Riding the Tennessee Knockout on an electric motorcycle

Being the electric motorcycle advocate that I am, I had spent the previous year brainstorming a way to include electric dirt bikes in the event with TKO founder, Eric Perronard. We decided on an all-electric class called ECR eMoto, a 40-rider open class where the only limitations were a minimum rear wheel size of 16 inches and a minimum age of 16 years young. The ECR eMoto class would compete on the same grueling 11-mile course as the other 400-plus amateur riders on fossil-fuel-burning entries of TKO Race 1.

Among traditional gas motorcycles, with decades of research and development behind them, there are specialized bikes for the various disciplines of off-road racing that become more focused and purposeful every year. Since electric motorcycles are in their infancy, the offerings aren't as clear or plentiful. It feels like the Wild West out there when it comes to electric motorcycle design, and the bikes are a direct reflection of that. Manufacturers often utilize a hodgepodge of pre-existing and proprietary parts, yielding bikes that blur the lines of what we deem to be "traditional" categories. This keeps innovation new and exciting, but it also makes for some real confusion when it comes time to classify these machines.

I found myself in the midst of some of that confusion when deciding which bike to ride in the TKO.

Choose your e-weapon

Luckily, I had a stable of four electric dirt bikes to choose from. The bikes on my shortlist were the KTM Freeride E-XC, Sur Ron Lightbee X, Talaria Sting, and the Electric Motion Escape R.

The Sur Ron Lightbee X and Talaria Sting are almost indistinguishable in their design. They are ultra-light, Chinese electric bikes that put out six kilowatts (eight horsepower) from their interchangeable, 60-volt batteries. The bikes come standard with 19-inch front and rear wheels mated to downhill mountain bike suspension and controls. They stand out for their lightweight, sub-130-pound form. These bikes have become the hot rods of the electric dirt bike world, with riders heavily modifying them to suit their needs. I knew that hopped-up Sur Rons and Talarias would arrive to the TKO in full force, so I ruled out my bone-stock candidates.

Next on the short list was the KTM Freeride E-XC. I've spent quite a few hours aboard this bike and have always considered it a strong contender for enduro riding. Born from the chassis of KTM's 250 cc two-stroke Freeride, the E-XC puts out 18 kW (24.5 horsepower) of peak power via a 260-volt, 3.9 kWh battery. The suspension is the same equipment you'd find on a KTM 85SX, with a 43 mm WP fork and WP PDS shock. Although the KTM feels light and free when riding, you feel all 245 pounds of this machine when it goes rubber side up in the rocks. Knowing that I'd find myself in that scenario plenty of times at this race, I ruled out the orange bike, as well. Not to mention, I'd need to charge my bike's battery several times over the course of the weekend and the Freeride E-XC comes standard with a 220-volt charger. This could prove to be problematic, since the only options for charging are limited to a generator or solar inverter.

I ultimately chose the Electric Motion Escape R as my weapon of choice for the TKO. The EM Escape R is an electric trials bike at heart, spec'd from the factory with Michelin X11 trials tires, a low seat height of 32.2 inches, a short wheelbase of 52 inches, and a total weight of 187 pounds. The Escape R takes strong inspiration from its trials-focused cousin, the Epure Race, albeit with a larger 2.7 kWh battery, and a proper seat to sit on.

The Escape R comes with a telescopic 39 mm Tech Racing fork and an R 16 V shock, equipment that is suitable for slow trials riding but feeble when the speeds increase. What it lacks in suspension, it makes up for with a hydraulic clutch. That's right. I said hydraulic clutch. This was a key factor in my decision to race the EM. In the world of electric dirt bikes, a clutch is a rarity. Clutches add weight and complexity. When considering the abundant and instantaneous power that electric dirt bikes produce, a clutch is often deemed unnecessary for most applications. But the Red Bull TKO is not most applications.

A hard enduro rookie at the TKO

Now is a great time to point out that I am an amateur racer and an absolute rookie at hard enduro. I've raced enduros and hare scrambles before, but this would be my first ever hard enduro race. My expectations for this event were to have fun and merely survive. Sure, being competitive would be icing on the cake, but I wasn't expecting it.

