![]() ![]() Side-to-side control through the footpegs is excellent and since the chassis is pretty roomy you can get all over the bike. Going hard on the rear we felt some chassis flex that might be from the centrally attached swingarm pivot but hard riding on a motocross track or more pounding whoops is needed to see if there are downsides to this. ![]() The front is planted in turns but with the power you can lighten it up easily if you want. If the Redshift weighed 220 pounds there would be nothing like it. That’s a characteristic of a very expensive works motocross bike. The chassis character is is balanced and one sensation that is worth noting is that as you start spinning up the motor, the chassis stays light. The front fork also topped out easily rebounding from big bumps. Bottoming resistance was great and we were told a high oil level in the fork really helped this. In the bumps there is enough hold up so the bike does not wallow too much but it does rebound too fast, and our adjusters were maxed out. Its suspension settings are plush and planted with a lot of stroke movement to absorb the little stuff. In fact we rode 450cc bikes on the same trail the following day and both riders felt the Redshift MX felt easily 30 pounds lighter on the trail. The handling is very light and not indicative of what the scale tells us. The battery is a claimed 70-pounds of the overall weight and it is very stationary. The Redshift has a few spinning items but they are small in comparison. With a weight that is more attune to a 450cc machine you have to realize that there is very little of that mass spinning, likely 20-30 pounds of spinning things like flywheels, clutches, gears and shafts. ![]() Alta makes good use of the WP suspension components and even has the 4CS forks working as good as they could. The chassis does nothing funny and in fact acts more like a well designed off-road bike than we ever expected. It’s 264 pound weight is heavier than it looks but it rides much lighter than that. A rider will learn to use the throttle differently and we will explain that in more detail later. Most of the time it is saving you from a sudden burst of torque that will surprise (or scare) the rider. The throttle response varies depending on the different (of four) maps you are in with traction control-like features programmed into the power controller needed to make the bike rideable. More sudden if you ask us and very quick feeling in a very quiet way. The bike has the power of a 250F but it is different. Maybe that 250F-like performance could be a reality? It was going to take a riding impression to really figure it out and Alta was not afraid, even insisting we take the Redshift MX off-road, away from plugs and generators to see what ti is really all about. They picked showcase events like Endurocross and Red Bull Straight Rhythm to compete with the bike against gas burning machines, head-to-head with pretty astonishing results. Yet Alta did a few things right on the marketing side. In those times, just a few years ago, this Redshift was still concept and clay modeling, computer modeled expectations. I dismissed it based on some other electric motorcycle manufacturer’s claims that were as lofty in the areas of performance and battery life, all met with about 50% of expectations. I remember the first glimpses I saw of this bike, the Redshift MX with claims of 250F-like or better performance. And if Alta Motors has anything to say about it, they see a very electric future for motorcycles and they seem to want it now. ![]()
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