How do you use your Alta?

[roma258]

Hey guys, first time poster, long time fan of electric motorcycles in general and Alta in particular. Just to give some background, I had a Brammo Empulse, one of the first proper full size emotos to hit the market, for a couple years but decided to sell it just because I didn't ride it enough. With that bike's range, all I could really do was commute, or do meticulously planned day rides around charging stations that few of my riding buddies wanted to tag along with. So at some point it became too much effort.

I came away from that experience thinking that ebikes made much more sense in the dirt, which is why I've been following Alta so closely. Now with prices getting pretty close to reasonable, I just wonder how people are actually using these. EX/EXR in particular. Are you doing DS rides? Trailering to your trailheads? Riding with your ICE buddies? What happens if they want to go on a longer ride? Have riding options opened up for you even if technically not "legal". It's an issue here on the east coast, because public offroad riding is incredibly limited.

Pics for clicks, of when I towed the Brammo to the Dragon:

 

[Philip]

About half of us here do motocross. If you bring a generator with you and charge during the breaks then the battery life is not a problem, usually.

The other half does trail riding, backyard riding, riding with buddies, hooligan riding, etc.

We have a few SM owners. I am not sure if they use their SMs for anything other than town riding and commuting. It would be interesting to know.

 

[schwankl]

Building a robust system Alta nailed it: REDSHIFT - Thank you to all the engineers and folks to make this amazing product! - I hope u guys don't sell out HD with the tech going limp and back to the tennitus/hearing aids required folks. IMO Alta is the next Tesla.

Trail Riding and Communting in Northern Utah:
I have put ~1k mi on my EXR and its super-efficient on trails, 50-80mph on roads not so much, trails can do ~4k vert and come down in map1 regen, to only loose 20% / 1-2 bars of 10 from when I started the trail, after 1hr riding and 8k vertical/up/down...for probably fast road-riding a re-gearing would help (vs the trail-focused EXR) to keep a lower, efficient rpm.

 

[Oded]

I use my EX for enduro riding only (technical enduro mostly). About 3 hours every saturday (I am a weekend warrior ).
The Alta is great for that type of riding. If you're looking for long, adventure type riding, I suggest you look elsewhere.

 

[Speedkills]

I have an SM I’m about to sell as I just upgraded to an EXR. They’re both awesome commuters, but unlike say a Zero, Alta folks don’t really want you doing longer rides on it. Trying to put together any sort of real ride will take more planning than your Brammo as you can’t even use those charge stations. If someone asks me about the SM I say it’s the world’s most fun commuter. You can plug it into your plain old 110v outlet at home and 6 hours later it will be charged. Wake up in the morning, unplug it, hop on and go, no warm up, no cleaning your air filter, it’s great. But charge time is a killer and there is no J1772 support so those charge stations won’t be of any use to you.

The EXR I like for trail riding, and commuting but you can’t ride to the trailhead as it will run out of power in no time flat at highway speeds so you need to transport it to the trailhead.

The weight is wonderful compared to a Brammo or Zero, but the trade off is range that is just not good. Nothing I can see Alta doing about it anytime soon except making it easier to charge on the road as the battery pack is 70lbs so even if they found a place to stuff a second pack to double the range, I don’t want my Alta to weigh another 70lbs so I just deal with it and keep crossing my fingers that someday I can plug into one of the ChaDeMo DC charge points without carrying a 20lb charger in my backpack.

 

[roma258]

Thanks for your responses everyone! I have no illusions about adventure riding, obviously. Just curious how your bikes are being used and under what circumstances. The legal dirt trails nearest to me are in the Pine Barrens (I'm in Philly), which is sandy, open terrain. It contains some single track, but it's not legal...per se. I imagine having a quiet bike would allow me to get away with it a bit easier. We have some member only riding locations around here, my thought is I'd probably invest in a membership if I get one of these bad boys. My main concern is missing out on dual-sport rides and rides with friends that go over 40 miles. Maybe if I really shuffle my garage around, I can fit in two dirt bikes, but it wouldn't be easy

 

[Speedkills]

Not sure if you have a place you can rent a bike easily but I definitely can’t ride with any friends unless they also have Altas on the street but if I want to ride with friends on ICE bikes I can just rent a bike for $120/day or so and for once a month or two with no maintenance costs it ends up being a lot less hassle than owning another bike.

