KTM's electric- Freeride

[Rupe]

Another electric bike, although the electric trials bike is slightly more practical, seeing as you dont usually travel huge distances on them.

http://www.befurious.com/adam-raga-n...ntra-el-ruido/

Its a plus if your browser will translate automatically

The gist of the article is, that on "world day against noise", Gasgas and Adam Raga (2 times trials world champion) unveiled the Gasgas electric bike, and that it will supposedly be on sale some time next year.

I don't really see the point of electric mx or enduro bikes so much. But an electic trials bike seems like a real good idea. I can think of so many places locally I could ride one (or at least try) and get away with it, if it made no noise! Perfect, hope its as good as the petrol ones

[Jantar]

No body will buy one, ....

OK, so I'm No Body. I am watching the Zero S as a commuter, and once the on road cost here for them (or similar) in NZ drops below $10,000 I will be ordering one.

I see it as an ideal commuter, and able to handle my daily commute of gravel (2 km), open road (12 km), urban (4 km) and semi rural (2 km) and need to be charged once every 3 - 4 days.

[bogan]

I don't really see the point of electric mx or enduro bikes so much. But an electic trials bike seems like a real good idea. I can think of so many places locally I could ride one (or at least try) and get away with it, if it made no noise! Perfect, hope its as good as the petrol ones

I'd love to have a thrash at electric off road, easy throttle and lack of gears should reduce some of that arm pump! Mass production is only aimed at the lightweight/power classes currently though. Who knows, maybe we'll see close to town mx parks for quiet electric only some day soon?

[flyingcr250]

i dont care if petrol gets to $5 alitre, ill still be out there riding my loud earth killing eco-system destroying motox bike,

[salts]

i will not be riding one of these, what alot of people are not considering with the electrics is the rebuild cost, you think a 4stroke rebuild is hard on pocket, wait till you buy a new battery for one of these. the battery is around half the cost of the bike. and if you ride it to work everyday as someone was wanting you will be replacing the battery once every three years min, if you try to race this with high discharge you will replace it once a year. carrying a spare battery is also not an option because guess what half the bikes weight is made of... not including what the extra $5k could buy in terms of gas.

[Jantar]

....wait till you buy a new battery for one of these. the battery is around half the cost of the bike. and if you ride it to work everyday as someone was wanting you will be replacing the battery once every three years min, ....

You obviously haven't been keeping up with battery developement. The only reason that electric bikes of this size have already dropped in price from US$14000 to US$10000 is the improvement in battery technology and the reduction in battery cost. The battery is currently 30% of the vehicle price at US$3000 and has a life of 1000 charging cycles. For commuting that's around 3500 days or 10 years. Much better than the 300 charging cycle life of only 3 years ago.

As batteries improve further and drop in cost then the choice will be economic. It isn't yet, but its getting there.

[mattnzl]

Can't get over how quiet this trials bike is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOYcwXrfk7g
Performance electric cars often have quite a supercharger-like whine to them.

[.chris]

If I had the money I think I would probably buy one over a normal trail bike.
I have the 690 for any longer ride days, this would be that nice blend between the mountain bike and mx bike, 1hr ride time would be fine I don't have the fitness to go much longer.

But then again 89kg is more than I would prefer, might wait till the next gen when they can make them lighter I reckon.

[mattnzl]

While battery replacement would obviously be a major every few years, the other eliminated maint. costs would be significant. If they had a brushless hub motor like electric bikes (electric motor is the rear wheel hub):
No chain & sprockets
No clutch
No gearbox
No gear oil replacement
No sump oil replacement
No rings/piston valves etc. replacement/adjustment
No rear disc/pad replacement (rear brake is motor regenerative braking)
No airfilter replace/cleaning.
No carb adjust/clean/tuning
A few bucks electricity to recharge.

Maximum torque from 0 rpm. While it's hard for us to imagine replacing our ic engined bikes with these now, in a few (5? 10?) years time these could be amazing machines.

