Alta Motors Redshift

Rix

100 TW
Joined
Mar 29, 2012
Messages
10,095
Location
Fallon NV USA
Hello everyone, as some of you may know, I have recently acquired a 2019 Alta Motors Redshift EXR. Since posting a brief explanation about my experience with the bike on Stealth Ebikes and SurRon threads, I have received numerous request for a rider/owner review of the Alta Redshift EXR. At the concern of thread jacking the other threads, I felt it was appropriate to start a specific thread about the Alta here.
 

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Here's a review my friend did on the Redshift MXR. The battery is what's overheating, not the motor. It's not ready for track use.

[youtube]ZyYRK2hAU4E[/youtube]
 
Ride review:
As of this posting date, I have 4 rides on the Alta EXR. I will break down each ride, with the type of riding I was doing, and range traveled.

The first ride was done at Carol Summit in central Nevada. I traveled a total of 38 miles on this ride in the Map1 setting. (I will explain the Map settings later) It was really tight and technical terrain. Top speed in some sections was about 27MPH. I was either climbing or descending the whole time, and it took me right at about 2 hours to the turn around point (19 miles). At the end of this ride (turn around point) I had right at 50% of indicated battery charge left. Did a total of 38 miles, had just a bit of charge left. That said, the first 10 or 11 miles of the ride, were the steepest climbs and descents. Ironically I only used 10-15% of the battery at this stage. I believe this is because the bike is constantly regen breaking when not on the throttle.

Ride 2 was a mix of paved road and sand washes in Map2. I was going flat out hitting 60+ MPH in the sand washes, and 76MPH (Indicated top speed on the pavement. At about 20 miles into the ride, I had around 25% of charge remaining. I was 7 miles or so away from home. I got on the pavement, switched to Map1, and rode back to the house maintaining a speed of 40-45MPH. When I got back to the house, I had only used 1 bar on the battery indicator. I still had about 20% of charge remaining. This suggests that when cruising around 40MPH, the bike has a lot of range. Alta claims a 60 mile range for the EXR in city riding conditions. I believe this is an accurate statement if speeds are kept under 45MPH in Map1.

Ride 3 was intended for dialing in the suspension. Long story short, the WP suspension works very very well, is very very plush, balanced, and good for about a 160# A lever enduro racer. I will be having the shock and fork resprung for my weight and riding ability in the near future.

Ride 4 was experimenting with Map settings. All Alta bikes have 4 map settings which can be toggled through on the fly via a press switch on the left hand side of the handle bars.

Map1 is what Alta calls a traction control map. It will only allow for a little bit of wheel spin before the traction control is enabled. At least I believe this is whats going on. When I crack the throttle wide open in Map 1 on pavement, it takes off with very quick with authority, and I can just barely hear the rear wheel wanting to spin. The front end is light, but doesn't want to flip you over backwards. When I do this same action on dirt, the bike takes off slower, and surprisingly, there is not much wheel spin/traction braking. In the attached picture, the tracks on the left and right are in Map1. Very little wheel spin, the center track is Map2, lots of wheel spin.

Map2 is a way more aggressive map. This thing is fast. When whacking the throttle at speeds below 35MPH, the front wheel comes up and comes up quick. Quicker than my 09 XCF450 in 3rd gear. Map2 is my favorite map. I would be totally happy not having an more power than what Map2 has.

Map3 is like Map2, except there is even more power down low. I can use this map's potential for deep sand and hill climbing only. Its too much every where else I ride. Motocrossers will probably like this map. The kind of rider that can use this map is the kind of rider that can ride a 450MX bike wide open and use all of its potential. I am in no danger of being this rider.

Map4 is stupidly insane. It pulls harder from 40MPH than Map2 does from 30MPH. Lots and lots of wheel spin at lower speed on pavement and in the dirt. its actually harder to wheelie in map 4 than map 2 at lower speeds do to wheel spin. Again, I am not a pro rider and find Map4 to be way more than I need. Multiple test riders on the web have reported that in map 4, the EXR acceleration from 0-60MPH is on par with a 1000cc sport bike. Based on my experiences, I believe it is.
 

