I think the AMA should have a Open class , run what ya brung 450 , 2 stroke , electric and find out what's good

There is a Kove 450 Rally in Utah at the GPX dealership as we speak. They are stateside and 3 have finished Dakar this year without mechanical issues. It will be my next bike

Having owned an electric car for the past 6 months and it being a fact that the only other factory build car on the road that is faster than it is yet another electric car makes me believe that over the next few years the best dirt bikes for 1-2 hours of use at a time are going to be electric. The power deliver is so fast and so smooth, it will make even the powerful 4 stroke 450s and 2-stroke 300s seem weak and unresponsive. I currently own a 2022 Kawasaki 2-stroke with amazing power that I ride 3-4 days a week, and despite it's very impressive power, electric is a whole different beast and it will come to rule the roost. As battery technology advances and batteries become more power dense and lighter, it will start to change motorcycling for more long-distance bikes as well.

Great job as usual. After owning 2 Honda ATs and a T7 and waiting on the Transalp smaller and lighter is not always the answer. It I think depends on your skill and where you are riding. I've done 2 BDRs and many dirt road trips the AT was awesome but too heavy for about 30% of what I do. The T7 was better but lacked some power about 30% of the time.

It doesn't matter if an electric bike wins AMA events. It's inherently incompatible with dirt bike families. You can't spend a weekend out with the family, riding the dunes/mountains/forests if your range is 50-75 miles, or maybe 2 hours max of riding. When you get back to camp, you need some way to recharge those bikes. Under current 2-stroke or 4-stroke usage, you pour more gas in the tanks. 10-15 gallons will keep the family going all weekend. Under electric? Now you're lugging a generator if you want to recharge those bikes. And you're STILL USING GAS, STILL SPEWING OUT THE EVIL CARBONZ that the environmentalists hate. You're going to need to pump 5k-7k watts into those bikes, probably at a charge rate around 1200 watts an hour. It's going to take 5 hours to charge one single bike, and you've got a family full to charge. But let's say you've got a 240v 30a generator, throwing out 6000-7500 watts and a stage 2 charger for whatever bike we're dealing with. It's still an HOUR to charge a bike. And that's one bike. Keep in mind California is BANNING GENERATORS for RV use along with lawn/small engine tools. So now you're looking at having to charge your electric bikes off of an RV using solar and inverters. There's no effing way. The bikes need 5000-7000 watt-hours of stored energy. Putting that kind of energy density into an RV's battery bank is crazy expensive. Getting such a system from Bluetti just to store that volume of power for one bike, will cost over $6000 in your RV. And then you need to charge it. An RV doesn't have enough surface area to cover in solar panels to generate even 2000 watts per hour of solar power, let alone 6000 watts per hour. Finally... if you change all of California's dirt bike community over to electric bikes, the environmentalists will just bitch about the impact of the act of riding, the aggressive tire tread, the roost, the trails, etc. You cannot appease these people. There is no way to enjoy a weekend on the dunes with your family, with electric bikes. Prove me wrong.

Good review, thank you!

i'm just grateful the drz400E is still available in australia. i already have one but it's still good to see after 23 years the drz400E is the most rounded dual sport with sales that reflect it. while the others come and go like a bad fashion trend.

Yet again another great video. Well researched and well put together. Keep ‘em coming!

Like this one. Unsolicited opinion, my Honda 450RL is all that I need for my adventures. Colorado BDR soon. Once I move to Durango, I will add to my collection a 2-stroke KTM for light weight technical single tract. I can’t wait to hear a 2-stroke sing again!!

People have their own opinions, and they are free to think whatever they like. As I pass them. 2 strokes forever!

Man, I love your videos so much! So informative and entertaining at the same time!

KTM has had an electric dirt bike since 2017. I have a 2022 Freeride e-xc. Love it though it was a little pricey and I have to carry a massive invertor generator if I want to do a lot of riding away from home or work.

You forgot to mention the new Triumph dirt bike , developed by Ricky Carmichael. 🤓

WR350R. Unfortunately it will never happen, so I'm looking forward to see really lightweight, off-road-capable and seriously reliable dual sport/adventure bike. I am perfectly aware this may never happen either, so I just take good care of my WR250. 😆

With urban sprawl encroaching on lots of MX tracks the quiet operation of Electric MX bike may be what gets it over the line. It also lends itself to opening up new MX tracks. Just imagine you can have a BMX track where you can't today have a MX track owing to noise. Take away the noise and you can have an MX track around the outside of your local park lands.

