What happens when you mix dirt bike riders with wicked design skills? You get an electric dirt bike known as the Frankenstein Build, a custom-built, high-performance machine that directly benefits you. I’ll explain that part in a bit. But, it all starts with an idea…
When GritShift head dude Bullet found himself back on his good ol’ trusty E Ride Pro SS – you know, the original 8kW version 1.0 – he quickly remembered what a beast this bike is. But not satisfied with the power output, Bullet went down the never-ending rabbit hole of modding. Beefing up the power, leading to needing stronger parts elsewhere, followed by more breakages, more parts being replaced… and before you know it, Frankenstein is alive.
Who should attempt a build like this?
Before we dive into the life of a team of bike nutters, let’s pause for a sec. Who should attempt something like this? Well, anyone. Anyone with enough common sense, patience, and the ability to Google!
Most of us at GritShift come from a variety of mechanical backgrounds and have extensive riding experience. But the biggest thing is we’re tenacious. And we want to learn. And make stuff better.
Electric dirt bikes are the perfect platform to learn how to mod. They’re simpler in many ways than a gas-powered bike, and are much more plug-and-play. The thing is, when we find and create something that makes our own bikes better and stronger, we’ll test the heck out of it, and if it passes, allow it to go into our shop. This means all you need to do is buy it, wait for it to arrive, and plonk it on your bike. Simple.
PS if you sign up to be part of our newsletter community, we send out all sorts of tips and tricks to help your modding journey.
The Backstory…
Why was Bullet back on his old E Ride Pro SS, 1.0, and why was it completely stock, for that matter? Wouldn’t you think he’ll have the pick of any brand-new e-moto? Like a comfy pair of jeans, Bullet took his trusty E Ride Pro along with his souped-up Surron Ultra Bee on a 2 week riding/camping trip with Mr Business.
See the info on Bullet’s own Ultra Bee here
But… the week before the duo set off on their adventure, Bullet and his Ultra ended up in a canal, completely underwater. ‘It was an accident, I swear!” said Bullet. Either way, the e-moto was retrieved and surprisingly kept going for the day.
Prep for the trip was underway, the Surron Ultra Bee got a thorough check over, and the E Ride got a few mods, like the Primary Drive, Heavy Hitter Skid Plate, and any other random parts that would add strength.
However, as you know, electricity and water don’t mix, and sure enough, partway through the trip, Bullet’s Ultra Bee had enough. The battery was damaged, and Bullet was left with his backup bike, his E Ride Pro 1.0.
It didn’t take long before this little, relatively low-powered electric dirt bike was leaving a big impression on Bullet. The small, flickable frame, the wicked handling; it was quickly becoming the favorite. When side by side with Mr Business’ stock Surron Ultra Bee on the same tight, twisty trails, something caught their attention.
The battery. Mr Business’ Ultra Bee was at 60%, but Bullet’s E Ride Pro was still at 80%. This was the lightbulb moment Bullet knew he needed to beef up the power. But more importantly, keep it as lightweight as possible to keep that awesome handling.
The challenge had begun.
The Build Process
As increasing the power was the first step, Bullet went with the obvious choice of the EBMX X9000 controller. The tricky part was that the controller was for a Surron, as E Ride controllers hadn’t been released yet. As Bullet had already asked EMBX to make some Surron Race Harnesses for the GritShift drag bike, and to be available for our customers, this was the harness to use. A simple rewire later, and it fit.
A Surron 81V race battery was the next upgrade. Then the motor. The EBMX XLB-60 was the motor of choice as it’s hot here in Florida, and sand riding doesn’t help with the heat!
With the power sorted, Bullet noticed the forks were bent, so he swapped them for Ultra Bee forks, then on a roll, he also upgraded the side number plates, battery lid, seat, and anything else he could see.
While it was looking good, it wasn’t long before more and more problems started arriving. The power was next level, but the bike wasn’t holding up to the demands. The swingarm kept bending, chain derailing, not ideal…
Not satisfied with just any swingarm quick fix, Bullet and the R&D team designed a super-strong, lightweight swingarm that will withstand any flat landing or endless whoops. Named The Rogue, this is a race ready swingarm for the E Ride Pro S, SS, and SR! Then, to take the pressure, the rear shock was upgraded to a Sirris, modified to fit the E Ride Pro (available to everyone soon), and finally, the rear suspension was completed with an upgraded linkage and triangle. Again, this part was designed out of necessity as the stock linkages on most e-motos, well, suck. And as you can tell by this point, with bent forks and a fully submerged Ultra Bee, the GritShift team isn’t easy on their stuff.
