Two things compelled me to write this piece. First, I bought a SurRon (okay, my girlfriend did). Second, Specialized dropped a $13,000 (no I didn’t misplace a 0) e-bike to much editorial applause. What does this all add up to? Its adds up to mountain bike companies needing to own up to the position they are in and just make a damn electric motorcycle.
E-Bikes were supposed to save us all, and by all I mean those who enjoy mountain biking. Expanding the user base, letting your boomer dad ride with his twenty something year old son or daughter and pushing all sorts of money into the sport which is “good for everyone”. Problem is, most of us who want to pedal want to pedal. And most of us who want a motor will go buy a dirt bike. The E-Bike found itself in a strange middle ground, with even stranger trail access “rules”. In some places they could be ridden on non-motorized trails, other places the obvious rules applied (it has….a motor…soooooo).
For those unfamiliar, an e-bike is a normal bicycle, but it has an electric assist motor. Its sort of like a 401K contribution plan. You put something in, the bike matches it. This continues until the motor maxes out or you hit 20MPH, then its just a normal bike. They usually weigh around 50 pounds (though some much lighter), and have a 2-4 hour battery life, depending on what “mode” you are in.
Trail conflict rants aside, these bike did (do?) have some appeal. Despite being heavier, they ride like a mountain bike, which is to say they are more agile (by a long shot) when compared to even the lightest trail capable ICE dirt bike. But the downsides are obvious too. Outside the trail access issue I mentioned above, these bikes are more expensive, could not be ridden without the help of the motor (reasonably anyway) and are usually relegated to a “quiver bike” (eg, most mountain bikers second or third bike — if owned at all)
To add, the e-bike “revolution” has been rammed down mountain bikers’ throats over the last 8 years harder than carbon wheels or 35mm bars (neither do anything for performance). The rationale behind this was clear, mountain bike technology is plateauing, fast. How do you grow your brand when you can only sell so many bikes based on “HOT NEW new linkage design”? You cram a battery and a motor into your existing design and sell the motorized one of course! Sales have been okay, not terrible, but certainly not to the level the industry expected.
However, things have continued to progress with respect to motors, controllers and batteries. A few companies saw the proverbial tipping point with respect to this technology and have attempted to build a hybrid mountain bike/dirt bike around them. The most notable of these companies is SurRon, an obscure Chinese company. Alas, the affordable trail specific electric dirt bike was born.
No, this is not going to replace your YZ450 at the track. Its not an Alta Motors Redshift. full sized electric dirt bike (RIP). And in its current form, its not going to replace your 300TPI either out on the singeltrack. But at $4100, this product is a glimpse into the future. But will riders go for it?
Last month, Specialized introduced their new E-Bike, to much critical acclaim, with the mid tier model at thirteen THOUSAND dollars. No, that is no ta typo, and yes there is a more expensive $15,000 variant. What is Specialized thinking? Who is this for? Lets brainstorm…
- You want to push the boundry of trail access “It still has cranks, see! I pedal!”
- You buy whatever the mountain bike editors tell you is cool.
- You literally don’t know dirt bikes exist.
- You want to buy something with a monthly payment akin to a new car (see below)
Before I go any further, I’m going to draw an important line in the sand – do not buy an e-bike to push the boundary of trail access through the utilization of an e(Pedal)-bike. If you are going to do so, you are lame. You in fact are putting trail access at risk for all of us who do *not* push these limits. I need to stop the trail access rant there, and leave it to a different piece. This is an important point to make, because seems to be the only logical argument in favor of keeping the cranks on the bike, but its an incredibly lame one.
The important SurRon’s specs are as follows…
- Its $4000-4,500
- 120 lbs
- Semi-crappy China no-name mountain bike suspension
- 75 mile claimed range; half of that turns out to be true in the real world
- 45mph top speed (gets there in 3-4ish seconds)
- No pedals, pegs only
- Mountain bike brakes; they appear to be Shimano knock offs
- 19″ dirt bike wheels/tires
- Low stand over making for an awesome “short person” bike (girl bike)
- Frame is heavy to save money. Linkage design pretty old school (but works).
- There are modifications to make the SurRon faster 0-40mph than a KTM 300TPI (cost $2-3K)
What is it like in person? When the SurRon (or rebranded Segway…yes that Segway) arrived it was clear they did a lot right around a motor, controller and battery. However, the rest of the componentry, right on down to the frame, was built with cost as the determining factor. Overall, it doesn’t appear anyone with any real mountain bike or dirt bike background was consulted when it came to things like wheel size, geometry (fit), damper performance or suspension kinematics. Again, its not awful, but its just weird to see all the things they didn’t do (and wouldn’t have cost them more money).
This leads us to the ultimate irony and real purpose of this whole blabberfest. Mountain bike companies like Specialized, with their manufacturing capabilities and understanding of suspension, materials and overall handling are in a the perfect position to completely disrupt the dirt bike world (no I didn’t forget the word electric). While it’d likely be more expensive, Specialized (or similar) could produce an electric dirt bike that would absolutely destroy the SurRon. I’d wager by 2025 there would be nothing in their way to give a modern two stroke dirt bike a run for its money in an off road setting.
…But they won’t do it. Due to some weird cultural categorization, the bike industry is determined to keep the cranks as cranks, completely glossing over the massive market opportunity they have – a purpose built 120 pound bicycle with no cranks and an electric motor. Tragic. (see the video at the bottom, the SurRon with mods already can keep pace with the 300 in certain riding environments)
I desperately want a 100ish pound bike that rides a lot like a hybrid between a mountain bike and a dirt bike with the same fit of a dirt bike (length/cockpit). In a lot of ways, this bike would let a new rider make a mockery of even expert riders in tricky, slow speed “hard enduro” terrain. Especially if it fit the right tires, has the right suspension and gets to ~45mph fast enough. From a wrenching perspective my job would be cut in half.
While I get no mountain bike company wants to end up like Cannondale did around their upside down moto project from the early 2000s, this isn’t really the same. The crossover between the “e-bike” and the “electric dirt bike” is far closer than Y frame Cannondale and 400CC 4 stroke dirt bike. Any e-bike company willing to go back to the drawing board with an open mind; “what if we took the cranks off in lieu of a throttle, upped the weight limit and considered a dirt bike tire/wheel configuration”? Things will come together quickly. Minimal upgrades would be needed to the motor from a SurRon. From there, a 72V battery, positioned lower in the frame (horizontally, or use two) along with a high quality controller would put performance where it needs to be. From there, a solid aluminum frame with high end mountain bike suspension kinematics and middle of the road DH suspension would get the job done. Wheel size will be the interesting part of this, with the potential need for tires specific to this application.
Last I checked the offroad trail segment of moto was actually growing (gasp) and is an industry in the billions of dollars. If a mountain bike company tackles this right, they could do for 2 wheel access what tesla has done to the automobile industry. What they may give up in the “image” category by ditching the cranks they’ll make back exponentially by “being the company that tackled climate change on behalf of the motorized set”.
So whatchu say mountain bike industry? The KTM 300TPI is the trail bike standard; and this could fall to an electric bike using today’s technology. That gets me excited – for more reasons than the obvious.
(personal note, if anyone reads this and wants me to come on board to work for their electric dirt bike company, I’m always for hire). 😉