EM ELECTRIC TRIALS BIKE: LONG TERM TEST - Dirt Bike Magazine

Lane Leavitt is a three-time U.S. Trials Champion and member of the Vase B Team ISDE team. Today, he still works as one of the busiest stuntmen in Hollywood and is a life-long advocate of observed trials. We asked him for some input on our EM Epure Race electric trials bike last year. We got more than we bargained for. Here is Lane’s take on life with an electric trials bike.

I’ve been curious about electric trials bikes for a long time, just like a lot of dirt bike people. Then I had the chance to ride the electric Gas Gas trials bike in Italy in 2017, which had just won the Electric Trials Bike World Championship.

To be honest, I really could NOT ride it very well simply because of the way the engine felt. It was like an on/off switch. “On” was not the most difficult part to deal with, it was the throttle off, because when the throttle was closed, the bike stopped moving forward, meaning the bike had zero flywheel effect. If you let off the throttle, it stopped going forward, which was way too weird for me to get used to, so I lost interest.

Then a few years later, a new French Electric Trials motorcycle called the EM which nobody had ever heard of, began to win the World Electric Trials Championship! OK, I wanted to try this new machine, but who in their right mind wants to buy something when you have NO idea if you are going to like it? So when [Dirt Bike] magazine offered me the opportunity to test the 2022 EM Epure Race, I was all in.

I began posting pictures of me riding the EM, and almost immediately, my old riding buddies started making good-natured fun of me because of riding an electric motorcycle. They questioned my manhood, they would send me tons of videos of burning electric scooters from China, and even my wife, Debbie Evans, former women’s trials champion, poked fun at me because I was riding electric. So I would rib them back and say, I’m saving the environment, my friend Greta approves, and to keep the fun going, which is what bench racing Is all about, having something to give your motorcycle friends a hard time about is fun. I would double down and push back on how bad they were for riding gas-powered motorcycles.

The high water mark of my electric motorcycle bias was when I was NOT allowed to ride the EM at a vintage trial in Northern California, my favorite event of the year. Because the trial organizer honestly feared it would burst into flames and burn down his property. So there is a deep primal bias and resentment against electric motorcycles among us hard-core dirt bike riders. Mostly because we all know that sooner or later, the government might try to [force] us to ride electric, and we resent being forced to do anything.

Having spent over six months on the EM electric trials bike, I now have to admit, it has become my favorite motorcycle of all time. Why? First, it’s really fun bantering back and forth with my hard-core gasoline-head friends who will never go electric and will never give up their gas dirt bike until it’s taken out of their cold, dead hands. However the simple fact is, it’s really practical for how I ride now at 73 years old. Then EM fixed the problem that the 2017 GasGas had, which made me not like it. The EM rides like a regular motorcycle for the most part because it has an electric idle they call TKO, which works with a conventional clutch. It also has three riding modes–I always ride it in the Green (least powerful) mode.

I go out almost every day in my backyard trials park and ride the EM for exercise, and to clear my head. Being on a trials bike every day keeps me fit, and keeps my hand active in my favorite sport. And the Electric motorcycle option for riding around your neighborhood is impossible to beat. If you ride a gas-powered motorcycle around civilization, people tend to go ballistic, but on an Electric motorcycle, for some strange reverse bias reason, the Karens of the world do not mind someone riding an electric trial bike around their houses.

So it gives me access to places to play that are not available to gas-powered dirt bike enthusiasts. For instance, over Christmas I took the EM and rode it throughout the neighborhoods in Big Bear, including the hiking trails, and on the streets, yet nobody said anything, they just smiled. It allowed me to ride in places I have been looking at for 30 years but would have never dared to venture onto before on a gas bike. This alone is really a fun perk of being on the EM.

One pal of mine lives in MX legend John Desoto’s guest house; he has an EM and they ride almost every day on their electric motorcycles on secret trail rides all around the main island of Hawaii. I have an open invitation to come ride with them, which I hope to do someday. Which also would never be possible on a gas dirt bike. So access with “common sense and respect for other people” opens up a whole new world of dirt bike riding, with an electric motorcycle.

The next big advantage is no more race gas, and mixing oil and gasoline. As we all know race gas is expensive now! All you do is plug in the EM, once in a while! Yes, the range sucks, maybe 18 to 20 miles, but for around the neighborhood, that’s plenty of range for little day trips you do. Another advantage is no more air filters to clean, which when you don’t have to do it anymore, you realize just what a dirty job that is. EM maintenance tends to be, keeping the bolts and spokes tight, and changing the gearbox oil, once in a while. That’s it!

Why do you have to change the oil in an electric motorcycle? Because the EM has a real clutch, and a dirt bike without a clutch, really does NOT work for serious dirt bike riding. And I have gotten to the point where I can ride this motorcycle well. I have competed in two competition events so far on the EM and in both events, I have done well.

Over the last few months, I have rewired my brain for the electric motorcycle. Its biggest advantage is that it’s impossible to stall an electric motor. And once you adjust to that, it can be ridden like an automatic transmission car, or a stick shift, which is odd but amazing after you adapt to it. At first, I had trouble switching from gas to electric, then back again to gas-powered, but now I can do it easily. So the option of using the EM as a Trials Cross Training motorcycle for other racing disciplines is a good option.

Yes the EM is expensive compared to the Chinese electric dirt bikes. Why? Because all the suspension, tires, and brake components are world-class, and world-class doesn’t come cheap. But if you are a serious competition rider, it’s worth every penny to have the very best components available, to maximize your cross-training, and competition fun.

The only disadvantage I see is that for enduros or cross-country riding is the lack of range. But for a trials cross trainer for these sports, electric is a fantastic option. So if I go ride an enduro, I’m going to have to go back to that gas bike, but all my training will be on the electric Bike. For local trials events, the EM has plenty of range.

Saying the EM is my favorite motorcycle of all time, is saying a lot. I have owned over 100 motorcycles in my lifetime. And it’s [not] because I believe I’m saving the planet by riding the EM, it’s honestly just so practical for most riders.

Would I buy one? Yes, no doubt in a moment! I still have dozens of gas-powered dirt bikes that I won’t get rid of, but the EM is now my favorite motorcycle. One extra perk is it’s the perfect and ultimate pit bike anywhere I go, including off-road races, or the drag strip. Why? Gee, it’s electric, and it gives me the Fastest Pit Bike in the World, when I go to the drag races, and I can dazzle everyone with my limited bag of riding tricks. As the old saying goes, you either need to get a new act or a new audience, and the guys and gals at the drag strip have never seen a trial bike before, so they think I’m somebody special. Wow, have I fooled them? Which just adds to the fun!