Looking for something for hard enduro?
Hard enduro riding on any dirt bike is tough. It isn’t something a beginner would attempt, with challenging terrain and technical obstacles. But when you finish a course, the sense of accomplishment is simply fantastic.
We’ve competed in many hard enduro challenges, with the Red Bull Tennessee Knockout being up the top. And we’ve taken a range of electric dirt bikes to compete in their electric class, from electric/gas conversions to highly modded e-moto.
Let’s dive into which electric dirt bikes are the best for hard enduro, our team’s experience racing both stock and modified electric dirt bikes in hard enduro competitions, and where we would start if we started all over today.
What is hard enduro?
Hard enduro is an extreme sport that pushes the boundaries of what a dirt bike can do. It will generally have many stages at different difficulty levels, making it more accessible for riders with a range of skill levels.
The terrain is a mixture of rocks, sand, steep inclines and obstacles that take riders along a track through the woods. The dirtbikes need to be specific for this type of track, it’s not about high speed, but more about the technical aspect for a rider to finish the fastest.
Riders typically prefer smaller two-stroke dirt bikes for this sort of competition, as larger bikes like 450s are too heavy and large to navigate the terrain with ease.
Electric dirt bikes have steadily entered the hard enduro world over the past few years, drawbacks and all. While electric dirt bikes are relatively new to the hard enduro scene, there are plenty of FIM and AMA-sanctioned races that have an electric class.
What type of electric dirt bike is needed?
Any e-moto taking on a hard enduro event needs to have a strong frame to withstand the terrain. Make sure components such as the rear shock, jackshaft, and stem mount can hold up to some serious abuse. The e-moto also needs to have a high amount of power to be able to climb steep hills, and it needs big brakes to stop down hills.
Possibly most important is the bike’s physical footprint – you don’t want the biggest e-bike out there when you’re navigating tough terrain. Let’s look at the big names in the mid-sized e-moto class and what are the best options for hard enduro.
Mod or not to Mod?
The first question to ask yourself is: do you want an e-moto that is ready to race right from the factory, or do you want an e-moto that will need a few tweaks to make it hard-enduro ready? Both options have advantages, but you’ll need to weigh up the cost vs the time you have free to make the mods vs full customization.
We’ll compare the E Ride Pro SR, which is 99% ready to go from the box, to the E Ride Pro 3.0, Surron Ultra Bee, and Talaria MX5, all of which might benefit from some modding to be race ready.
E Ride Pro SR: Ready to Go!
- Strengths: Huge controllable power on a solid build.
- Weaknesses: Don’t need to mod…
- Recommended mods: Stronger skid plate, possibly different handlebars and grips depending on your preference.
After years of racing hard enduro on electric dirt bikes, these days the E Ride Pro SR packs everything that we have chased while modding other bikes. Huge power, long range battery, and components made for real dirt riding. It already has a direct mount stem, decent footpegs, great suspension, and big DOT 4 brakes, all strapped to a robust frame with good wheels and 72v power from the factory. What more could you want?
As a team that loves modding electric dirt bikes, the E Ride Pro SR doesn’t leave much for us to do! The only mods that I would be making prior to a race are for personal comfort. Things like handlebars and grips for better ergos, but this isn’t necessary to get through the race. You might as well pick up a Heavy Hitter Skidplate before you break the stock one – ours will be the last one you ever need.
The E Ride Pro SR 775 is available for around $6500 at the time of writing, which is pretty impressive considering it is race ready at this price. With easy tuning via the app, you can customize the tune to your liking. The range for the SR is 62 miles at 25mph, depending on terrain and rider experience.
You wouldn’t need to even upgrade the tires, pegs, or any of the usual mods that were routine with owning a new e-moto. That’s good value for money! We also suggest picking up a spare battery or two if you plan to do longer events, as that 62-mile range will dissolve fast when you’re only going 20 feet a minute and fighting hard to get there.
E Ride Pro 3.0
- Strengths: Great build, but not quite as extreme as the SR.
- Weaknesses: For hard enduro, will need new tires immediately.
- Recommended mods: Aggressive tires, stronger bash plate, and possibly different handlebars and grips depending on your preference.
The E Ride Pro 3.0 is the e-moto for you if you’re looking for top quality with the option to do some customization and modding to make it race ready. If hard enduro isn’t your thing and perhaps you just want a top of the range e-moto for trail or town riding, there really isn’t much you’ll need to do to this one.
A few simple things to get the E Ride Pro 3.0 race ready for hard enduro would be to upgrade the tires to a more aggressive dirt tire, and add a stronger bash plate to take the hits from rocks on the track. The power at 6kW rated with a peak of 15.8kW may not be enough for sand sections or steep hills. If you find you need a little more power, then an upgraded controller could be all you need. Check out the EBMX E Ride Pro 3.0 X9000 Controller for some ideas.
