtbing since '90 and never had a dirt bike. Now I get to use my DH skills going uphill on the Sur 🤙✌️🥳🤣🤣
By far the most fun bike over ever owned. I have a YZ250 and a WR250R. And the Sur Ron just opens up so much riding spots. On a 2 stroke you have to not care and just ride. People are gonna get upset. On the Sur Ron, nobody cares.
I would say as of a few weeks ago the Talaria XXX is now the actual game changer. Bigger battery, your choice of street or dirt tires, faster top speed (stock), due to battery orientation has better balance point for wheelies and at only about 66% of the price of a surron LBX ..... I have a Surron LBX but most definitely getting a Talaria XXX when they are back in stock.
A surron dealer told me stay away from talaria because they’re not UL approved…I can’t imagine they’re selling bikes with shotty battery’s or possible electric issues, Are talarías approved by any safety branch out there?
Talarias are the cheaper alternative.. a brqnd built by a disgruntled Surron employee.. stick with Surron, tried && tested. Smaller, lighter ..subsequently much more fun & peace of mind.. not to mention the aftermarket availability for surron is tenfold that of talaria 😎
i started on a diy enduro ebike which is the predecessor of the surron, it is great for off road shenanigans but i kept wanting more power. so it ended up being the reason i got my motorcycle licence with the goal of owning an electric motorcycle. so my first motorcycle was a ZERO FX that i traded after two months for a ZERO DSR and i really loved that bike but i kept wanting more power and range. so a year afterwards i traded it for an ENERGICA EVA R RS for track and street use and i still have my enduro for off road duty that im looking to trade for a surron ULTRA BEE. the sad truth is if you love many styles of riding you will have to get serveral bikes that are specific to the style you like cuase no one bike is good at everything!
To quote Adam Sandoval, “Just buy the damn (e-)bike!” It looks like a blast. I’m about the same size as you, and with a spare battery, I could definitely see having one of these. Thanks for the great review, Spite!
Great review, thanks! I've had my Talaria Sting R for a couple weeks and already I have more miles on it than my year-old Beta 390 Race Edition. It's just so easy to head out the front door, dash around town, jump off curbs, ride bike ways (being respectful as possible, of course) and so on. It does everything my Beta does but in a smaller, more convenient package. For nearly the same price, the new Talaria beats the Sur-Ron in every respect aside from weight. It's a little bigger and a little badder than the Sur-Ron - you should check one out.
@@Poteluz So far I haven't had a problem. I've had a few cops slow down and watch me ride by, but none have chased me yet. I suspect they have better things to do🙂
ARG I WANT ONE SO BAD - Looking forward to this review. They have a couple of other models, as well, coming out, IIRC Load it up in the truck when going camping and this would be a blast, I think!!
I have an Talaria MX3, I ride it more than any other of my dirt bikes. Pull out of my garage, ride silently a mile down the road to the trails. Go riding in the morning and back in 2 hours. A 21" front wheel is a must.
We have a few e-bike crews here between New Jersey and New York. We ride everything from Super 73s to ONYX to Sur Rons. Recently there was a huge group ride in New York. Look into it 😎✌
that looks fun couple things, the reason the brakes aren't the greatest is because it's using mountain bike brakes on something heavier and faster than a typical mountain bike. it's one of the reasons why several people have pointed out that e-bikes are actually a lot more dangerous because they're basically just bicycle hardware but going way faster than it was ever intended to go. The price isn't completely unreasonable. you could easily spend that kind of money on a really nice road bicycle or mountain bike new. I think the biggest plus on this is the hot swappable batteries. that lets you buy the bike, decide if you want the extra range and then just get another battery if you want to. I would love to ride nature trails or forest roads on this because it's quiet enough that you're not disturbing everything around you.
It's perfect for the mtn biker who has never owned a dirt bike and wants to rip around trails in stealth mode. Bought an x in 2020 and it never fails to put a smile on my face.
