Strong
Foundations
Erez Abramov, inventor and developer of the EZRaider, is a well known figure in the Israeli motor-sport arena, having developed, built and raced some of the most innovative and award winning buggies in Israel.
However, the story of the EZRaider begins long before Erez ever built his first buggy - it began with a childhood dream.
Born in 1966, Israel, Erez spent his childhood working on the family farm- landscaping, digging, hauling, mowing, navigating with heavy duty machinery and tractors - fixing them when necessary - in addition to his other farm chores.
In the early 70s, riding a skateboard was the thing almost every child dreamed of, but with no paved roads in proximity, it was only a distant dream for young Erez, a dream he would cherish and pursue later in life.
A Dream
Is Born
In 1990, pursuing his dream for Skateboarding and his acquired love for extreme motorsports, Erez built the very first prototype of what would later become the "EZRaider"; a large board - very much the size and look of a surfboard, with a 2 stroke motorcycle engine, large wheels, and a handlebar for stabilization - an inspiration he got from the jet ski. The steering itself was through shifting one's body weight on the board from side to side - like a skateboard.
He kept testing and improving … though it did not look perfect, it had great off-road capabilities, exhilarating handling and was tremendous fun to ride at fast speeds through the rural terrains.
The Other
Love
Life has it own dynamics... young Erez grows and builds a family. Having to support it, he did what was most natural for him, developing and building agricultural machinery for a wide range of applications.
Working at young age on the farm with agricultural machinery, understanding the true meaning of reliability, handling, simplicity, and safety not only contributed to Erez's business success but allowed him to support his other (expensive) love - for the motorsports - developing, building and racing his own innovative buggies.
Realization
Of A Dream
In 2010, riding his Ducati S4 RS, Erez had a fateful accident.
Having broken his clavicle, he sat in his workshop unable to lift any heavy parts.
Erez decided to use the time to engage with something that had lighter metal parts and did not require such heavy lifting - it was his 1990 project and childhood dream: the unique, engine powered, off-road terrain 'skateboard'.
Having previously worked on a project for self driving vehicle used for militay and security purposes - Erez realized the importance of light-weight, agile and small vehicles that can transport people and their equipment on the battle-fields. As a result, a few prototypes with internal combustion engines were designed.
However, being ahead of its time the project terminated in 2015.
Believing in the basic concept, Erez decided to craft a machine for himself as end-user, with one aim - to generate the most exhilarating off-road thrill.
It called for a total redesign, creating a completely new patented suspension system, engine, chassis, design ... and meticulous craftsmanship - the result was nothing short of an engineering marvel and a new kind of machine and category in the vehicular world.
The EZRaider gets its name from two of Erez's self built buggies, the red-hot, hot-rod "EZ" (2006-2010), and the blue Dakar beast - the "RAIDER" (2002-2006). The total accumulation of decades of experience, hundreds of racing victories, love for creating... building agricultural machinery and off-road vehicles - all, funneling into a new game changing machine - the EZRaider!
In 2017 Erez co-founded with Miki Bar and Gadi Binyamini the DSRaider Ltd. - to develop, build and market the EZRaider - worldwide.
Some of the Vehicles Developed, Built and Raced by Erez
A Drive for Creating
Between 1999-2002 inspired by the Atom Ariel and Lotus Super 7, karting, and his love for Formula 1, Erez developed and built a new buggy, driving it to new heights of success.
Built initially with a VMax engine connected to a Volkswagen 'Transporter' gear - the new creation had 20 forward and 5 reverse gears, four independent high clearance A-Arms (Double Wishbone), adjustable KONI dampers and nitrogen pistons acting as springs, large rim diameter 15" ... weighing only 550 Kg / 1,212 lb and reaching speeds of over 200 km / 124 mph off-road; it was the original beast.
Once Erez got his hands on the 180 horsepower Suzuki R1000 engine, he reduced the weight even further, and added the benefits of an electronic fuel injection system, electrical reverse gear...
Rally
Raid
Between 2002-2006, Erez developed and built the "RAIDER" - 1UZ V8 Toyota engine, multi-link suspension system... the unique RWD buggy was specifically designed for the Dakar Rally, stretching the Dakar regulations to their limits. The RAIDER was designed for driving at a constant pace, and was very different from the previously designed super-fast, and extremely agile buggy.
Since the Dakar regulations allowed for up to three riders, Erez designed the buggy to take advantage of this, placing the driver's seat in the middle, higher then the other two side seats - allowing for better terrain reading and handling.
In order to compensate for the higher center of gravity caused by the driver's elevated seat, Erez placed two fuel tanks 140 Liter / 37 Gallons each - at the bottom of the buggy instead of the rear as was the norm, lowering its center of gravity.
With a long wheel base for better handling, Erez designed the skid plate like an ice breaker ship - to cut through the sand dunes ...
Hot
Ride
2006-2010 saw the birth of the "EZ" buggy. Inspired by his love for the 1950s Hot Rod era this was an off-road beast on fire, 4 Liter 1UZ engine, extremely agile, with a very low differential gear ratio for fast acceleration - much in the spirit of the hot-rod ... fuel tanks placed at the bottom of the vehicle, and a total weight of 1250 kg (including the two spare tires) distributed 55% to the rear and 45% to the front for better handling and off-road capabilities - it was a driver's dream in every sense.
