Let’s mix electricity with water… seemed like a good idea?! For the boys and girls at GritShift, this potentially reckless idea was actually a project in the making. Named the SurronSki, the idea was to create a Robbie Maddison-inspired electric dirt bike that could go from land to water… and survive!
Ok, so mixing water and electricity isn’t exactly true – in fact, we had to go to great lengths to make sure they didn’t mix at all. So, how do you get an electric dirt bike fully waterproofed so nothing happens when you dunk it?
Luckily, we have dirt bike enthusiasts, mechanics, a full R&D team at our disposal, along with a heap of determination. And it’s all made possible by every person who has bought a part, shirt, keychain, or e-moto from GritShift over the years.
So from all of us at GritShift, thank you for making this possible.
This is the story of what we did, what we found that surprised us, how the knowledge we learnt helps us today, and what the next project will be. Let’s just say, if this project seemed crazy, wait until you hear what our next plans are!
Without further ado, we present to you the story of the SurronSki, the world’s first amphibious electric motorcycle.
Step 1: The Testing Phase
The plan seemed simple: grab a stock Surron, do some waterproofing to the components, test it, fix it, fabricate a ski, and ride it across a lake without drowning. Nothing too difficult!
The very first step was getting one of our crew’s personal Surron LBXs, heading to the closest lake here in Florida, and riding straight into the water without making any modifications. Sounds crazy, but it actually had a scientific purpose. We knew stuff would go wrong – shorts, grounding issues, and more – but we needed to find out exactly what would happen, when, why, and in what order. That way, we could start putting a plan together to get the whole thing sealed tight.
We obviously found out that we needed waterproofing, and lots of it. Battery, wiring harness, controller – anywhere that water could get in, it did.
You may not be aware, but electric dirt bikes like the Surron LBX aren’t fully waterproof out of the box. They are splashproof in the sense that you can ride in the rain, wash it, and hit some mud puddles, but Surron didn’t anticipate the LBX becoming a submarine! Dunking something underwater is very different than splashing water on it, and as the air within every cavity, plug, and switch is forced out and replaced with water, things can – and do – go wrong very quickly.
DISCLAIMER: Don’t try this! If you put your Surron underwater, you’ll void the warranty and the bike will stop working. Disregard this if you have an R&D team at home to fix it.
After the first round of sealing the bike up with anything we could get our hands on (tape, sealant, caulk…), we rode the partially sealed LBX into our business manager’s pool. Because that’s what you do when you’re in the testing phase! From this test, we found the most significant weak link was actually the LBX’s electronic throttle.
Clearly, we needed to give this more thought.
Step 2: The Creation Phase
With our newfound knowledge, some of the team went into fine detail about waterproofing. They swapped the throttle for a cable-operated throttle, went over all the bike’s numerous connections, and sussed out all of the foreseeable issues.
Meanwhile, the other half of the team went to work on the ski. Between CAD designers and fabricators, new versions were created and tested, and ultimately the design you see here was the one that stuck.
It was then time to focus on propulsion. A regular road tire won’t do much in the water, since road tires are designed to glide through water unaffected. Even off-road knobbies didn’t have enough surface area to really move the bike forward in the water.
A full custom tire was needed, and thanks to Skat Trak, who we later found out was the company that built the tire for Robbie Maddison, a one-of-a-kind paddle tire was formed, and things were about to get real!
Step 3: First Run
After all the testing, designing, and retesting, the day finally came to do a real test on a lake. When a team of like-minded, skilled people comes together, crazy projects either work or they don’t. Would the lake be electrocuted? Would the bike sink into the muddly lake floor and get stuck there forever?
Only one way to find out!
Somehow, the very first run was a success! Over the life of the SurronSki, we did around 30-40 runs and most of them ended with the bike making it to the shore. Even during the runs where the bike got partially or fully submerged, everything went just fine.
Needless to say, even as the people who hatched the plan in the first place, we were a bit surprised at how well the finished product worked – and that it kept working over and over again.
This is what we’re talking about! The SurronSki was a success; we had managed to get an electric dirt bike to ride across a lake!
