Can-Am Origin (2025 - ) Electric review

Can-Am may be better known for its Ski-Doos, side-by-sides and three-wheelers but the Canadian firm in fact has a fair history on two wheels also. As does Rotax, now part of the wider BRP orbit and famous as an engine supplier to host of motorcycle brands back in the day. While it still builds internal-combustion motors for Can-Am Rotax has also branched out into electric motors, the two coming together on this Origin. Built around a chunky 8.9kWh battery and with the motor and enclosed chain drive built into a single-sided swingarm, the Origin’s adventure bike cred is clear in its looks and engineering, long-travel KYB suspension, crash bars and knobbly Dunlop rubber. In this, power and overall weight it’s an honest comparison to the many and varied A2-class adventure bikes hitting the market and seemingly just as capable both on-road and off it. As ever with electric bikes price and range remain issues, but as a product the Origin is as impressively put together as it is groundbreaking.

Long-travel off-road ready suspension and 21-inch/18-inch wheel sizing mean the Origin feels authentically lofty in the familiar adventure bike style, though the slim frame means the 865mm seat isn’t as intimidating as might sound once you’ve slung a leg over and the rear shock has settled into its sag. The ‘proper bike’ stature certainly helps swerve guilt-by-association with some of the shadier electric trail bikes doing the rounds, too. The upright posture, relatively wide bars and commanding stance are as comfortable as they are confidence-inspiring, and the Origin more than stands comparison with any equivalent combustion-engined A2 adventure bike.

We’ll come to range and charging in a moment. But as a motorcycle the Origin is fundamentally as practical as any equivalent A2 adventure machine. The long-travel suspension is as comfy on lumpy urban streets as it is off-road, the commanding height gives you a great view over traffic and hedges alike and our fully-specced Origin ’73 model came laden with welcome extras like a (genuinely effective) adjustable screen, side protection, tank bag, hand guards and a set of soft panniers. You’ll be needing the latter on longer days out to carry your charging cable, the Origin fitted with a Type 2 socket so you can plug into AC chargers on the public network. These are fewer and further between than the DC CCS chargers you can plug the Honda WN7 into, and the need to carry a cable is a faff. On the plus side a day of mixed on- and off-road riding proved the claimed 70-odd miles of range was very much achievable, this and the fact the range predictions were absolutely bang-on throughout the day building confidence it’ll make it to the next charging stop. And taking a lot of the stress out of riding an electric vehicle. One quirk to be aware of, though! Electric drive means no ability to park in gear to stop it rolling away or off the stand, which on a tall bike like the Origin could happen very easily. Short version? Make sure you stop pointing uphill if you’re leaving it on the stand!

In a quirk of the way electric motors are regulated the Origin’s official continuous power is a modest-sounding 26 horsepower while the peak is bang on the A2 limit at 47 horsepower. You can even buy it in A1 trim if you want to ride it on a CBT and L-plates! The 72Nm of torque is the real story, though, and multiples of what you’d get out of an equivalent combustion bike. It’s all there the moment you twist the throttle as well, speed off the line sufficient to leave pretty much everything else at the lights standing. It tails off around 60mph, by which point the combustion bikes you left in your wake will be coming into their own. But around town and on the lanes it’s brilliantly effective, Can-Am’s slick calibration putting the power down smoothly without fear of looping out off the back or spinning the rear wheel. At least, unintentionally. In place of engine braking you have adjustable regen putting juice back into the battery when slowing. You can choose from three levels of ‘passive’ regen off-throttle, and a further three of active when you rock the grip forward. In its most assertive this will pretty much bring you to a complete halt, and around town you can actually add range by slowing without even touching the friction brakes until the last couple of metres. When that moments come they use a conventional motorcycle arrangement, with a foot lever for the rear in the usual style. Rear ABS is switchable for off-roading, with enough modulation to hold the back tyre on the brink of locking up, even on loose surfaces and in stiff enduro boots.

An equivalent KTM 390 Adventure is quite a bit lighter but the Origin’s 187kg is actually on a par with many of the other combustion-powered A2 adventure bikes it competes with. So, it feels lively and easy to chuck around whether your tyres are on tarmac or dirt. The chunky 43mm KYB forks aren’t adjustable but the 255mm of travel is well-judged and we wouldn’t have been motivated to meddle with them even if we could have. You can do more at the back, the monoshock offering rebound, preload and compression adjustment. It’s perhaps a little disappointing to see the motor on the swingarm and therefore contributing to the unsuprung weight, which you feel in terms of suspension response and the way the rear wheel tracks the ground. It’s perhaps the only area in which the Origin feels in any way functionally compromised over its combustion-engined equivalents but, in fairness, it still rides well enough and the travel means it feels plush when standing on the pegs and razzing over rocks and rough surfaces. Same on the road as well, so long as you respect the knobbly tyres and 21-inch front wheel and don’t come into corners too hot expecting it to tip in like a sports bike! But you’d say the same of any equivalent adventure machine.

A mixed bag. The starting price looks hard to reconcile, given it’s double that of most equivalent combustion bikes. Such is the cost of being an early adopter and, in fairness, it’s no worse than other electric bikes. If you can rationalise that the Origin should prove a cheap bike to run, though. Even plugged into an expensive public charger a top-up good for another 70 miles of riding cost less than a coffee, and at home on a domestic supply you’ll ‘fuel’ it for mere pence. The scooter-style mechanical arrangement of motor and enclosed chain with built-in tensioner and lubrication will require less upkeep, while consumables like tyres and brakes should be on a par with equivalent combustion bikes.

Hard to say but Can-Am is a serious player, with a proven track record across all of its many and various products. A fly-by-night mail order brand with no back-up or support network it most definitely not. Ditto the Rotax motor and cycle parts from the like of KYB and J.Juan. We have every hope it will deliver on the expectation of that chunky price on this score.

The two-year warranty for the bike is nothing special but the battery and motor are at least covered for five years or 50,000km (a smidge over 30,000 miles), whichever comes first. Servicing is a little different from a combustion bike, the ‘break-in’ service not required until 3,000 miles, after which you’ll be returning to the dealer every year or 9,300 miles for a once-over.

You can buy the Origin in standard form or Origin ’73 trim as seen here. Whether this is worth the considerable premium is hard to judge, given it seems to comprise little more than silver paint, flashes of yellow trim and LED lighting. Also worth bearing in mind most of the bits on the bike pictured, including the detachable screen, crash bars and luggage, are all cost options from the accessories catalogue. They’re well-executed, desirable and neatly integrated into the bike but an additional expense to factor in. Better news in the tech, which is driven through an impressively large and easy to operate touch-screen with full connectivity via your phone. This includes CarPlay and Android Auto, though we couldn’t get this to work with our Apple handset. Seemingly there’s a quirk of the system that won’t launch CarPlay without there being a connected headset as well, which feels an annoying quirk but one necessary to realise the additional benefits of voice prompts, music and calls anyway.

The price remains problematic, range and charging also. If you can rationalise those, though, the Origin is a stylish, impressively engineered and very effective electric twist on the A2 adventure format. The ability to take to the green lanes without making noise or smoke will appeal to those with a social conscience more than it will the traditional trail-riding fraternity but this and the instant torque, plush suspension, tyres and details like the caged footpegs as standard all point to Can-Am’s intent it be used in this way. And a day out combining road and tracks is well within its capabilities, the range exceeding both claims and our expectations. A brave and expensive choice compared with combustion-powered rivals, then. But one with unique appeal and some tricks of its own up its sleeve.