Graham Jarvis on Racing Electric Dirt Bikes in Hard Enduro

In episode 8 of The eMoto Show, we sit down with hard enduro legend Graham Jarvis to talk about something we didn’t see coming this fast - his full transition into electric dirt bikes.

Graham breaks down how the Jarvis electric project came together, why he saw the potential years ago, and what finally made the timing right. We get into what it actually feels like to ride at the highest level without a clutch, how quickly the bike has developed, and why he believes electric isn’t just viable for hard enduro—it might be better in a lot of situations.

We also dive into racing, including competing in FIM events alongside gas bikes, battery strategy, real-world range, and what it’s going to take for electric to fully break into the sport. On top of that, Graham shares how his riding style, training, and coaching approach are evolving with this new platform.

If you’ve been wondering where electric dirt bikes actually fit in hard enduro—or if they can compete at the highest level—this is one you don’t want to miss.

Follow along with Graham and the Jarvis project as development continues and racing ramps up.

Transcript

unknown 0:00

Uh oh.

SPEAKER_02 0:07

Well, cool. We'll dive right into it. Um yeah, Graham Jarvis, legend. Uh thanks for for coming on. Appreciate your time. And uh yeah, just truthfully excited to see you come out of nowhere in the electric space from our perspective. Uh how did that all come to be? Like how did you link these dots and where did the uh Jarv come from? Because we got blindsided.

SPEAKER_03 0:34

Yeah, exactly. I came uh you know, I had the idea uh years ago, I could see the potential. I didn't know you know there was gonna be so much uh like adjustments on the bike. It surprised me, but yeah, I kind of saw the potential. So I had the idea five years ago, which was probably a little bit early. Um so I was kind of working uh with one guy and then you know a bit of testing, that didn't work out, and then I just saw David, the partner on this on the Javi. Uh he already had a bike, uh, you know, just kind of selling it to his friend in Austria. He'd made this bike, and I saw it in a race in Austria. So I obviously tracked him down, and I said, uh I like his bike, and uh let's take it to the next level. So he's done a lot of testing already for the last five years. Uh he did Romaniac's uh electric class as well, so it's kind of a perfect position that all the a lot of testing's already been done on it, and uh it's kind of the timing is right, and it's been allowed in FIM races this year. I just think in electric bikes in general, it's kind of uh just the perfect timing, and and the technology is there, and the batteries and everything to do the distance for the races as well. And yeah, it's just amazed me the settings and the the what you can find. You have the adjustment, the testing's been so quick because you just go on the app, just uh thousands of settings. But we got there pretty quick, kind of just uh David and myself kind of learning a bit as we go along. You know, he's got the brains, his specialities kind of putting it all together and the frame that's his thing. But then we he kind of he has the contacts for you know all the different aspects of it, and obviously I have a lot of contacts as well, so it's couldn't be working better, really.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Yeah, sounds like a match made in heaven, really. Uh, I'm surprised to hear that you were thinking of this five years ago because that's like talk about pioneer back then. I mean, there was really not much happening, but what did you see or think back then?

SPEAKER_03 2:48

Were you just getting tired of gas bikes, or were you what's the uh the obvious advantage is that obviously you know places to ride, you're not annoying people, the maintenance is a big thing as well, like the doing the tours as well. We don't have the the bike yet, but on the tours, but just to maintain the bikes, and I can go train in for weeks and not really have to do anything, oil the chain, change the tyres. So yeah, just and you know, for the sport in general, just to have eat bikes easier to ride, you know, people coming into the sport, jump on. You don't need to learn the clutch. Obviously, I know how long it's taken me over the years to you know learn the clutch control, safer, you know, the just you know, you can obviously have safer settings, control the speed. It's just uh positives are endless.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

They are. I mean, I I think about a guy like you though, and I feel like this I you've got more talent in your pinky finger than I have my entire body, but uh riding gas bikes my whole life, hopping on electric, there's certain situations where it's just I would say things are just easier, but I feel like when I get into like the real hard, hard enduro stuff where things are really steep and loose, talking about a clutch, like not having that clutch is I still struggle with that, and I I'm curious how you handle it.