[bogan]

While battery replacement would obviously be a major every few years, the other eliminated maint. costs would be significant. If they had a brushless hub motor like electric bikes (electric motor is the rear wheel hub):
No chain & sprockets
No clutch
No gearbox
No gear oil replacement
No sump oil replacement
No rings/piston valves etc. replacement/adjustment
No rear disc/pad replacement (rear brake is motor regenerative braking)
No airfilter replace/cleaning.
No carb adjust/clean/tuning
A few bucks electricity to recharge.

Maximum torque from 0 rpm. While it's hard for us to imagine replacing our ic engined bikes with these now, in a few (5? 10?) years time these could be amazing machines.

you may find having the motor as unsprung weight would make em handle like crap, other points are all good though

[morg_nz]

EDIT: (Look at the photo)

Yes Chain & sprockets

No clutch
No gearbox
No gear oil replacement
No sump oil replacement
No rings/piston valves etc. replacement/adjustment

Yes rear disc/pad replacement (rear brake is motor regenerative braking - Not sure where this comes from, there is clearly a disc, pads/caliper and cable that looks like it goes to the left lever on the handle bars)

No airfilter replace/cleaning.
No carb adjust/clean/tuning
A few bucks electricity to recharge.

Maximum torque from 0 rpm. While it's hard for us to imagine replacing our ic engined bikes with these now, in a few (5? 10?) years time these could be amazing machines

I do agree we will all be riding electric in the near future - if for nothing else than we'll get kicked off all land for emissions and noise like is happening in parts of australia

but they will just have a completly different set of problems and costs associated with their ownership. all of the seals on the motor for example will have to be perfect, the slightest gap letting moisture in will kill the motor

[raglanash]

These look good.
http://www.stealthelectricbikes.com/

[mattnzl]

[QUOTE=morg_nz;1130052647]EDIT: (Look at the photo)

Yes Chain & sprockets
Yes rear disc/pad replacement (rear brake is motor regenerative braking - Not sure where this comes from, there is clearly a disc, pads/caliper and cable that looks like it goes to the left lever on the handle bars)

I wasn't refering to that machine as such, just if one came out with a hub motor (which agree could be difficult for unsprung weight!).

Anyway, will be interesting to see how they turn out - I'm mildly optimistic that these could turn out ok.

[NordieBoy]

I'd have one in a (n expensive) heartbeat.

After watching the old vid of the guy playing on a mountainside and then the Adam Raga one, I'd just like to say...

In a fcukin heartbeat.

[salts]

You obviously haven't been keeping up with battery developement. The only reason that electric bikes of this size have already dropped in price from US$14000 to US$10000 is the improvement in battery technology and the reduction in battery cost. The battery is currently 30% of the vehicle price at US$3000 and has a life of 1000 charging cycles. For commuting that's around 3500 days or 10 years. Much better than the 300 charging cycle life of only 3 years ago.

As batteries improve further and drop in cost then the choice will be economic. It isn't yet, but its getting there.

thats taking into account only normal discharge, if you race it or try and go fast (anywhere near the top speed) the discharge gets pretty high, if you do high discharge often the 1000 cycles quoted quickly becomes 300ish.

also brushless motors arnt as ideal as you might think esp with takeoffs.

lol and someone mentioned using generators in pits to charge them... so now you have to buy a $2000 ish generator as well and then on top of that at least the same amount of gas or more to run it... ok i agree it would be slightly cheeper to comute to work on than a motox bike, but never a $2k scooter or 250ccish motorbike eg DR-Z250 (which will be faster and cooler...).

i agree with them being good for trials ... and comuting if you buy one for trialing :P

edit:

the one hour ride time on these is a little misleading in my opinion too... if battery is rated at 2500 Wh as here: http://www.topspeed.com/motorcycles/...e-ar87050.html, so you can ride it at 2.5kW for 1 hour, 5kW for half an hour, 10 kW for 15 minuits...
and then if you are comuting with a 10-15 minute ride you will be charging this every day or at enormous risk of runing out of juice two days unless you charge at work and home...