Motorcycle stunting has really taken off over the past few decades, with the sport getting more popular as more competitions are being held and knowledge of street stunting is growing.
Motorcycles are also getting more accessible with the rise of electric dirt bikes like the Surron LBX or Talaria Sting. E-moto is generally cheaper than its gas rivals, smaller, lighter, and easier to perform tricks on. With the lack of a clutch, only throttle control and braking need to be modulated, making it easier to stunt with an electric bike – in some ways.
Having said that, stunting on an e-moto still requires a heap of practice. If you’re new to the idea of stunting, or perhaps stunting on an electric dirt bike, keep reading. I’ll list all the stunting terms you need to know, how to turn your e-moto into a stunters’ dream bike, and some hints and tips to pulling off the perfect wheelie.
New to Wheelie-ing?
The first things we need to cover are some of the terms with stunting. Listed below are all the most popular stunts, with the wheelie probably being the most known. I’ve also listed some great videos from YouTube (no affiliations, we just think they’re great videos to describe the tricks). Keep in mind, most of them talk about gas dirt bikes. If you have limited gas dirt bike experience, whenever the clutch is mentioned, interpret it as smooth throttle control. If ‘pull the clutch in’ is mentioned, then interpret that as smoothly backing off the throttle.
Wheelie
Lifting the front wheel off the ground in a controlled way using a mixture of quicker throttle acceleration, balance, and feathering the rear brake. This allows you to balance on the rear wheel only. Once mastered, there are many variations of this maneuver. Some of these include:
- One-Handed Wheelie: Remove one hand from the handlebars
- High Chair Wheelie: Sitting on your handlebars
- Flamingo: Normally, while standing on the seat in a wheelie, take one leg behind you. (Or you can stand on the pegs)
- 12 o’clock Wheelie: A wheelie past the balance point.
Stoppie (also known as an Endo)
Like a wheelie, but you’re now balancing on your front wheel, not the rear wheel. Variations of this maneuver are a tank stoppie, tail grab, the droppie, and sloppy stoppie. These are terms for various tricks that include holding onto the bike at different places, or for the sloppy stoppie – how you finish this trick.
Dounut
A quick turn in one spot. The bike turns tightly, keeping your inside leg on the ground. This can be performed like a burnout in a tight turn. It is also a great all-round technique for many different riding styles, for example, enduro riders can use this to get out of tight places.
Burnouts
A burnout is when the bike is stationary or slowly moving, but the rear wheel is spinning. This creates lots of noise and smoke! This is achieved by holding the front brake with your weight over the front wheel and accelerating. The downside to burnouts is how quickly you’ll chew through your tires, especially if you still have dirt tires on.
Powerslides
A really cool cornering technique that involves letting the rear tire slide out, controlled with counter-steering and the correct balance. There are many ways this can be achieved, with either locking the rear wheel or letting the rear wheel spin faster than it can grip the road.
What is the best e-moto for Stunting?
The best electric dirt bike for stunting is one with sufficient power to easily lift the front wheel, one that has a lower center of gravity and is overall a light bike. Most newer e-motos fit this category. We personally love the Surron LBX for its quick, nimble riding feel, and the E Ride Pro e-motos for their extra power on a light frame.
Like with most e-motos, to perfect your bike to perform the tricks you want, and to fit the style you’re after, there are a few things that will need to be upgraded or modified.
Upgrading Your Electric Dirt Bike to Be the Best Stunter
While you can stunt most e-motos right out of the box, there are a few things that will make it much easier, safer, and prolong the life of your e-moto. When street stunting, you’ll be placing lots of stress on parts of the e-moto that it wasn’t really intended for.
However, it is simple to upgrade certain parts to strengthen your e-moto. Like most of us, if cost is a factor, look at the tricks you want to practice first, then you can upgrade components specific to the tricks.
