The Adventure Life with Steve Casimiro Fly Wheels: Ode to the electric dirt bike

In this post-Prius world, plug-in vehicles promise to be the next big thing. But unless you’re willing to drop $100K on a Tesla or wait another year for the Chevy Volt, options are scarce. Hence my excitement when I discovered the Zero X electric dirt bike: It runs on lithium-ion batteries (recyclable and nontoxic), recharges in two hours, tops out at 55 mph—and is nearly silent. Zipping around a dirt lot, I heard nothing but breeze and tires rolling. The acceleration was startling—zero to 30 mph in under two seconds—but at 151 pounds, the aluminum rig was as easy to control as my mountain bike. For environmentalists, motocross bikes rank alongside snowmobiles and ATVs (loud, polluting instruments of reckless behavior), but the Zero X makes a guilt-free alternative to the gas-guzzlers we too often use to reach the trailhead or crag. Soon Zero will sell a street version, then a street-dirt dual-sport. Electric transport isn’t just for tree hugger wish lists. It’s here, now.