We started with a one-mile prologue time trial. This hot lap time determines your start position for the main race on the following day. I set out with plans to take it easy, learn some lines and log a few more minutes aboard this bike that I had hardly ridden at that point. That plan went out the window when I hit the first creek bed. I passed approximately six laboring gas bikes in a matter of 100 feet and the meathead, competitive devil on my shoulder told me to go as full-out as my couch potato dadbod would allow.

The decision proved effective. I finished my hot lap fourth fastest in the eMoto class and earned the opportunity to line up for the ECR eMoto main race in the first row of six riders.

The start of the TKO course is a series of horizontal telephone poles, metal culverts and massive concrete blocks, strategically placed to remind riders that this is not your average enduro. I managed to get through this section with relative ease and with the luck of some poor line choices from the other five riders in my row, I found myself at the front of the pack as we exited the start straight. Time to see what this Electric Motion Escape R could do.

The course quickly routed riders into a section called Sawmill Creek. It's a slippery, rocky creek bed that demamds riders choose their lines wisely and a direct reminder of why I chose the Escape R. The bike went through this challenging terrain like a precision tool. Despite the slick rocks providing minimal traction, the hook-up that the EM provided is incomparable to most bikes I've ridden. I chose to ride the bike in power mode two of three, which provided a smooth, linear power delivery that felt fast enough to accelerate rapidly but not so much that it was overwhelming.

As effective as the hydraulic clutch was, it did seem that it was more of a security blanket than anything. I noticed that I was using the clutch when I probably didn't need to, which I suspect is the result of old habits dying hard. However, when I needed to quickly chop power without sacrificing momentum, the clutch came in, well, clutch. Additionally, in those instances when I wanted to utilize the "splatter technique," where a rider will essentially launch themselves over an obstacle, loading the RPMs on the bike and releasing the clutch for this burst of acceleration proved to be effective.

The Escape R seemed to have an edge against the gas bikes in many perspectives, aside from chassis and suspension. As anticipated, the suspension drawbacks were the one area where I missed my trustworthy KTM 300 XC-W. The 48 mm stanchion WP fork, WP PDS shock and a chassis developed by the greats of this sport mean that KTM 300 is designed to run through some seriously abusive terrain and soak it up. By comparison, the EM's 6.8 inches of front travel felt insufficient at speed. A lot of this rough terrain was being translated to my body, and it was really beating me up. I should point out that I had almost no time to set up the suspension, but it felt soft, harsh, and under-gunned for this environment, which made me wonder how I would be feeling aboard the faithful two-stroke.

The terrain opened for a brief amount of time into some higher speed sections. This isn't the strong suit of the Escape R. The bike reaches its threshold of 46 mph quickly and the combination of a steep head tube angle, short wheelbase, and again, light-duty suspension, make it feel slightly unnerving at speed. To be fair, my fitness, or lack thereof, was holding me back far more than the bike.

The TKO course has a tendency to remind riders that this is not a casual trail ride. These relaxing, higher speed sections are short-lived as the trail leads right back into the gnar. Previous sections had me wanting my 300 XC-W, but once exhaustion and arm pump had taken full control of my race, I was thankful to be on a lightweight, single-gear, electric bike with a low seat height. The Escape R instills a certain confidence that no matter what obstacle you're about to tackle, the bike will handle it.

Emerging from the woods approximately one hour and 10 minutes after the gate drop, we were routed through a meandering endurocross-style course that I can only surmise is there to add entertainment for the fans, giving them a view of struggling riders suffering one last time before crossing the finish line. With that finish line behind me, the display on the Escape R was indicating that the 2.7 kWh battery still had an encouraging 48% of capacity. If my body, on the other hand, had a meter, its capacity would have read much lower than that.

The results of TKO 1 would reveal that electric dirt bikes do have benefits over the gas range. While the Escape R finished a respectable fifth place in the ECR eMoto class and 37th overall, the winner of ECR eMoto, Sam Bird, also aboard an Electric Motion Escape R, finished third overall. The skeptics will say that the eMoto class had an unfair advantage by starting up front. Regardless, that result means that 302 precision, highly developed enduro gas machines, with decades of R&D behind them, finished slower than Sam. If that doesn't show you how capable these bikes are in the right hands, then I don't know what will.