I drank the Kool-Aid. It was the ‘electric dirt bike’ flavor, and was fed to me during a recent press ride in rural Texas. I’d always been e-bike curious, and had had the chance to ride a few over the years. But the dirt bike variety always seemed to be too sour—needed that whole cup of sugar, not just half.
The Zero XE that I rode outside of Austin, Texas, was just that. Save for some necessary suspension upgrades and a better set of tires, the bike was an absolute blast to ride, every bit as fun as my Italian two-stroke, only without the sound. That press ride got me wondering, though… How do we convert the electric scooter-riding kids you see streaming out of the local high school into off-road riders?
Say hello to SSR Motorsports, a Santa Fe Springs-based brand that was founded in 2002 by a father and son team of William and Jeff Li, with the intention of offering imported, inexpensive off-road pit bikes.
