Electric
Sur-Ron and Talaria: track hours, not miles
An electric dirt bike loses the engine service and keeps everything else. No oil changes, no valves, no top end, no air filter - and a chassis ridden harder than most petrol bikes, on fluids with two genuine safety traps, with manuals that disagree with each other about how long anything lasts. Here is what actually needs a clock, and what unit that clock is in.
Read this before you top up a brake. Talaria fits a mineral system, type HF10-2, and DOT fluid will destroy its seals. The Sur-Ron Light Bee manual contradicts itself: the parts table says DOT4 while the brake text says mineral. Identify your actual caliper before adding anything. Mixing the two is not a performance question, it is a brake failure.
Why hours and not the odometer
Off-road service schedules are published in operating hours, and that is not manufacturers being awkward. An hour of technical singletrack does vastly more to suspension, bearings and a chain than an hour of fire road, and distance cannot tell the two apart. A bike tracked on distance alone will show suspension as fine long after it is due.
| What wears | The clock that matters |
|---|---|
| Fork and shock oil, seals | hours |
| Chain and sprockets | distance |
| Brake fluid, gearbox oil | months |
| Bearings, spokes, fasteners | hours, then inspection |
| Tyres | distance and condition |
The full figures per model - Light Bee, Ultra Bee, Sting, Sting R, MX4 - with the pre-2024 and 2024-onward split are in the Sur-Ron and Talaria service schedule, free to read.
The model-year problem, and why an app has to ask
Sur-Ron does not stamp model years, so the useful split is pre-2024 against 2024 and later. Earlier manuals are condition-based - inspect, clean, lube, replace when worn - with no periodic table to schedule from at all. The 2024 manual added a proper whichever-comes-first table.
That means no app can silently infer your schedule from a model name. Loam asks you to confirm which it is rather than guessing, and where a manual publishes nothing it carries a conservative estimate and labels it an estimate instead of presenting it as a factory schedule.
What a tracker actually has to do here
- Count hours, from real riding. Loam Moto records rides with built-in GPS and splits elapsed time from moving time, so the hours on the clock are hours you rode rather than hours the bike sat at the trailhead.
- Run several clocks at once and show the one that is due. Hours, distance and months per component, whichever comes first.
- Keep the two fluid traps visible. Mineral versus DOT is a per-bike fact worth recording once, in the app, where you will see it before you buy the wrong bottle.
- Track tyres and mousses. They are a real wear item on these bikes and most trackers ignore them.
- Work without an account. Your garage stays on the phone; optional backup is encrypted before it leaves the device.
Petrol bikes too
The same clocks cover KTM, Husqvarna and four-stroke and two-stroke engines, where the engine service comes back and hours matter even more - see the engine service intervals by hours and the WP, KYB and Showa suspension figures.
FAQ
Does a Sur-Ron need servicing if there is no engine?
Yes. Brake fluid, gearbox oil, suspension oil and seals, chain and sprockets, bearings, tyres and spokes all remain, and the chassis is ridden hard. Losing the engine service does not make the rest optional.
Is there a free Sur-Ron maintenance app?
Loam Moto has a 30-day free trial and then a one-time unlock, no subscription. The interval tables on this site are free to read regardless.
Will it work for a Stark Varg or Segway?
Partly, and the guide is honest about why: both publish thinner data. The Stark Varg runs a primary belt and a 520 final chain with no published belt replacement figure, so the app carries a conservative inspection nudge rather than inventing a replacement interval.
Track the ride. Service on time.
Built-in GPS, hours and kilometres per component, and interval data for Sur-Ron, Talaria and petrol bikes. 30-day trial, then a one-time unlock.