SPEAKER_03 4:20

You're on you're on the wrong bike.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

Fair enough.

SPEAKER_03 4:25

Yeah, so you know, I got on the bike as David had set it up. First thing I'm saying, you know, can we put a clutch on or the rest of it? So, you know, what do you need the clutch for? It's to build power for a step, or you know, obviously controlling the speed. So, yeah, initially I felt like I needed it, but then as you start to get the settings, you know, we've got five different modes on ours. Uh just needed the clutch less and less. And then in the end, I'm like, why even bother with a clutch? Really? It's like we don't need it. Uh, you know, the power's always there, it's not jumping out your hands where you need the clutch to react quickly to slow it down. You don't that yeah, you don't need to build the power, you can do the steps. Uh, but yeah, still developing. But you know, I did the first race in Alistrem and got round, no problem.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

So you don't feel like any environment right now, like you're you're good to go, you can just not have a clutch at all, and you feel right at home. The clutch, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:33

The clutch just complicates things. It's like, why complicate it? It's just simple. Yeah, fair enough.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

Hey man, if you say it, then I can't argue it. I have no excuses now.

SPEAKER_03 5:44

Well, yeah, I've still got to prove myself in a race, let's say, but fair. I'm just enjoying riding it a whole lot more, and uh definitely less tired when I'm riding our bikes around 100 kilos, uh, whatever that is in pounds for you guys. Yeah, but uh uh yeah, just less tired because it's just so much easier to ride, just not having to you know change the gears, find the power, a little bit changing modes, but again, that got less. We had five modes. Uh, you know, we'd say, you know, using exactly the right mode for the right situation. Now it's basically you can ride all modes in all situations, it's a case of which you prefer. That's how, and that this is in within six months that all this has just developed, and it's just blown my mind how how easy it is to adjust and how many options to adjust. It's just crazy.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Um, Graham, are you running a footbreak? Are you running a foot brake or a handbrake for the rear brake?

SPEAKER_03 6:46

No, just the handbrake, yeah. Again, I was saying, you know, if you have the clutch, you've got to put a foot brake on because uh, you know, how are you gonna stop and use a rear brake? So, yeah, in the end, I just thought, look, I'm riding as good as ever without all this. So it did take, you know, I can't deny that my natural reaction after you know uh 40 years of riding with a foot brake. That's uh, you know, initially my natural reaction was to go for the the footbrake, but then you know, the handbrake's just always there, and you know, even at my age, I've kind of just got used to it and just use it, yeah. Just use the brake on the hand on the left.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

I always use the analogy, it's like uh when you scratch a dog behind its ears and it starts using its foot, like it thinks that it's scratching itself. That's what I still do. I if I need to slow down, I'm still reaching for the rear brake on my foot just because it's like in ingrained in my brain that that's what I'm saying. Yeah, it's hard to rewire your brain.

SPEAKER_03 7:51

Yeah, but the logic, you know, you can't always get to the foot brake, so yeah, yeah. That's just a massive advantage. You know, I can do the clutch, I can do whatever I can do, but people trying to learn it, it's just so much easier for them. And you know, see people on the tours, how they kind of struggle, just anyone jumps on this bike, and it's instantly they can do a harder trail, it puts them up a level. It's just uh yeah, for it, you know, it benefits me in lots of ways, but lower level riders it benefits even more, I think, because if they can't if they've not perfected the clutch and you know the weight of the bike, I see people picking the bikes up is heavy and trying to learn that clutch when they're tired as well. You know, they don't need to, they can just sit there and just use the throttle. Do you feel like the noise?

SPEAKER_02 8:46

Do you feel like the noise comes into play too? I feel like that for a beginner, sometimes like that just overwhelms the the nervous system, and people just get really tense and stressed out just because they're hearing the loud noise that they're not used to of the bike. And I feel like removing that kind of calms people down a little bit too.

