Biktrix unveils new 2,300W full-suspension electric mountain bike with two chains
If you’ve been wanting to get your off-road e-biking thrills but think all the current eMTBs on the market are too weak with their paltry 750W motors, then Biktrix has just what you’re looking for. The new Biktrix Juggernaut FS XD is the full-suspension electric mountain bike equivalent of the hot-rodder’s hot rod.
Over 2,000 watts of power in an electric mountain bike is no joke, and Canadian electric bike maker Biktrix had to go back to the drawing board to make it happen.
The new e-bike required a custom-built mid-drive motor that was designed in-house by the Biktrix team. Instead of a massive and clunky rear wheel motor to get there, the mid-drive motor built by the company keeps the bike more balanced and allows riders to preserve the type of handling expected from a mountain bike.
And as you can imagine, having nearly 10x the amount of power produced by a human could wreak havoc on traditional bike parts like chains and sprockets, so Biktrix had to get custom there, too. The company designed a second drivetrain just for the motor power, feeding the rear wheel through a higher spec chain and sprocket set on the left side of the bike.
As the company explained:
“The innovative Coaxial-Drive motor provides all the handling and weight distribution benefits that come with a mid-drive motor. But with all this power you need a drivetrain to handle it! The Juggernaut XD features a motor side drivetrain designed specifically to handle the power this motor puts out to keep this bike even more reliable than your average mid-drive motor.”
Of course a big motor means that you’d better have a big battery as well, otherwise that fun ride is going to get cut short. Supplying the Juggernaut FS XD’s motor is a 52V 17Ah battery with 910 Wh of capacity.
The company reports an estimated range of 40 miles (64 km) from the battery, though full-power riding that makes full use of the 2,300W motor is sure to drop that range.
The range estimate likely comes from using pedal assist, though there’s a throttle too for peak fun. Riders who can resist relying purely on the throttle will find that the torque sensor pedal assist is designed to be as intuitive and responsive as possible, feeling more like a true mountain bike when you pedal it than a light dirt bike.
And it’s no surprise that a bike built with this much power also comes with heavy-duty components. The wheels feature 15mm and 12mm thru axle hubs in the front and rear, respectively. The brakes use dual-piston hydraulic calipers with 180mm and 220mm rotors. The transmission is a SRAM NX 11-speed. And the tire sizes come in three larger-than-life options of 26×4″, 27.5×3″, 26×4.8″.
To top it all off, the suspension features a Rockshox Monarch Rl rear shock with 51 mm of travel as well as five different fork options depending on how serious you want to get with your riding. The fork options include:
- Biktrix Inverted Air Fork with 100mm travel
- Manitou Mastadon Comp with 100mm travel
- Wren Inverted Air Fork with 110 mm travel
- Wren Inverted Air Fork with 150 mm travel
- Wren Inverted Air Fork with 110 mm travel, lockout and preload
Considering the bike’s weight is listed at 71.9 lb (32.6 kg) before the battery is inserted, those suspension options (and likely the powerful hydraulic disc brakes) are going to be well-appreciated components indeed.
The Biktrix Juggernaut FS XD carries an MSRP of US $5,999, but there are some serious savings to be had. The bike is rolling out with a $1,000 off sale as part of the launch, and anyone who puts down a $100 pre-order deposit gets another $500 discount on top of that.
For an all-in price of $4,499, the picture is looking pretty darn rosy for such a powerful and high-spec e-bike. Just remember that with this much power comes some serious responsibility, which includes riding only where permitted and being courteous to other trail users.
Electrek’s Take
Alright, so this bike is pretty ridiculous, but in all the best ways. I mentioned the issue of being courteous of other trail users, but with this much power and suspension, you can leave the trails behind and chart your own overlanding course.
I’ve had a lot of experience with different Biktrix e-bike models over the years and have always been impressed with the company. They take pride in building e-bikes that aren’t just cookie-cutter white-labeled models chosen from an OEM’s catalog.
That means they cost a bit more, but you’re paying for the innovation. That motor certainly wasn’t cheap to develop, nor was the dual drivetrain.