Between having a regular e-bike and a DR200, I have this one covered. If it had pedals to fit in a little more of the bike space, I think it would make more sense. These class three bikes don't know where they live. Cops immediately call them motorcycles and give you a hard time.
Great video. I like how thorough you were in this review. Not knowing anything about these things, I bought a Sur Ron X-Black Edition about a year and a half ago for my wife. After I rode it just once, it became mine.
highly recommend the talaria sting or the ultra bee/storm bee if you can get a ride on any of those, they're all a bit suited to taller folks but aren't massive by any means
My Gf has one Loves it I have the Talaria sting Love it... If you get one put a 58T sprocket on her wakes her up a Bit and Helps a lil with Range climbs right up Hills if you can keep traction with them skinny tires lol
Spite, please check out the Surron Ultra Bee, its a size up, they do a bigger one too but the Ultra is the best compromise for us big lads. I have the competitor the Talaria, its the biggest smile maker.
Man, I love most of your videos. It also helps that you're a bigger guy and it lets me see how machines and gear will fit my 6'6" & 350 pound frame. eBikes and micro-mobility stuff interests me a lot, but sadly the Sur-ron (like a LOT of the rest) have an absurdly low weight rating. I've lost a LOT of weight to get where I am (over 130 lbs in the last 4 years) but even if I lost ALL the rest of my fat i'd be around 280 lbs! Combined with my height, NOTHING fits right and everything seems under-built. If Sur-Ron or Sonders or whoever built a bike like the Bee, but with a larger front end and a suspension capable of say 400 lbs? I'd gladly pay the premium. As it sits though, it's just another nice eBike for 'average' people even though it tolerated you guys riding it. Thanks again for another great video man, it looks like you guys had blast.
did you miss the part where the owner is 360 lbs? and he still has a ton of fun on them complaining about the industry not building stuff for a complete outlier is a bit silly
@@zane812 Hey Zane, I didn't miss the weight thing, just worry (as I do with a lot of my stuff) that if anything broke or wore prematurely that I'd be 'SOL' on the warranty. As far as complaining? How does anything get improved or developed if potential customers cannot voice their opinions on a public forum where fellow enthusiasts gather? Since both Spite and the owner both easily exceed the weight limit, it must not be quite as 'niche' a market as you imply. In any case, thanks for replying to me.
@@zane812not every body is 22 and 140lvs. I am double both and would buy but can not tons of things cause they are built for younger and poorer riders. Outlier. Missed market.
You should check out the Solar E Clipse. Battery and motor power between a Surron X and Surron Ultra Bee. But it has a carbon fiber frame, so its performance is supposed to be closer to the Ultra Bee. The coolest part, to me. Is that it has a VIN on the head stock, so you can register it, insure it, plate it, and ride it on the street with your M endorsement.
After watching Spite's video on the Surron and reading your comment, I checked out a video on the Solar E-Clipse Electric Motorcycle and it does look really cool. I never would've thought I'd be interested in buying one of these things, but I now I am!
Agree you guys are a bit big for LBX (so am I). You should check out the Ultra Bee instead. Also, new Talaria MX4 is 2 inches taller with more power for $500 more, maybe a happy medium between LBX and Ultra Bee for ya.
Wonder how it would be in the back of an rv, as the ‘get about’ option, instead of hauling an actual motorcycle or a small car. The legality is what concerns me most.
Depends on where you live. I'm in Europe, I don't even have to register it. It's considered a electric mountain bike basically. So I think you would be safe .
Hi, so, I live on a small island. 27×14km... The speed limits here are 50kmh 60kmh and we have two stretches of road that allow 80kmh. This would be ideal for someone to go to work with and go camping with on the weekend here.
Way too expensive for what it is. I just got a 3k scooter that goes 65. For 5k id rather get a 2024 ninja 500. These e bikes should be no more than 3k for top models.
