Electrek Review: Sur-Ron is a monster electric bike with 50 miles of range and insane top speed

Electric bikes are not here just to help you get up some steep hills anymore. Electric motors are making their way in all segments of bicycles, scooters, and motorcycles.

The Sur-Ron lives in between those segments as a monster ebike with 50 miles of range and an insane 50 mph top speed.

Calling the Sur Ron an “electric bike” is pushing it, you could call it an electric motorbike or at the very least, an electric dirt bike or moped.

Officially, you couldn’t really pass it as an electric bike in most markets with power limitations since the electric motor of the Sur Ron is rated at about 6 kW.

It is also not really a motorcycle in terms of performance with about 50 miles (80 km) of range and a top speed of about 50 mph (80 km/h). You would also need some mods, like brake lights and mirrors, to make it legal.

Therefore, the vehicle is sold as an off-road ebike and a crazy one at that.

The Sur-Ron is built on a custom aluminum dirt bike frame that weighs in at about 110 lbs (50 kg). It is quite heavy for an electric bike – but fairly light for a dirt bike.

They didn’t use any body panel on the actual frame and instead, the entire powertrain is exposed and makes the bike look like a more rugged vehicle.

I found the bike to be especially well-designed around the battery pack and the electric motor:

The battery pack is made of 176 Panasonic 18650 battery cells (60v 32ah) – similar to the cells found in Tesla’s Model S and Model X battery packs.

It adds up to about 2 kWh of energy capacity, which Sur Ron claims can enable up to 50 miles (80 km) of range on a single charge.

We haven’t tested it by trying to deplete the battery completely from a full charge, but it sounds about right after having pushed the bike pretty hard for a few hours on occasion.

Of course, it all depends on how hard you are pushing this bike and on what kind of terrain you are riding, but no matter how crazy you get with it, you should be able to get a few hours of fun before you need a charge, which can be fully done in about 3 hours with the supplied 10 amp 60v charger.

As for the suspension, it is surprisingly smooth for a $3,500 (starting price) bike. It is equipped with a Killah RST Fork and huge shock with 8-inch of travel in the back.

You add to that to the full-size motorbike tire and the result is a very solid vehicle that connects you to the road off-road.

The throttle response is on point and you can feel all that instant torque pushing you forward with that futuristic electric motor whining sound, which makes the ride extremely exciting.

If you want something more relaxed, you can put the bike in ‘eco mode’, which limits the power output to 3 kW, and you are able to handle most terrain without worrying about the bike getting away from you.

But if you are looking to have some excitement, I recommend keeping the bike on sports mode, which takes full advantage of the 6 kW electric motor and launches you forward aggressively.

I have so far mostly ridden the Sur Ron on dirt roads (see video below), but I have also briefly taken it on rougher off-road terrain up hills and I have yet to run into a situation where it had difficulties handling.

This is not a review unit. I bought the bike myself so I am going to do tougher off-road riding and come back with a more thorough long-term review in the future.

But for now, I am really impressed by the Sur Ron. It’s a great value for the price.

That said, it is very much an off-road vehicle as you would have issues making it road legal as a moped – though it wouldn’t be impossible in some markets.

It’s the first electric bike that I think will make an important impact in the market for 50cc off-road bikes. It’s also a very simple and powerful design that I believe will find a lot of fans with tinkerers who will enjoy modding this machine. I can see a community being built around it.

Here’s a quick video review:

Sur Ron is made in China it is just now making its way to North America through a partnership with California-based Luna Cycles.

As a side note, I must say that I had all the difficulties in the world taking delivery of the bike through FedEX Freight, which is the company they used to ship the bike to Canada. To be fair, Luna did make it right by reimbursing me the shipping cost, which was included in the price of the bike, but I advised them to review their shipping process and freight company.