Some people will probably say “just get a Sur Ron or dirt bike for that price”, but I’d argue they’re missing the point. This is still an electric mountain bike, and it still rides like one – albeit a bit heavier than most riders will be accustomed to. Just because it has 2,300W of power doesn’t mean you always need to ride it in full power mode. You can crank the power up to climb a mountain, then drop it back down to get a nice workout on the trails at the top. Most minivans can get up to 100 mph, but they rarely do. People like knowing they have the performance, even if they keep it to much lower levels most of the time. I see the Biktrix Juggernaut FS XD through a similar lens. It has the power and performance to take you places other e-bikes couldn’t, but you can always drop the power back down and ride it like an eMTB. That’s just not possible with a dirt bike or Sur Ron.
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Workers transport soil containing rare earth elements for export at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China.
China Stringer Network | Reuters
Like the U.S., Europe is also feeling the pressure to keep China sweet in order to maintain supplies of rare earth elements, which are vital for its strategic industries in the region such as auto production, green energy and defense.
Europe is heavily dependent on China for supplies of the world’s 17 rare earth elements and has been looking to calm stormy waters with Beijing over supplies, while looking for alternative sources of critical minerals — including in its own back yard.
That’s a long process, however, and for now, Europe is as vulnerable as other major consumers of rare earths, and particularly the U.S., when it comes to Beijing’s ability to turn the tap off on supplies.
Officials from Germany and the Netherlands are in Beijing this week for talks with their Chinese counterparts on China’s controls on rare earths exports and semiconductor chips which have made European industries vulnerable to global supply chain disruptions.
China dominates the rare earths market from mining to refining, with data from the International Energy Agency showing that, in 2024, China was responsible for 59% of the world’s rare earths mining, 91% of its refining and 94% of the manufacuring of permanent magnets which are commonly used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, industrial motors, data centers and defense systems.
As the world’s single largest supplier of a component that’s critical to so much manufacturing, China’s dominance has made “global supply chains in strategic sectors – such as energy, automotive, defense and AI data centres – vulnerable to potential disruptions,” the IEA noted.
That potential for disruption came to the fore this year when, in April and October, Beijing announced licensing requirements, and later export controls, on its rare earth supplies and technologies.
Those controls were suspended for a year as a result of a trade truce reached in October between China and the U.S. reached but major rare earth importers such as the U.S. and EU, which imports around 70% of rare earth supplies — and almost all of its rare earth magnets — from China, are all too aware of its vulnerabilities to geopolitical disruptions.
Barriers to diversification
Last month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the bloc was launching the “RESourceEU” plan aimed at reducing reliance on critical raw materials from China “in the short, medium and long term.” She said the bloc could do this by recycling existing raw materials, such as those in batteries, and by joint purchasing to stockpiling.
Von der Leyen also said the EU would boost investment in strategic projects “for the production and processing of critical raw materials here in Europe,” and would speed up work on critical raw materials partnerships with countries like Ukraine, Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Chile and Greenland.
“The world we face today rewards speed, not hesitation, because today’s world is unforgiving. And the global economy is completely different than it was even a few years ago. Europe cannot do things the same way anymore. We learned this lesson painfully with energy; we will not repeat it with critical materials,” she said, referencing the bloc’s reliance, before the Ukraine war, on Russian oil and gas.
Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, told CNBC Monday that the bloc was working to diversify its rare earth supplies but that this would take time.
“I would say there is some positive news, so China has suspended now for 12 months those additional export controls, which were announced in October, which gives us some time. But I also would say it emphasizes the need for the EU to diversify its rare earth and critical minerals supplies, because of many on those rare earths, we are depending more than 90% on China’s supplies,” Dombrovskis said.
Necessity the mother of invention?
Europe itself has reserves of rare earth materials with deposits found in Turkey, Sweden and Norway but the problem is that it doesn’t have the operations to mine those materials, let alone refine and process them — unlike China, which has decades of experience, investment and infrastructure that has fueled its global processing dominance.
Europe is also more encumbered with long approval processes and environmental standards when it comes to mining, meaning any regional plans to develop those rare earth deposits could take years. Public opposition is also a factor that has not shackled China.
A view of the NEO magnetic plant in Narva, a city in northeastern Estonia. A plant producing rare-earth magnets for Europe’s electric vehicle and wind-energy sectors.
Xinhua News Agency | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images
The need to diversify from China quickly could cause officials to lower those barriers, however and there are already signs of action, with Europe’s first rare earth magnet production plant being opened in Estonia in September. Backed by funding from both Canada and the EU, the plant’s raw materials are coming from Australia and Malaysia.
“There’s probably a lot more deposits in Europe but … there are barriers to bringing that online,” Willis Thomas, principal consultant at CRU Group, told CNBC.
