While I was the only EM rider at the Stanthorpe Championships this year, riding my original 2014 EM 5.7, the future of electric powered machines in Trials is looking very encouraging. With many children now having thier first Trials experiences worldwide on electric bikes, the generational shift has allready begun. I am in touch with many of the EM riders in Australia, all of which are enjoying free-riding/Trials at every opportunity, some of them also ride in Trial competition- Dean Nuttall (VIC), Grant Paisley (NSW), Thomas Schnauffer (NSW) and Jeff Brown (QLD). Please, do not give us a hard time about not been able to 'stall' our bikes. You can always get a starter motor fitted to your antiquated petrol bikes if you think it is not fair.
The Stanthorpe event was very well received by most who attended, the riders enjoyed our interpretation of the amazing granite obstacles into Trials sections. We endeavoured to make the sections 'fair' ie no 'sneaky cheat lines', so that all riders were fairly judged for thier riding performances. With many experienced observers (thank-you all) from the Trials community we had next to no problems during the weekend. I would like to thank all involved in running the event, a postive-minded group headed by Andrew Stacey. Justin Gough also showed great leadership skills during the events formation.
I am very happy with finishing second in Masters to Toby Coleman at Stanthorpe, my new motivation in recent years has been to show that the electric vehicles can 'cut the mustard' against 'normal' petrol bikes. I have started and finished every event I have attended on my EM 5.7 which shows how good the batteries are. I have not purchased petrol in over two years, along with all the other consumables associated. This bike was used and charged weekly by me, it now moves on to it's new owner Aliki Whitfield, an early adopter of this impressive technology who finds the EM 'easy to ride'.
The Electric Vehicle future- while Australia has the worlds highest per capita rate of solar PV usage, we rank 110th in the world with our emission reduction targets. Australian government can help a lot by changing some policy settings to encourage the uptake of Electric Vehicles and renewable energy. Spain (the home of Trials) has set thier renewable energy target to be 100% by 2030. India, among other countries plan to have an all-electric transport future. With the fossil fuel companies motivated solely by profit making, expect them to behave like the pro-tobacco lobby.
I like EV's 'cause they got nice smooth torque, be it a motor car or bike. They perform their task well and they are cheap to run. Then, on top of that they are zero emisson and quiet. These Electric Motion bikes produced in France are a small part of a much bigger and positive picture for our collective future. Switch-on.
Richard Kent