How Long until The masses mostly Ride electric?

peltier626
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11/10/2018 5:57am
I don't think it will overtake ICE anytime soon, too much at stake for various companies and technology is in the infantile stage. What i think happens is it becomes another option in the arsenal. Ease of ride ability, low maintenance, quite operation hopefully invigorates some new riders and opens up new riding possibilities. I'm sure mx sports will have a class for the KTM and HUSKY next year at loretta's at the expense of ALTA.
kb228
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11/10/2018 6:14am
Cant see myself getting an ebike unless theres somewhere i want to ride that i cant ride a gas one like woods or something. Dont see the point for mx.
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fred53
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11/10/2018 7:42am
If the masse need to ride electric bike ,that's gonna kill the sport
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jonesaustin
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11/10/2018 7:50am Edited Date/Time 11/10/2018 7:51am
This may have already been discussed, but what happened with the KTM SX-E Freeride electric motocrosser? To my knowledge it was never released, so maybe just a concept machine, but it looked extremely well designed. If it was released, it's stayed very quiet amid so much talk about Alta.

Also the new Cake Caulk e-bike from Sweden is charting brand new territory imo. Turns outdoor freeriding into something altogether new compared with the usual experience that non-mx off-road dirtbikes offer. Like surfing land.

The Shop

Brad460
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Fantasy
11/10/2018 8:01am Edited Date/Time 11/10/2018 8:03am
fred53 wrote:
If the masse need to ride electric bike ,that's gonna kill the sport
25 years ago when I got my first CR80- the biggest problem I had was it’s noise. The neighbors hated it and would either complain to my parents or call the police when I rode it...therefore I didn’t get to ride the bike nearly as much as I wanted.

If I had a quiet motocross bike back then I would have rode the f-ing wheels off it...Today is no different..I could build a motox track on my land ..

I love “engines” but I love riding even more..

So this argument that electric bikes would kill the sport is puzzling to me..Electric bikes could very well increase access to riding areas and increase the number of riders.
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Motofinne
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11/10/2018 8:09am
This may have already been discussed, but what happened with the KTM SX-E Freeride electric motocrosser? To my knowledge it was never released, so maybe just...
This may have already been discussed, but what happened with the KTM SX-E Freeride electric motocrosser? To my knowledge it was never released, so maybe just a concept machine, but it looked extremely well designed. If it was released, it's stayed very quiet amid so much talk about Alta.

Also the new Cake Caulk e-bike from Sweden is charting brand new territory imo. Turns outdoor freeriding into something altogether new compared with the usual experience that non-mx off-road dirtbikes offer. Like surfing land.

https://www.ktm.com/en/e-ride/

Been available for many, many years. It's basically a trail bike, not aimed at competition.
Motofinne
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11/10/2018 8:09am
fred53 wrote:
If the masse need to ride electric bike ,that's gonna kill the sport
Electric bikes will save the sport, not kill the sport.
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early
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11/10/2018 8:33am Edited Date/Time 11/10/2018 8:34am
Society is becoming more comfortable with electrification and batteries. Compared to 20 years ago, charging batteries has infiltrated our lives so much, between the phone/tablet that is so important to stay charged throughout the day, to headphones, flashlights, handheld power tools. We've come a long way from Nokia 5110's, AA's in a discman, and cordless drills that weren't worth a damn.

Electrification technology didn't start with dirt bikes and will progress despite dirt bikes. MX will see the trickle-down benefits of this, that is guaranteed. It's not there yet, but it is the future, however I don't see it for at least 20 years. Despite government mandates I think it will be closer to 2050 (which is only 30 years away) before there is widespread adoption of battery electric for transportation, and gas powered dirt bikes will have a major presence until then.

Having said all this I hope I can buy my son a high quality electric bike to start on in about 3 years.
1983YZ125
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11/10/2018 8:50am
If electric cars haven't taken over yet, i suspect we will have some time before electric motorcycles become the norm.
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Johnny Depp
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11/10/2018 9:05am
I assume the question was in reference to MX/SX/EX which is an environment best suited to short battery life. Of course it is a long way from long distance usage. Based on the comments of those who test rode the Alta, and their intention to purchase one next time their purchase cycle comes around, I would say much sooner than most, 5-10 years. Of course someone needs to build it, and they will come.

