First Ride: Yamaha RS125 Electric Conversion 4K
Hi there Andre here from Peete motorcycles I’ve just finished up my week of torture that is 39 Ika videos in 4 days so I did what any normal person would do uh and that is I thought I’d make another motorcycle video so in this video is going to be about this bike
Over my shoulder this is a 1981 Yamaha rs1 125 two-stroke uh but this one is a little bit different so I’m here in my brother-in-law’s workshop and this is what the bike started out as and this is what it then became and this is his homemade lithium
Iron battery pack made with a spot welder from a microwave and this here is the bike itself now I can’t really get that close to it while it’s in this Workshop so what we’re going to do is take the bike outside and give you a
Proper look at it and here it is this is the uh what should we call it let’s call it a Yamaha rs1 125e so I’ll give you a quick look at the bike itself and then Andy is going to very quickly uh talk us through the bike because the rain has just started
Here in Switzerland so as you can see uh it is now missing that Yamaha 1252 stroke that would be in there instead there is a battery box with a motor underneath it’s retained the uh left side foot Peg obviously no gear Leever as there’s no gears still got side stand center stand
Still got the same chain drive that’s on there the same adjusters coming around the back all the lights and everything is is also the same on this side again all the same it’s still got a foot brake uh instead of having the uh engine cover
There you can just see the the motor and then coming up onto the handlebars uh we have a uh a throttle it’s kind of like a throttle with a front brake uh over the bars we do still have the uh the speedometer clock and we still have the
Warning lights although now instead of oil and neutral that means batter’s off and batter’s on and then we have a battery meter which at some point may go into what was the rev counter uh on the left side uh we just still have the same controls for the lights uh no clutch
Lever because there is no clutch uh coming down to the front uh we just have the original there we go the original disc brake and everything else about the bike is pretty much as it was when it was an rs125 yeah Andre almost um told you all the important bits uh what
I can maybe mention is the battery that I built myself is uh about 3 Kow it takes you 50 to 70 kilm on one charge um I put in an engine of 10 Kow so I still have the same power that the the original bike had so I didn’t want
To lose any power and I couldn’t make it stronger either otherwise I would not be able to bring it through the uh Road um uh tests uh that was maybe the hardest bit when I started uh the project first thing I wanted to know is it all is it possible to do something
Like that at all in Switzerland but I said yeah actually switching the engine is something you can uh do as long as it um is not direr than before and that’s no problem with the electric so I started the the project uh took me five years in the end a little bit longer
Than I expected I don’t know whether I started would have started it if I knew it take going to take me so long um yeah I left pretty much everything original um also because uh it’s then easy to get through the the the tests and um inside here the tank
There’s no fuel obviously anymore uh there’s space for the the controller which drives the the motor motor and there’s also a small charger in there so I can just plug it it into the mains and recharge it like that takes about 5 hours to recharge it completely uh if
I’m on a on a trip I can also uh carry a external charg with me which then uh fills it up in in in an hour so within a break can uh have a launch break and then it can go on again I really needed all the the
Space uh that was available it’s a small bik bike so I tried to fit in as much battery as possible also here uh this is um filled with some Electronics it’s a dcdc converter which converts the 72 volts from the batteries to the 12 volts that I need for the
Lights and um and the the normal things you have on a motorbike yeah that’s about it great uh I think I’ll go for a ride right then so here I go my first go on the Yamaha rs1 125e uh it’s on the center stand but it’s so
Low that I can sit on it like that so here we go so it’s the middle position as I’ve just learned is the on oh one further one one pass so one o’ there we go so it says there’s an oil light but that actually means it’s not connected
So the first thing i’ got to do then is push this button says neutral which means it’s in drive it’s going to rock it off the center stand and there we go uh mirrors out a little bit right then wish me luck reaching for a clutch which isn’t there
And super quiet all I can hear is the uh electric motor so my first thought is it’s a long time since I’ve ridden a 125 so it feels kind of small for that looking down uh the tank feels very narrow uh between my knees but that on its own is not a
Problem at all the bike itself is incredibly smooth uh all I can hear really is a very slight wearing of the motor and I think the sound which is probably the the chain for coming along this roads like this in Suburban areas it’s it’s absolutely ideal I think as a
City bike this would be absolutely spot on now what I did then is I just came off the throttle and then it keeps going but what I did was I just tapped the uh the front brake so connected up to the rear light is the mechanism for turning on the
Regen so if you just touch the uh either the the front brake or the rear brake that puts on the regen and then if you actually squeeze it a bit harder you get your your actual braking I’m going to go through the small town of ubicon and then from there I’m just
Going to do a very short Motorway stretch and then and then I’m going to come back over the hills uh a few few twisties you can see up to my right now it is uh mid November here in in Switzerland and it’s about 6° uh I did bring some warish bik Gear
With me but unfortunately just a pair of jeans so this is going to be fun uh on the motorway even if it’s just for one for one exit and here we have a Yamaha dealer I do wonder what they would make of this no Auto canceling turn signals
