Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/441908
KTM FREERIDE E-SM FIRST RIDE P78 dorky-looking devices have even made it to manufac- ture, through to leading edge zero emission Super- bikes like America's home- grown MotoCzysz. At the stage that industry giants like Honda, KTM or BMW are investing the millions of dollars needed to develop the all-new technology of future e-products, you just know we're on the ground floor of something re- ally big, a completely new con- cept of how motorcycling can, and maybe will be in the future. And the advent of the Freeride E-SM represents KTM's dipping its corporate toe in the water of zero emissions streetbiking for the first time. For sure it won't be the last. "To launch an electric road bike, as I see it, is like climb- ing Mount Everest," says Harald Plöckinger, COO of KTM. "The battery pack is scalable, as a combination of paral- lel and sequenced cells, and as long as you don't change the voltage you can use the same control- ler and motor, so we're looking towards an expanded range of urban mobility concepts taking us higher and higher up the mountain. But we wanted to start out by offering something to those customers who want noth- ing extreme, just to have fun on the bike!" Riding the Freeride E-SM sure is that—but trust KTM to raise the E-bike epiphany to a level where riding one delivers equivalent performance but arguably even more fun to comparable conven- tional bikes, yet while planting a minimal carbon footprint as you do so. Like the man said, going green can be good, but it must also be fun, too! CN SPECIFICATIONS KTM Freeride E-SM MOTOR: .....Electric, permanent magnet synchronous motor in a disc armature design RATED OUTPUT: 11 kW (15 hp) @ 5,500 rpm MAX POWER: .. 16 kW (22 hp) @ 4,500 rpm TORQUE: ................... 42 Nm from 0 rpm MAX MOTOR SPEED: ............. 6,600 rpm TRANSMISSION: .............................1 gear PRIMARY DRIVE: ............................... 1:2.4 FINAL DRIVE: ....................................12:40 COOLING SYSTEM: ...........Liquid-cooling BATTERY: Lithium-ion KTM power Pack RATED VOLTAGE: ........................... 260 V MAX VOLTAGE: ............................... 300 V CAPACITY: ............................... 2,600 Wh CHARGING TIME 100%: ..............80 min. CHARGING TIME 80%: ................50 min. CHARGING RATE: Quick charging 13 A, normal charging 10 A CHARGING POWER: ........ Quck charging 3,3000 W, normal charging 2,400 W FRAME: ........ Perimeter steel-aluminum composite frame SUBFRAME: .. High-tensile polyaminde/ ABS plastic FRONT SUSPENSION: WP USD 43mm FRONT WHEEL TRAVEL: ...............9.84 in. REAR SUSPENSION: ..... WP PDS shock absorber REAR WHEEL TRAVEL: ..................10.2 in. FRONT BRAKE: ...... Formula disc brake, 260mm REAR BRAKE: ......... Formula disc brake, 230mm FRONT WHEEL: ....................2.50 x 17 in. REAR WHEEL: .......................3.50 x 17 in. FRONT TIRE: ...................... 100/80-17 in. REAR TIRE: ............................... 120/17 in. STEERING HEAD ANGLE: .......67-degrees WHEELBASE: ................................55.8 in. GROUND CLEARANCE: ..................13.4 in. SEAT HEIGHT: ..............................35.8 in. WEIGHT W/O FUEL (approx.): ...238 lbs. Powered by electricity or not, the Freeride E-SM is fun to ride.