Gear
I’ve added gear as the number 1 upgrade. If your budget is tight, spend it here first. When you start learning new tricks, you will come off your bike. It’s not if, it’s when… so protect your body! As a minimum, a helmet, gloves, and good shoes. If you want to continue to practice after you come off, then I also recommend pants with knee sliders and a jacket with elbow protectors.
I always recommend purchasing a helmet brand new, as you don’t know its history, but if you’re looking at saving some money, have a look at places like Facebook Marketplace for jackets, pants, shoes, etc. Or, even better, join our newsletter so you know when the sales are coming here at GritShift! 🙂
Fun fact: A helmet should be replaced if you’re in an accident, or even if you drop it accidentally. This is because the inner lining is a clever type of fancy styrofoam. If this gets damaged or compromised in any way, it won’t be effective when you really need it. And you can’t tell from looking from the outside. Hence, don’t buy second-hand. Helmets also have expiry dates, located somewhere on the inside or on the outer shell.
Tire choice
Tire choice plays a big role in stunting an e-moto. The tires that come on most stock bikes are either made for riding in some dirt, or lots of dirt. They aren’t road-specific and somewhat knobbly. This is when a pair of supermoto wheels would be best. These don’t have the aggressive tread pattern, instead, you’ll get more contact with the tarmac. This will give you more control when pulling a wheelie or stoppie.
The other bonus is, if you love your burnouts, do them on your supermoto wheels; they’ll last a bit longer than dirt tires. Don’t ruin your nice sharp edges on your knobblies. Put your dirt tires back on before you hit the dirt.
Handlebar/grips
Get yourself a sturdy handlebar, especially if you’ll be attempting stoppies. Most riders like adding a 2-inch stem riser to place the handlebars in a better position. I would also suggest adding a new pair of grips.
Good bike control of your e-moto starts with an ergonomic handlebar and grips. Actually, that goes for any riding discipline! It’s the first mod I make when taking my bike on a nice enduro ride. Being comfortable is way more important than you might expect when it comes to stunting!
Brakes
Both front and rear brakes need to be on point. They also need to have a nice feel, limited play, and be reliable. If you haven’t changed your brake pads or fluid for a while, now is the time to do so.
Even better, upgrade your system to something that will pull your e-moto to a stop every time. Put it this way, it’s real hard to do a burnout if your front wheel doesn’t hold!
We run Hayes Dominion A4 Brakes on most of our personal bikes, they have a great feel with a very limited dead stroke. This means, when you pull the brake lever, you get an instant response.
This is where the Surron LBX starts to fall short. It comes stock with mountain bike brakes which are not really up to the task of dirt biking, let alone heavy stunting. If you have a stock e-moto with tiny brakes, especially one that runs mineral fluid, upgrade the brakes early on. You don’t want to experience brake failure when you are expecting to stop!
Read this article all about brakes
Extra power
Most e-motos these days come with ample power for most stunts, but what I would suggest is looking at the controller. An aftermarket controller, such as the EBMX X9000, lets you play with the power delivery, so you can perfect the way the throttle responds exactly as you like it.
If you’re completely new to everything e-moto, then I’d suggest checking out this article, which explains how the power/motor/controller combo works together.
Suspension
Fun fact, suspension is the part that we break most often on our own e-motos here at GritShift.
If only your rear wheel is holding your weight, it’s probably a good idea to look at the rear suspension! Especially with some of the earlier model e-motos, the rear suspension triangle isn’t built with massive strength, so beefing up parts such as the rear triangle and linkage would be beneficial.
Same with the forks, you need to know your e-moto will hold your weight on the front wheel if you’re doing a stoppie.
Again, if you’re brand new to the world of e-moto, check out this article, which explains the rear suspension and linkage. It’s similar to gas dirt bikes, but has its own unique factors.
Parts that are recommended as you’re learning new tricks:
Wheelie bar
A wheelie bar is a contraption that you attach to the rear of your e-moto that catches your bike so you don’t end up hitting the ground! It’s super useful, although not necessary to be able to learn a sick wheelie.
