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LeftieBiker

Well-known member
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May 22, 2013
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I could only find a topic about 2013 Zero bikes, and that seemed a bit too specific, so here's a topic for all electric motorcycles and road-capable scooters. I started, back in 2002, with an Oxygen Lepton electric scooter. They were overpriced when new, and limited to 28MPH (indicated, 25 actual) but they turned out to be fine little Italian (not Chinese!) scooters. I sold mine about 10 years later, still with the original AGM batteries, because I had acquired a Chinese XM-3000 that would do 45mph! It also arrived damaged, and died for good after about 3 fairly fun seasons. I replaced that with what should have been a great bike: a ZEV 5000LA scooter/motorcycle that would nudge just past 60MPH, was full-sized, and had a real suspension. Alas, that bike arrived badly damaged in shipping, and I foolishly allowed the "manufacturer" (it's actually one guy and a helper who assembles imported parts in an old hangar) to refurbish it with the insurance settlement. The bike was never perfect, it was plagues with a shaky front end, and I just unloaded it, not running, for $800, having paid $4k for it just a few years ago.

Now for the good news, I hope! I just put a deposit on a 2015 Zero SR demo bike. I'll be biting my nails down to the wrist while it's in transit across the country...
 
LeftieBiker said:
Now for the good news, I hope! I just put a deposit on a 2015 Zero SR demo bike. I'll be biting my nails down to the wrist while it's in transit across the country...


Congrats!

Jealous.

I was able to test ride one at the National Drive Electric event and found it very appealing. I'm not sure how long my drivers license would remain mine if I bought one. Every time I looked down at the speedo I was going much faster than I thought. And yes, it can do a nice wheelie if you time it right. :)
 
It's funny: I rode two Zeros that year, and while they had an S or SR, I didn't bother, riding instead an FX and a police DS. I loved them both, although both were a little too tall for me (and I'm 5'9"). So I started looking for the only models I didn't test ride. ;-) I had a similar ICE bike in the '90's: a Suzuki Madura 1200. I looked at a slightly rusty but mechanically sound one used, on a lark, and that first ride, in which I was doing 90 a few seconds after starting, unintentionally, hooked me on it. I survived owning that for quite a few years, so hopefully I can survive the SR, mainly by putting it in Eco, or the Custom mode, with which I'll try to simulate the S, with maybe a little more oomph in the midrange...
 
LeftieBiker said:
My bike arrived yesterday morning, dirty but apparently unscathed. Here is a photo of it while still at the dealership.

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Cool! I've been considering buying one myself but I'm hoping they will up the range soon. Also, I would have to modify it so I wouldn't have to bend over so much while riding it (bad back). I'm sure you will enjoy. I currently have a Harley with sidecar and a non working Suzuki Water Buffalo also know as a Widowmaker.
 
I also have a bad back - and arms, hands, etc - but it looks like I can just rotate the bars upwards (and reposition the brake lever) to get a more or less upright riding position.
 
DesertSprings said:
Would off the shelf riser bars work?

I don't know. I'm hoping I won't need to change the bars. There is a decent rise on them - it's just set up so they "rise" forward instead of up.

As for range, Zero has been raising the pack capacity almost every year. The 2016 S (bigger battery option) and SR get a raise from 12.5kwh to 13.0.
 
I took my first ride today, and it went very well. I had used the Zero app to set the Custom mode as follows: top speed 80MPH, maximum torque: 75%, throttle off regen: 6%, braking regen: 100%.

I started the ride in Eco mode, and man, this isn't your Dad's Eco mode! Aside from a very soft start, useful for loose dirt and most city riding, the bike still accelerates harder than any electric bike I've ridden, and about as hard as my Leaf at low speeds - harder at higher speeds. Needless to say, there is just no comparison with the ZEV 5000, even with the Zero in Eco and the ZEV in, er, "3." I did about 20 miles of country highways in Eco, then on the beginning of the last leg of my 32 mile ride I switched to Custom.

Wheee!!! I've only ridden one or two ICE bikes that would leap forward like that when the throttle is opened at 60MPH, and they had roughly 100HP. I didn't run it all the way to 80 (it was mild but not warm outside, and I'm now old and feeble) but the bike seemed happy to just keep accelerating hard past 75MPH. Those Custom settings seem like the perfect "Sport" mode for public roads, with the actual "Sport" mode (which I didn't use, as I promised myself) best reserved for Special Situations, just like Tesla's "Insane Mode."

Ergonomically, the SR isn't the best bike for me. I have trouble with pain in my arms and hands, and supporting my weight on the bars with my arms isn't fun. However, above 40MPH I noticed that the force of the wind on my body actually relieved the strain on my arms. Only going down hills at low speeds actually hurt much. I'm going to adjust the bars once more, so I'm as upright as possible. The seat is about what I expected: on my fairly short ride it was fine, but on a long ride my butt would be hurting without an extra cushion. Most of the controls work fine, but the turn signal which isn't auto-canceling (despite what one might expect on a $16000 bike) is easy to activate but hard to turn off - it wants to switch from signaling a turn in one direction right to signaling the other way, especially for a rider wearing gloves.

The suspension works very well to absorb harsh bumps and keep the tires planted on the road. Since I only ride fast on smooth roads, though, I'll likely adjust the damping toward softer, for a more comfortable ride over small imperfections in the road.

I started the ride with 100% charge, and a range estimate of 61 miles. I finished it, 32 miles, later with 65% charge and a range estimate of about 55 miles. I didn't reset the efficiency reading, but I think it resets for every ride, and mine was 94.5 watt-hours per mile at the end of my ride. This means that for my riding style and roads, I expect the warm weather range to be between 90 and 100 miles for me. I'm finally starting to believe that it's the 21st Century!


