Electric MX motorcycles silent or not?

RaceFace58
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10/17/2022 3:59pm
RaceFace58 wrote:
That would be awesome! You could make the bike like in the movies switching back and forth between 2 strokes and 4 strokes.
soggy wrote:
Yea and put a fucking baseball card in your spokes too ! My god you guys that want this are fucking lame.
You should try and lighten up a little. Maybe you’d realize when someone isn’t being serious.
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Leave Us To
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10/17/2022 3:59pm
Juck wrote:
Impractical to have a speaker but it would be good if they made some sort of loud noise so you could hear them on the track...
Impractical to have a speaker but it would be good if they made some sort of loud noise so you could hear them on the track. Probably gonna have a lot more people crossing over into each other when you can't hear the bikes. That's really my only major concern in terms of an e-bike future.
You make a great point about some noise being a positive from a rider safety standpoint. I hadn't thought of that angle before so thanks for that. Personally, I am not positive a speaker would be impractical but do have my doubts the electronics required would be size and weight desirable. But then again in five to seven years which is my guess for the Japanese OEMs, they'll have made progress in both of those areas so time will tell.

Should I change the title of this thread (or if someone else wants to start a new one please do) to Should Electric MX motorcycle be quiet in racing? My vote is they make a sound above the mechanical whirring for the reasons you mentioned.

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R VanKamp77
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10/17/2022 4:24pm
I have an inside source. They’re going to have engine noises from a speaker and they will be the original mp3 files from mx vs atv unleashed on PS2
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OR Racer46
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10/17/2022 4:26pm
In 1976. RRRRAW Power had a BMX grip/box that sounded like a motorcycle

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Moto Nomad
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10/17/2022 4:34pm
Are people aware that the Ford F-150 ICE truck was programmed to run fake engine noise through the speakers?
EVs are too quiet. I was walking out from between two parked cars and a Tesla was driving right by, but you can't hear the damn things so it startled me. I think it's going to be an issue.
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10/17/2022 4:55pm
As far as sound and somebody coming up behind you, Mountain bike racing has 100's of people on a track at a time in a very tight area. Yes speeds are mostly lower in cross country MTB racing , but riders will yell at eachother. And You can hear brake noise, chain, and other noises. I was listening to a Gypsy Tales episode , and he was talking about hearing the tires in the dirt and other noises that were made . He was saying how it surprised him. In Desert racing they use a siren to let other racers know they are behind them. Making them loud kinda kills the big advantage of them not making a lot of noise. How about they put sensors in that blink a light on your bars when a rider is behind you. Like the back up sensors in cars. Build the bikes from the factory so they have a built in GPS and a few lights built into the crossbar pad. and then tracks could have a person up in a tower watching or a few towers , plus local flaggers still. Green light= green flag Yellow light = caution flag etc. I don't know how you make that work. But I think it could be a bike help. Maybe a small screen that would blink a number of a corner or have a number that counts down the laps that could change color when close to another bike that was stopped. That would ad another failsafe element to the flagging that can be a problem at the local levels. The built in GPS could also serve as a way to recover bikes. Make the bike useless without the module. Build it into the CDI. That same GPS unit could also be used to have accurate segment times and add more info to the race broadcast. If and when Electric bikes are produced at the numbers gas bikes are now, The cost could come wayway down. A gas engine is much more complicated to produce with 100's of more parts to them. So the cost of the bikes could come down , or there could be a lot of room for new cool tech without a price increase. Look at the prices of 65" 4K tvs now. A dramatic price drop was made possible by 1 factory that Samsung built that was making larger blanks for the screens. If a battery tech is found that costs less than Lithium you could possible see new MX bikes at $4K or possible less.
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Juck
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10/17/2022 5:27pm
Juck wrote:
Impractical to have a speaker but it would be good if they made some sort of loud noise so you could hear them on the track...
Impractical to have a speaker but it would be good if they made some sort of loud noise so you could hear them on the track. Probably gonna have a lot more people crossing over into each other when you can't hear the bikes. That's really my only major concern in terms of an e-bike future.
You make a great point about some noise being a positive from a rider safety standpoint. I hadn't thought of that angle before so thanks for...
You make a great point about some noise being a positive from a rider safety standpoint. I hadn't thought of that angle before so thanks for that. Personally, I am not positive a speaker would be impractical but do have my doubts the electronics required would be size and weight desirable. But then again in five to seven years which is my guess for the Japanese OEMs, they'll have made progress in both of those areas so time will tell.

