CFMoto’s Electric Motocrossers

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CFMoto has already been working on electric motorcycles, but a pair of new youth MX models make a lot of sense. (CFMoto/)

Despite the vast efforts being poured into electric-bike development across the globe, there are still huge hurdles to overcome before mainstream riders are persuaded to give up their gas-powered bikes for day-to-day duties. But if there’s one area where electric power makes sense, it’s for off-road competition—particularly in the lower-performance end of that market. That appears to be where CFMoto is heading after it filed detailed design registrations for a duo of battery-powered miniature motocrossers.

The logic behind electric motocross bikes is simple. They don’t need to cover huge distances between charges, and if the batteries do die, then at worst you’ll have a short push back to the pits. More importantly, perhaps, they’re virtually silent and of course emissions-free, opening the door to tracks being built in areas where noise complaints would preclude the use of gas-powered machines, and even allowing indoor use.

KTM’s SX-E 5 is a larger-wheel electric motocross model. (KTM /)

There are already plenty of electric kids’ MXers on the market and big brands are taking note. KTM, for instance, has the SX-E 3 and SX-E 5 in its range, as well as the even smaller SX-E 1.12 and SX-E 1.16 balance bikes for younger kids. Triumph is in there, too, as last year it bought the Oset brand that makes small electric MXers and trials bikes. Triumph, remember, is launching its own range of gas-powered motocross and enduro bikes in the coming months.

Oset was recently purchased by Triumph. (Triumph Motorcycles/)

CFMoto might have close ties to KTM, building the Austrian company’s parallel-twin models in China as a part owner of the CFMoto-KTMR2R joint venture, but the bikes in its design registrations don’t appear to share anything with the KTM SX-E models. They’re more futuristic-looking bikes with bodywork designed to suit their electric propulsion rather than simply copying the designs used on internal combustion–powered motocrossers.

The $2,950 Greenger Honda CRF-E2 is an officially licensed electric dirt bike sold exclusively at US Honda dealers. (Jeff Allen/)

Both appear to share the same motor and battery arrangement but with different-size frames and wheels. The smaller model is similar in proportions to KTM’s SX-E 3, with 10-inch wheels front and rear. A conventional equivalent would be something like Yamaha’s TT-R50E or Suzuki DR-Z50, although the CFMoto is a higher-spec machine with disc brakes front and rear.

CFMoto’s smaller-wheeled model has 10-inch wheels front and rear and would be a direct competitor for KTM’s SX-E 3. (CFMoto/)

The larger CFMoto features a bigger frame along with a longer fork and a stretched swingarm. Its wheels are bigger, appearing to be 14 inches at the front and 12 inches at the rear—making a machine with similar proportions to the Yamaha YZ65. That makes it bigger than even the larger of KTM’s electric mini-crossers, the SX-E 5. While the electric motor appears to be the same as the one used in the smaller design, it’s likely to be developing more power to suit the bike’s larger dimensions and the older riders that it targets.

Interestingly, the designs have emerged via the European Union Intellectual Property Office, not from China—perhaps a clue as to the market they’re targeting. They were filed alongside the styling for the recently launched XO Papio, so if both projects have been running roughly in parallel, then the electric models should be ripe for launch any time now.

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