SPEAKER_03 9:04

Yeah, exactly. It's just all around people just look, you know, if you come across walkers here or whatever, it's not you know, people don't frown so much, it's just more accepted. Uh, and people, yeah, people coming into the sport, the noise can be scary. So I just think the whole sport will will grow once uh you know it's still it's still not fully accepted. Uh you know, people riding combustions for years and years, I understand. Uh, you know, we all like a bit of noise sometimes, but honestly, I don't miss that at all.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Yeah, fair enough. Have you have you had to change how you ride personally on that bike? Like technique-wise, I mean, just talking about 40 years of you really building this skill set. Do you really have to adjust like body position or where you're putting your weight? Like when you get into the technical stuff, how do you change?

SPEAKER_03 10:00

Yeah, exactly. It's all the skills are the same, you know. It's still good riders are gonna ride better than less skilled riders.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Yeah, fair.

SPEAKER_03 10:09

Uh, you know, fitness, but you still get tired if you ride enough, but just everything's a whole lot easier. Uh had to, yeah, the feeling of the power, obviously adapting a little bit, but it's not like you're uh you've got to adapt to something difficult to ride, it's easier to ride. So and the modes, you know, five modes obviously we've been testing a lot, picking the right mode. This, you know, we've got uh this is high-level stuff, it needs to be we're talking about every little bit in a race is gonna help. So you know, picking exactly the right mode for what you want and um at the right time, yeah, getting the power down. Lots of yeah, a little bit to learn, but it's uh it's good as it is.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

So you mentioned uh David Fry, is it Freidinger? Yeah, yeah, who because he developed the the e-Duro, which is what it was initially called, right? Or the the framework. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. And so the the relationship between you guys, uh is he doing uh a lot of the development and you're going out and testing it, or are you like you know, getting nuanced with power, like we need more power down low, or how how is that development process? Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 11:28

So he's uh you know, he's uh from a different world of quads, so yes, he rides with a thumb frottle. Oh man, and he's yeah, and it he uh you know it's put him up a level on Hardy Enduro because he didn't he's come into it later and he didn't, you know, he didn't learn the clutch and stuff so well. So he can come straight in and he he's a level up. But yeah, you right he rode uh you know good level of uh quads. So you know he's he's been around competitions as well, he's a good enough rider, he can also test a lot as well.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

Nice. Well, it's nice to have him on the bright side and off of those quads, you know.

SPEAKER_03 12:11

That's it. We can't get him, yeah. We can't get him on a twist throttle. He's always gonna he's gonna be on a thumb throttle forever.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

That's wild. We actually had a customer bring in one of their bikes that we sold them recently and they converted it to a thumb throttle. I didn't even want to try it, man. It's something I it just it sketched me out. I I I hats off to people that can do it, but man, it's not for me.

SPEAKER_03 12:34

Yeah, that's it. Very difficult to adapt, but uh, I guess there's some advantages of the thumb throttle. Yeah, fair.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Yeah, so um, you know, you've completed and won a bunch of huge endurance events. What do you do training-wise as far as uh you know to stay in shape for a lot of those? And what is your regimen like for that?

SPEAKER_03 12:57

Yeah, it's tough. 51 years old. Uh yeah, you know, training, trying to train like always have, you know, pushing uh the limits, but uh just after the recovery's a lot slower, negle injury injuries take a lot longer. So managing it a little bit more and uh knowing my limits a little bit, my body can only take so much is a little bit of the problem. One day races are better than multiple days. One day's good, but getting up again the next morning doing doing it for another day does become harder.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

Yeah. So do you train in the gym on like mountain bikes or cycles, or mostly just on motorcycle?

SPEAKER_03 13:42

Yeah, it's a complete mix. A lot of it's you know, I've got older, more kind of you know, stabilizing the joints as much as I can, both knees reconstructed, shoulder. So yeah, then niggles just set you back if it if the if it's not strong and your body's not holding up and you've got to stop and rest too much. So a lot more of that, but just yeah, generally uh a bit of everything, yeah. Try to do a bit of cycling and weights, I guess, keeping the muscle as you get older, you lose a bit of the muscle as well. But potentially I can be fit. Is uh performance? I can be okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

You have just finding that peak. Yeah, you have that calm riding style where it doesn't seem like you exert too much energy in there and kind of conserve that. Is that something you developed over the years or uh something you learned from someone else?

