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Is Electric Dirt Bike Racing The Future
At the end of April 2022 I had the exciting opportunity to be the co organizer of the first ever CAKE One Design electric dirt bike race in California. CAKE held one of these events in Sweden in 2021 and is looking to spread the message of sustainable, electric racing across the globe with multiple events in different countries this year.
I’ve been a fan of electric motorcycles since I got to ride the ALTA back in 2018. Since then I have had the pleasure of riding all sorts of different electric bikes. Some are more off road and track friendly than others, but overall I enjoy the feeling of riding electric bikes and the many advantages they provide. Back in 2019 I had the opportunity to ride one of the CAKE Kalk bikes with one of their sales reps and began communication with the team at CAKE to see if we could come together on a project. Fast forward to fall of 2021 and I was approached to help make their first ever US based event happen. The goal was to find a unique location that can provide easy access and make for good racing. The choice fell on the Del Mar Arena at the Fairgrounds in Del Mar. Over the years different promoters organized all kinds of motorcycle events in the area and it was now time to bring in 16 electric bikes and drop the gate.
Electric dirt bikes get a lot of flack on social media. Uniquely designed products like the CAKE are not everyones cup of tea and I get that. When I first saw the bike I was intrigued, yet not 100% sure what it was supposed to be. When you ride the Kalk model you instantly realize that it is not a “normal” dirt bike. I don’t have a lot of mountain bike experience but from what I hear it also doesn’t feel like your typical mountain bike. It is it’s own category within the two wheel world and I think that’s really cool! What excites me the most about the upcoming trend of electric motorcycles are the different concepts that are being explored and a lot of different ideas that are being turned into reality. Obviously not all of them are great concepts and a lot of them will fail but for open minded riders, we are in an amazing time where we get access to prototype bikes that will shape the future of the sport. In 1997 when Doug Henry won a Supercross on a four stroke, not a lot of people would have guessed that less than 10 years later there would barely be any 2 stroke motorcycles lining up at the Pro races anymore. I’m not saying that the electric bikes will replace the current four stroke motocross bike BUT anyone who says there is no place in racing for this new technology clearly hasn’t ridden an electric motorcycle.
The first thing that comes to mind when people talk about electric mobility is always the environment. A lot of different arguments on both sides of the spectrum with enough material to write an entire book on the matter but one of the main things that is almost never brought up is PERFORMANCE. I personally would choose an electric bike just based on superior performance. The instant torque, the lack of shifting and clutching, the minimal amount of maintenance required in order to keep the bike running. The first time I rode the ALTA MXR I was suprised how good the bike was for an early stage electric bike. We had the ALTA dual sport bike and got to ride some really fun Enduro trails with the battery lasting for almost 3 hours. I have done a lot of riding and training on the Zero off road fleet and on many occasions we were able to complete a 6 hour training day in tight, single trail conditions with out having to recharge the battery. There is definitely room for improvement on the range of electric dirt bikes, especially when the terrain opens up and gets faster but for this early in the development phase we are seeing some impressive numbers. The first 250 fourstroke Motocross bikes were absolute nightmares to ride, maintain or to kickstart for that matter. A couple of years of development later and everyone forgot those early headaches and wanted to ride nothing but a four stroke bike because of the superior performance.
So are electric bikes the future of racing? I think so but in their own unique way. It will be awhile until we see electric bikes straight up replace the factory fourstroke machines we see racing out on the track right now. Electric bikes will have their own niche. Unique concepts like the CAKE One Design race, the new FIM Explorer series, an independent electric Supercross series? Why not? I believe as riders we should look at the possibilities the electric bikes will bring to our sport and industry. Young kids nowadays start on electric bikes. The kids love the ease with which these bikes can be ridden and parents love the low maintenance. Anyone that has ever worked on a 50 cc two stroke will agree that there is no worse bike to work on. Once these kids grow up they won’t want to jump on a 125 cc or 250 cc bike. They will want to stay electric. And at that point we will see more change coming into the top racing series around the world. For the next 10 years we are entering one of the most exciting periods of off road motorcycle riding ever. New manufacturers, new bikes, different concepts for bikes as well as races and we get to go ride it all. If you enjoy riding Motocross or Enduro and you get the chance to test and electric bike, take the chance to experience something new. Try to keep an open mind and don’t compare it to decades of gas powered development right away but remember that you are riding an early stage prototype similar to Doug Henry on that 400 cc Yamaha four stroke back in 1997.