My 50/50 bike is a 1985 yamaha tt600 after suspension upgrades and road gear its been ridden the most out of my other bikes.

Great video!

Awesome videos bro! I would love to see a video with yr thoughts on the Yamaha mt09, and tracer 9 or even the upcoming highly anticipated R9 😅

I love my 1978 Honda XL250S, smooth on, or off road, and still awesome! :)

I have read and seen a good amount about the stark varg as I'm fascinated by it. Quite a lot of very experienced people have tested it and I don't think there has been one person who wasn't totally blown away by it. I feel like there is a good chance that gas bikes just won't be able to compete with it once people are dialed in on it.

I was surprised you didn't consider the 450 parallel twin 270° crank that the cfmoto 450sr is using. Which obviously will be the engine platform the ktm 490 series will be based upon (or they might just straight up use it)

Great chanel! I wonder if you want to testride the KOVE 800 SA? I enjoyed so much your KOVE 450.

Excelent video with good quality

3 kove 450 rallies just finished dakar, that will surely boost their reputation. edit: that's good news that you'll get to test the bike. looking forward to it.

Even tho it's not mention I say the introduction of the Sur Ron that changed everything

Have you checked out the new 2023 Sur Ron Ultra Bee? It isn't a Light Bee, or a Storm Bee, though it shares a lot with the Storm Bee. It is full size, 12.5Kw, only available in the off-road version in the US. With the right gearing, wheels/tires, this will be very competitive.

The opening up of riding spots was enough to change my mind a long time ago. Sure I loved the ICE sounds but for sure it was always excessive to neighbours. I've also grown to love the electric whine and the sound of it hooking up and giving you that very satisfying torque at any speed with no gears. Rear brake with left hand is also great once you get used to it. Bring on the change, I've been waiting for a decade already

Put down a deposit on the Stark last week, cannot wait for it. I've been warming up to electric motorcycles with my Sur Ron LBX that I've been riding for the past 4 years. It has opened up so many riding areas around my house that normally would not be possible without the fear or getting the cops called immediately.

They brought in a stark varg to my local dealer couple weeks ago. I didn’t go see it but heard they did have one.

The 1997 YZ 400 Set of a chain reaction that caused all the manufacturers to put all of their R&D into a power plant that has twice the moving parts and they have to run twice the displacement to make the same power. And they are trying to tease out all the power they can that they have all those moving parts spinning around at 13,000 RPMS Which is just on the verge of the failure limit on some of those parts because they are also trying to make them affordable so the metals may not be as it should be to push those kind of horsepower numbers and at those RPM ranges. They should have dump R&D money into the two stroke and definitely the suspension. They keep saying that the two stroke can't be moded any more than it is and we know all their is to know about the two stroke.....well I say the same holds true for the four stroke. It's been around longer than the 2 stroke and guys have been moding cars and rolls Royce built one hell of an aviation engine for the P51 all the way back in WW2.

I could see an advantage of an E trail bike as noise is always the main complaint. For everything else especially street legal 4 strokes. But if you live where there is a legal off road area you can get so many 2 stroke dirt bikes in 2023 it is amazing!

Pretty cool channel 😎

I love the idea of a 490-500 single/twin safari (ADV) bike. The electrics are competitive MXers but questionable as a lightweight ADV. In 1985 Honda had a crate engine program, it was brief, but on the high $ side a VF 750 F V4 could be purchased for $450. Imagine a KTM EXC 500 w/a plug and play LC4 swap! It’s old hat everyday business as usual in the world of hot rods.

Well presented

Great bit about the future of E bikes !!!

I have a mostly wooded bit of acreage in East Texas and I would certainly entertain and electric all-terrain type motorcycle.

I thought one of the selling points to the KTM 390 engine was that it had the maximum amount of horsepower you could stick under an A2 license for countries that have a tiered system? If they went up to 490 or thereabout and wanted to keep that selling point it seems it would need to be detuned or rev limited fairly aggressively to keep max hp down in which case, what's the point? I'm in the US so I'm no expert on tiered licensing or anything like that and it might be that I have the info wrong but that's what I remember hearing at some point.

I threw a leg over the Transalp at the local Honda dealer. They have one with the crash bars for 14K and one without the crash bars for 10K. Nice bikes. I'm thinking about it.

