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If current market trends are any indication, the future of motocross will be an electric dirt bike with a SUBSCRIPTION. You will have to pay a monthly fee for your EVMX to work. And if you want traction control, that's extra. And if you want over 40hp that will cost extra too. And all those features Matt Wauters was talking about, like turning your brake lever into throttle if you fall and damage the throttle....that'll cost extra too.
I have no problem with electric propulsion in principle EXCEPT that it facilitates this bullshit subscription model where you don't actually own anything.
Heck the 1/10th scale RC vehicles I race use a DC battery and the ESC puts out to the motor 3 phase AC.
This.
Software as a service plainly sucks, even more when applied to motorcycles (or cars). You're supposed to own the damn thing you just bought, period.
No
It was being forced down our throats for sure, companies wanted those fat taxpayer incentives. Grants, tax breaks, no interest loans you name it.
Just like cars take away the taxpayer funding and bingo they lose money. Same as any solar panel, wind farm, etc.
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While we are not a fan of EVs, Davey and crew should organize a professional class.
More sponsors, more rides, more interest from the younger sect...
Once the Asians, Spanish and KTM jump onboard and Honda gets their Solid State battery sorted we can't stop them, no matter how we personally feel about EVs.
If MX Sports had a pro class that would also drive Amateur participation and sales.
It's gonna happen. It has to.
No
not my future
Interesting video. I like the idea of limiting torque in competition. I don't understand why they can't allow these and adjust the rules as needed. It's not like when the rules changed to allow four strokes and then manufacturers developed engine castings.
“Electric motorcycles bring a new and unknown technology…”
- MX Sports, 2018.
That's what the FIM does to allow them to race in WSX (and SuperEnduro, EnduroGP and Hard Enduro World Championship). And what they do in dozens of countries where they're legal to race (up next is AUSX).
FIM dynoed the Starks, came up with a set of safety rules, hp cap FIM can adjust whenever they see fit and the rules also mention a torque limit (currently says "to be determined" which, again means FIM can impose one whenever they want).
Basically if any electric gets results deemed "too good" by the FIM, they can ask them to drop 10 hp (or whatever torque) by the next round, and since it's all software it's so much easier to do than asking Yamaha to drop 50cc by next week. And it's much much easier to check as well (mandatory FIM sensor and datalogger directly on the battery let them know power at all times during each session and race).
Does Japan or the E.U. still offer incentives to electric vehicle manufacturers/“Green Energy” companies?
The Trump administration has stopped all of them in the U.S.? That means everything has to be financially viable themselves…
You're probably thinking about SBMC, Yamaha and Honda (founding members) as well as Kawasaki and Suzuki left it in early 2025. So now Piaggio remains the only OEM core member (KTM role is unclear, it was downgraded from core member a while ago, whatever that means).
Also it is aimed at 50-125 cc equivalent (under 15 hp).
Asian market for electric scooters, mopeds and small motorcycles is so much bigger than Europe or anything else they might have chosen to focus on that, Europe tiny market might not be worth the hassle.
https://www.sb-mc.net/members.html
That being said, Stark Varg is the best selling homologated enduro motorcycle in Germany and a few other European countries.
Wow!!! You certainly seem to have some sort of a agenda compared to just having a interest
It's hard to have a consortium with only one member...
Check these links for more on Honda's Solid State battery battle.
A High-Stakes Bet for an Engineer’s Career: The Future of Honda’s All-Solid-State Battery Development | by HGR / Honda R&D Center of Excellence https://medium.com/@HGRX/a-high-stakes-bet-for-an-engineers-career-the-future-of-honda-s-all-solid-state-battery-91347a5c8916
QuantumScape Announces Agreement with Honda on Solid-State Battery Technology https://share.google/mLGI2oSLm4pzSSiHV
Why does it have to happen? Whats forcing us to go electric?
The way they brought the four strokes in was absolutely messed up!!! they can’t make the same mistake this time letting 70 and 80 hp bikes in a stadium!! the racing will suffer horribly!! Also, I talked to Benny Bloss today about riding Justin Bogle’s Stark!! he said he rode it in the parking lot turned around and gave it back. He said he’d never ride one again. so Austin isn’t the only pro that I’ve talked to about those bikes. and Bogle was super happy to get back a 450 when he got the chance.
Let's look at the positives and the negatives...
A typical KTM motor is comprised of over 350 moving parts.
A Stark has around 10 moving parts.