SPEAKER_03 14:42

Or yeah, a little bit natural style, that's my style, I guess. Uh not so aggressive, just riding a bit smoother definitely saves energy. So if I can keep going, make up for my lack of fitness with the technique and uh the emoto, uh it can be potentially uh we can do good.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

Yeah, speaking of which, you conquered the biggest events in Extreme Enduro, Earthsberg, Romaniacs, Sea Disky. Uh do you feel like on the Jar V would you be as competitive on say your former bike, the the Husky 300? Do you feel like you could hang in an event like that if battery swapping was uh potential?

SPEAKER_03 15:31

Yeah, it's let yet to be proven, but uh I'm feeling pretty good. Uh a lot of things better than the combustion, so I think uh we're gonna be there. You know, I don't want to blow my own trumpet yet, but I think by the end of the year we'll be doing something. Sweet. We'll be uh yeah, we'll be competing as long as we're we're competing, you know, with the top guys. It's so competitive, you know, a lot of young riders. We're talking 15 good riders now. You know, when I started it was two or three I was competing with. So yeah, a bad day can be quite bad, but you know, a good day, I think we can uh the goal is to compete. And I don't see why not, you know, the feeling on the bike, the advantages, and the the speed, the sheer speed that it's developing. So just it seems like every week there's just something new, something new, test it, it's kind of generally better week by week, or you know, not just from what we're doing, but just technology in general, you know.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

So yet to be proven, I like that you said that. Is there a uh a potential? I know you're doing some racing right now, but how like how are the races looking for the future? And it seems like in Europe, or just not in the United States, uh, some of the electric opportunities uh are more vast. There's a little bit more lenience, whereas I feel like we're having some hurdles here in the US. Do you do you feel like you'll be able to race some big events on the on the Jar V?

SPEAKER_03 17:16

So the yeah, the cool thing this year is that we're in the FIM championship and not as a special class. Uh we're just you know, we're in the race. Uh the electric's been accepted. You know, there were some challenges the first round. We've just had the first round now. So we had to adjust a little bit um the uh wheelbase, but and you know, all the safety stuff as well. You know, the you've got to pass the control, but you know, it was all good. Uh everyone sees the potential, you know, there's a new promoter for the championship, so he's he sees that for the future of the sport, this can be fantastic that new manufacturers come in and it's not dominated by you know who.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:02

Uh and then more, you know, it can be more factory rides for the riders. Now there's say three, four factory rides, and then everyone else is just doing their own thing. So there's not many opportunities for riders.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

Yeah, it almost seems like you could uh you could be a privateer and maybe be more competitive on electric just because of the technology. Do you feel that way?

SPEAKER_03 18:27

As a privateer, it would be so much easier because of the less, you know, the parts and the maintenance. So you've the mechanic time, you know, smashing, you know, front pipes, smashing. I know it's like it's just it's just a full-time job keeping on top of it. And if you don't, you know, if you've got to pay anything for that stuff, it's just hard to do. So a privateer, it's better, but I think more manufacturers will come in as well. You know, there's a lot of uh manufacturers already. If they come into the championship, sponsor more riders, uh, it's just gonna be better for everybody.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

And so you can compete with it's just the same class, you're just gonna race the gas bikes. And is it open for all events moving forward right now?

SPEAKER_03 19:12

Yeah, exactly. So any FIM events, uh, we we can do the championship just in the same class, which is cool because we just wanted it to be accepted. We don't want extra fuel stops or anything. We can max the combustions with the fuel stops. We just take a you know, put a battery if they take it, take it to the stop.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

That's exciting. I didn't honestly didn't realize that that had come to fruition.

