Where EV Dirt Bikes are at Today

[HS-YZ250]

In case anyone knew about, and was wondering about the state of, the Electric Dirt Bike and it's practicality, there's someone racing a Stark Varg in the national cross country series' (GNCC) new E-Bike class this year, and occasionally finishing the 2hr morning event. Here's a helmet cam video of this last race. From the results page it looks like they crossed the finish line at about 2.5 hrs of run time.



A couple companies have dabbled in electric dirt bikes over the years. The first one that had gas bike specs and held promise was the Alta. I got to take one for a short spin and have a friend that races one. Coming off a two stroke it's pretty wild. But Stark, out of Sweden, is the latest to introduce a model. It was delayed a couple of years, but boasts impressive numbers, like an 80hp setting (450 gas bikes are in the 65hp neighborhood) and, apparently, enough of a battery to run a 2hr hare scramble if all goes well. I'm not tapped into amateur MX racing to know if they're showing up there, yet. The Alta had overheating issues in MX and not enough battery to really be practical for more than brief stints. Also, I know the sanctioning bodies are trying to be a lot more deliberate about introducing electric bikes than they were when four strokes came back and upended the entire industry.

Sounds like riding an RC car. I'm waiting for the day there are silent races with smack talking when passing and cornering. lol!

[carloco8]

Wow, instant electric torque and 80hp is no joke on a dirt bike. Just watched the vid and he was really able to pull up and pass the traditional bikes easily on the straights. Might be force of habit but I did kinda miss the sound though.

[HS-YZ250]

Yeah, it's wild they went with that much power.

The lack of sound wouldn't bother me too much. The four strokes can be so loud they'll deafen spectators. And I think the two strokes sounded better.

[carloco8]

Very cool dyno vid. The Varg seems pretty sweet though even if the 600cc bike has more hp. If you know what you are doing, I feel that extra torque is still gona be much preferred.

[HS-YZ250]

Very cool dyno vid. The Varg seems pretty sweet though even if the 600cc bike has more hp. If you know what you are doing, I feel that extra torque is still gona be much preferred.

A 600 two stroke would be an absolute handful, too. If you're not aware, up until the early 90's there was a 500 two stroke class, but it ended because the 500's had gotten so powerful most people couldn't handle them. Apparently today's 450's are reaching that point and some are wondering if they shouldn't be limited to 350. In the GNCC series, a few rounds this year have been "over-all'ed" by 250 riders starting from the second row.

Last time I rode with my friend that has the Alta, though it was designed for MX, he was doing all kinds of hillclimbs the rest of us wouldn't attempt. That low range torque was amazing and controllable, and he had half the controls to keep up with.

[carloco8]

Haha yeah man, some guys are just prodigies. Reminds me of the last time I ran r/c a little while ago, I was running mod and getting smoked by a couple of younger guys running stock 17.5's. They were just so smooth and dialed where as I was trying to power my car through the track.

[HS-YZ250]

Haha yeah man, some guys are just prodigies. Reminds me of the last time I ran r/c a little while ago, I was running mod and getting smoked by a couple of younger guys running stock 17.5's. They were just so smooth and dialed where as I was trying to power my car through the track.

He was actually the slowest in the group. On his RM we were always stopping and waiting on him. With the electric bike, he's like a mountain goat. Hard to chill out at the truck with, though, because he has to fire up the generator at breaks.