FMX
Aaron Colton’s Electric Dream
The freestyle legend is about to ride an e-bike through the largest glass museum in the world.
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25 min
Riding a custom e-bike in a glass museum
Aaron Colton readies an electric Alta Redshift to ride through the Corning Museum of Glass in New York, USA.
Aaron Colton is a jack of all trades. While Colton is one of the most popular street freestyle riders on earth, his talent extends to multiple disciplines of motorcycling including AMA Pro Road Racing, AMA Flat Track, WORCS, Supermoto, and Motocross. That’s why when he started doing “Bike Builds” it was interesting to see where Colton’s creativity would take him. And, more importantly, what bikes he would choose to reinvent. From a Honda CR500 to a Yamaha PW50, Colton has brought countless classic bikes back to life over the past year.
Wheelie Kick!
© Brian Nevins
His most recent bike build, however, is one of many firsts—one astounding to classic motorcycle enthusiasts and, possibly, a conversion point for electric motorcycle skeptics. Accounting for the traditional power classic motorcycles created using a fuel-air mixture to drive rapid combustion drive speed, this most recent build from Colton completely flips the script on fuel and power. The main idea behind this unique project is the reinvention of the places that are possible to ride on a motorcycle and this is powered by an alternative power source that still delivers in power, speed, and control to support the typical machine Colton seeks.
Bull in a China Shop
© Brian Nevins
Considering the vibrational motion riders and riders’ surrounding experience with traditional gas-fueled bikes, Colton typically keeps his riding indoors. Riding indoors or especially near fragile objects, with an increased chance of shattering, is typically avoided by most riders. With the inherent vibrational kick-back in traditional engines, Colton’s riding prowess is often seen in outdoor locations while indoor locations have yet to be fully explored. Location availability is topical because Colton currently operates a demo program that spans across the United States with 25-plus activations and an additional two to three activation tours outside the Continental US each year. Some of the locations that Colton commonly gets denied from riding are based on the notion of rumblings and disturbance accompanied by traditional combustion-engine motorcycle characteristics.
With the newest episode of “Bike Builds” being set in a glass museum, the classic explosive energy cycle pop that accompanies traditional engines is redesigned. Colton riding and ripping a traditional motorcycle through a glass museum is out of the question unless the vibrational rumblings and ground ripplings are reduced. Looking at classic fuel-powered bikes, Colton faces obstacles in building a bike completely null of kick-back and ground shaking and thus begins Colton’s quest for vibration reduction. In partnering with the Corning Glass Museum, the quest to transform a two-wheel machine into a silent powerhouse begins.
Aaron Colton
© Brian Nevins
In this episode, Colton attempts to achieve a special kind of bike to enable riding in a location he’s never ventured to ride before: a glass museum. The Corning Museum of Glass is located in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York and is the world’s largest glass museum, dedicated to telling the story of a single material over 35 centuries. The Museum's campus is home to the world’s most comprehensive collection of glass, one of the top glassworking schools in the world, and stands to inspire others to see glass in a new light. Colton matches the institute’s ambitions by taking the first freestyle motorcycle ride ever through their facility.
Riding in the Corning Museum of Glass wouldn’t be possible on a combustion engine. Looking at the motion and fuel-sparked combustion required to power traditional bikes, Colton starts his transformation process with an electric-powered bike. Museum riding is made possible by the mind-bending solution from California manufacturer Alta with their electric“Redshift” clutchless transmission model. This solution-based bike and its subsequent transformation pioneered by Colton is incredible. Colton brings the Alta Redshift motocross roots into a hybrid supermoto/stunt bike and with the silent powerhouse transformation, riding in the Corning Museum of Glass becomes a reality and the rest is history.
Unboxing Aaron
© Brian Nevins
A build that the world has never seen before requires a lot of custom ingenuity, and more than a few sets of eyes to enable riding in a glass museum. To ride in a place where floor vibration absolutely cannot happen requires testing, trials, errors, and more testing. A diligent build is a sure-shot route to ensure all walls and building frameworks are left alone from the typical rattlings Colton’s bike emit. Along with the total subtraction of foundation friction needed to ride in a glass museum, Colton finds avenues to remove engine rumblings to enable high-speed motion across connecting ground-level floors. Some of the modifications Colton enlists to get from point A to point B void of vibration include designing a custom subframe, suspension components, custom carbon fiber tail sections, new tires, and a full tear down to rebuild. The braking components need to be designed fully from scratch and include custom CNC Dual Caliper Brackets commonly used on stunt bikes. Everything down to the titanium hardware for this motorcycle is Colton-custom which is extremely tedious and takes months to complete.
The bike
© Brian Nevins
Below are just a few of the modifications and processes made to the Alta “Redshift.”
Guy Driscoll’s Custom CNC Dual Brake Caliper Bracket
Lowered Ohlin’s Suspension (Forks and Shock)
Custom Route Measured Brake Lines
Custom Titanium Spec’d Hardware
Bridgestone S22 Tires
Black Marchesini Rims
Custom Built Subframe (Mocked out of Raw Material Welded by Colton, and built by Suicide Machine Co)
Saddlemen’s Custom Epoxy/Carbon Fiber Tail Section and Seat Pan
Custom Sandblasted and Cerokoted covers, cases, and controls
Detail Work - Mountain, Topping off fluids, every last safety check
Aaron’s first electric motorcycle tear down to rebuild
When the curtains raise on the year’s grand finale of “Bike Builds,” what emerges is the dream bike perfect for the scenario of stunt riding in closed-off, decibel-sensitive, spaces. This bike has the performance of a common stunt bike with spec parts galore, its electric roots keep it quiet enough to leave even the most tone-sensitive glass undisturbed. This is no easy feat as Colton stunts wheelies and nose-wheelies, up and around each hallway of the museum, even making his way around an active glassmaker. With limited space, this bike performs in perfect high-speed fashion. Colton overcomes obstacles such as the motorcycle having no clutch, which changed the style to perform these stunts entirely from his typical bike demo as well.
Aaron in action in the glass museum.
© Brian Nevins
Taking a few steps back, it’s tough not to stand beside motorcycle purists in saying that electric motorcycles won’t (and shouldn’t) replace combustion motorcycles entirely. Everyone loves the feeling of a motor between their legs as they twist the throttle and the sound of a combustion motor as it catapults them into the distance. What electric motorcycles and projects such as this one aim to do, however, inspire others to push the boundary on where a motorcycle can be ridden.
Whether it’s overcoming a sound issue, or even the fumes that a combustion motor puts off, electricity in motorcycles will allow us to venture to places never thought possible. And that in fact, is what is most attractive about motorcycles—the thrill of adventure. So check another location and build off the list Aaron Colton. Hats off to you. You have yet again made the impossible—possible. Now that you’ve got this build done though the question is, “Where to next?”
Aaron Colton in a delicate setting
© Brian Nevins
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