Today I went to Heinen's Motorsports in Osseo to test ride the line up from Zero Motorcycles. I like to keep an eye on demo ride events that are happening around town. I have seen videos and read articles about Zero and their line up of all electric bikes. Being a purest I was very skeptical of the quality and characteristics of the bikes considering I've been riding internal combustion bikes my whole life. The representative was very friendly and walked me through the mechanics (rather, lackthereof) of the bike. The ergonomics of the bike are very different from my 6 but not uncomfortable by any means, just different.
First up I rode their S model [pictured below in black] which is their base model. Four major callouts about this bike - first, it is incredibly quiet, second, it is very maneuverable, third, the rear brake is garbage, four, it is quick! The bike can be toggled between three settings for power - eco, sport, and custom. Custom you can dial in your own mapping through a smartphone device, eco is for longer range and less snappy and then sport is holy crap hold on! For comparison sake I wanted to try the SR model [pictured below in red] which upgrades you from 40KW to 50KW or about a 17hp gain overall. WOW...the SR in sport mode is nuts. It'll run a 0-60 in 3.3 seconds and while I didn't have a stopwatch/timer available even with me on the bike it felt damn close to that. I also rode the FX model [pictured below in "asphalt" - OK, its the dirtbike lookin' one] for fun since it was available. Apparently yesterday some customer took it out and had some off road fun with it which was obvious from some of the caked on mud underneath the bike that wasn't cleaned off. It wasn't really a good bike for me but I'm glad that I tried it out.
Overall I am very impressed with the bikes. With a claimed range of over 150 miles without the upgraded power pack unit (which adds weight up high) that is enough for most casual riders and most commuters. It doesn't provide much in the way of wind protection and is missing a lot of the creature comforts I am used to. That said the one real drawback is the price. Coming in between 15-20K these bikes just don't stack up to the competition in that price range. For this money you can get touring, sport touring, and adventure bikes that are proven winners. I will be keeping my eye on the technology as it continues to improve I'm sure the price will continue to decline.
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