 

[ecd]

EXR here

50% single track trail riding
25% commuting (only 4 miles)
25% exploring near me

100% hooligan

 

[WoodsWeapon]

For 30 years I have sought a real on/off road bike thats capable of MX, singletrack, and street riding. The EXR isn’t it out of the box, but with a few mods, its as close as Ive ever had.

 

[snydes]

For 30 years I have sought a real on/off road bike thats capable of MX, singletrack, and street riding. The EXR isn’t it out of the box, but with a few mods, its as close as Ive ever had.

That’s honestly one of the best endorsements I’ve heard so far for the bike.

Myself I have only used my MXR so far for tracks, I am however anxious to do some off road riding on it. I’ve done a little bit, and for me it makes it quite a bit more enjoyable. Where before I really didn’t care for tight, slow single track, now I almost enjoy it. Lack of a noisy engine idling away throwing off heat makes for a much better experience IMO.

 

[roma258]

For 30 years I have sought a real on/off road bike thats capable of MX, singletrack, and street riding. The EXR isn’t it out of the box, but with a few mods, its as close as Ive ever had.

What mods do you feel it needs? Just suspension stuff, the usual skid plate/handguards?

 

[revoltlution]

critical mod: knee guards!

 

[allesad]

I agree w/WoodsWeapon, "out of the box" ready to rip. Most mods are rider & bike protection (knee/elbow/hip guards), bark busters, skid plate, Tubeliss.

My bike is super reliable. 30 mile rides on single track / urban assault riding is the norm.

I own a Model S, and Alta (my opinion) is the "Tesla of dirt bikes"

 

[WoodsWeapon]

Suspension work, barkbusters, fasstco brake spring, brake pedal cleats, and a way to quickly remove the taillight were the needed mods for me. The suspension obviously being the only big ticket item. EXR has a skidplate stock, and I added a LHRB too. Tubliss would be a nice addition, but Im not sure how it would be at low pressures on pavement.

 

[WoodsWeapon]

Oh and numbers, it is extremely important to me that my street ridden bike have numbers to draw police attention my way at all times.

 

[Fod]

@Fog 25 uses his to do do nose jobs!!!!

 

[Philip]

I am however anxious to do some off road riding on it. I’ve done a little bit, and for me it makes it quite a bit more enjoyable. Where before I really didn’t care for tight, slow single track, now I almost enjoy it. Lack of a noisy engine idling away throwing off heat makes for a much better experience IMO.

Totally agree! Last time I tried trail riding was in ~2001, and I didn't like it very much. I was attacking the trails, and the trees were fighting back. I went out with a bunch of guys ~3 years ago, and it was okay. But I never thought about riding alone. Let me tell you, riding an Alta, especially alone, is something else. It was like a zen meditation or something. Totally relaxing and nothing but pure enjoyment. I felt like a kid again, like someone who went out to ride his first own little moped for the first time.

I will be doing many more trail rides in Arizona this winter. There I just get out of the garage and go up into the mountains and ride power line roads. I should try doing it early morning, before work, as often as I can. It should be a great way to start a day.

 

[Fod]

Ha ha, you won't ride ST with your buddies unless they have an electric bike!

 

[thsm007]

I ride to trailhead. I’m in NY just out of the city. Trails everywhere that I can’t access with my 2t. Alta gets me on the bike almost every morning before work if even for 1.5-2 hrs ... that makes the experiment worth it for me.

Where I ride Think tight rocky rocky ST with plenty of climbs. I’m 2 miles to the trail head. Get 35 miles in. With transfers etc I’d say total of 6 miles pavement. I ride map 2. By the time I’m home I have ~ 1/3 left. I’m not wot but I hit them at a race pace.

Below is a pic at one of the openings

 

[thsm007]

This time oriented properly.... I hope