New KTM eBike

[motomann]

It's gonna be awesome baby!

http://www.ktm.com/e-ride/freeride-e-sx-1/

[troy]

At least from an aesthetic vantage point, wow did KTM get this thing right. Looks great--better than the other electric dirt bikes I've seen (photos only).

An old RideForum.NET thread about electric motorcycles:
viewtopic.php?t=452

[ajayhawkfan]

Hunters orange does not look good on any bike.

[Stu]

Muddy orange on the other hand looks totally rocking. One review, in the AMA magazine, said the charger and the battery were both rental only at $60/mo. The article did say that the rapid change for both battery & charger technology was so fast that rather than sell expensive items they would rent them so you could upgrade at rental costs rather than eating old parts and paying full till for new ones. Well, perhaps. The electric KTM will run for an hour before the battery needs a recharge in play mode & 45 minutes in aggressive mode. Not bad. No transmission, torque from 1 RPM, no oil changes, no air filter maintenance, no premix. That much is appealing.

Stu

[troy]

If I were Bird man with 5+ miles of trails on my land, I think I could get a ton of fun out of an e-dirtbike. But $60/mo rental for the battery & charger? Ugh. Nothing is free, though. If the alternative is the overall bike costs $1,440 more, well--that's 2 years of $60/mo rental fee, and at the end of 2 years, you'd have batteries that are getting weak perhaps, out-dated, and 50% as effective as the new generation....and of course your old charger does not work with the new batteries....I'm sure KTM weighed all these things.

When I lived in the Northland outside of Gladstone, my little neighborhood was connected to at least 60 acres of undeveloped land with a creek, trails, woods, and lots of terrain. I took my old KLR650 out there a few times as well as my mountain bike. It was all trespassing, and judge what you will, but I did look up the ownership. That 60 acres was in about 15 parcels all owned by REITs just waiting for the time to sell to developers. Point is, folks playing out there were not hurting anything or the value of that property. Of course all it takes is one yahoo to get hurt and sue.

I say all that to say, if I'd had a silent e-bike, WOOHOO! I was too scared to go out there to play most of the time because occasionally, the KCMO police would pull up with a truck pulling a trailer full of police ATVs. Patrolling or training--I don't know.

So my point is that e-bikes should be banned because their only purpose is to enable illegal hooliganism.



We are still a long way from being able to use an e-bike for a 6+ hour day ride of Arkansas single-track and ATV trails.

[Stu]

Illegal hooliganism? What? I wouldn't think of using my 690 Duke and passing in double yellows or in corners. Not me.

Stu

[Snowman]

We are still a long way from being able to use an e-bike for a 6+ hour day ride of Arkansas single-track and ATV trails.

I’m sure Tesla is planning on putting in a chain of supercharger stations along the ozark forest road network.


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[WildBeane]

Yeah, those things are kind of funny it sounds like you're getting passed by a fleet of Old Timers at the golf course on golf carts. The one I rode the o ring chain was louder than the motor.