Dust Moto

[Philip]

Dust Moto - American Electric Moto

The ultimate play bike. The Dust Model_1 is the first of it's kind, a premium middle weight electric dirt bike.

www.dustmoto.com

 

[Number Six]

The premise is great & the execution surely looks the part !
A competent lightweight that doesn't need thousands of $$ in power & suspension upgrades. Yes please.
I'd wonder what kind of range can be expected from a 39Ah battery with a 15Kw nom / 25Kw peak output ?
I have a 200lb Ultra Bee thats 55Ah / 12.5 Kw & I only just get 20 miles on real single track.

 

[Philip]

I did some googling. They are located in Bend, OR. The founders are pretty legit with good industry experience.

They are also extremely transparent about what they are doing and why. Lots of interesting stuff if you scroll down on their main page.

Also, here is a good personal post from the CEO Colin Godby at VitalMX (scroll down to posts #15 and 17).

 

[Dain_SSE]

It almost looks smaller than a full sized bike... Ultra bee sized... in which case since both are made with a significant amount of chinese components what is the reason for the price premium? If the claim here is "American Made", more than half of the bike should be from that origin.

 

[bayodome]

It almost looks smaller than a full sized bike... Ultra bee sized... in which case since both are made with a significant amount of chinese components what is the reason for the price premium? If the claim here is "American Made", more than half of the bike should be from that origin.

It's a pure prototype. They have been very transparent about the whole process. I would imagine they are looking to have the production versions comprised of mostly American made parts. Not too many American-made electric motors out there at the moment for them to test. Ask them on social media. They've answered a few of my questions directly already.

 

[Dain_SSE]

I don't plan on wasting their time by contacting then since I have no plans to buy one. I don't care for the crowd funding approach either. If the business plan is legitimate put on some big boy pants and borrow the money to start up! I agree there aren't many options for American made parts, this is why I was surprised to see it as a selling point.

 

[Philip]

They are not trying to be a better Surron. If they are smart, they would be trying to imitate the 125cc riding experience. This bike should be able to jump and land just like any full-size dirt bike without bottoming or breaking the frame. But with the KTM Freeride WP suspension, I think they might be disappointing me and many others. Nobody wants a slightly cheaper Freeride.

If you have an American company that uses premium components and performs the final assembly in the US, then $10,000 is a reasonable price for a medium-sized medium-power ***premium*** dirt bike. If the chassis was indeed premium, then the price would be just right, IMO.

 

[Philip]

I subscribed to the Dust Moto email newsletter and got this today. It is a good overview of their philosophy and progress on one page.


Feb 5, 2024 4 min read

#19 Alpha Is Here! ​

The Model_1 Alpha prototype is here. Last week Josh Hill took the first ride at Perris with Tucker Neary from Electric Cycle Rider. Huge thanks to Josh, Tucker and Perris for all their help. The result is an awesome 10-minute test ride video.

It’s Real: The Dust Moto Model 1 Alpha Is Here Electric Cycle Rider

Welcome and thank you to all our new Dust subscribers over the past month!
The Model_1 Alpha prototype is here! Last week Josh Hill took the first ride at Perris Raceway with Tucker Neary from Electric Cycle Rider. Huge thanks to Josh, Tucker, and Scott at Perris Raceway for all their help. This session is documented in an awesome 10-minute video below:

Approach​

DUST has been a rapid 6-month sprint from conception to rideable Alpha prototype. Our small core team of 5 people posts regularly on Instagram (Here) as we openly build our bike, brand and business in public. We have a core group of 50 riders who pre-ordered bikes on day 1. Known as Founders50 (F50), they meet with Dust monthly for feedback and to get updated on BTS progress. The next opportunity to pre-order is coming the first half of 2024, when the next batch of bikes will be sold for delivery in mid 2025.

Philosophy​

Dust is developing the ultimate play bike. The goal was to build a bike that corners like a 125 and pulls like a 250. The Model_1 is designed to go alongside your big gas bike in your garage and close the gap in your quiver, built for the backyard tracks, freeride zones, and single track. We want to use the unique mid-weight form factor to get more people spending time riding moto with bikes that are designed, tested, and built in America.
This is a unique opportunity for an American brand to take a more transparent approach to building a brand and bike in public view. We've leaned into sharing openly all along the way. The consistent flow of feedback from our engaged following is incredibly useful to help drive some of our decision-making.