If you account for maintenance over a 2-3 year life cycle electric is likely less expensive and will only get lower when the Chinese clone Alta.
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11/10/2018 9:51am
kb228 wrote:
Cant see myself getting an ebike unless theres somewhere i want to ride that i cant ride a gas one like woods or something. Dont see...
Cant see myself getting an ebike unless theres somewhere i want to ride that i cant ride a gas one like woods or something. Dont see the point for mx.
If you cant ride in the woods they mean you cant ride in the woods, not gas or electric. In the eyes of the tree huggers and politicians and the law a motorcycle is a motorcycle gas or electric.
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Tarz483
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11/10/2018 9:56am
I was just Referring to How long until electric dirtbike's are the majority being sold and how long until it's what the top Pro's are racing , my guess is 5 to 10 yrs
In reading all these electric threads lately. including A couple I started, I've come to a few thoughts, one it seems battery technology still has a ways to go , but it also seems that some peoples thoughts are arent a fair comparison when saying the Batteries need to last 12 hours , can we ride for 12 hours now on a tank of gas ?
My hope is just that they make electric classes separate
That way it can develop how ever fast or slow
And not disrupt or take over, those want to transfer to electric can. But wont have to feel like they have to to be competitive when if and when electric starts to be faster ,
Its Nice to have choices. And imo that's what they should have done with the 2 stroke 4 stroke imo in hindsight.
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stillwelding
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11/10/2018 10:00am
Kx125rider wrote:
20 years bare minimum
7 years. In 20 years you wont be able to buy an ICE motorcycle, from a major manufacturer.
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Johnny Depp
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11/10/2018 10:20am
Tarz483 wrote:
I was just Referring to How long until electric dirtbike's are the majority being sold and how long until it's what the top Pro's are racing...
I was just Referring to How long until electric dirtbike's are the majority being sold and how long until it's what the top Pro's are racing , my guess is 5 to 10 yrs
In reading all these electric threads lately. including A couple I started, I've come to a few thoughts, one it seems battery technology still has a ways to go , but it also seems that some peoples thoughts are arent a fair comparison when saying the Batteries need to last 12 hours , can we ride for 12 hours now on a tank of gas ?
My hope is just that they make electric classes separate
That way it can develop how ever fast or slow
And not disrupt or take over, those want to transfer to electric can. But wont have to feel like they have to to be competitive when if and when electric starts to be faster ,
Its Nice to have choices. And imo that's what they should have done with the 2 stroke 4 stroke imo in hindsight.
Separate classes is one of the biggest problems with this sport today. This sport is too small to split it again.
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BR8ES
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11/10/2018 10:31am
There will never be "masses".
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mikec265
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11/10/2018 10:49am
I would be happy with electric being just 5 to 10% of new dirt bike sales. At least a company with an awesome bike could probably profit and I could still buy OEM parts when needed. Everyone who has ridden my Alta has had a grin from ear to ear when they pull off the track. Even a couple naysayers that said holy shit this is the future!
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jeffro503
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11/10/2018 11:02am
Man , I don't know. To me , just hearing my motor , and the motor's of other guy's out there is a huge part of it for me. Either riding with them , or watching some real fast dude's tear up the track.....the motor sounds are what get my blood pumping. Riding an electric bike seem's like fun.....but to me , watching a full gate would seem like watching paint dry. Just not interested at the moment.
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Motofinne
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11/10/2018 11:36am Edited Date/Time 11/10/2018 11:37am
jeffro503 wrote:
Man , I don't know. To me , just hearing my motor , and the motor's of other guy's out there is a huge part of...
Man , I don't know. To me , just hearing my motor , and the motor's of other guy's out there is a huge part of it for me. Either riding with them , or watching some real fast dude's tear up the track.....the motor sounds are what get my blood pumping. Riding an electric bike seem's like fun.....but to me , watching a full gate would seem like watching paint dry. Just not interested at the moment.
I understand that and i agree.

But what would you choose, riding with an electric bike or not riding at all? The actual riding is what i love about this sport, not the sound even though it is awesome, not what happens at A1, not what happens at round 3 of the GPs or nationals.

