The Concept:
Convert an MX bike to electric with the same chassis as my regular four-stroke. The electric version will be my practice bike. The four-stroke will be my race machine.
The Result:
Meet my (almost) identically prepped 2015 YZ-E and 2015 YZ250F.
This project took me about 10 months to complete. I went from knowing absolutely nothing about electronic systems to knowing a little more than nothing. Basically enough to get this machine up and running and I have been beyond satisfied with the results.
Power-wise, the eMoto is just a hair off of the 250F, but with 450-level torque. Although I haven’t weighed it, I’d say its also about 10 to 15 pounds lighter than the four-stroke. On a single charge I can get about 25-30 minutes of ride time depending on conditions.
Is it a Stark Varg? Not even close, but it also only cost about half as much to build and I get to use one of the best chassis I’ve ever ridden. Overall it’s some of the most fun I’ve ever had on dirt bike.
For anyone not quite ready to fully commit to electric, doing a e-conversion is a great option since you can use whatever frame you prefer and there are now several companies either selling or developing conversion kits.
what conversion kit did you use?
That's pretty cool , nice job
That's just awesome.
Hell yeah, Bayo! Well done, my NJ brethren.
If this thread goes viral, I'd like credit for motivating you to actually post this. Lunch/Beers at Rocky Hill Inn.
The Shop
Free shipping: VITALMX
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
Way cool, Bayo!
Awesome, could you tell us what kit you went with and why you decided on it vs others?
That's fucking cool! Reminds me of listening to the old school Hot Rod guys hanging around my Dads shop growing up. They took what they had, built it based on dreams, ideas, and the pure love of being proud of what their hands could accomplish. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it was frightening, but it was ALWAYS worth it. I've always believed that OG Hot Rodders were the first recyclers, ideas like this one you just pulled off show the world that anything is possible.....with genuine scraped knuckles and all. Good on you Man, Damn good job.
Great job that thing looks super fun. I need 2 stroke, 4 stroke and electric in my life!
If you go to Electro and Company, they sell kits for conversions. I have built 2 with the same motor controller combo and ride mine at GH regularly. Mine has the feel of a very torquey 250f on mode 2. It has 3 modes and you can program as you prefer. 1 mode for wife or kids, mode 2 whatever % you want, mode 3 full battery% and can even set up a boost button for passing when on a lower %. Good job Bayo. .
Ha noted. You're buying, right?
Like cmotodad, I also went through Electro & Co for the QS138 70h V3 motor, Votol EM260 controller and wiring harness. That was the biggest piece in the puzzle but by no means the only one.
First one took me about 10 months. I think the next one would take me about 10 days.
Number 2 goes much easier. I have a jig now for 2004-2009 crf250 and 2010-2013 crf250 frames. Electro makes it so easy for the wiring.
That is sweet. And I like that you are using that gen of YZF. Great bikes. It would be fun to have the same chassis with both options, like that. Good job.
You did a great job on this conversion, looks like a ton of fun and glad to see you used the E&C kit since I work for them
I'm working on a 21 yz250F frame at the moment and I'll be doing a very similar layout to what you did. The biggest challenge for mounting the motor is getting the front sprocket in the same position as the it would be in with the gas motor, and from the photos it looks like you nailed that pretty darn well, that's a critical piece to the puzzle that a lot of people overlook. I think these conversion builds are going to get more and more popular in the coming years, they're really not all that difficult to do and as we can make the kits more user friendly over time this will only make the projects more accessible to people. Congrats on getting the build done!
Saw this in the underground car park in my town a few months ago. I'm pretty sure it's owned by a local deaf / mute bloke I've met a few times. But, perhaps not. He's got a Lot of Ebikes : SurRons, KTM EFreerides, Zeros, a Brammo , an Energica, a HD Livewire, etc, etc. As well as a Lot of ICE bikes. He's 'something' in the Tech World, I've gathered, so, rather wealthy.