 
It doesn't sound good about your possible purchase of a lemon. I hope you get it solved or get satisfaction. It is horrible to spend a lot of money for a dud. What seems to be wrong?
 
After 31 miles the bike's master warning light started flickering. I mistook it for the 'motor heat' light but was a few easy blocks from home anyway. I got two codes for "BMS Isolation" and "BMS Isolation Fault." The dealer's so-called Tech was less than helpful, but told me how to reset any inactive errors. I was concerned that hand-washing the bike with about 1 gallon of water and a hand-pumped garden sprayer might have done harm, so I took care to dry it out. I got in a second ride a few days later, after resetting the BMS, but after it ended and I plugged the bike in to charge, I got both the previous errors, plus "BMS Isolation Danger."I unplugged the bike and left it alone. I have sent Zero both data logs, but they haven't responded after 5 days. A friend was able to use an app to parse the logs, and the BMS log is riddled with errors, going back at least to last September.
 
LeftieBiker said:
After 31 miles the bike's master warning light started flickering. I mistook it for the 'motor heat' light but was a few easy blocks from home anyway. I got two codes for "BMS Isolation" and "BMS Isolation Fault." The dealer's so-called Tech was less than helpful, but told me how to reset any inactive errors. I was concerned that hand-washing the bike with about 1 gallon of water and a hand-pumped garden sprayer might have done harm, so I took care to dry it out. I got in a second ride a few days later, after resetting the BMS, but after it ended and I plugged the bike in to charge, I got both the previous errors, plus "BMS Isolation Danger."I unplugged the bike and left it alone. I have sent Zero both data logs, but they haven't responded after 5 days. A friend was able to use an app to parse the logs, and the BMS log is riddled with errors, going back at least to last September.

I'm sure you are exploring all of your options. I'm wondering if the dealer will let you exchange it for another one? I am eyeing your experience with this as I have considered buying one also. Please keep us informed and good luck!
 
The dealer is 3000 miles away. I had tried the dealership "only" 120 miles from me, and I couldn't afford a bike from them - I "only" had $14000 to spend. I'll be looking for either a buyback by the dealer, or a new, fully tested S and a check from Zero. I'm not holding my breath, as Zero has yet to respond to getting the logs 5 days ago, and me contacting them again 3 days ago.
 
UPDATE: a full week after emailing Zero the bike and BMS logs, they haven't responded. There is an official Zero owner's forum, but it is moribund. The Electricmotorcycleforum Zero topics are more active, but aside from one member providing a partial decryption of the logs, their main advice is "take it to the dealer"
and (paraphrasing here) 'Stop worrying about it and bothering us.' After finally making them understand that there is no dealer near me, the advice is to just take it to *A* Zero dealer, somewhere, and not to involve Zero myself, but to have the dealer do that. One member finally recommended a dealership I was considering, so I guess I'll be arranging to have the bike transported there, 120 miles away, and then back again however many weeks later it is "fixed." I say "fixed" because from what I'm reading the repairs to defective Zeros seem to take multiple trips to a dealer to completely rectify, as the replacement onboard chargers, for example, often fail again.

My advice at this point is "Never, ever, buy a Zero motorcycle unless you have a well-rated dealership within a few miles of your home." I also strongly suggest that you first contact the dealer and make sure that they will still *be* a Zero dealer for at least the length of your warranty. When I started considering these bikes there was a dealer in my area. No more. Anyway, as soon as this bike is working as it is supposed to work, with no error codes, it will be going up for sale. Let my stupid mistake be a lesson for you.
 
LeftieBiker said:
UPDATE: a full week after emailing Zero the bike and BMS logs, they haven't responded. There is an official Zero owner's forum, but it is moribund. The Electricmotorcycleforum Zero topics are more active, but aside from one member providing a partial decryption of the logs, their main advice is "take it to the dealer"
and (paraphrasing here) 'Stop worrying about it and bothering us.' After finally making them understand that there is no dealer near me, the advice is to just take it to *A* Zero dealer, somewhere, and not to involve Zero myself, but to have the dealer do that. One member finally recommended a dealership I was considering, so I guess I'll be arranging to have the bike transported there, 120 miles away, and then back again however many weeks later it is "fixed." I say "fixed" because from what I'm reading the repairs to defective Zeros seem to take multiple trips to a dealer to completely rectify, as the replacement onboard chargers, for example, often fail again.

My advice at this point is "Never, ever, buy a Zero motorcycle unless you have a well-rated dealership within a few miles of your home." I also strongly suggest that you first contact the dealer and make sure that they will still *be* a Zero dealer for at least the length of your warranty. When I started considering these bikes there was a dealer in my area. No more. Anyway, as soon as this bike is working as it is supposed to work, with no error codes, it will be going up for sale. Let my stupid mistake be a lesson for you.

I am sorry to hear it is a bad experience. You must be pretty sure this is common. So you believe that this is not a rare case or lemon?
 
There is a known issue, as they say, with onboard charger failures - sometimes the replacement charger fails as well. It appears to be a badly designed, probably Chinese unit that is at fault. There have also been some motor failures. I can't call my bike a "lemon" at the moment, because although I suspect that it has thrown many error codes in the past that were just reset, I don't have enough evidence at the moment to say for sure. There have also been zero (so to speak) attempts to fix whatever's wrong, because I haven't yet located a dealer I know is good. I thought I had found one in New Hampshire, but it turns out they went out of business on 12/31/15. I'm down to one dealer 120 miles away in NY, and another about the same distance away in Connecticut.
 
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