Electric is the future and you aren't the first to say it nor will you be the last. I'm all in on electric and own the Surron Storm Bee. I effin love it. The torque is amazing and it's quiet. I know for a fact that my neighbours appreciate that they don't have to put up with the noise of a gas bike. I know this cause they've said so. It's only going to get better too. Just look at the strides companies have made with different compounds for batteries (Graphene[sp?]). I'm also considering the Amitjet cause it has a clutch (still on the fence). :)

back in the day i had a first model yz400 4 stroke they just pulled smooth and reved to the moon, im always surprised at the lack of forward progress in last 20 yrs, i think with new smokeless oils the 2 stroke should be brought back

The Koved 450...must be a new strain.

hell yeah stark varg !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rode an ALTA RedShift at Holister... amazing! paradigm shift that IF refined and adopted for longer than a brief Red Bull Rythm debut; would have caused the YZ 4 stroke ripple anew. The trials, trail, and revived enduro would be well served by an across the board competion for market. Though A new breed of rider will be birthed. Torque profiles and throttle profiles with accelerometers and sensors controlling aka (segway one wheel). The Red Shift was formidable weapon..sadly it was lost in time.

I think the alta did make it into production, and harley murdered alta shortly thereafter because harley hates progress.

I'm glad to read in the comments that despite the video presenters reservations, many people are completely open to electric motorcycles. For many applications, electric is almost certainly the way of the future. Battery life and weight will need to improve, but literally billions of dollars are being spent on that research and huge advances have been made in the last few years. Go look at any pedal bicycle manufacturer and they now offer a full range of electric bicycles and sales have been skyrocketing. The same for electric cars. Tesla has been backordered since day one and now that all of the major companies are getting on board, they often sell out the years production in only a few weeks.

Honest question as I am trying to learn. You slam 21" front wheels but then hold them up as the gold standard. I understand it depends on use case but for an adventure bike that is road biased what would be the best tire size? I ride a CRF450L with nobby tires ( Kenda K270 Dual Sport) primarily on the road and have been happy with it. Really been enjoying these videos as this is what I am interested in. Kove is a fascinating option, I hope they take off in the market.

I would like to see the chiney 250 dual sports all sorted out. Push rod, 230ohc, 250 ohc 6 spd. Supposed ktm frames. Which ones are the same. Is there value there on any of them. All that stuff. It is hard to find any facts on these. Some seem appealing. Thanks

Two stroke dirt bikes are still alive and well in amateur MX .

mash x-ride 650 trail 2022/2023 wondering what are your thoughts on this ??

I’d love to get a svartpilen 501

Being that the 300L rally is only like $5300 the upgrade from that coming in at some 450-500 cc should cost well below the Tenere at $

I will stick with my 2001CR250 super fun cheep to repair still in love with it after 22 years

Solid advice, you don’t need an r1200gs in London! It doesn’t fit, get a bandit or a tiger 800. How do I know 😅

I remain perplexed why KTM released, and then shortly thereafter discontinued, the KTM Powerpart spoke-wheels set for the 390ADV. (And I missed that window.) At the time I guessed it had something to do with the impending release of a more dirt-oriented 390 or 490 ADV. But with those remaining a big maybe, why not make more spoke wheels available in the meantime for the existing owners?

I still wonder what stops companies on making race ready rally raid bikes for less than 15k like how they sell race/works spec replica motocross bikes with that kind of price such as the CRF450RWE or KTM SX-F Factory Edition. Honda can make the CRF300L Rally, which means they could just change it so they can use the CRF450 engine instead.

I like the BRC KTM 500 2 stroke. I like the Beta 300 RX I like the new BETA 450RX coming out. The Stark Varg is mega huge. What else is exciting? I can’t see much more. Electric bikes were racing at TKO this past year. Now SEER is having ebikes racing at their hard enduros. That’s big. Ebikes growing is big.

Ahh, the magic electricity that comes from the air.