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flat tire said:
Here's a review my friend did on the Redshift MXR. The battery is what's overheating, not the motor. It's not ready for track use.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZyYRK2hAU4E

Thats interesting, I am on the Alta Owners Forum and have been talking with one of the guys who have take apart the battery. He is trying to improve the cooling. The pack he broke down was from a 2017 MX.
 
Sub'd! Holy heck now that is a real dirt bike...no 100cc stuff here. I have a friend who has ridden one at a test track but I have never seen it in person. Map settings sound very useful IMO

Range and top speed are excellent! Cannot complain except for the price i'm sure
 
Rix, may I quote your performance evaluation in an article? If yes, would you like it credited to your first name and city, or "Rix"? You can reply in a PM if you prefer.
 
spinningmagnets said:
Rix, may I quote your performance evaluation in an article? If yes, would you like it credited to your first name and city, or "Rix"? You can reply in a PM if you prefer.

Yah Spinner, you have my permission. Just refer to me as Rix from ES if that works.
 
skeetab5780 said:
Sub'd! Holy heck now that is a real dirt bike...no 100cc stuff here. I have a friend who has ridden one at a test track but I have never seen it in person. Map settings sound very useful IMO

Range and top speed are excellent! Cannot complain except for the price i'm sure

Believe me when I say this, my report doesn't convey just how gnarly this machine is. So as we all know, with the exception of controller programming, electric motors make max power taking off from stall. The motor on the EXR and MXR is rated for 42 pounds of torque, however, there is a 3.5:1 reduction gear drive, so the out put torque is up over 140 foot pounds. Your average 450 has way more than 50HP, but torque is right around 40-45 foot pounds. At low speeds when cracking the throttle wide open, this thing is unruly.
 
Hehe... "At the concern of thread jacking the other threads, I felt it was appropriate to start a specific thread about the Alta here."

Alt-Reality `Sphere first noticed Alta under their old BRD name back in August, 2011
BRD RedShift electric motorcycles:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=30441

The `Sphere getting so wide and deep... just linking here to old content. :wink:
 
Excellent observations, thank you for sharing. Sounds like I would be a map2 sort of rider. I'm considering one of them now :lol:


How loud is the electronic switching noise compared to the Sur Ron? Chain noise?
 
Rix said:
flat tire said:
Here's a review my friend did on the Redshift MXR. The battery is what's overheating, not the motor. It's not ready for track use.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZyYRK2hAU4E

Thats interesting, I am on the Alta Owners Forum and have been talking with one of the guys who have take apart the battery. He is trying to improve the cooling. The pack he broke down was from a 2017 MX.

Subcribed :D
Found the Alta Owners Forum and the thread with the opened battery ... pretty interesting ... I'm registering over there right now :mrgreen:
 
johnrobholmes said:
Excellent observations, thank you for sharing. Sounds like I would be a map2 sort of rider. I'm considering one of them now :lol:


How loud is the electronic switching noise compared to the Sur Ron? Chain noise?
Its about the same level of noise, just a lot higher pitch sound when speed increases. The motor reportedly spins up to 14000 RPM.
 
Rix said:
The motor on the EXR and MXR is rated for 42 pounds of torque, however, there is a 3.5:1 reduction gear drive, so the out put torque is up over 140 foot pounds. Your average 450 has way more than 50HP, but torque is right around 40-45 foot pounds. At low speeds when cracking the throttle wide open, this thing is unruly.

This is wrong. A 450's power goes thru gearing too. They put out similar torque to the wheels just not from zero RPM, and you have to work a clutch and shift which sucks and is slow. But, 450 race bikes are hardly slower than a MXR and getting ambitious with the power on one will show you to a dismount just as quickly.
 
flat tire said:
Here's a review my friend did on the Redshift MXR. The battery is what's overheating, not the motor. It's not ready for track use.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZyYRK2hAU4E

Hm traction control or artificial sound? Why not a led strip that light ups and show how fast wheel is spinning relatively to the ground speed of the bike? Magnetic odometer on the front wheel gets on color leds. Rear wheel gets another color. If the led lights does not sync up, you know the rear wheel is spinning and you got a visual conformation so you know when to let of the throttle. Might not be perfect, but sure beats artificial sound and a more active traction control.
 