ALTA Redshift MXR | First Ride Review
A competitive electric motorcycle? Tesla has done it on the road and now ALTA is doing it in the off road motorcycle world. In the american technology capital San Francisco in the neighborhood of Apple, Google and Tesla the electric motorcycle manufacture ALTA is working on the future of motorcycling. Since 2009 the crew at ALTA has worked on prototypes of a electric Motocross bike. After many years of development they started testing in public with the help of different professional riders about two years ago. Last year ALTA hired former professional Supercross racer Josh Hill to race the bike at the Red Bull Straight Rythm event. Hill beat factory Suzuki rider Kyle Cunningham over the course of three heats and advanced to the next round showing the world that an electric motorcycle is more than capable of competing with the gas powered competition. A lot of questions still remaind. How would a production electric bike fair out on the track. How fast does it go and would the chassis be up to par with what we are used to? Not only did ALTA decide to push the electric engine they also build their own chassis from the ground up which is a big challenge in it self. I travelled to Perris Raceway in California USA to find out what the ALTA is all about and if this is really the bike of the future.
Looking at the new ALTA MXR you fell like you made a trip into the future. The design is nothing that is currently on the market. I didn't know what to expect and was eager to get out on the track. It took me only a couple of laps and I felt right at home on the bike. The electric engine is really responsive and ALTA spend a long time developing a power delivery that would make it feel like your normal gas bike. The chassis feels really balanced and handles really well. The MXR feels like a race bike with a agressive set up that sits a little lower in the rear than your ordinary OEM dirt bike. As racers we spend a lot of time and money to set our bikes up lower in the rear to achieve better handling so it was nice to see a manufacture adopt that from the get go. The WP AER forks and WP shock come with a setting developed for the bike and give you a lot of options to fine tune the bike to your liking.
I was suprised with how easy it was to adopt to the bike. The MXR comes with four different mappings that make it change the power delivery signifantly.
Map 1 ECO: A traction map that offers the best range profile. Also a great mao for just starting out.
Map 2 SPORT: Performance profile engineered to line up with 250f race machinery
Map 3 PERFORMANCE: Similar traits as the sport map but with more bottom end and traction. It also makes a great starting gate map.
Map 4 OVERCLOCKED: Maximum torque and power are available without restriction – if you have the skill to control it. Thermal limiting will protect the machine if you push too hard.
Not having a a clutch or a shift lever was suprisingly easy to get used to. Instead of focusing on my shifting points and controlling the bike with the clutch I could just focus on my riding technique and my line choices which made for a very enjoyable riding experience.
A big point of discussion is the weight of the bike. With 259 lbs it comes in on the heavy side but and this is a big BUT out on the track you don't feel the weight. With out the rotating mass of a normal combustion engine the bike feels light and nimble and really easy to handle.
The big question when it comes to electric bikes is the battery life. How long can I ride until I'm out of juice. With the ALTA that really depends on the surface you ride on and how hard you ride. A professional racer gets somewhere around 40 minutes out of the battery on a hard pack track in map 4. Your average rider gets 90 minutes or more of riding time. With Indian tracks being hard pack for the most part you can expect to get around 90 minutes or more of riding time out of your bike.
The Supermoto and Dual Sport version of the bike comes with different mappings which give the bike around 4 hours of battery life. ALTA's new charging system enables you to fully recharge your battery with in 90 minutes. Four hours of riding time in the city or off road is a good amount with a quick recharge time. Indian riders will enjoy the torque of the bike especially on the plated Supermoto version. With a lot of stop and go traffic you will be able to out accelerate everybody.
ALTA's marketing slogan is "The Future of Fast" and after riding the bike I have to agree. As a professional racer I've ridden a lot of different bikes over the years and I would consider the ALTA one of the best bikes I have ever ridding. I haven't had that much fun riding a dirt bike in a long time. The handling, power delivery and easy to control charateristic of the bike will gurantee a great riding experience for everybody.