Great work Goon, ktm490adv-r yes please, it will probably be released before the Stark vague😂 Kove I’ll take one also AJP pr7 add to cart

Great clip, love the channel. I want to see a Husqvarna Norden 901 Expedition in my garage. I almost bought the KTM 890 Adventure R but changed my mind when I saw the Expedition version of the Norden. The major reason for the switch comes down to the seat, the KTM has a dirt bikish seat that I can imagine would be hellish to sit on for an old guy for more than a hundred miles at a stretch where the Norden has a seat that goes from very narrow at the front and widens out to a tractor type of seat moving back. Plus as my age I don't know if I could really push the KTM to its full potential any more anyway, so the super extreme KTM thing becomes a moot point for me. I am 52 now, will be 53 when I get my Norden and I am really looking forward to it. Started riding dirt bikes when I was 12 and eventually got into sport bikes when I turned 18. I did own a own a BMW GS for a little while but I was so nervous of destroying the hard cases on the bike that I never really took it off road, and yes a dirt road is still a road. At my age I think I am looking for the Adventure promise of these bikes because I have already gone down almost every paved road the is and I am looking for more. Plus I remember the fun that my group of friends had riding dirt bikes, the trips, the comradery, so why not combine the best parts of it all.

I just sold my Kollter Banshee electric motorcycle. I took quite a loss just to get rid of it. They are much heavier than you think. No clutch, no gears, and you never know how far it will go. The bike is aerodynamic, but riders aren't. That's why they really can't tell you the range because a 100 pound girl or a 220 old man, will make a huge difference. Also, it is a motorcycle and when it dies, you can't pedal it home. They will never catch on.

490cc twin would be sweet in this bike, won't come cheap though. Nice Bob Dylan imitation by the way😅🤣😂 Seriously, extremely well done and spot on content👍.

Why nobody mentioned Fantic Caballero 500 Rally? It's quite nice dualsport, single cylinder, awesome looking and cheap

Ktm has made electric dirtbikes at least to european market for almost a decade now. I remember testing Ktm Freeride E somewhere around 2015. At the time it wasn´t much more than curious peculiarity to me, or anybody else neither i think, but i remember the ride feeling was interesting. In weight and powerwise, i would say it was something on par with 125cc 2-stroke, but the power delivery was instant. And not having any significant rotating mass at engine, it made the bike feel somewhat off to me, like riding really heavy downhill bike without pedals. And yeah, i know that Freeride isn´t sraight up motocross bike, but i think its close enough to compare. The biggest minus at the time (in addition it not being a 2-stroke;D) was the battery life, which only lasted little over 15minutes of agressive riding.

I can attest to the reliability of the EGL A16 250L, 300 hrs of mountain single track and desert riding, normal maintenance, 100% reliable.

I want a 90cc supercharged two stroke diesel hybrid with a turboodyno exhaust. The turbine turns at a constant speed. When the pulse from the expansion chamber hits the turbine, it tries to speed up, but the dyno goes to generate mode and won't let it. When the pulse passes, the turbine tries to slow down but the dyno goes into motor mode and won't let it. Should be quiet.

The power grid needs to be upgraded before any more electric vehicles are made

As a CFMoto owner, it feels like a quality bike. Riding it is a breeze, and it has given me absolutely no issues. The tech is simple and solid. the screen is bright and easy to read, it handles well and does what you need it to do. It isnt the MOST powerful in its class but be honest is that really necessary? It gets me everywhere I could ever want to go with no fuss. Time will tell just how reliable it is but honestly at the price...just buy 2. lol

"Alternative Fuels" are coming as well. See MotoGP schedule for such. All issues are obvious and being addressed to various degrees. Suzuki exited MotoGP in 2023 to put resources towards the development of EV. Ducati is going big into the MotoGP E series. Etc...

Just curious about electric being strange or hard to get used to no engine sound and gyro effect of the the engine I've never seen one in person but if electro bikes evolvelike cordless hand tools have I can't wait to ride one

Really wanting a new bike but I want to see how that stark works out.

I want a honda xr650l but they don’t sell them in Canada anymore.. hopefully it changes one day.

HONDA XR600r Best all-around bike that is reliable and freindly to use with loads of tourqu , low to medium revv range to do all the work.

Great for Rich people Riding is an experience, sound vibration smell add to the thrill

Watching guys race silently around a motocross track sounds boring. Half of the experience is the sound of all those engines revving.

Sounds as if the bike that you are wanting is not that much different than one that KTM already makes - a 690 Enduro. Put a windshield or a rally kit on it if you want that style. It is a great small adv. bike. 350# wet. Good mileage/range, lots of power and very smooth.

I don't have a clue about the stark brand u guess? But Stark Varg is swedish for Strong Wolf. Just some fun fact.

I know it is bare bones and not as refined, but I love the DR650 so much

When the AMA sees attendance figures crater at the SuperCross events due to the fan base who don’t GAF about electric bikes … thus the cycle is complete…

KTM 490 v-twin duke. Kind of similar to the Aprillia SVX450 I think

What happens if you own a electric bike for a year or two will the battery life get weaker than it was when it's new?

just so you know .. Alta redshift went out of business but not because the bike failed .. it was a money game .. to be precise hd killed it ..