Rix said:
When I got back to the house, I had only used 1 bar on the battery indicator. I still had about 20% of charge remaining.

Im confused.
Is there no "real time" Wh or Ah meter, or information readout, for battery status ?
For bikes of this sophistication , i would have thought something more than a "bar" indicator for battery would be standard...in addition to the usual "remaining range/duration" , etc type of info.
 
Hillhater said:
Rix said:
When I got back to the house, I had only used 1 bar on the battery indicator. I still had about 20% of charge remaining.

Im confused.
Is there no "real time" Wh or Ah meter, or information readout, for battery status ?
For bikes of this sophistication , i would have thought something more than a "bar" indicator for battery would be standard...in addition to the usual "remaining range/duration" , etc type of info.

No, there is only a battery meter that displaces state of charge. It doesn't have 1/5th of the options the Cycle Analyst does.
 
flat tire said:
Rix said:
The motor on the EXR and MXR is rated for 42 pounds of torque, however, there is a 3.5:1 reduction gear drive, so the out put torque is up over 140 foot pounds. Your average 450 has way more than 50HP, but torque is right around 40-45 foot pounds. At low speeds when cracking the throttle wide open, this thing is unruly.

This is wrong. A 450's power goes thru gearing too. They put out similar torque to the wheels just not from zero RPM, and you have to work a clutch and shift which sucks and is slow. But, 450 race bikes are hardly slower than a MXR and getting ambitious with the power on one will show you to a dismount just as quickly.

I think I miscommunicated my point. ICE engines don't make max power from Idle. They rev up to it. Conversely, the Alta hits hardest down low, and then signs off as RPMs increase. This is why you see the MXR getting passed on tracks by 450s. I am merely saying from low RPMs the MXR/EXR is much more brutal and violent. At least compared to my 09 XCF450.
 
LockH said:
Hehe... "At the concern of thread jacking the other threads, I felt it was appropriate to start a specific thread about the Alta here."

Alt-Reality `Sphere first noticed Alta under their old BRD name back in August, 2011
BRD RedShift electric motorcycles:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=30441

The `Sphere getting so wide and deep... just linking here to old content. :wink:

Thanks for the link, just read the thread.
 
Hillhater said:
Rix said:
When I got back to the house, I had only used 1 bar on the battery indicator. I still had about 20% of charge remaining.

Im confused.
Is there no "real time" Wh or Ah meter, or information readout, for battery status ?
For bikes of this sophistication , i would have thought something more than a "bar" indicator for battery would be standard...in addition to the usual "remaining range/duration" , etc type of info.
If you purchase a MX ICE bike. There is no gauges at all. And most dual sport Bikes still make you open the tank to see how much fuel you have left.
 
Thanks for the review, I will have a hard time not picking up one of these next year. How does it do on the pavement? If I were to ride say >50% on pavement, should I get the supermoto setup?
 
Routybouty said:
Thanks for the review, I will have a hard time not picking up one of these next year. How does it do on the pavement? If I were to ride say >50% on pavement, should I get the supermoto setup?

Unless you really want a supermoto set up, I would say no. There are tons of dual sport tire options for the wheel size on this bike, you will not have any problems finding a tire that will work for the dirt and road.

On another note, had a ride today after work. Did about 30 miles of dirt roads, sand, and pavement. Ran the battery completely down to one bar indicated, and it was flashing. I rode around the house a little. What I found interesting was my indicated top speed was the same with one bar as it is hot off the charger. And I still had full power in map 2. I may have more range than initially thought of.
 
These bikes kick ass I have ridden one and toured their factory. Big thumbs up.
 
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