Obviously so one thing I found with the regen is that it really is just the lightest touch of the brake uh and then you feel a very slight braking Force that’s quite nice uh I do also find that on a 1981 motorcycle uh the brakes are not as they
Are on a on a modern bike but that’s just uh something I guess I will get used to what this bike does have is that real kick of acceleration that you get from electric motorcycles and by that I mean you know much much bigger bikes that I’ve ridden
Now I suspect this is a combination of the fact it has a 10 Kow motor uh it’s not particularly heavy uh and the gearing but I’m about to pull onto a onto a Motorway just to do one one exit so this will be give me an
Opportunity just to see just how how how quick this goes tunnel to get to the motorway so hopefully this lets you see the battery grage down below uh cuz that wasn’t very clear in daylight unfortunately uh I know you can see the neutral light glowing away down there uh
But that’s just to show that actually it’s in Drive obviously there is no neutrals there is no no conventional gearbox and what I would say is that I’m you know I’m here doing what was that 60 70 km an hour in traffic in a tunnel and
I don’t feel as exposed as I thought I would given that it’s just a a small motorcycle uh but the exit for the motorway is just coming up Pro battery has decided to go but just to give you an idea of you know coming along here
That’s Full Throttle hit 100 km an hour that’s 60 M hour it’s still going so it’s going to carry on probably is it going to do 110 let’s have another go on this Motorway actually having a slip Road like this maybe I can give it a bit more
Just to give you an idea of the acceleration I am coming off at the ex exit but still I mean that really does just take off there we go 80 that’s uh 60 km an hour sorry 100 km hour 60 M an hour and yeah that cranks on up pretty
Quickly so yeah it feels very stable as well uh I don’t know whether that’s just because these Yamahas were built well uh 43 years ago but to see to get it a new give it a new lease of Life uh like this I think I’d be happier
On this as an electric bike than as a petrol bike as a 125 that is let come off here bit of regen just touching the brake does slow you down actually really rather quickly on that regen which I suppose is Good from a battery perspective right then let’s see what
It’s like on some twisties yeah that was really really impressive just coming out of town it’s only got a 30 km an hour limit but and I’m going up a fairly Steep Hill as you can don’t know if that’s picked up on the video but it it feels like you know
There’s so much more there you know it’s not it’s not struggling at all to pull my weight in the bike uh up this hill up here it should get a bit twistier and then I can have a bit more of a bit more of a play once I’m out of this
Residential area area I mean this is a very small Road it’s barely big enough for one car uh but for a little motorbike like this and yeah give it some beans woohoo I do love that feeling of uh just that acceleration you get from an electric bike and yeah this feels a lot
More like the bigger bikes bigger electric bikes that I’ve ridden rather than the smaller ones that are supposedly the 125 equivalent um I know that Andy had to keep the power of this comparable to a 125 but in the UK at least 125 can be up to I think 15
Horsepower uh but a lots of them aren’t lots of them are sort of 9 10 11 12 somewhere around there and while that’s not a big difference you know when it’s uh the way of the bike stays the same that can have quite a big impact so I’m
Guessing that this is at the upper end I will look up what 10 Kow is and put it in the put it in the video but yeah just zipping up here like that just with a you know not even Full Throttle just a little bit is really
Fun showing the road’s not a bit drier uh but still let’s give it another one go on oh that’s great Fun yeah that’s hit 50 just on that short stretch bit of back break slow down for that hairpin if you can see from the right just how far I’ve climbed up in this short distance I head up into these foothills of the Alps but yeah you know what this is the
Sort of thing I’d even do just of an evening just take this out for a bit of a Raz around these little Lanes I’m sure on a summer evening where it’s not 6° uh and I can feel my legs it would probably be uh even more fun especially
On a dry road but again the the power is very very controllable it’s got that whole effect sensor in the the throttle the electronic throttle and yeah it’s very uh responsive uh and yeah you can roll it on and it just just builds and builds
And builds it does top out of course uh but that’s just what happens I guess lot happenss on this road if you’re wondering what the red posts are that’s for when it snows and we’re not that far away from when the snowy season would come uh and they will just let people
Know where the roaders so they don’t end up down in the the ditch like the one on my left and what I was hoping to do is stop the bike somewhere here and give you a a great shot of the the bike with Lake Fe Vel chat stay Lake Lucen over there on
My left or even uh Mount patus which is up ahead and is covered with snow however as you can see it’s raining and it’s not really the place for that so I’ll keep going for a bit further and then I’ll just stop somewhere uh give
You a few thoughts on the bike as I walk around it so I’ve been out riding for about half an hour uh came out through the through the outskirts of lucer through eicon and then onto the motorway uh shame my GoPro battery died but I think I got enough footage to include
And yeah I’m now up in the hills uh the foot hills of the Alps around lucern and I’m having a great time I mean I’m freezing probably should have brought my proper winter gear uh for riding in Switzerland in mid November especially when it’s a little bit wet but the
