Scramblers are big these days, at least in the custom scene. Electric motorcycles aren’t quite mainstream yet, but they’re headed in that direction. So, what if you want an electric scrambler?
If you’re Australian-based custom shop Purpose Built Moto, you start a spin-off company called Grid Cycles and build what you want, since you really can’t buy an electric scrambler from a major battery bike manufacturer yet.
What they’ve come up with is the awkwardly-named KTM Electric Motorcycle Scrambler. It’s based on a KTM Freeride E-XC. You don’t see many of these all-electric dirt bikes in the real world, but they’ve been part of the KTM lineup for some time now.
Purpose Built Moto liked the idea of working with a modern machine, but they did not like the Katoom’s looks. So, they gave it a good dash of retro flair. The battery cover’s gone, replaced with a hollowed-out replica of a Yamaha XT500 gas tank. Flip it up, and you can recharge your battery bike. Flip it down, and you’re riding off in groovy ’70s style (bell bottoms not included).
Elsewhere, the bike gets a stripey paint job, a hacked-up subframe to mount the new straight seat (and also a surfboard, if you want to catch some waves), and replacement LED lighting. The running gear is unchanged, and so is the battery/motor. The builders wanted to make these bikes easy to recreate, in case orders start piling up.
This bike is limited to an 80 km/h top speed, but it sure looks like a gas … or, uh, maybe that’s not a good way to describe it, since it runs on batteries. Either way, you can find some more photos and details on the machine at the Purpose Built Moto website. No doubt you can order one, if you called them up, but it will be super-pricey and no doubt the trans-oceanic shipping would be a nightmare.
