Just like their four-wheeled counterparts, electric bikes are slowly entering the market, giving riders a far more ’efficient’ alternative than the gas-guzzling road mongers they’ve come to know over the years.
With the direction steering clearly towards an electric future, BRD is looking to get its foot in the door first with the new RedShift electric motocross prototype. Built using a two-piece monocoque chassis partly painted in a blue finish and contrasted by an orange battery pack, the pre-production RedShift is looking at becoming a trailblazer in its own right.
Looking at the bike, it’s obvious that there wasn’t a whole lot of bells and whistles that went in building the bike. It’s not bare and bones, but it’s not decked with trinkets either. The relative simplicity of the bike results in a weight of just 250 lbs, which already includes a 5.2-kWh battery that, according to BRD, should be enough to go for at least 50 miles on the road. The battery can produce 40 horsepower and when combined with its svelte frame, it’s more than capable of giving its traditional gas-powered counterparts a serious run for their money.
For their part, BRD is still in the process of undertaking further testing for the RedShift and all things considered, the company is hoping to release a more complete version of the electric bike at the 68th EICMA in Milan, Italy this November.
But the groundwork has been done so that’s the good thing. Let’s just hope that these guys can fine-tune everything before their day in the spotlight later this year.