Bike’s been an absolute Joy I’ve ridden a few low powerered E motorcycles and they always just been a little bit disappointing especially when compared to the uh far more expensive but also more powerful bikes which really have that sort of you just twist the throttle
And it takes off and uh yeah you just got the endless acceleration with no gear shifts uh this feels more like those sorts of bikes if I’m honest in fact it’ll do nearly 70 is kind of a bonus and I know it’s a 10 Kow motor um
The brakes still feel like a 43y old Yamaha because they are uh maybe it’s carrying a bit more weight with the batteries but yeah I’m having a huge amount of fun so I’m going to ride back down uh this rather nice road that you can see there behind me uh back to the
The city of lucern so I’ll do a bit of town riding on my way back in I’ll probably we film a little bit of it uh but yeah I mean for a home build and I know he my brother-in-law Andy took 5 years over building this but for a home
Build it’s it’s brilliant I’m really impressed actually the rain has stopped which is even more of a bonus so uh off I go again and yeah I’m I’m having an absolute hoot uh I mean I’m always happy when I’m on a motorbike anyway but this uh far exceeded my expectations I must
Admit so I’m on the road back to lucern and on a twisty Road like this it just handles really well one thing I have noticed with it is especially when you’re switching between being on a bit of throttle and a bit of the regen braking is you do get a little
Bit of a not exactly a vibration but I suppose it’s a bit like what you’d get on a petrol bike just a bit of a but this I think it’s the slack in the chain as that just comes and goes uh between tension and uh tension on the top and
Tension on the bottom as you switch from essentially engine braking uh which is what the regen is using the uh you know the motor to put some energy back into the battery that’s a tiny thing that and the and that and the 42y old brakes but
Again once you get used to them that is absolutely fine one thing I could have done with is a slightly warmer day so that’s that’s nearly it I think uh I’ve done about 50 km bit of Motorway went up and over a some twisties up a
Hill uh done a bit of City riding and yeah I’ve been really really impressed you can probably tell by me waxing lyrical uh throughout this um I say having a 10 KW motor in a bike of this size and weight is always going to be
Kind of fun I mean it did top out as I think around 65 66 milph something like that but still that’s quicker than lot of the low power uh electric motorcycles that I’ve ridden so in terms of where I live where there’s a 60 MPH limit on the
Road the ones that only do 55 on the dash and 48 on the in the real world just really aren’t quick enough whereas this by comparison is absolutely quick enough and it’s been fun you know it does have that sort of urgent acceleration you know just you you open
Up the throttle and it just uh and it just pulls and pulls and pulls so I can certainly see why he’s done it and I love it right when I get back I’ll record my final thoughts and then I will end the video so that’s it I am back uh I’m
Pretty cold uh not that that’s any fault of the bike it’s just the middle of November on a cold and wet day here in in Switzerland but I’ve had a really fun fun ride out uh just seeing what this bike will do and I think that’s given me
An idea that if as in when I do get an electric motorcycle I think 10 kows is probably the minimum that I’d go for just because it does have that fun aspect about it when you do twist the throttle it does give you that that
Thrill um yeah it’s no good at a 70 80 miles on the motorway it just won’t get there but it will certainly do 65 and it’ll get there quickly so you know you don’t feel like you’re pulling out into traffic and you’re just having to urge
It along uh to get there uh the brake braks are exactly what you’d expect on a bike from 1981 compared to today’s brakes uh but again once you get used to it it’s completely fine uh heated grips would have been nice today uh and maybe you’ve had worn some warmer gloves but
Anyway I hope that’s been interesting and useful and if it has please check out my other content if you want to know more about this bike I’ll put a load of the links to Andy’s YouTube page from where he built the battery pack and a few other things uh in the description
So please check that out if you want to see any further Evolution to this subscribe to his page uh and yeah if you are an electric motorcycle company in Switzerland and you’re looking for some engineering support uh I’m sure you can contact him through his YouTube web page
As well that’s it I’m all done I’m going to go inside and warm up thanks for watching now then I thought my GoPro just clicked off so I actually pulled into this service area uh to sort it but it looks like
First Ride: Yamaha RS125 Electric Conversion 4K
This video is all about the home conversion of a Yamaha RS125 two stroke to a 10kW e-Motorcycle by Andi Heini of @andiskleinewerkstatt
Andi is my brother in law, and has been a keen motorcyclist all his life, crossing the Sahara, riding around South America, and tinkering with motorcycles. He’s recently completed a project to convert a Yamaha RS125 to an electric motorcycle and has successfully registered it for road use in Switzerland.
He’s done all the work himself, including building the battery pack using a spot welder made from the inner workings of a microwave oven… if you think this is unlikely, please check out his video on it:
He’s also done some other content on things like the bench test of the motor and controller:
I called in to see the family on my way back from EICMA in November, and despite it being a cold and wet day, and me being ill-equipped for the conditions, I took the bike out for a spin. #spolieralert it was really fun despite the weather and I can’t wait to have another go in the dry.
Thanks for watching.
#yamaha #yamahars125 #emotorcycle #electricmotorcycle #testride #firstridereview #rs125
00:00 Introduction
00:57 Walkround the bike
02:27 Andi’s extra thoughts
05:07 First Ride
09:00 Motorway
11:00 Twisties
13:50 Halfway thoughts
15:09 The ride back
17:20 Conclusion