Should I change the title of this thread (or if someone else wants to start a new one please do) to Should Electric MX motorcycle be quiet in racing? My vote is they make a sound above the mechanical whirring for the reasons you mentioned.

I meant impractical in the sense that it would probably mess up the balance of the bike and add a lot of unnecessary weight to add a speaker. Ideally it would be good to have them make noise so other people can hear them on the track, but also be able to be turned off for when you're riding on your own.
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davis224
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10/17/2022 5:39pm Edited Date/Time 10/17/2022 5:46pm
In a legit answer to OP's question, I think Dodge is adding an internal speaker to their EVs, that runs directly into an "exhaust" system so it will resonate and sound more legit than just a speaker blasting noise into the air. Seems like a waste of space/weight on an mx bike to me, but it can be done if it's what you want.

Now that I'm thinking about it, that could be a big aftermarket thing. If you just purely want it to make more sound, lots of customizable options. Speaker? Natural motor noise amplified/resonated? Stealth mode that closes baffles?
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10/17/2022 6:26pm
Magoofan wrote:
[i]"All you people acting like the sound of a dirtbike is the holy grail is hilarious. Some many benefits to bikes being quieter."[/i] Says you. No...
"All you people acting like the sound of a dirtbike is the holy grail is hilarious. Some many benefits to bikes being quieter."

Says you. No sound is going to be boring as f**k for spectators. If you say otherwise, you're delusional.

No...I don't want a speaker either....if there's anything lamer than silence, it's sound effects.

****

Replace this sound with the soothing electric toaster sound of: weeee weeee weee and suspension clacking.

YAWN.....

https://youtu.be/10J-boEsRSM



loUd nOiseS are fuN

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mjskier
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10/17/2022 7:13pm
With silent bikes you'll be able to use trash talking as a competitive advantage
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RaceFace58
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10/17/2022 8:11pm
davis224 wrote:
In a legit answer to OP's question, I think Dodge is adding an internal speaker to their EVs, that runs directly into an "exhaust" system so...
In a legit answer to OP's question, I think Dodge is adding an internal speaker to their EVs, that runs directly into an "exhaust" system so it will resonate and sound more legit than just a speaker blasting noise into the air. Seems like a waste of space/weight on an mx bike to me, but it can be done if it's what you want.

Now that I'm thinking about it, that could be a big aftermarket thing. If you just purely want it to make more sound, lots of customizable options. Speaker? Natural motor noise amplified/resonated? Stealth mode that closes baffles?
This is what Pro Circuit and FMF will have to morph their focus into I guess. They have to do it for pro racing. It’s going to be like waiting for a Metallica concert to begin and they all start raging but nothing is plugged in.
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MudPup545
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10/18/2022 1:40am
mjskier wrote:
With silent bikes you'll be able to use trash talking as a competitive advantage
“Your mom goes to college”.
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10/18/2022 2:04am
I'm only saying this as a person from a family that has spent thousands of dollars on the sport racing, bike purchases, mods, trailers, race fees, race gas, hotels, etc. I will never attend a Supercross or National that are all electric bikes. I will leave it at that. Please don't suspend my account ML512. I just had to put that out there. I won't post again in this thread.
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#434
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10/18/2022 3:32am Edited Date/Time 10/18/2022 3:39am
I'm only saying this as a person from a family that has spent thousands of dollars on the sport racing, bike purchases, mods, trailers, race fees...
I'm only saying this as a person from a family that has spent thousands of dollars on the sport racing, bike purchases, mods, trailers, race fees, race gas, hotels, etc. I will never attend a Supercross or National that are all electric bikes. I will leave it at that. Please don't suspend my account ML512. I just had to put that out there. I won't post again in this thread.
Bro, it’s ok, we know and … well, I pretty sure no one here gives one single f..k about it.
I will leave it at that.
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#434
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10/18/2022 3:38am
I think we‘ll have to wait until there’s a significant amount of eMX bikes around to see if the lack of noise is a problem. Maybe the chain rattle is loud enough.

