⚙️ #28 What Drives Dust? 🚀

Over the last 10 months we have been using off the shelf motor and battery components to validate alpha bike ergonomics and test various aspects of the powertrain including controls, system voltage, power, and torque. This was the quickest and the most cost effective way for us to test and dial in performance requirements. After stripping teeth off reduction gears, dealing with overheating, and general quality-of-build issues, we came to the conclusion that the best way to provide a dependable source of power on the Hightail was to design our own.

We are stoked to be teamed up with a specialty gearbox designer, who has decades of experience in everything from F1 to Baja, to build a motor gearbox combo that provide the performance and durability that the Hightail demands. Pair that with an in-house custom battery pack and we’re able to maximize the performance experience on the Hightail!

Motor Gearbox

• What changed from initial spec?
  • More Torque
  • More Power
  • More abusive load cases for shock and fatigue
  • Better integration into chassis for improved Center of Gravity and fitment
• Efficiently packaged reduction gears to keep everything within the frame rails
• Full custom development with motorsports gearbox designer
• Integrated reduction box design for packaging, practical driveline components, optimization of power and torque
• Oversized, heavy duty roller bearings
• Motorsport-grade helical reduction gears
• Improvements over existing gearbox solutions in reliability, efficiency, packaging and torque
• Unique torque and power dense motor solution pushes air-cooled performance upwards, while optimized integration to gearbox gets electrical requirements aligned with the practical mechanical needs of a dirt bike

What all this means is that this will be a more durable and quieter motor than what we are currently seeing on other bikes in the market. Dyno data you ask? Yes! Once preliminary testing of the powertrain is complete we will be sharing dyno numbers with you all, so keep an eye out for that in the coming months.

Battery

• How did it change for Production spec from OG targets?
  • More capacity
  • More discharge power
• 4.4kWh total pack capacity and 550A+ discharge current
• Overall slimmer package so we can fit a larger battery and move the battery back (lower center of gravity while also moving it towards the center on the bike)
• Custom developed to our standards for our high performance off-road use case
• Utilizing high power cylindrical cells for peak safety and performance
• Best practice automotive pack design details around failure propagation management, thermal management, safety and connections etc.
• Durable swappable enclosures

At the end of the day our primary goal is to build a system developed to perform in the context of real dirt bike riding. A bike that can be ridden hard and will live up to the Hightail name. One that will corner like no other, last, and deliver a 250cc level powertrain performance.

Throughout this journey we have focused on making pragmatic sourcing and design decisions to speed time to market and reduce development costs. Sometimes, we learn important lessons along the way that require us to go a bit deeper into the technical development to deliver the ultimate bike for you, our customers.

In this next phase of development, we are turning these designs into reality and moving onto system validation. There will be plenty of testing performed, in the lab, out in the field, and at our supplier partners. We can't wait to share some of these results!

Catch us at newsletter@dustmoto.com OR just respond to this email!

Done and DUSTED for this month. See you all on the next lap.