KTM just revealed the 2027 KTM Freeride E, its latest take on electric off-road riding. It’s lighter, a bit more powerful, and packs a slightly bigger battery. But none of that is the real story here. You see, the real story is that this thing is basically an anti-motorcycle motorcycle. No clutch, no gears, and no noise.
Yet somehow, that’s exactly what makes it so badass.
You twist the throttle and get instant torque. Not the kind that tries to rip your arms off, but the kind that just works everywhere. Tight trails, awkward climbs, stop-and-go sections where gas bikes are busy stalling or cooking clutches. This thing just keeps going. KTM says it makes 19.2 kilowatts (around 25.7 horsepower) and 27.3 pound-feet of torque, and honestly those numbers don’t matter as much as how immediately power is sent to the ground.
And that’s kinda the whole point. The motor is silent enough that you hear the terrain more than the bike. It changes how you ride. You stop thinking about revs and gears and just focus on your line choice and balance. I guess you could think of it as less like operating a machine and more like just… riding.
Photos by: KTM
Photos by: KTM
Backing that up is a 5.5 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery that’s good for around two to three hours of typical enduro riding. It’s swappable too, which makes way more sense for something like this. KTM says it’ll handle over 1,000 charge cycles before dropping to about 80 percent capacity, so it’s not some fragile tech experiment either. Charging takes about eight hours on a standard 660 watt unit, or around one and a half hours with a 3.3 kilowatt charger.
What’s cool is that KTM didn’t just make this thing simple and call it a day. There’s still a decent amount of control baked in. You get three ride modes, three levels of energy recuperation, adjustable traction control, and even a rollover sensor. So while it feels stripped back, it’s not dumbed down.
Photo by: KTM
The chassis plays a big role in that easygoing personality. It uses a chrome-molybdenum steel frame with an aluminum and glass-fiber reinforced nylon subframe, all wrapped around a package that now weighs just 246.9 pounds. That’s seriously light for an electric motorcycle, and you feel it the moment things get technical. Suspension comes from WP XACT and XPLOR components, and it rides on a 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wheel setup with Michelin Enduro Medium tires. Braking is handled by Braketec, which is more than enough for something like this.
Photo by: KTM
Seat height sits at 35.8 inches so it’s still very much a proper dirt bike stance. And while top speed is limited to 59 miles per hour, that’s kinda beside the point. This isn’t built for highway runs. It’s built for messing around, exploring, and just enjoying the ride without overthinking it.
That’s what makes the Freeride E so interesting. It strips away a lot of what people think makes motorcycles exciting and replaces it with something quieter, simpler, and honestly more approachable. It’s not trying to be the fastest or the most extreme. It’s trying to be the easiest way to have fun on two wheels.
And quite frankly, this thing looks like it could lay the groundwork for future electric KTM models. Perhaps street bikes, too, like the heavily delayed e-Duke and Husqvarna e-Pilen. But hey, until we see those bikes in the metal, the Freeride E will just have to do.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Rideapart.com?
– The RideApart Team
