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I have said this before and will say it again. The most intelligent conversations on the internet about Alta can be found right here on Vital. Bravo gentleman!
I'm a Regional Sales Manager for Alta and just wanted to clear up a couple of things that some have voiced concern on here.
Weight - Its 259lbs on the 2018 MXR. When I'm conducting demo rides, I asked riders when they get off the bike what the weight of the bike feels like. Most of them say between a 125-250. This is mostly because there is no rotating engine mass. Alta has done some research on the rotating mass of a 4 stroke engine. The results were that the rotating mass of a 450 is equivalent to around 60lbs. You feel that rotating mass mainly when you are leaning the bike in a rut or on a berm. With no rotating mass of an engine, the Alta "feels" a lot lighter when you ride it and specially when hitting a turn. Where you will notice the 259lbs of an Alta is if you lift it onto a bike stand.
Range - Range is probably the biggest concern of most riders. The way I explain it is that the battery is similar to a tank of gas. The range will depend on who is riding it and where. If you have a top pro rider with a track like Glen Helen that has a lot of 4th and 5th gear straight aways and massive uphills, he might only get 30 minutes out of a charge. Then on the other end of the spectrum, a slower vet rider on tight single track could get 4-5 hours out of a charge. For me, I'm an older (56) vet A rider and at the local tracks in the Houston area, I can get about an hour and a half out of a full charge. However, an average "moto" for me is 4-7 laps, usually around 10-15 minutes. When I come in from a ride I plug the bike into a 110V plug that my local tracks have. I usually take 30 minutes to an hour between rides. The bike doesn't always charge back to 100%, but it gets close. Of course if you don't have access to an outlet, you will need to have a generator. I just had an inverter installed in my Sprinter, so now I will be able to charge on 220V for an even quicker charge.
On a side note. Dustin Winter is a super fast up and coming pro rider hitting the major amateur races right now and training for Loretta's. He rode the bike for the first time last night at 3 Palms and within two laps he was flying and commented when he got off that he was jumping gaps that he couldn't do on his 250F. He was concerned about the lack of noise, because he has tried to ride with ear plugs on his 250F and couldn't. He said the lack on noise was not an issue at all. He loved the bike!
I have left this offer out there before and its still stands. I live in Houston and frequent the local tracks in the area when I'm in town. I can also be found at other tracks throughout Texas. Almost every Alta dealer has demo's and you can contact them to set up a test ride, however feel free to contact me anytime if you would like to test ride one of my demo's.
Larry Hughes
281.541.2767