HIGH VOLTAGE ON THE TRAILS

Electric dirt bikes aren’t simply changing the riding landscape of off-road recreation, they’re also an apparent solution to several government relations problems for the off-road riding community.

The lack of an internal combustion engine and exhaust system fully address two of the problems anti-OHV groups cite most often when arguing against motorized vehicles on public trails: sound and pollution, said AMA Western States Representative Nick Haris.

With no gasoline burning inside engine cylinders to make power and no exhaust system emitting the resulting sound, electric motorcycles make very little noise and generate no point-source emissions.

“It is interesting that anti-motorized groups’ two biggest talking points, sound and emissions, are all but nullified by these vehicles. But at the end of the day those reasons were, in most cases, simply a convenient means to an end,” Haris cautioned, because many anti-access groups are against any type of motorized vehicles.

The lack of exhaust notes and emissions may do more than help with advocacy in the traditional government relations arenas. They also could open up areas to OHV use that would have been difficult or impossible to open in the past.

Think about urban OHV parks, which the AMA has advocated for in cities across the nation.

Opponents of such parks will have fewer reasons to oppose their creation.

“I do think it would be interesting if a truly electric-only park was proposed for an area where traditional OHV use would simply not be feasible,” Haris said.

OHV parks have been proposed for Philadelphia, Cleveland, San Diego, Baltimore and other large cities to help alleviate the illegal riding of dirt bikes and ATVs on city streets and in public parks.

Trail funding affected

Though electric dirt bikes solve some problems, they challenge the current funding scheme for public trails.

Much of the funding for trail maintenance and development comes from fuel taxes, including money channeled to states through the federal Recreational Trails Program.

Electric motorcycles do not use gasoline, which means another method of generating contributions toward trail construction and maintenance will need to be identified and tapped.

There’s also a chance that the quiet and pollution-free attributes of electric dirt bikes could work against the use of gasoline-powered dirt bikes.

Haris said public land managers or government bodies could begin adopting ordinances that would effectively ban the use of internal-combustion engine-equipped dirt bikes to force OHV riders to begin using electric motorcycles.

“A managing agency could implement a sound ordinance or similar restriction that only an electric vehicle can meet,” he said.

Increasingly, electric bikes are changing the future of motorcycling, offering a very different riding experience and challenging the administrative status quo. And the AMA will continue working for responsible recreational access to public lands for off-highway vehicles.

Electric bikes appear to be part of the future of motorcycling, offering riders a very different riding experience and challenging the administrative status quo. And the AMA will continue working for responsible recreational access to public lands for off-highway vehicles.