He's a bit of of an Ebike fanatic, and, good to 'talk' to. He's got a Stark - well, a couple or three of them coming - as he was early in the list, he may well have one / them by now.
I know virtually no AUSLAN - Australian Sign Language - and I mean to make an effort there, but, being fellow Motorcyclists, we have a same common language, so we can get by when we see each other. This one, I think, is his local 'go to' / commuter / rat bike, as well as his KTM EFreerides :
A half hour ride after work without upsetting the neighbours sounds like a win, nice work man 👍
Hey bayodome:
Something I see in that slightly side on view, is that your bike doesn't have the sort of problem I see so many E Conversions having : a Large center to center between the (I'll call it) Counter Shaft Sprocket, and the swingarm pivot. Generally, far , far larger than the donor bikes C to C. Harking back to the early era of LTR mods in the 70s, on bikes that had , at times, a huge C to C, creating all sorts of problems.
Generally, so many kits / builds have the CS Sprocket driven off of / having the same center as the Motor Unit itself. The C to C, being dictated by the overall diameter of the motor housing, mostly.
It looks like your CS sprocket is stepped back from the center line of the Motor, thus giving a C to C closer to the original location.
Are some E motors being made with a reduction gear as part of the Motor housing, for a 'Counter Shaft' sprocket?
Countershaft placement was one of my main concerns and I also noticed how many builds don't take that into consideration. I used Might-E's motor mounts (pricey but very well made) and they actually allow you to rotate the motor to your desired location. Fortunately, I had my 4-stroke sitting on the stand right next to the e-build so I could measure and match the countershaft placement almost exactly.
Pit Row
Looks like you have an awesome resource right there for some eMoto knowledge. That's an ELMOFO conversion kit. They're in Australia and make some very nice stuff.
It should be noted that the majority of conversion kits you'll find use only a handful of different motors, mostly from a Chinese company called QS, aka Siaecosys. I used the very common gear-reduced QS138 70h V3 for it's small form factor (fits into pretty much all MX frames with favorable chain alignment), some like Lizcat (have a team in the FIM E-Xplorer series and seem to have a very well made product) are beginning to use the newer, slightly larger and more powerful gear-reduced QS138 90h V3 but it's also is slightly too wide on most bikes to allow room for a brake pedal. ELMOFO seems to favor the older direct-drive QS138 90h V1 motor, which also requires an oversized rear sprocket.
Damn, that thing sounds torquey, is it a higher torque than the Stark, or just geared alot differently? Sounds lower revving for any given speed
bayodome :
I just checked MightE. Thanks for that name!
Could not see kits - but I'm hopeless at searching - but found the E Karts and Complete Bikes. The "TM540" conversion as they list it - though it looks to be a 125 /150 chassis, with the tucked up cradle - really got my attention. I've had a bit to do with TMs, and regard them as something, very, Very special. Price, currently on discount at $7355 AUD is surprisingly affordable. I feel like it has to be wrong, but, the page IS set for AUD....... Perhaps the roller is a bit buggered, at that price.
But, I have other things to pay for , and make, at the moment. For at least a year or more, and by then, I may just buy a Varg / established MC manufacturers answer to them - and they Are coming.
The picture I saved showed the 'stepped back from the Electric Motors centerline' Countershaft. Wish I could find a close up of it, but it's definitely what it is. MightE , or whoever makes said Motor and Step Back package, have got it right, and addressed a Big issue with Conversion Kits. And, the height of the CS center, looks good - perhaps a tad (only a few mms) lower than std, but I would see that as a good thing, considering the extra / early Torque of an E Motor over an ICE engine.
Now that's Something that is Big / Important! CS placement is such an important thing with Any Hybrid Chassis Engine / Motor build, yet So Many People just bugger it up - many of them "professional builders".
If you go to youtube, Casmoto has a few electric motos of me at Glen Helen. 2010 crf250 electric. Don't be too harsh, 66 year old that still motos.
This looks great, very sweet project you got and kudos for the DIY.
