Weighing Trials Bikes

Do all Motorcycle Manufacturers Lie about Weight?

I have been weighing motorcycles using a pair of spring-type bathroom scales for most of my life - one under each wheel and adding the numbers.  This is the accepted method to weigh all four “corners” of a race car.  You not only get the total weight but also the fore/aft and left/right bias.  But spring scales are inherently imperfect, and I wanted to be more accurate if I was going to report results to the world.  I bought a decent-quality (CE marked) Bonvoisin mini digital crane scale for the numbers reported here.  It can measure up to 300 kg with 0.1 kg resolution.  I suspended the scale from the ceiling and weighed several trials bikes.  None of the bikes are stock (except Dragonfly), but the relative weights are no surprise - you can easily feel the difference while riding.

•  OSSA TR250i: 156.4 pounds (71 kg) Measured with more than 1/2 tank fuel, flywheel weight, Clake clutch master, no side stand, Dunlop tires.

•  Sherco 200: 161.8 pounds (73.5 kg) Measured with less than 1/2 tank fuel, IRC tires.

•  EM 5.7: 163.2 pounds (74.2 kg) Measured with Marzocchi (lighter than stock) forks, beauty plastics removed, miscellaneous electrics removed and added, Dunlop tires.

•  EM ePure Race: 172.2 pounds (78.3 kg) Measured with flywheel weight, additional battery side plates, Cycle Analyst & datalogger, Dunlop tires.

• Mecatecno Dragonfly 138.48 pounds (62.9 kg) Measure completely stock and perfectly clean, with sidestand.

Notes: All bikes (except Dragonfly) have the same aftermarket handgrips, footpegs, and homemade bar-end sliders.  A rear Dunlop D803 is 1.5 pounds heavier than a Michelin X-Lite (the tire with which the EMs were specified).

The weight of my ePure (which is heavier than stock) correlates with a stock bike which was weighed at 170 pounds (77 kg) by another owner.  On the same scale, a 2023 Mecatecno Dragonfly weighed 143 pounds (65 kg).  These numbers make both factory claims a bit suspect.

As a point of interest, the 2021 FIM trials rule book states, “The 2013 weight limits of 65 kg for 125cc bikes and 66 kg for bikes over 125cc are still valid.  All riders can choose to compete with an electrically powered motorbike.  The weight limit does not apply for electrical motorbikes.”  

For reference, 66 kg is 145.2 pounds.  Electric motorcycles have a long way to go in terms of weight reduction.