Tested: New Oset TXP 24 – you can’t ride it and not want one
Enduro21 takes a spin on the new Oset TXP 24 electric off-road motorcycle and find its impossible to go for a ride and not want to take it home.
We know this isn’t an enduro bike but warm your hands on just a couple of facts before you click to another story. Fact 1: Go for a ride with mates on E-MTBs, with your kids, with your better half, put your mum on it…however you do it you’re going to be having a laugh, offending no-one and wondering why you didn’t try one sooner.
Fact 2: This is a Triumph motorcycle. Yup, you may not know it but Triumph bought Oset two years ago and manufacture to the same standards alongside their big machines in their giant Malaysian factory.
Fact 3: Even on a miserable rainy day in the mountains, the TXP 24 is the kind of bike that you jump on and don’t want to get off until you’re knackered or run out of gas – no matter what the source of that power might be.
Dick about and the 24 shines
With the open face helmet dusted off, this test wa basically a freeride in a mountainside practice area at Inch Perfect Trials. Setting off along trails and into the woods, the riding went quickly into showcasing the basically all-new biggest Oset model’s chassis, suspension, brakes, electronics and motor.
While we rapidly got used to riding it, playing around with multiple options in the power controls to find a happy place, jumping off crests, bunny-hopping puddles, popping stoppies and wheelies, something dawns quickly: this is a brilliant new version of what people used to call an FAB (a f*ckabout bike).
You find yourself having a laugh by riding over nothing and making jumps and kickers from anything. All the while you’re working your body, using bike skills and having a laugh. The 24 shines brightest when you start dicking about.
Your mum could ride it
Everything basically has changed on the new TXP 24, the head of R&D Jason Ross explains. Both the new 20 and 24 models have been four years in development and the completely ground-up design shares “almost nothing with old bikes”.
Though trials has become such a specialised sport in recent years, Ross explains they wanted to take it away from that to make it a bike anyone can ride, of any ability. It can do high-level trials sections now thanks to new chassis, motor, brakes, suspension, battery, bars, tyres, but it can also be that super-easy ride no-one should be frightened about.
The user-friendly element here, apart from a balanced chassis, is a big upgrade to the electronics and the range of options you have to play with the keypad. Power, response and wheel speed is adjustable through a really easy-to-use panel between your knees. (The new control unit is also pin-lockable to stop pesky kids going full gas and hurting themselves).
Anyone from your nan upwards has a setting they will be happy with so even if someone has never ridden a bike before, the Oset TXP 24 with the enduro seat means you cannot fail. As you grow in confidence, you can keep adjusting right up to full power, response (throttle connection to the back wheel) and speed to be doing the stuff we’re used to seeing Pro trials riders doing.
Sweet chassis
The new chassis, forks and shock plus better brakes and riding position make it super-easy to control and that seat does genuinely give you a place to sit and trail ride. Overall we spent more time riding standing up but it’s comfortable and big enough if you sit down so don’t underestimate that seat.
Oset now produce their own tyres which is a real upgrade as far as our own experience riding the bigger Osets goes. They mean the bike grips and performs in a way you expect without carcass folding, being too narrow or the wrong size like they were before.
The new brushless motor makes a difference too. It no longer drags like the previous motor did so the feel you have with the throttle, and its connection to the back wheel, is really direct.
You can ride it much more like a trials bike in this way, feeling the back tyre grip and meter your throttle hand to find grip and drive in different riding conditions. And you can roll it backwards, which sounds like a minor thing but you’d be surprised how many times not being able to do that can get annoying.
Battery life?
We could waffle on with the facts about 58% energy increase, 30% more power, stronger engine and battery cases, upgraded water protection, easy quick connectors, interchangeable batteries for quick changes and more. But we figure if you’re that into it, you don’t need us to tell you. Find the tech here.
The simple reality of our test was a couple of hours of more or less constant riding which left plenty of battery life in our test bike. We didn’t run it down, so can’t give you exact details but Oset claim around three hours-ish of what we were doing and it easily met that claim. Trust us it lasts long enough for you to ride enough to need a rest and that makes it directly comparable with using up a tank of fuel on a trials bike in these riding conditions.
Charge time?
The new battery and 10A charger is more than three-times as powerful as on older models Oset say. Charge times of around two hours would be about right after the riding we had done (up to 90% battery drain). Oset say 0-100% charges in four hours on the TXP-24 model but looking at the new design of all of the battery and charger, it is way more user-friendly and we’d factor in a spare for a quick change around.
Just one issue popped up and that was sometimes our test bike got too hot. Oset have designed a preservation mode which basically cuts a percentage of the power and beeps at you when the system and motor gets too hot.
During normal riding and the fun stuff, it never happened. But each time we attempted a long, rocky trials section, three-quarters of the way through it would cut power and beep giving you the option to limp out or sit and wait.
81kg puts this test rider well-within the weight limit for the 24 so can only figure it must have been the tough ask of a rocky trials section, in tight gulley and pretending to be at the Scottish Six Days Trial…
After about the fifth time of sitting in the way of the next guy, waiting a minute for it to cool down and stop beeping, it occurred to us that one aftermarket product Oset could develop might be a fan kit.
Test a 24, you’ll thank us for it
Enduro21 is by definition doesn’t normally test bikes like this, so we’re not going to bang it down your throat any longer.
We tested the new TXP model which is the 24 with the seat option and if there’s a better bike for doing wheelies on then we haven’t tried it yet.
To our knowledge there’s a long list of people out there in the world, Triumph Racing’s new MX riders included, who’ve been given a 24 to try and loved it so much as a training bike they want one.
It’s addictive to ride and can be taken so many places to ride, including bike parks and MTB trails, it makes for easy fun riding when the enduro bike is on the stand.
Prices: £4195 24 model/£3695 20 model (at time of writing only GBP prices available)
More information: www.osetbikes.com
Oset heritage
At 20 years old, Oset is the legitimate title holder of “my first motorbike” for a generation of riders and racers, including some of the very best in every form of two-wheeled racing from MotoGP and Superbikes to Supercross, Motocross and our own sport of enduro.
Ride the new 24 model and you’ll have a blast but there’s no getting away from the trials bike-ness here. It was in there from the beginning with founder of the company Ian Smith wanting to make a bike for his son, Oliver, who the origin of the Oset name. Spending most his waking life on Osets of increasing size ever since, Olly is the lanky lad you’ll see in many of the Oset videos displaying the trials skills of the bikes.
For two decades Oset have lead the way introducing kids to the sport of trials and to our memory they are the first little electric bike you ever saw in a park, on a dog walk, or following a parent at an off-road event. In terms of small, powered off-road motorcycles they are the original.
As the kid grows, the models step up through 12, 16, 20 and this 24, stepping stones to bike skills and control. The 24 is that stepping stone also and even though it is addictive as a relatively experienced rider, you can easily see the strong appeal of one for any grown-up of any riding ability and experience.
All the above are facts not lost on Triumph and part of the reason behind the acquisition a couple of years ago. Oset is its own brand with bikes built within the giant Triumph factory in Malaysia, know that this is a how you turn kids into future motorcycle riders.
Photo Credit: Neil Sturgeon