SPEAKER_03 19:36

So that seems uh Yeah, so the yeah, the promoter's doing a good job. It's a difficult job. Uh, you know, he's got a he's pushed for all this for the good of the sport, and uh we've got a seniors class as well. So I did win the seniors class in the first round.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

Nice, as expected.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

Uh yeah, yeah. So it's uh the first award, whatever it is. Uh, you know, the the second position, I think, was still 10 years younger than me in the seniors. That's awesome. So yeah, so yeah, so that's cool. It just gives everybody motivation to come to these races.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

So on some of those bigger events when you're doing gas stops, do you feel like what type of range are you getting? Like, I'm just gonna think of you know, iconic Eurosburg. Would you feel like you could compete in Earthsburg and time that bike so that you'd be hitting gas or electric stops at the appropriate time?

SPEAKER_03 20:35

Yeah, so yeah, there's one there's one stop, so we're we're weighing up whether to even we need to stop. Uh we can do we could probably do the whole race without stopping, but uh uh it might be possible to run a lighter battery and go for the stop anyway, have a little bit lighter. So lots of options like that. Yeah, and then the other ones, you know, uh we can easily do the same as a combustion. It could be, but like anything, if you get lost in add kilometers, it's uh you're still gonna get in trouble. But uh, yeah, we just we've put the batteries, yeah. We spoke to Romaniacs, they're the big challenges where you've got point-to-point with the stops, uh, but they have the vision as well. We give them the batteries, they take it to the stops.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

And how fast are you doing battery swaps on that bike right now? Is it pretty quick?

SPEAKER_03 21:32

They timed it. Uh the last race. That was uh I didn't do it. We had the team could do the battery, two guys. Uh it was under 30 seconds. I think it was yeah, around 20 seconds, even.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

Yeah. So you mentioned that you uh had to make a few changes for the regulations. Was that uh wheelbase related, or what were the changes?

SPEAKER_03 21:54

Yeah, there was a wheelbase, so there was talk of you know uh some other restrictions. with weight or whatever, but it's it's all good. We uh we pass the test. Slight modification of the the we had to run an old chain so it fits the wheelbase. A new chain's a little bit below an old chain fits we get the wheelbase.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

Stretch it out a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 22:20

Yeah that's it.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

So did you go with like a slightly longer swing arm or just adjusting where the tire was at on the swing arm?

SPEAKER_03 22:28

Yeah exactly with so much adjustment with this bike and it's so easy to change. So you know we're we're luckily it's you know the the emotos are so simple anyway so but you know we haven't necessarily committed to thousands of this frame that that geometry or whatever we can just change so quickly David that's his part with the frame and everything. So everything even that is so quick to test so you can imagine you go on the app for the power David can change any geometry you want uh so it's just so flexible to to keep testing keep improving.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

Yeah on the topic of power you when looking at eligibility for electric for motocross and supercross there's a clear advantage if you have more power than the internal combustion bikes and I know that you know Stark specifically had to uh put in some software where I think the FIM can like go in and and make sure that it's limited and and locked I don't know if there's that same benefit in extreme enduro it's like are they scrutinizing power? Is there really any benefit to having more power?

SPEAKER_03 23:42

We're actually tuning it down so right I would think so make it make it yeah making it easier to ride uh you know when you're in a rocky gully uh a fist full of power is not really helping you so much sure yeah so that was where you know the the development was there to stop the bike jumping forward so you can basically just sit on there open the throttle and it uh it's still in control you know some modes you're literally just in a gully and wind it and the bike will just control itself it's just uh which when you're tired or you're lacking skill is just crazy.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

Now when it comes to some of these bigger moves and you're maybe coaching uh another rider or something do you go through like a mental process when you're lining up and setting up for something that you either haven't done or that's more difficult.