Here are a few I found – we haven’t tested these, so please do your own research, but to get you started:
Stunt hints and tips
Body position
Body position on your bike is really important; the balance needs to be spot on, and each trick has its own unique characteristics. Always be smooth and controlled when shifting your weight. Practice good posture, it makes the trick look better, but it also helps with the balance.
When learning any new trick, pay attention to where you need to weight up the bike. Do you need to compress the suspension, counterbalance forces, or put more pressure on a wheel?
It also takes lots of physical and mental strength to master some more challenging stunts. Work on a healthy body and mind. While the gym is good for this, I find getting out on the dirt track even better!
Practice!
This is the part I find difficult. I always get impatient, but… any new trick takes time. Keep reminding yourself of this, don’t give up after the first few minutes, or hours, or even days. The stunting pros didn’t become good in one day. It takes years.
I like to set goals, for example, when learning a wheelie, goal one on day one: perfect throttle control and ride smoothly, and slowly, then perhaps start popping up the front wheel as controlled as possible. Then I find you feel like you’ve achieved something.
Film your progress
Ok, so I’m not talking about TikTok content, I’m talking about getting your mates to film you for your own personal record. Keep track of your progress, look back at a few practice sessions ago, and see how you’ve improved. This helps to keep your momentum going for improvement.
It also helps to see what you’re doing, so you can make adjustments to things like where you’re sitting on the bike.
Don’t make the motorcycle stunting stereotypical view worse!
We get it, stunting is wicked fun. But don’t add your name to the incorrect stereotypical view that motorcycle stunting is reckless. It takes many, many hours of practice to perfect a trick and only a few minutes of being reckless on the street to harm the image for everyone else.
When you practice and perform, ensure you are kitted up correctly in the safety gear, in a safe location, and are not under the influence of anything. Be smart = ride longer. This also helps set a good influence for younger riders. Rant over! 🙂
Random fact to look cool with your mates
History of Motorcycle Stunts
It could be assumed that motorcycle stunts started right after the first motorcycle was invented back in 1885. The first recorded stunts were performed on ‘the wall of death’ around 1915 in traveling carnivals, and in 1928, a motorcycle stunt display was performed by the Royal Signals Motorcycle Display Team.
Throughout the years, stunts have progressively gotten bigger and more dangerous, leaping over huge distances, double-decker buses, bridges, stadiums, and more!
Modern-day stunters still attempt to jump large distances, but you’ll also see some cool acrobatics, known as street bike stunting, performed on motorcycles.
Legal boring stuff
Are street motorcycle stunts actually legal? Well… it turns out that if you want to gain the attention of the police real quick, then wheelie up to the traffic lights…
Seriously, though, performing any stunts on the road, even wheelies, stoppies, or donuts to turn your bike around, is, in fact, illegal. No matter what you see on YouTube. Depending on where you live, it is typically classed as reckless driving, and penalties can vary from fines to loss of license points, and even jail time.
If you’re serious about stunting, keep it safe. Plus, you can perfect your stunts better when you’re not worried about where cars are. Find a large clearing where you’re not going to have any issues and use some common sense. Private property (with permission!) is best for this.
Who are the most famous Stunt Riders?
Some of the biggest names in stunt riding are:
- Evel Knievel was an American stunt rider. Possibly his most famous stunt was jumping Snake River Canyon in 1975.
- Robbie Maddison is an Australian motorcycle rider. He won gold at the X Games, joined the Crusty Demons stunt group in 2005, and broke many world records on his motorcycle. He famously rode through a wave in Pipe Dream, something we’re chasing ourselves with our amphibious e-moto projects.
- Travis Pastrana is an American motorcycle rider, rally car driver, Nitro Circus founder, and more.
- Sarah Lezito is a French motorcycle stunt rider, and she has appeared in many films.
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