I'd love to have a stark. I could take it up trails without saying "I'm HERE!!!" To everyone within a country mile. Lots of single track is off limits here in California. Stealth is access.

What about suzuki? I’m pretty happy to see suzuki coming with a 800 v-strom, hope the price will be competitive.

I actually like the power, and torque of the electric ORV's, and would really like an electric mountain sled, that has Polaris 850 boost RMK power. But they gotta Make these things run all day on a charge. Until then, it'll be 2 stroke 300cc enduro bikes, and 800cc+ mountain sleds for me.

1) no chance Transalp has base MSRP of $10K; Suzuki base 800DE is $11,349 and the 800DE ADV is $12,999. 2) I doubt KTM 790 ADV will come to US.

I wish someone would make a Unicorn bike. ~600cc, 270 crank inline twin, 6 speed, with 21/18 wire wheels and weighs about 150 Kg. Until then I'll keep riding my KTM LC4 640 Enduro.

That chatgbt joke actually had me cracking me up.

The ktm 501 is awesome especially if you get a different ecu and put a ktm 450 exhaust

i could live with electric bikes i suppose. i would prefer not to, to be entirely honest. but if it came down to it, i wouldn't be too upset. for me, the spirit of dirtbiking, from throwing big jumps and learning how to be technical, to climbing up rigorous hills, to just messing around with your friends on the weekend, is left untouched. i think the sound and feel would be lost, but the sport would still be awesome and fun. with that being said, i think you put it best in your "what happened to 2 strokes video" when you called out those that place the emissions blame on dirtbikes when their world impact could not be more miniscule in comparison to major industry.

In my garage first would be the 2023 KTM 300sx and xc then a Stack Vark

I'm looking forward to electric dirt-bikes. Gonna open up so much terrain that we either never had access to - or lost access to due to complains about noise... Yeah, they don't sound cool. But so long as I get to go fast, jump big enough to get scare/thrill myself, and bang-bars trying to get in front / stay in front of someone during a moto. Ride into the middle of nowhere and check out views few get to see - I don't really care... And gosh it'd be nice if several cool riding areas were only (say) a 30-45 minute drive from home... not hours upon hours away...

The light adventure, dualsport and adventure markets are tiny in the US. We are a passionate group though. No one bike is going to make the market big enough to cover the R&D, tooling, supply chain and manufacturing budgets with adequate margin. The amount of riders in the US is also decreasing. It's not an enticing market for manufacturers to persue knowing current sales numbers.

The electric dirt bikes will change the sport. The way we ride on the track, how to prepare the jumps or enter and exit the corners due to its constant torque. Definitely a game changer.

In the 80’s I ALWAYS owned Honda dirtbikes!(RideRed) I’m 50 now and drive a 20’ Honda Civic Turbo by choice that gets 44 miles mpg! I have been a Honda fan since my 1st Z50 to my ATC “BIGRED” to my 02’ CR250R on to my current 05’ CRF 50 “pitbike” and my 20’ Civic Turbo daily driver!#RideorDie#Honda#RideRed

As a 300 Rally owner, I was upset with your dialogue until you talked about it. And I just can't argue with what you are saying. You buy a $7k bike, and you get $7k bike compromises. It's really good for what it costs, but it's not great. A 450 Rally for 10k, or even 11, would definitely kick ass tho.

my Electric motion out performs any gas trials bikes on the market - twice as much torque - 2 day event - don't have to charge my battery - Battery about 1 and a half on full tits up power mode on the trails

The electric is full on torque from the start line, and setup a track anywhere, without the noise 🏍️

I hope the Stark varg goes into but I'm also hoping that they're smart enough to not get financial backing from some big company that makes them go out of business like alta. So even if they're taking their good time hopefully they're doing it the SmartWay perfecting their bike so when it comes out. It'll be a hot seller and they won't need any backing

cfmoto already built the supposedly 490 engine it's in their sportbike 450 sr, 270 crank twin.

I have plenty of gas powered dirt bikes in my stable. I want an electric trail bike. I'm not looking for a race bike. There's way more people who haul out to the wilderness for a weekend of pleasure riding than there are folks tippy toeing at a start line waiting for the gate to drop. Always has been always will be.