Could you share some more details about what you chose? I mean battery capacity, power, torque...? Too bad you did not weight it but looks like great fun which is all that matters really.
Nice work! Those were pretty much all my goals as well. So nice to be able to ride incognito.
Since people are asking, here’s a little more info/resources on my build:
Motor and Controller kit - Electro & Co.
Motor: QS138 70h V3
Controller: Votol EM260 preprogrammed by E&C with the 3 maps maxing out at 350amps
Kit also includes pre-wired harness, throttle and volt meter.
Votol now has a newer, smaller and water-cooled version now called the EM260s.
Battery - Chi Battery Systems
72v 51ah Gladiator Max: This is the highest-end Sur Ron Light Bee battery you can find in the US. It’s capable of 400 amps continuous and 520 amp bursts.
Since I’m currently running well below that and the battery was designed for off-road use, I am very confident in it’s durability. If reprogrammed to higher amps and I would likely need to go for the water-cooled controller.
Chi Battery Systems recently upgraded their product line for even higher amperage and to a steel enclosure.
Little hint: if you’re interested in their products, wait for their Black Friday Sale!
Motor Mounts - MightE
MightE is out of the UK and has electric conversion kits for dirt bikes and go-carts. Pricey stuff but well made.
Front Sprocket - Lithium King
The countershaft on the QS138 motor is the size of most mini-bike countershafts, meaning the only sprockets mass produced for it are 428 or 420-pitch. Lithium King and Might E are the only two companies making 520-pitch sprockets for this motor.
I went with the Lithium King option because it was 1/3 the price of MightE’s option, however it’s a bit on the soft side. I have about 10 rides on the bike now and the spline engagement has already warn out and loosened. Fortunately, they were already aware of the issue (the owner has his own RM125 conversion and is no slouch on the bike) and have already made a hardened steel version with double the shaft engagement. Mine is already in the mail.
If I were starting from scratch again, I would look to Lithium King as they are offering custom kit creation for a very reasonable price (this service didn’t exist when I started my journey), they have replacement parts, and sell most of the accessories needed for the process.
Battery Mount - Custom
I designed it to be somewhat hot-swap. The battery is mounted under the seat so I just pop off the seat, disconnect the battery from the controller and it slides right out just like on the Light Bee. If/when I have another battery, it would take about three minutes to change to a freshy.
Controller Mount - Custom
I am not a fabricator. Fortunately, I found someone who not only is a fabricator, he’d already done a conversion with the same exact frame, so that helped a ton. He’s also helped casmotodad with his builds I believe.
For pretty much any other frame, I believe you could probably mount the controller directly to the subframe under the seat. However, with the Yamaha’s non-parallel lower seat stays, some creative engineering is required.
New life for blown up 4 strokes!
Someone needs to start a business building these and selling them!
New business model for Service Honda!
Looks like I found my winter project! Good stuff! Thanks for posting.
Yes, Don is a great guy and good friend too. We talk regularly and work together on many projects. My crfe comes in at 241 lbs, with a 50 amp hr battery. I live in a city in So Ca with many horses, I have a neighbor with 4 acres. We built a track on 1. Casmoto rode there as a kid and I ride my ebike with soccer practice going in the playground of the elementary school next door now. This is the beauty of the ebikes for sure.
I have been happy to help CMotoDad and Bayodome build these electric bikes. A note to those using the MightE mount kit. The mounts can come loose , check ALL the bolts. I have over 500 laps around various tracks in Arizona and California. The bikes turn out to be lighter than original and just fun to drive. My YZ weighs 228lbs with a 50AH battery. The same size battery Bayodome has and CmotoDad has. I have built a 2017 KTM 150SX with a 63AH battery and it weighed 245. I am building a 2008 KTM right now and I am going to make it 63AH and easy to change (a couple minutes to change). Or if the customer wants a 50AH battery with Quick change Battery. ( 10-15 seconds to change)
This is my 2014 YZ250F and here is a 2023 CRf250 i just finished.
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