As long as i can ride and race a MX bike i'm happy. And electric bikes will make sure that we all can keep doing it in the future too!
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jeffro503
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11/10/2018 11:45am
jeffro503 wrote:
Man , I don't know. To me , just hearing my motor , and the motor's of other guy's out there is a huge part of...
Man , I don't know. To me , just hearing my motor , and the motor's of other guy's out there is a huge part of it for me. Either riding with them , or watching some real fast dude's tear up the track.....the motor sounds are what get my blood pumping. Riding an electric bike seem's like fun.....but to me , watching a full gate would seem like watching paint dry. Just not interested at the moment.
Motofinne wrote:
I understand that and i agree. But what would you choose, riding with an electric bike or not riding at all? The actual riding is what...
I understand that and i agree.

But what would you choose, riding with an electric bike or not riding at all? The actual riding is what i love about this sport, not the sound even though it is awesome, not what happens at A1, not what happens at round 3 of the GPs or nationals.

As long as i can ride and race a MX bike i'm happy. And electric bikes will make sure that we all can keep doing it in the future too!
Well I would definitely choose riding for sure. And for the majority of us , we have places to ride that don't care about the noise. It's kind of far fetched that every place to ride on earth , will some how be forced to " be quite ". I think we are a long , long way's from anything like that ever happening , if ever. Some track's get shut down , and then new one's pop up. I just don't see a bunch of inner city track's opening up because the bike's don't make any noise. They'll complain about the dust , or numerous other thing's. I don't see motorized competition shutting down , in any time during our life time. Which is great for me....because I love the sounds.
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11/10/2018 12:21pm
BB67 wrote:
flying cars by the year 2000,stamp it
I remember people quoting this line way back.
MXMattii
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BE
11/10/2018 2:06pm
Not gonna read the full topic. But I wrote a full article about ALTA for dutch website and tech websites, financial websites, and other in the know websites are saying 2023-2025 that the "major" shift will be made.
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resetjet
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11/10/2018 3:20pm
Whats with all the ebike posts today. Beginning to look like spam. As it stands there are no competitive ebikes. Alta was our best bet and they are tango uniform.
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OldYZRider1
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11/10/2018 3:54pm
During the 2025 EX (Electrocross) season spectators will be able to interact with the racing activities. This will be done by downloading an app onto their smart device. If a rider does something that the fans don’t like they can give the rider a thumbs down. During the lap these are collected and when that rider comes down the start straight again a trackside transponder will communicate with the bikes controller and derate the motors power for the next lap. The derating will vary depending on the number of “thumbs down”. The riders will be aware this has happened so can plan accordingly for the next lap. This is just the start of the immersive experience fans will receive in the coming years. Stamp it!
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Phillip_Lamb
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11/10/2018 4:27pm
realistically? i would say about 15 years. Here's why:

Electric bikes for kids, who will grow up familiar with them and not raised solely on gas engines will be more willing to invest and ride them when they are paying for the bikes themselves. the KTM that is coming out will be NORMAL for current 5-8 year old kids so they will grow up for the majority of their lives living with electric cars and motorcycles.

Second, states like CA are only getting more restrictive on emissions every few years and having a dirt bike that causes no air or more importantly NOISE pollution than a mountain bike has huge benefits. You could effectively hold a motocross race in downtown San Francisco at 1AM and other than lights, no one would be the wiser.

the real catch is whether or not companies can produce mid-size and full size bikes on a large scale to match what they are currently making without pricing people out of the sport.
Zr0man
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11/10/2018 4:34pm
kb228 wrote:
Cant see myself getting an ebike unless theres somewhere i want to ride that i cant ride a gas one like woods or something. Dont see...
Cant see myself getting an ebike unless theres somewhere i want to ride that i cant ride a gas one like woods or something. Dont see the point for mx.
lostboy819 wrote:
If you cant ride in the woods they mean you cant ride in the woods, not gas or electric. In the eyes of the tree huggers...
If you cant ride in the woods they mean you cant ride in the woods, not gas or electric. In the eyes of the tree huggers and politicians and the law a motorcycle is a motorcycle gas or electric.
Not in the woods for awhile and its not due to the lack of battery capacity. I don't see the so called environment friendly electric bikes opening new off road/woods riding opportunities at least not on public land. Soil displacement. has been the number one issue in the National Forests of Texas for almost 40 years. Noise has NOT been an issue in the Sam Houston National Forest just north of Houston. The Forest Service and the environmental activists are more concerned with the soil ending up in Lake Conroe. In my experience mountain bikers are anti anything with a motor on their trails.
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h_reed
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Sherrills Ford, NC US
11/10/2018 4:52pm
Gas powered engines and electric motors will never compete with each other in professional racing......never.
There is no way to make a formula to make them even close to equal. It just will not happen. They don’t do it in formula one. Not gonna in supercross or MX either.
Another thing. If you think it’s expensive now, just wait until they start running full electric motors in pro mx! They will blow through money. All of the data acquisition, telemetry, high paid engineers that will go along with it. It will all trickle down to us and it’s not going to be cheap.
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fred53
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11/10/2018 5:29pm
fred53 wrote:
If the masse need to ride electric bike ,that's gonna kill the sport
Brad460 wrote:
25 years ago when I got my first CR80- the biggest problem I had was it’s noise. The neighbors hated it and would either complain to...
25 years ago when I got my first CR80- the biggest problem I had was it’s noise. The neighbors hated it and would either complain to my parents or call the police when I rode it...therefore I didn’t get to ride the bike nearly as much as I wanted.