Word quickly got around that we had succeeded, and we were featured on some pretty big YouTube channels – a first for us, and a big honor.
But it wasn’t just the completion of many lake crossings that made Surronski a success; there were many surprising things we learnt from this project and are still learning from today.
What We Learned:
First, it turns out that with proper waterproofing, a Surron can perform really well as an amphibious vehicle – above and below the water! On one of the runs, the bike sank to the bottom of a 10-foot deep lake. Due to the throttle getting stuck on, the bike ran wide open for around 30 minutes… at the bottom of a lake! When we were able to retrieve it, it continued running for the rest of the day! Maybe all the water cooling helped!
By doing extensive waterproofing, we learned new electrical skills and gained a deeper understanding of how the electrical systems work within the Surron, knowledge that can be applied to almost any e-moto. This wouldn’t have been possible without going to the extremes of looking at every tiny part of the system, giving us the advantage today of having a really in-depth understanding of how these bikes work. Now we can see a bare connector nobody ever services, and we can tell you where it’s supposed to go!
On to the topic of water ingress, we also found that many of the connectors on the Surron are Sumitomo, which are good, but not great in terms of waterproofing. The Deutsch connectors that are used in high-performance motorsports are much more failproof. So if you’re looking to submerge your Surron, have us do the waterproofing!
Why did you trash a perfectly good Surron?
Seeing this whole thing go down, many people have asked why we wrecked a perfectly good bike. Well, we don’t see it that way.
At GritShift, we like to push what is possible in the world of e-moto. Taking an electric bike and running it across water seemed like a pretty big challenge. But that’s why this project was important.
- As a team, it made us stronger. We had to fight together to create this machine. That translates into better synergy for us and better products and services for the e-moto community.
- We learned the intricacies of electricity. Much more than what would be expected on a ‘standard’ day in the shop, we now have the knowledge to work deeper to improve performance on a variety of models.
- We improved our riding skills. No one in our team had ridden a bike on water before – because nobody has – and you need new skills to do this successfully!
- It reminded us of what’s possible when you keep trying. We design and build dirt bike parts for a living, and not every idea makes it into the world. That can get pretty demoralizing over time. But people rely on our parts to win competitions, get to work on time, or just have fun on the weekend. The moral to this is – don’t give up, it’s worth it!
Where is the SurronSki now?
The SurronSki is now officially retired. After pushing this bike well beyond the originally intended limits, long-term water exposure eventually led to the failure of the main controller. A crack developed in the main housing, which allowed water to get in. This led to performance degradation, interruptions, and ultimately failure.
We could have kept rebuilding it, but for us, it was more about the build than the finished product, and most of the SurronSki was scavenged to support other builds. Plus, we kept the skis and the paddle, so we could always build another.
What is the next project?
I asked Rusty, R&D boss, what the next project is, and his response was ‘a new ski bike is looking to take to the water shortly with more power, more potential, and a much, much bigger paddle tire.’
I can’t say which e-moto brand will be the next guinea pig, but what I can say is I would sign up to our newsletter so you’re the first to hear! This is going to be very exciting!
PS, if you have any project ideas, jump onto Instagram or reply to any email and we’ll note them down!
Random facts so you look cool with your mates
What’s it like riding on water?
In a phrase: sustained hydroplaning. ‘When entering the water, it’s surprisingly violent,’ says Rusty. ‘You need to sort of wheel tap into it, but as long as entry speed is there, you could hydroplane on the water, no problems.’
From the GritShift team, who sank the bike the most?
If you watch some of our videos, you’ll see many riders sink the SurronSki! Bullet was the most successful and could carve that thing like a jet ski! (according to Rusty!)
Who is Robbie Maddison?
If you’re not sure who Robbie Maddison is, quickly check out this before you tell your mates you don’t know!
If you’re reading this at work, and can’t watch a YouTube, a quick run down is Robbie Maddison is a famous stunt rider. He’s been James Bond’s stunt double, done many crazy big jumps… and rode a gas dirt bike on water in a very famous YouTube video. Of course, it’s cooler if you’re also risking electrocution 😉
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