SPEAKER_03 24:36

Say that again I didn't really understand so when you when you're setting up for a like a more difficult move or something you're gonna do on the motorcycle do you have like a mental checklist that you go through do you visualize going through that or yeah with hard endura it's a um you know you've got the skill but literally every step and uh rock and log is uh different but you know the the technique's there so you know the techniques are generally the same you've got to read the terrain so you obviously looking up trying to read the terrain as much and and feel what the bike's doing is a lot of it as well so you know some places you don't know how much grip there is so it's literally reacting to what the bike's doing. And since you're doing so much training on that on that note are you now training or teaching beginners or or uh newer riders differently on electric do you is your approach different than it would be on a gas bike say you're say you're setting up for like a big splatter that's on an incline do do you feel like you're teaching that differently now yeah obviously you don't have to build the power of the clutch so there's none of this uh you know slip the clutch twist the throttle wait till the you know reps are build up uh your body movements and stuff it's all the same you know you've still got uh use the legs and stuff to compress and flex in the legs so all them all the body movements are the same it's just literally how the power comes in but it's just it's less to explain so you know they would they can it's very hard when you're teaching to for a step for example you can't somebody new you can't say do this with a clutch and the gas and the legs and this it's too much too many things at once so you've got to break that right down and focus on the clutch first get the revs right and then do the legs separately and then put it all together so when you're teaching it's just it's basically just less to it's a faster process for somebody to get up a step. And are are you using the rear brake at all like to load is that uh yeah exactly you can uh you can slow the bike compress a little bit with the brake uh it's just not you're not building the revs you're just controlling the you know the as we uh you know we use the front and the rear brake to compress suspension it's exactly the same we use the brakes anyway whether there's a clutch or not so that's not so different it's just the power when you have compressed with the forks to get the front wheel up but like like I say the power's just there anyway.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

So just changing more brake pads instead of more clutch plates that's all yeah exactly so I I want to go back to just eligibility a little bit and you know I I we've been trying to help US hardener and AMA get bikes homologated and I know you know we've opened up the conversation uh with I think it's is it Karen at Jar V to try to get your bike homologated to race US hardenuro and it sounds like that is hopefully underway um do you plan to come over to the US at all and race any US hardenuros or can we expect to see you here stateside? Yeah exactly the uh in the FIM in the world championship there's uh silver kings so I'll be doing that so I think uh it's because it's an FIM event the electric just accepted anyway I don't know what the situation is for the other races in US cool but definitely silver kings yeah definitely that's awesome and is the Jarvee gonna be available stateside yeah so we've already got orders uh in the US and uh we'll be shipping them next month oh no kidding I didn't realize it was that quick awesome is that platform obviously you're doing race development right now and so uh your bike sounds like it's changing maybe weekly is the unit that customers are ordering is that also rapidly developing or is that already kind of just set in stone exactly because they're not major changes it's not like we're making uh super special parts so whatever wherever stage we're I'm at now with the bike will be uh on the production bike very cool well uh when do we get to ride one because I'm very curious to to ride a Graham Jarvis tuned electric dirt bike yeah exactly we need to we need to definitely get you on it and have a go.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

Yeah uh yeah uh let's do it. All right are you gonna be sticking around Silver Kings or uh yeah it's a little bit tricky uh time so I won't be there so long but uh well I'll definitely be back at some point when uh yeah making it making the bikes uh I'm gonna be quite busy with that so I kind of got to get back to Europe but you're welcome to come to Spain and try it.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

I'd love to I was supposed to come this month but uh some conflicting dates with my yeah my wife's uh birthday so uh we'll have to rain check but I'd love to come uh check out your compound and and come ride that thing sounds good so where how can we follow along you know what what's coming up next for both the bike and your races uh where can people tune in to to see the Jar V and see how you're doing in your racing and uh give us some some opportunity to follow along here yeah we'll be putting stuff on the website and obviously uh on my social media can go on gforce Jarvis and uh yeah that it's got getting good coverage as well the round some of the rounds go live so you can follow on there excellent cool awesome well thanks for the time Graham super excited to see everything that you're doing and hopefully keep us updated uh we'll be watching along and uh seeing how the races go and yeah look forward to seeing the bike in person someday yeah cool we'll catch up soon all right man sounds good some serious results yes sir yep good luck out there cheers all right cheers take care if you made it this far and you want more and if this was useful please like and subscribe