If I had a quiet motocross bike back then I would have rode the f-ing wheels off it...Today is no different..I could build a motox track on my land ..

I love “engines” but I love riding even more..

So this argument that electric bikes would kill the sport is puzzling to me..Electric bikes could very well increase access to riding areas and increase the number of riders.
I can agree about trail riding/back yard riding and on limit pit riding ,can you say that you're really believed electric bike can fill stadium? Is that can make the racing community grow?
Excaliburbmx
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11/10/2018 5:46pm
NorCal 50+ wrote:
Major companies such as Mercedes Benz and countries such as China are committing to all-electric cars within the next few decades. Internal combustion engines will be...
Major companies such as Mercedes Benz and countries such as China are committing to all-electric cars within the next few decades. Internal combustion engines will be a quaint idea by 2030, but thank God I lived in a good era. Not that I don't care about pollution and climate change, which I do. But this is how we learn about the rapid pace of human change and how quickly you find yourself an anachronism. Woohoo
The two-stroke motorcycle engine grew out of a direct need for cheap post WWII transportation in Japan and the US, and it will disappear as quickly as it arrived, in the grand scheme of things. Enjoy your motors while they are here and don't worry about it!
Climate change isn’t man made.
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Excaliburbmx
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11/10/2018 5:48pm
realistically? i would say about 15 years. Here's why: Electric bikes for kids, who will grow up familiar with them and not raised solely on gas...
realistically? i would say about 15 years. Here's why:

Electric bikes for kids, who will grow up familiar with them and not raised solely on gas engines will be more willing to invest and ride them when they are paying for the bikes themselves. the KTM that is coming out will be NORMAL for current 5-8 year old kids so they will grow up for the majority of their lives living with electric cars and motorcycles.

Second, states like CA are only getting more restrictive on emissions every few years and having a dirt bike that causes no air or more importantly NOISE pollution than a mountain bike has huge benefits. You could effectively hold a motocross race in downtown San Francisco at 1AM and other than lights, no one would be the wiser.

the real catch is whether or not companies can produce mid-size and full size bikes on a large scale to match what they are currently making without pricing people out of the sport.
It’s a fad they will die out. Once the kid rides the electric bike then switch’s to the motor bike he will be behind in clutch management.
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Johnny Depp
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Buda, TX US
11/10/2018 6:02pm Edited Date/Time 11/10/2018 6:04pm
h_reed wrote:
Gas powered engines and electric motors will never compete with each other in professional racing......never. There is no way to make a formula to make them...
Gas powered engines and electric motors will never compete with each other in professional racing......never.
There is no way to make a formula to make them even close to equal. It just will not happen. They don’t do it in formula one. Not gonna in supercross or MX either.
Another thing. If you think it’s expensive now, just wait until they start running full electric motors in pro mx! They will blow through money. All of the data acquisition, telemetry, high paid engineers that will go along with it. It will all trickle down to us and it’s not going to be cheap.
Hey get off my yard Dude!

No one ever said racing has to be equal, there is only 1 winner. Nobody claimed life was fair. The so called class system has not provided parity and is a failure when 250's run lap times of the 450's. It's just so there are more winners.

As far as costs, The Alta over a few years would likely be less expensive than a 450, and much more user friendly to own and operate.

If you think the prices are going to stay high, have you priced a 4k TV lately? This Black Friday you'll be able to buy huge 4k's for under $500. Electronics are a very competitive commodity.

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