Development​

From a blank canvas to a full running Alpha prototype bike in 6 months. Starting back in August with the broad strokes architecture and requirements setting, we transitioned to detailed design in October once we were confident on the direction. Our starting vision of building the funnest performance bike possible was underpinned by key decisions for ergonomics, sizing, suspension kinematics, wheel size and powertrain targets. Over the course of 2.5 months, these elements were brought to life in our computer aided design and simulation files, such that in the beginning of December we were confident to release files for prototype build. The month of December and early January were spent managing a variety of suppliers, as well as build and test activities locally.
The culmination of the Dust Alpha journey is the actual physical build and ride. We finished the build on Tuesday, January 23rd, had a reveal event at our HQ in Bend, Or. on Tuesday, and 24 hours later the Alpha was in southern California getting tested on dry dirt by a few top tier riders. The early feedback that we have gotten back has been positive. Constructive feedback we got around gearing, noise and spring rates were very actionable and we are excited to start making tweaks on the Alpha bike while evolving our design.
As discussed in Newsletter #16, Prototype to Perfection, this is the first phase of several design-build-test-refine loops that will get us to a design that is ready to knock the socks off customers.
Alpha welded frame at start of assembly DustAlpha swing arm assemblies tapped and ready to go DustAlpha's machined ABS body plastics and custom seat DustAlpha plastic fitment check by Colin DustAlpha chain line check with Colin and Derek on the tools DustAlpha seat fitment with Colin and Jarret hands-on DustAlpha reveal event at our HQ in Bend on Tuesday 23rd January Dust

 

[Philip]

I am starting to like this bike very much. But why no swappable battery ???

 

[blbills]

Looks like a ton of fun!

 

[Dain_SSE]

I am starting to like this bike very much. But why no swappable battery ???

For something they are wanting to manufacture and sell... I would recommend anything below 5kwh needs to be swappable.

 

[F451]

It appears to be another 7/8 size bike. What's with all the 3/4 and 7/8 size bikes? These guys are killing me here.

 

[Philip]

It appears to be another 7/8 size bike. What's with all the 3/4 and 7/8 size bikes? These guys are killing me here.

Some folks believe that SuperMinis are more fun. But yeah, what we really need is an electric 125cc.

 

[Oded]

Stark main pitfall for my type of riding is its weight (similar to Alta).
If Dust is significantly lighter, than it will get my interest, and many other enduro riders.

 

[Philip]

I contacted Colin Godby, the CEO of Dust Moto. He clarified some of the questions.

The battery will be swappable. It is already swappable in their Alpha prototype.

The final suspension is TBD, possibly custom-made. The current components, the fork from a KTM 85SX (WP), and the rear shock from a YZ85 (Ohlins) are just a starting point.

They don't think the current battery technology can completely replace a 125cc bike, so they are not trying to. They seem to be convinced that a play bike of a smaller-than-normal size is exactly what is missing in the marketplace.

 

[Philip]

I'd agree that a 2.8 kWh battery won't last 30 minutes in racing conditions, but it might last about 10-15 minutes, which is a typical MX practice session or a short local race. It should also last about an hour of leisurely riding.

It appears that they are aiming to be an American Surron beater, or a quiet electric big-wheel SuperMini.

 

[HadesOmega]

Looks like it's aimed to compete with bikes like the Ultra Bee, CRF230, KLX230, etc... Looks like if would fun to throw some supermoto wheels on it and rip the asphalt. Nice to see something made in America for once. Wow they are looking at going into production end of 2024. That seems kinda fast maybe they are pretty far along already.

 

[Philip]

This last "IN DEPTH" video is really awesome. I want to ride it!

 

[Philip]

The idea of a smaller-than-standard bike is the one that made me hesitate the most. On the one hand, I do not want another 7/8 bike. On the other hand, I always thought that the 125cc was always too big of a bike for the available power, and the 85cc - 150cc was too small of a bike for me. Dust says that their bike has a 95% wheelbase of the full-size bike, so it is not 7/8 but 19/20. Guys have been riding and racing mini bikes for fun because smaller bikes are often indeed more fun.

Dust is now starting their "First 100" program. I have signed up.

First100 Crowdfund Program

The next opportunity to become a Dust backer has arrived. A limited number of slots are available to secure one of the first 100 production bikes, and gain exclusive access to the development of the Model_1. Join First100 THE BRAND Dust Moto is an electric dirt bike company on

blog.dustmoto.com

 

[Dain_SSE]

It seems like an ultra bee is direct competition since it isn't full size. Sure, dust has more peak power but continuous power is where I'm guessing they are fairly equal. Would be interesting to see a comparison by some 3rd party experienced riders.