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Electric dirt riding.

Vinny

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Vinny
Starting a thread for Sur-ron bikes or any other electric trail riders.
Figure we can discuss upgrades that are helpful on the trail.
Mainly to tell each other where we'll be riding so we can do group rides.

I just received my Sur-ron Ultra Bee today. Did some upgrades. Will be doing my first ride at Emma Long. Probably around 10am. 12/31.
I'm not new to dirt, just new to electric.
I'll also post damage or problems encountered on the trail.

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Looks perfect for Emma Long. If you can plate it, would be pretty swanky to haul down to South Padre. It would be ideal to take with me up to my parents' little place out by Castell. If I ever got serious about getting a dirt bike, this might just be the top of my list. Truly the first EV to make it onto my wish list.

Where else is there to ride in the Austin area besides Emma Long? There's Hidden Falls, but most other off-road singletrack were bicycles only, at least last time I checked. It's been a few years since I was mountain biking, and in those years e-bikes have become way more prevalent and the no-motorized wars were just starting, so maybe things have changed.
 
Looks interesting Vinny, I saw a guy at Zars riding one a few weekends ago, seemed like he was doing well on the trails, give me a shout sometime if you want to
give it a try down here.
 
Looks perfect for Emma Long. If you can plate it, would be pretty swanky to haul down to South Padre. It would be ideal to take with me up to my parents' little place out by Castell. If I ever got serious about getting a dirt bike, this might just be the top of my list. Truly the first EV to make it onto my wish list.

Where else is there to ride in the Austin area besides Emma Long? There's Hidden Falls, but most other off-road singletrack were bicycles only, at least last time I checked. It's been a few years since I was mountain biking, and in those years e-bikes have become way more prevalent and the no-motorized wars were just starting, so maybe things have changed.
CTOR (close to Georgetown), Zars, various ranches on a sporadic basis.
It's plenty.
 
Looks interesting Vinny, I saw a guy at Zars riding one a few weekends ago, seemed like he was doing well on the trails, give me a shout sometime if you want to
give it a try down here.
I really need to go soon. Mark has invited me also. Thanks.
 
Looks great! Bring it to Spoaks next Saturday.
Dang. Would love that. I'll be on a trip all next week unfortunately.
 
First scratch. No drops. Wide handlebar hit a tree. Might trim an inch off each end.
Didn't like the bike the first half of the loop. Too stiff, footpegs too high make standing weird. Had to put it on Sport to ride the front wheel up constantly. Other electric (light bee) was like a MTB. KTM 350 was super smooth.
Second part of the loop felt more confident and had some fun. Adjusted suspension to softer. It really beats you up on stock form.
Great traction. Doesn't slide at all with the big tires.
it's like a whole new type of riding that has to be learned. I was getting bored, so I think it might be a good thing.
Now time to do another loop and increase the smiles per mile.
 

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Is this a thread for a specific riding event or just a thread to discuss electric dirt bikes?
 
Thanks for starting the thread. I am very interested in a bike that is quiet and super torquey (is that a word)
 
Headed to HF for another day of getting used to a new way of having fun. 10am. Area B.
 
We had a guy come out on one of the Zero off-roady'ish bikes out to Red River a few months back. The bike actually did really well for the short time he was out there. The only reason it was a short outing is that he wasn't wearing the proper gear and ended up hurting his ankle when he got it caught in a rut. The only hiccup that the bike had was that it really wanted to shed its mirrors in short order. Other than that it did great while it was out there. We were all shocked as we were all on full on woods bikes.

It'll be interesting to see how the bikes like the Sur-ron, that come in with a far cheaper purchase price than Stark or Zero, fair in the dirt and rough stuff.
 
There's a guy that I've encountered at CTOR that designed and built his own e-bike conversion using a KTM (don't recall the model) as the basis. He started talking in electrical speak when sharing details and lost me quick. I do recall that the battery he built puts out tons of Tq and lasts plenty long for the typical amount and type of riding done there. I also recall the bike being quite heavy by comparison to the typical KTM trail bike. I want to say maybe 40 lbs heavier? Don't quote me on that!

I'd be concerned about the durability of the battery and damaging internals with some of the hard hits these bikes sometimes take. I know my bikes have taken some really hard side impacts that would have me worrying about internal battery damage. That's the last thing I need is to have a damaged battery set itself on fire in my garage! No stories YET of such occurrences. Hopefully you won't be sharing that kind of tale, Vinny.
 
Rode hidden falls Friday and Saturday. Getting used to the ultra bee. Adjusting suspension. It's harsh from factory. I keep softening it up.
Brakes are good but little feel. Need higher handlebars. Finally figured my power preference.
It's fun in a different way.
Battery life was impressive. Riding hard I did a 19 mile south loop (did a few things mare than once) and still had 30% left. Riding fast and not conserving at all. Charged for 1.5 hours during lunch. Then rode north loop.
On Saturday I started at 92% and rode a shorter south loop (12 miles) and ridge trail. Around 22 miles. Had 30% left.
Much better than it's little brother. Still not much but good for all our local rides.
 

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