“But if we’re getting into a world where risks are being realized on trade tensions, I think that that will continue to push everyone to build out the supply chain and a bit more resilience on it, but it does take some time, and there’s limited expertise.”
What’s also worrying for Europe is that being unable to control the sources and supply of raw materials could mean that its technological and green ambitions suffer.
“Europe’s race towards net zero and digital leadership depend on materials it does not control,” Hamed Ghiaie, professor of Economics and Public Policy at ESCP Europe, and Filippo Gorelli, an analyst at Nexans, said in analysis for the World Economic Forum.
“For decades, Europe treated raw materials as a commodity issue, rather than a strategic one. That complacency is becoming costly,” they added.
“What is at stake is climate targets and economic resilience. Shortages of rare earths, gallium or germanium could slow semiconductor fabrication, AI development and even wind-power installation. In short, Europe cannot build a green or digital future on supply chains it doesn’t control,” they concluded.
Aviation startup Electra made history last month when its EL2 became the first hybrid-electric Ultra Short Take-off and Landing (uSTOL) aircraft to successfully complete helicopter-like take-offs and landings at the Watertown International Airport.
Founded to provide affordable air travel without airports, emissions, or noise, Electra’s stated goal was to build an aircraft that could deliver on the promises of eVTOL aircraft at a significantly reduced cost compared to its more drone-like competitors. In that context, the demonstration at Watertown isn’t a publicity stunt, but part of concerted effort to validate Electra’s uSTOL performance under real-world conditions at a commercial airport — exactly the kind of place that regional operators, cargo carriers, and emergency responders actually fly in and out of.
Hitting those marks now will help Electra clear a path for FAA certification and prove that the company can deliver on the $9 billion worth of promises its made (so far).
“Electra is grateful to the team at Watertown International Airport for enabling this demonstration of the EL2’s Ultra Short capabilities in an off-runway capacity,” explains Tom Carto, director of market development at Electra. “Our Ultra Short aircraft will offer the potential to increase the use of general aviation airports and expand the capacity of larger hubs by enabling takeoffs and landings on ramps and taxiways instead of runways, feeding in regional connections without adding to runway congestion. These transformative and practical capabilities will open the door to Direct Aviation and point-to-point connections in a way that will make it easier for people to get from the where they are to where they want to go.”
The EL2’s innovative “blown lift” design features eight electric motors on the plane’s wings, enabling take-off and landing in as little as 150 feet.
Electra says the final version of its aircraft will be able operate from airfields as small as 300 x 100 ft (90 x 30 m), or about one-tenth the length of a standard airport runway. That means that, even if these eSTOL aircraft don’t open up quite as many spaces for air travel as eVTOLs, do, they’ll still be extremely flexible – and more than capable of operating from the roofs of many existing buildings and parking structures.
Obviously
And, of course, the Air Force wants one.
NOTE: in response to some of the comments, I want to point out that the Electra is capable of sustained, electric-only powered flight and uses the genset for remote operations/extended range. I should have made that clearer. This is arguably more EREV than EV.
SOURCES | IMAGES: Electra; via Oswego County Business.
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The US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) closed a $1 billion loan to restart Three Mile Island Unit 1, a nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island in Londonderry Township, Pennsylvania.
The money is being loaned to Constellation Energy Generation, which is renaming the 835 megawatt (MW) Three Mile Island Unit 1 the Crane Clean Energy Center. Constellation said in September 2024 that it would restart the reactor under a power purchase agreement with Microsoft, which needs more clean power to feed its growing data-center demand.
The project is estimated to cost around $1.6 billion, and the DOE says the project will create around 600 jobs. The reactor is expected to start generating power again in 2027.
Three Mile Island Unit 1 (in the foreground in the photo above) went offline in 2019 because it could no longer compete with cheaper natural gas, but it wasn’t decommissioned. It’s capable of powering the equivalent of approximately 800,000 homes. It’s on the same site as the Unit 2 reactor (in the background in the photo above) that went into partial nuclear meltdown in 1979, and is known as the worst commercial nuclear accident in US history.
When asked about the loan’s timing, Greg Beard, senior adviser to the Loan Programs Office, told reporters on a call that it would “lower the cost of capital and make power cheaper for those PJM [Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland] ratepayers.” Data centers are driving up electricity costs for consumers.
Read more: DOE props up dying coal with $625M days after Wright mocks clean energy subsidies
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