Stock range for the 3.0 is over 64 miles at 25mph, depending on conditions.
Read more here:
Priced at $5800 at the time of writing, the E Ride Pro 3.0 makes a perfect e-moto for anyone who wants a high quality, fast bike. To take it to the enduro races, a few small tweaks will be needed but in general, it is an impressive electric dirt bike that you can customize to your taste.
Surron Ultra Bee
- Strengths: Lightweight and nimble handling.
- Weaknesses: Top speed is not as high as others.
- Recommended mods: Skid plate, suspension, footpegs, possibly handlebars depending on your preference.
The Surron Ultra Bee is a great all-around electric dirt bike. With prices climbing toward $8000 at the time of writing, the Ultra Bee has plenty of power, great handling, and all the features that most riders need. The top speed isn’t as high as some of the E Ride Pro e-motos, but it does have a good range of 71 miles at 31mph.
The only mods that would be needed to get this e-moto hard enduro ready would be underbody protection, ergonomic mods to make it customized to your riding style, and possibly upgraded suspension. We’ve run races on Ultra Bees both stock and modified, and Surron even brought the new-at-the-time Ultra Bee to the Tennessee Knockout for an early public demonstration.
Ultra Bees are certainly capable of tackling hard enduro while offering the fit and finish Surron is known for, but these days the price just isn’t competitive considering what you get with an E Ride. Pick one up used, though, and you’ll have a solid bike that is a few mods away from tackling anything.
Talaria MX5
- Strengths: Solid frame, great price.
- Weaknesses: Suspension, size.
- Recommended mods: Upgraded suspension, upgraded tires. Stronger skid plate, possibly different handlebars and grips depending on your preference.
The Talaria MX5 could be the best e-moto so far from Talaria. It is one of the cheapest in this lineup of hard enduro e-motos at $6500 as I’m writing this, but is it a good enduro bike? The power is slightly less than the E Ride Pro 3.0, and they are the same weight. The top speed is the same as the Surron Ultra Bee, and the range is around 77 miles at 15mph, so you could assume that range will be less than the Surron as it was tested at 31mph.
The Talaria MX5 is more similar to the E Ride Pro SS 3.0 in this selection of hard enduro electric dirt bikes, with similar weight, and power output range. However, the overall size and robustness of the MX5 just isn’t on par with an E Ride for the price. We’ve modded many Talarias over the years and we always find ourselves several thousand dollars over where we’d be on a stock E Ride. Just like the Ultra Bee, find a used MX5 (or any Sting really) and you can mod it to your heart’s content.
Here is a great video:
What is better?
Before we make any comparison on what we think is better, we want you to know that we are E Ride Pro official dealers. However, if you’ve followed us here at GritShift for a while, you’ll know that we only sell the products that we personally use and love. In fact, many of us brought an E Ride Pro prior to becoming dealers as we found they’re just awesome bikes.
After spending lots of time on each of these e-moto, unanimously as a team, it’s no surprise we love the E Ride Pro SR. It has excellent power, a great ride feel, and is race ready from the factory. Like any e-moto or dirt bikes, we would change the ergos to suit our personal preference.
For a full rundown on what we would change for ergonomics, check out this article, but it would typically be handlebars, grips, and footpegs. No matter what dirt bike I get – electric or gas, these are the first things that I personally change. You always ride better when the bike fits you well.
Secondly, I would look at the underbody protection, especially for hard-enduro racing. The terrain that you find on these tracks isn’t kind to motors. The gnarly rocks that can get you caught up will always come off best unless you have some serious guards in place.
We have designed and thoroughly tested the Heavy Hitter skid plates for a large range of e-motos. See how we test them here! These could be one of the best insurance purchases you make to protect your bike, especially on hard enduro courses. Thankfully, that’s where we designed our Heavy Hitter skidplates – after breaking everyone else’s.
What should you do next?
Step one is to work out what type of riding you’ll most likely be doing. If it’s trail riding, but not quite at the hard enduro level, then it could be worth looking at the E Ride Pro SS 3.0, or the Talaria MX5. These are excellent bikes but will need a few things added to get them ready for a hard enduro race.
If you want a top of the range, hardcore race-ready bike, then you can’t go past the E Ride Pro SR. It really is excellent value for money, especially when you consider what is already on this bike. If you are looking to compete in hard enduro events on an electric dirt bike, we wholeheartedly recommend the E Ride Pro SR. The days of the KTM Freeride and Surron LBX dominating electric hard enduro events are long past. Get yourself an SR and hit the track the same day, or pick up an Ultra Bee or MX5 and strap on some mods.
Whatever e-moto you choose, get out and ride, get your practice in and when the time is right, book yourself in one of the races. We’ll see you at the next Red Bull TKO!
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