In Europe electric cars were silent at first and now they have to make a small amount of noise up to 30 km/h in order to „warn“ pedestrians and bicycle riders that a car is around. The cars all sound a bit like spaceships, which imho is better than fake ICE noises.
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RaceFace58
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10/18/2022 4:18am
I'm only saying this as a person from a family that has spent thousands of dollars on the sport racing, bike purchases, mods, trailers, race fees...
I'm only saying this as a person from a family that has spent thousands of dollars on the sport racing, bike purchases, mods, trailers, race fees, race gas, hotels, etc. I will never attend a Supercross or National that are all electric bikes. I will leave it at that. Please don't suspend my account ML512. I just had to put that out there. I won't post again in this thread.
#434 wrote:
Bro, it’s ok, we know and … well, I pretty sure no one here gives one single f..k about it.
I will leave it at that.
You probably should since a LOT of current enthusiasts feel the same way. Good riddance you might say. Very myopic indeed.
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FahQ
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10/18/2022 4:28am
There is a youtuber building an electric Harley and he is adding on a sound system that will play the Harley guys from South Park making...
There is a youtuber building an electric Harley and he is adding on a sound system that will play the Harley guys from South Park making engine noises with their mouths. I personally wouldn't want a speaker on mine. But it could be fun for some situations. Hook up a horn that plays a 450 bouncing off the rev limiter so you can let people know you are behind them. And if there shouldn't be any Electric MX bike posts in the Moto section , they should also not allow 2 strokes talk either . Electric MX bikes are getting to the point where the YZ400 was. The Varg might be the bike that changes everything like that YZ400. Or maybe it will be the next Electric bike. But there are enough advantages to electric as far as performance, Pro's on E bikes will happen soon. Unless all the stuff that people have said about the Varg that have ridden it are all making stuff up, the Varg could be the bike. I bet the aftermarket will make sound systems for them bikes if there is a demand. Many companies make sound systems for UTV'S and ATV's . I think it would be kinda cheese to have one playing engine sounds , unless it was able to sound real. then maybe . The Varg is not totally silent, I wonder what 40 of them will sound like. Might end up being some high pitch sound at the start as they are all wideopen together.
I like the “450 on the rev limiter horn”
Crank it up, it’ll sound like Tomac and Barcia at every local track
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soggy
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10/18/2022 5:24am
I'm only saying this as a person from a family that has spent thousands of dollars on the sport racing, bike purchases, mods, trailers, race fees...
I'm only saying this as a person from a family that has spent thousands of dollars on the sport racing, bike purchases, mods, trailers, race fees, race gas, hotels, etc. I will never attend a Supercross or National that are all electric bikes. I will leave it at that. Please don't suspend my account ML512. I just had to put that out there. I won't post again in this thread.
#434 wrote:
Bro, it’s ok, we know and … well, I pretty sure no one here gives one single f..k about it.
I will leave it at that.
RaceFace58 wrote:
You probably should since a LOT of current enthusiasts feel the same way. Good riddance you might say. Very myopic indeed.
The only myopic view is the one that thinks the sound of the bikes is more important than actually watching the racing.
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soggy
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10/18/2022 5:29am
I'm only saying this as a person from a family that has spent thousands of dollars on the sport racing, bike purchases, mods, trailers, race fees...
I'm only saying this as a person from a family that has spent thousands of dollars on the sport racing, bike purchases, mods, trailers, race fees, race gas, hotels, etc. I will never attend a Supercross or National that are all electric bikes. I will leave it at that. Please don't suspend my account ML512. I just had to put that out there. I won't post again in this thread.
Your gonna look like a fool when it becomes obvious that electric will be better in almost every way possible. But it’s ok the sport will be better off without people with the mentality of cavemen.
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#434
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10/18/2022 6:40am
I'm only saying this as a person from a family that has spent thousands of dollars on the sport racing, bike purchases, mods, trailers, race fees...
I'm only saying this as a person from a family that has spent thousands of dollars on the sport racing, bike purchases, mods, trailers, race fees, race gas, hotels, etc. I will never attend a Supercross or National that are all electric bikes. I will leave it at that. Please don't suspend my account ML512. I just had to put that out there. I won't post again in this thread.
#434 wrote:
Bro, it’s ok, we know and … well, I pretty sure no one here gives one single f..k about it.
I will leave it at that.
RaceFace58 wrote:
You probably should since a LOT of current enthusiasts feel the same way. Good riddance you might say. Very myopic indeed.
Haha, myopic is the right word! You really hit the nail on the head!!
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lumpy790
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10/18/2022 6:47am
Saw somewhere that Yamaha has a patent on it
R VanKamp77
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10/18/2022 8:12am
Motocross in 2030 is going to be the only 300 people who still ride, smugly lecturing the "old souls" about how forward thinking they are and how much better off the sport is now that reciprocating mass is gone.