It's makes no sense that an EV costs around the same price as an ICE vehicle
That is the short list. Feel free to add to either.
EV Negatives:
Cost
Spare battery cost (Bonnell)
With current battery technology poor range and charging time.
No clutch
No gearbox
No noise
Currently charged at tracks with a generator
Positives:
No tail pipe emissions
Easy for a beginner to ride (no clutch)
Very little maintainence
Power dialed in with an App
No noise should allow more riding areas.
More riders
More sponsors
More interest from younger generations
Then they are as dead as U.S. based EV & “Green Energy” products / projects.
They are simply not financially viable without very heavy taxpayer funded subsidies.
Pit Row
I think you are seriously understating electric bikes one true advantage & benefit.
Noise
Your kid can learn to ride in a backyard track, empty field, or even many MTB trails. Something we haven’t had since the 90’s.
I see tracks on my local trails all the time. Nobody even knows they are riding. Incredibly important for the future of the sport in my opinion.
A better title for this thread would have been, "Is this the future of MX - for people who own a small amount of acreage?" Because, for those of us who do, that question is infinitely more compelling. It's about having new and better opportunities to ride, not fewer and worse. Electric might not be the future, but it has a future - because no noise. Simple.
Do they make dust? Track’s get shut down because of it. Neighbors complain about dust as much as noise.🤷♂️
Here in Europe it's pretty common for tracks to have a limited number of "noise days" during the year, plus strict windows in time during the day when they are allowed to run. Some of them now have extra practice days for electrics and extended hours.
More opportunities to ride, more revenues for tracks.
I don't know about any tracks having a limited number of "dust days" but YMMV.
Sorry, but that's just not true. The dust from a four-stroke 450 doesn't travel anywhere near as far as the sound of it does.
Can you share any insight about what specifically Austin or Benny hated?
I rode an Alta EXR for a lap around my local track. It blew my mind. But it felt very heavy and the enduro suspension was springy. And I didn't push it - I suspect the chassis needs more development to get the different stiffnesses correct. We can get so much information from magazine tests about other chassis, but I haven't heard anything in depth about the Stark/Alta steel frame with the motor as a bolted stressed member.
Your AI shitpost left out weight. 270 lbs. I ride a 125 because I love the light weight.
the only place i see EV making a significant headway is in pitbikes. having a small bike for kids to learn and ride on or for something to ride around neighborhoods/urban/suburban areas are more of a game changer than trying to take over the moto/offroad racing segment.
the EV in the general public doesnt associate with the rebel nature of motorcycles like harleys and freestyle and the lack of noise makes it possible to run a pitbike track in a small backyard without annoying neighbors
That wasn't AI. They say the DC powered Bonnell weighs less than 220,lbs (100 kilos)
I have no skin in this game. Listen to Ping's interview. He made some valid points and raised most of the right questions.
Noise has always been our biggest fight.
Battery range and lack of charging infrastructure is the sticking point that Will be resolved in the future.
If you were a promoter of EV racing, you could do what the Dirt Diggers do at Hangtown in their campground so that there are not multiple generators running.
Rent one quiett big generator and provide charging.
You gotta wonder how long untill tracks tie into the grid and provide charging ports ?
Maybe it does maybe it doesn’t!! but the dust is still a reason that tracks get shut down!!
I've talked to and seen many Starks come and go. People buy them and then miss the range of their gas bike. Electric bikes like Surrons etc are popular for kids and a great tool, but moto and supercross will be Gas, because the noise and smell and engine it what makes it addicting. Just watch kids in the 65 class at a local race, they love revving it to the moon on the gate in neutral. Also watching all E bikes is BORING. Watching my kid on his KTM gas bike was 10X more exciting than watching him on the same bike but E Motor, so I recently sold it. Also the E bike class in Arenacross was a flop, even though Hicks and company were going faster than the gas bikes. Panic Revs and Gate drops way more exciting for audience with noise. So there is a balance, E bikes for pit bikes and city settings and gas for competition.
I put a few of the reasons Austin didn’t like it in my first post up there maybe on the first page maybe on the second. I don’t remember.!! He said the rougher the track got the more he didn’t like the bike.!! he said having first gear through fifth gear and one throttle turn on a 60 hp bike is sketchy as hell!! these top guys use the clutch quite a bit to regulate the power, especially on a 450!! and he said it would be an absolute scary bike to ride through set of stadium whoops!! I’ll bet most of the top pros have rode one and have their own opinion.!! but I know three that have rode it and all three don’t like it!
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