Bullet also kept bending aluminum sprockets due to poor designs (shots fired). We are now making our own in aluminum – we’re in the sampling stages now, with a public release planned soon. For now, Bullet’s E Ride is using an OEM Segway X160 58T rear sprocket.
To complete the upgrades, the Ultra Bee front forks were now holding Bullet back, as they kept twisting in the clamps and just weren’t stiff enough to hold up to the other big upgrades. Sirris solved this issue, working with Bullet to develop custom-length forks. Again, stay tuned for this one once we have more data.
TLDR: Bullet upgraded the complete powertrain, beefed up all the weak points of the E Ride Pro SS 1.0 by gathering up the GritShift R&D department, and together they collaborated with big names like EBMX and Sirris to create the strongest ever, lightest, purpose-built, parts needed to complete this awesome build.
The parts list:
Here is the list of parts used in the process:
Frame:
- E Ride Pro SS 1.0 8kW
Wheels:
- 21”/18” KKE Wheels
- Starcross front tire
- MX34 rear tire
Brakes:
- E Ride Pro SR front brakes
- Hayes Dominion rear brake
Suspension & Driveline:
- OEM Segway X160 58T rear sprocket
- Sirris Prototype forks (will be available for purchase soon)
- Modified Sirris Rear shock (will be available for purchase soon)
- RFloxa 550lb rear shock (currently on bike but too soft)
- 2″ swingarm extensions welded on
- Heavy Hitter Primary Drive
- Heavy Hitter Linkage & adjustable triangle
- Chromoly rear axle and jackshaft bolts
- Chromoly rear suspension and linkage hardware
Armor:
- Heavy Hitter Skid Plate
Power:
- EBMX X9000 controller
- Modified Surron Race wiring harness
- Surron 81v 22s Race battery
- EBMX XLB-60 motor
- Ultra Bee battery lid
- Surron 1″ aluminum battery lid extensions
Ergos:
- Heavy Hitter MX Direct Mount clamp
- KTM Factory Bend bars
- Scott Mellow Top grips
- Talaria adjustable foot support brace
- Arctic Leopard rear fender
- 79Bike Falcon seat
- RTech Ultra Bee side number plates
- Husky front number plate
- Baja Designs S2 Pro headlight
What this means for you:
As I mentioned in the beginning, what does a great rider mixed with a massive amount of combined knowledge from the world-class GritShift R&D team do to the e-moto world? Out of necessity, brand-new, super-strong parts are invented to allow electric dirt bike builds of any type.
GritShift and Heavy Hitter parts are designed to take way more of a beating than your average consumer-grade parts on the market. If you’ve ever broken parts from another manufacturer, especially something from a no-name company from a big-box store like Amazon, we challenge you to try some of our parts out. The Frankenstein build saw our riders bending forks and snapping sprockets while testing completely unrelated parts. Whether you ride that hard or not, GritShift and Heavy Hitter parts are designed to be the last parts you ever need to buy.
You might not necessarily choose to mod your ride to this extent, but whatever mod you choose to do next, you won’t need to go through the process of designing, testing, and further designing the parts you need. What makes this even cooler is that the GritShift R&D team, headed by Rusty, wants to make the install as easy as possible for you. Part of the R&D process is to ensure it is an easy, simple fit that you can do with any level of mechanical knowledge.
Not to mention, Rusty is in the middle of his next own build, known as the Mamba. I have no doubt that new parts will be created, again out of necessity, as Rusty, Bullet, and the whole R&D team stretch the limit again of what is possible on these high-performance ebikes.
Stay tuned for Rusty’s build reveal!
The final result
To watch a video of the Frankenstein build so far, click here.
Bullet’s Frankenstein build, which has the bones of an E Ride Pro SS 1.0, is now a super high-performance electric dirt bike that will shred any track. Still keeping the lightweight, nimble feel, just adding a heap of power controlled by well-researched, re-designed components to replace parts that wouldn’t have had a chance of surviving in stock form.
We do things differently here at GritShift. We create parts for a purpose. They solve the problems we come across when adding big power to these electric dirt bikes. We’re riders who want to share the ability for everyone to safely mod their e-motos. We find the weak parts so you don’t need to.
If you need any new parts for your e-moto, consider buying from us here at GritShift. Not only will you get the most thoroughly tested part, you’ll also be supporting the R&D team and the creation of articles like this one. Click on the link below to check out our shop. If you need to have a chat about your next build, contact us by clicking here.
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