They are fun, but the whole time I was riding one all I could think about was wanting a nice enduro bike under me. I found it small and the brakes and suspension were a little weak for the speed you could get on the thing. Also, no endurance. I can pedal a whole lot farther into the mountains than I'd trust any battery bike. For now, ICE or MTB for me. I'll let others take care of the early adopter stage and the staggering sticker prices
We ride off road in the northeast (pretty gnarly), and one of my buddies showed up with this bike a couple weeks ago, he struggled mightily compared to his two stroke. Sold the electric the next week. So, while it might be good for a dirt road, it’s not ready for prime time in single track riding.
Very little compares to a two stroke offroad, but for less maintenance and light duty offroad like we were doing, I think it makes a strong case for itself
You wouldn’t compare a TW200 to a two stroke dirt bike either, right? A more suitable comparison would be something like the Surron Storm Bee, which is essentially a full sized dirt bike with an electric powertrain.
Ok. It looks tremendously fun to me. On the other hand and after a little internet stalking, I’m not seeing $4,500 worth of fun plus almost 10% sales tax here in Nashville. There’s tons of good used dirt bikes out there for the same amount of money or less and they can go through a small mud puddle without getting stuck or all the way to the top of a small hill. Regardless, that’s just me and the Sur-Ron seems to be a fine choice if you’re really set on getting an ebike.
Compared to a used dirt bike? You have to factor in running costs as well, and compared to any other electric dirt bike, there's no competition, I used to own a Trek mid drive electric mtb, similar cost but far less power.
Genuinely hope battery tech and electric motor tech keeps advancing to the point where something like this is kind of a "standard" sized motorcycle but has an actually useful range. Gimme something a little bigger, 200km range and does 100km/hr (60~hphr) on the highway and I would buy it and forget that ICE bikes even exist... also fast charging.
@@mrspeigle1 good point.. have saddle-bags where you can stack extra batteries... that should bring the weight up as well as put more grip onto the rear wheel.
Lmao you make that thing look comically small. I love it. Also, you should check out what Kuberg has to offer in the same space. They do a version with a 14kw motor and a weird sort of stand-up scooter/MTB/e-moto combo thing. Really weird but shows what you can do with electric power trains when you think outside the box.
I have snuck up on some pretty big deer on my electric E bike conversion. It’s a bicycle with a conversion kit - so if I run out of battery I can pedal it home and it’s not too heavy. You only need the power for going uphill. So Why carry all that weight?
The Surron marked brakes look a lot like tektro ones. Sometimes the pad quality OEM is a bit questionable and tektro discs can be a bit slippery. A change of pads and discs may be transforming, but there's a magura upgrade which is decent. No foot brake due to the type approval for this class of machine - E45 brakes are always like that
Ive been watching spite for a few years now, both on this channel and where he used to work. Never known his actual name, but man does it feel weird to here him be called jake and not spite 😂
I have seen fatter tyres on peddle bikes and you big boys need em. Looks like fun though. My grandson Leon would be all over that. Cheers from New Zealand.
I have the talaria sting 72 V upgraded motor and all that but I must say stock was just as fun. Typically a fully modified 72v one makes 20+hp on the dyno…stock motor Your a ninja zipping around the neighbor at night on those things
The battery is made up of a bunch of 18650 batteries that are only slightly bigger than a AA battery (they are commonly used in laptops and garden solar lights and i think in power tools as well). The 60v battery uses 176 of them according to the specs on the website.
I’m not sure if this is yours. But there a wire you can cut to go faster…..lol. One thing I love about the e dirt bikes is a lot of the replacement parts is plug and play.
The modding scene seems pretty broad based on the limited research I've done. That's pretty sweet considering I thought there was no mod-ability in e-bikes
Im 240 and I'm glad that you're on it and have tried it out... Im thinking about trading my classic Ford F100 1960 Pick up for it.... a new surron Bee X lite of course.
I enjoy your content much better than Yams. Yes, I went there sorry Yammie. The goddam violin playing coke rant is not for me. Thanks for what you do Spite and keep up the great content.