"Good riddance with you cavemen" they proclaim, and the one other rider at the track nodded in approval.
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Falcon
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10/18/2022 8:31am
I sure as hell don't want my motorcycle to sound like a thumper. Even silence is better than that orchestrated fart noise.

I say make the motors on e-bikes powerful enough that they generate some dynamo noise of their own. Or, just drop a button on the left handlebar that triggers an air horn. You can use it to sneak up on the guy ahead and startle him right off the track.
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sumdood
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10/18/2022 8:32am
Why bother ? Lately every event I go to has that annoying frantic repetitive club music drowning out all other sounds anyway. I’d rather hear whatever kind of noise whatever vehicles I’m watching make, if I want to hear that nonsense I’ll buy some glow sticks and go to a rave. Laughing
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#434
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10/18/2022 8:37am Edited Date/Time 10/18/2022 8:38am
Motocross in 2030 is going to be the only 300 people who still ride, smugly lecturing the "old souls" about how forward thinking they are and...
Motocross in 2030 is going to be the only 300 people who still ride, smugly lecturing the "old souls" about how forward thinking they are and how much better off the sport is now that reciprocating mass is gone.

"Good riddance with you cavemen" they proclaim, and the one other rider at the track nodded in approval.
I can‘t wrap my head around this thing:
I get that some people are against eMX bikes (not challenging enough, no sound, no smell, no soul etc.). I get all that!
But how can a new option besides the ICE bike destroy the sport?
They are quite and could open up a lot new riding opportunities. They are much easier to ride (no clutch, no gear, power can be tuned down as much as you want) and could get a lot more kids and especially girls into riding.

Explain to me, all you hardcore old school guys who brush teeth with castor 927 every morning, why you’re so scared of electric bikes destroying the sport?
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Magoofan
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10/18/2022 9:18am
#434 wrote:
I can‘t wrap my head around this thing: I get that some people are against eMX bikes (not challenging enough, no sound, no smell, no soul...
I can‘t wrap my head around this thing:
I get that some people are against eMX bikes (not challenging enough, no sound, no smell, no soul etc.). I get all that!
But how can a new option besides the ICE bike destroy the sport?
They are quite and could open up a lot new riding opportunities. They are much easier to ride (no clutch, no gear, power can be tuned down as much as you want) and could get a lot more kids and especially girls into riding.

Explain to me, all you hardcore old school guys who brush teeth with castor 927 every morning, why you’re so scared of electric bikes destroying the sport?
Because girls and kids are too dumb or weak to ride a bike with a clutch/gears? Just wow.

FFS....you keep digging the hole you're in deeper and deeper.









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Magoofan
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10/18/2022 9:27am
Motocross in 2030 is going to be the only 300 people who still ride, smugly lecturing the "old souls" about how forward thinking they are and...
Motocross in 2030 is going to be the only 300 people who still ride, smugly lecturing the "old souls" about how forward thinking they are and how much better off the sport is now that reciprocating mass is gone.

"Good riddance with you cavemen" they proclaim, and the one other rider at the track nodded in approval.
"Forward thinking" - that sure sounds familiar....you know, all the stupid shit being forced on society today.
We're doing so much better with "forward thinking" aren't we.

