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If you’re wondering what happened to Part 1 of this Tri-Duro mini series, the link is at the bottom of this post. Now, here’s a definition (mine to be specific) of my new term, Tri-Duro; A motorcycle that is a hybrid of both a trials bike and an enduro bike. It can also be referred to as the name of a motorcycle event. Add a twist to this new term by adding a small ‘e’ at the front of it and it makes it electric. Easy huh? Actually, the international governing body of motorcycle sport, the FIM, has already introduced a world championship series which fits my definition, although they’ve called it the ‘e-Xplorer World Cup’ and this year it has 6 rounds, in 6 different countries, and with some big brands and names participating in it (see link at bottom of post).
Getting back to my point, you may have read the posts I’ve done of my recent foray into trials on an electric bike, an ‘Electric Motion 2022 EPURE Race’ to give it its full and very long title. After 7 months of ownership, I’ve had a lot of learning from both the way trials works as a sport, an amazing community, and crucially, how to control (or really not, in some instances) an electric trials bike. You may know that Electric Motion (EM) do a version of my EPURE Race trials bike in an enduro/trail specification called the Escape, and I wondered what the difference was apart from the bodywork, and a bigger battery. As it turns out, that’s about the main difference, so I asked Matthew Alpe, ‘Le Chef’ at Inch Perfect Trials (IPT) here in the UK, the question about fitting the Escape bodywork to my EM trials bike to make it a bit ‘eTri-Duro’.
It turns out I’m not the only one asking this question either, because as Matthew confirmed, EM do actually supply the Escape body kit as an option to fit the trials bike, and even have a video on their site to show how to fit it, which is quick and easy (link at bottom of page). This means that with a bit more financial outlay🙄, I can have two bikes in one😀, which fit my ‘eTri-Duro’ term😀, and my desire to ride the same bike, slightly differently🤩. The body kit is not cheap at nearly £600/$750/€680, but it does change the bike for a different use, so in my financial logic🤔, I potentially save the cost of another bike by adding this kit 👏. I’m sure that if you have an Escape and want the trials bodywork, that’s possible too.
To fit the EM Escape bodykit, you basically need everything in the picture below. Bizarrely, the kit doesn’t come with any graphics unless a complete Escape graphics kit is bought, and a full graphics kit adds another big chunk of cash to the total. I’m not the person who likes to have a non-stickered-up bike, although some might like the completely black, no graphics bike. From a marketing perspective, I think EM are missing a big trick here by allowing their bikes with this option kit fitted, to be ridden around without their graphics, or any graphics, or worse still, another company’s graphics! I spoke to Matthew At IPT about this and he saw the gap as well, and came to the rescue with a combined 2022 Escape bodykit and graphics deal for me🙏.
You’ll see from the photos below how the bike changes with a few bolts and a different body kit. As my bike is road registered, this Escape kit provides a more normal moto riding position to the trials bike, so it even makes a quick run to the Post Office in the next village easy, and fun as well. I haven’t got the bigger Escape battery, but I do have the regenerative brake, which is great, so whilst being prudent with the battery power, I can still have some off-road fun and have range.
I don’t know how many of these body kits EM have sold, because I do think it’s a competitive advantage. How many manufacturers can you think of that do the same bike in a full trials or escape-explore option? I’ve also never seen anyone post anything about doing the conversion either, but I can’t be the only one. It only takes 15 minutes to go from trials to Escape specification and back to trials spec’ again, so it’s a well designed option and really broadens the fun that can be had on this bike. As I’ve embraced this new electric moto thing, and as my EM is now much more of a flexible bike to own, I’ve decided to sell my other Tri-Duro, the trusty 1978 Bultaco😢, as I don’t need two of them, so the whole electric moto experience has turned out to be a bit more revolution than evolution for me.
Interestingly, one of the few countries in the world which banned motorsport for safety, noise, pollution, environment etc etc, Switzerland, is actually hosting one of the races in the new FIM e-Xplorer World Cup, so the electric moto movement is being embraced in places where the petrol powered one hasn’t been, so that’s a good thing in my book! Just for the record, I won’t be entering any of the FIM World Cup races on my ‘EM eTri-Duro’ bike as I personally have a big talent/capability gap to bridge😬. However, I will be watching the progress of this new series and as Electric Motion is one of the participating brands, I’m keen to see how they do against the other electric bikes.
The next post in this emerging mini-series will be about how I’m putting this “Electric Motion 2022 EPURE Race/Escape eTri-Duro two-in-one” (Phew!!! That’s a mouthful) bike to good use. Maybe I’ll find a weekend with separate off-road events on the Saturday and Sunday that requires me to use a different body kit on each day🤔……
Link to the first Tri-Duro post: https://diaryofamotorcyclingnobody.com/tri-duro-not-just-another-crap-marketing-term/“
Link to the FIM e-xplorer World Cup: https://www.fimexplorer.com
Link to the EM bodywork change video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FHb5_3-L8A&list=PLEIXYOkyqT_y-qraMcgVn9IZUs6GplX01&index=3
Link to Inch Perfect Trials: https://inchperfecttrials.co.uk
All photos by the Author
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