Like sheep to the slaughter.





soggy
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10/18/2022 9:30am
I’m surprised everyone here against progression didn’t stop riding bikes when they got disc brakes, mono rear suspension, water cooling, electronic ignitions, programmable ecu’s etc, they make everything too easy!
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#434
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10/18/2022 9:41am Edited Date/Time 10/18/2022 9:45am
#434 wrote:
I can‘t wrap my head around this thing: I get that some people are against eMX bikes (not challenging enough, no sound, no smell, no soul...
I can‘t wrap my head around this thing:
I get that some people are against eMX bikes (not challenging enough, no sound, no smell, no soul etc.). I get all that!
But how can a new option besides the ICE bike destroy the sport?
They are quite and could open up a lot new riding opportunities. They are much easier to ride (no clutch, no gear, power can be tuned down as much as you want) and could get a lot more kids and especially girls into riding.

Explain to me, all you hardcore old school guys who brush teeth with castor 927 every morning, why you’re so scared of electric bikes destroying the sport?
Magoofan wrote:
Because girls and kids are too dumb or weak to ride a bike with a clutch/gears? Just wow. FFS....you keep digging the hole you're in deeper...
Because girls and kids are too dumb or weak to ride a bike with a clutch/gears? Just wow.

FFS....you keep digging the hole you're in deeper and deeper.









Dumb? weak? Where did I say this?
Come on man, let's discuss this: Please answer my question Magoofan!

BTW: I've been to a nice bike park in the Swiss Alps this weekend and the ratio of kids/women to men riding Downhill is significantly higher than in Motocross. Why is that? It's not the cost with all the 10k€ bikes I've seen. I think a motocross bike is pretty intimidating to a lot of people, especially women and kids. Lots of power, clutch, gears etc.
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10/18/2022 10:09am
So many of the same arguments against the 4 stroke are being brought up against the Electric bikes. the EPA forcing a switch to 4 strokes and 2 strokes not being available anymore.I can understand being upset if you think that all gas powered motorcycles are going to go away. But that is very unlikely to happen unless the electric bikes are that much better. And if they are as bad as the people who are against them think they are, those people have nothing to worry about. You can still go out and buy an old Model T and drive it as Your daily driver . You'll still be able to buy the current gas powered bikes for as long as there is a demand to make parts to fix them. You just might not be able to ride them at some tracks. Other than all of the extra parts it would ad to a MX bike, the speaker inside an exhaust system style of adding engine noise sounds like it might have the most real sound. I would rather have a horn as my sound maker. Customizable like a ringtone if you want to. And the aftermarket companies that make Pipes now could offer tunes , power curves , whatever you wanna call them for the electric bikes.High performance chargers , or wires and connectors, and levers will still be a thing. A company like Pro Circuit could sell you a simulated KX 125 tune that gave you the power of RC's 125 from back in the day, or RV's 250f that he holeshot the MXON with. It might be a novelty, but it would be a cool way of feeling what those bikes felt like power wise. And as electronic suspension comes into MX , they could possible give you a total tune that would simulate the handling of those and other bikes. And if there is a sound making system , they could sell the engine tones with the tune. VP can make some race batteries and since all of the main motorcycle companies have that agreement to use the same batteries it would be useable across multiple brands. They could do a lease program so you pay X amount per month and never worry about having to drop 5K or whatever , on a new battery. VP and other race gas companies could provide large fast chargers for tracks. So much speculation on so many ways that electric could impact the sport. I might miss the sound from Pro racing, but watching one of the many great battles that Chase and Eli had this past summer with the sound off , is just as entertaining to me. And watching the racing on the broadcast VS in person ,the lack of extreme noise makes it more enjoyable and I'm able to know more about what happened during the race than a lot of the time when I am at a race. A totally silent dirtbike on trails that are shared use might be the best place for some type of sound being needed to not come up on people walking or horses and startle them. On a track with just other racers I think it would be less of an issue. I'm excited to watch and see what happens, and I'm sure a lot of the opinions from people that are against and for electric powered MX bikes are seen and taken into consideration by the bigger manufacturers. Nothing is perfect , and I'm sure that Electric is not going to be as good or bad as some people on here , myself included ,are thinking or saying at first . And who knows what will come after electric power? Will Electric be the next single shock long travel evolution that changes bikes dramatically? Or will it be just another small step towards a better bike? A passing fad like the 20" front wheel or PDS linkageless rear end? I've gotta learn to stay on track , on subject better and stop getting so deep into my thoughts every time I start to type. Sorry for the XXL post.
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