Rode a 2022 Zero SR/F this weekend.

[misterprofessionality]

Where to begin...

I had the opportunity to test ride the latest model Zero sR/F in a group environment and initially went into this with the thought process that this would never be a purchase i would make. Mostly that predisposition is due to a strong ideological difference i have with Zeros policy on software updates. If youre not up to speed on what they tried to do with their 2022 bikes check it out some time.

The basic gist is that they intended to "lock out" physical features of the bike (extra power, extra battery range, even the heated grips) by making you purchase a separate software update to gsin access to them. I consider this scummy because the hardware for these features are already on the bike but theyre thinking they can make you pay extra to gsin access to them. Its like buying a bike and being told the top speed is 100mph, but if you pay an extra $1500 for a software update itll go 120mph. The bike could always do 120. They just artificially locked it out.

Anyway, for the above reasons i had resolved to never buy a Zero, because i dont want to support a company that would do that. I did, however, want to finally get onto a full sized Ebike and feel it for myself.

My first impression when i sat on the bike was, "man this thing is **stiff**. " the seat felt like a plank, with those hard edges that cut into your legs. The suspension was dialed way up too. The pegs were higher than i expected and the bars lower than i expected. All in all it was a very very aggressive posture. I could tell immediately that the bike wanted me to be in track mode.

When you activate the bike its just a matter of turning on the key and the kill switch. The kill switch works like a kind of safety. As long as that isnt on the throttle isnt live. Once the throttle is live and you touch it, you know it. 140 ft/lbs of torque right away. A lot of bikes will use the phrase "neck snapping torque." Theyre liars. This is the real thing. I asked for the full beans twice dueing the demo ride and both times the acceleration quite literally overwhelmed my neck muscles. I can say that i have never felt anything so assertive on the road. But ok. Everybody knows EV bikes have power.

The ride was.....eh. twist and go is super convenient but ultimately soulless. The engine brake (or brake regen as they call it) is strong but also 100%uniform. It doesnt transition across the rev range and thus behaves awkwardly when engine braking into a turn. Without a clutch to smooth out your inputs the turn entry and exits feel stilted. Its also a bit harder to load and unload your suspension smoothly when tipping into turns. This coupled with the badly distributed weight from the battery makes the bike kind of a dog when it comes to your side-to-side action. Its reallly not excited about being flipped over. Add all that to the 80% aggressive ergos and the very very stiff ride and what you get is.... a lot of work. Really. Thats what it felt like to me 30 minutes into this ride. Work. I can get loose and flow on my CB. I can dip and plunge and climb all over a middleweight naked like an XSR700 or a z650. This thing just wasnt having any of that. What it boils down to is theres a great deal less of an **interface** between man and machine.

Tech and wizbang features were cool and fun. The bike looked and felt extremely high quality. The high-pitched whirring sound of the E motor was cool and satisfying. People keep talking about these bikes like theyre silent. They definitely are not. I could hear the motor over the wind noise, through my earplugs and my music.

Overall this bike is a 6/10 but i am excited for the future of Ebikes. I still would not buy the Zero SR/F but i did come away with some very good news: the scummy software policies are actually being scrapped next year to due an extremely negative customer response. It shows that Zero is really listening to everybody, and i found that refreshing and came away from the experience with a different level of respect for the company.

[the Ferret]

I rode a Zero S a few years ago. It was a weird experience but one I enjoyed very much. The lack of tactile response from the bike was disturbing at first. No motor noise, no vibes. Nothing to tell you the bike is actually " running". The first stop sign I came to I stopped, and thought and thought the bike had " quit". Of course it hadn't but the lack of tactile sensations confused me at first.

The suspension was very stiff and the seat was hard. It was not comfortable to ride. It was fast, and like you said torque was instantaneous. I never had the opportunity to test side to side transitions as my test ride was in downtown Dayton, Ohio.

I could own an electric for everyday rides if the initial buy in wasn't so prohibitive but I once figured it out and I can pay for 184,000 miles of gas for my 75 mpg NC and break even on the buy in difference on a new Zero

[GoldOxide_imp]

Price has to come down meaningfully and swappable batteries on-the-go are enablers to me. I reckon I will have one in my pre-rocking-chair riding years, whether because I choose to or because government will make it difficult to ride an internal combustion engine.

[misterprofessionality]

My take on the EV trend is that while the Zero is an impressive (if flawed) technical acheivement, it's an example of massive overkill. There is absolutely no good reason for an EV to have 140 (or in some cases 160) ft/lbs of torque. that's just gratuitous. If they put a motor that was half as powerful (70 ft/lbs) it would still have more torque than a CB1100. Then you could put about 3/4 the battery and still have more range than the current design, while having a whole lot less weight.

It's smaller, more sensible Ebikes with longer range and more conservative power that will eventually dominate the market, not the Zero SR/F.

[pekingduck]

To me, a large part of the fun of motorcycling is the precise co-ordination of throttle modulation and clutch, precisely timed gear shifting, trailing throttle for braking, relying on engine sound rather than the tach, all things lost on an e-bike. It's a rewarding skill we've practiced and refined over time.

I can see how some, especially new riders, would see an e-bike as the logical choice. Just point and shoot. And I can maybe see owning one some day, as an alternative addition in the stable. But only if I can't fit a clutch and shifter to my wheelchair.

[GoldOxide_imp]

I am sure when electric motorcycles are the norm, somebody will jimmy up a unit to clutch the electric power delivery for "retro motives". It would be totally redundant and probably unreliable for users to bother.

The antiquated requirement to manage the friction zone will be gone like the management of a steam engine. The energy will likely be redirected at managing a video chat session while buzzing through downtown.

[Cormanus]

Didn't someone once post a link to an electric bike that had a decent speaker that produced user-selectable exhaust notes?

[misterprofessionality]

I am sure when electric motorcycles are the norm, somebody will jimmy up a unit to clutch the electric power delivery for "retro motives". It would be totally redundant and probably unreliable for users to bother.

The antiquated requirement to manage the friction zone will be gone like the management of a steam engine. The energy will likely be redirected at managing a video chat session while buzzing through downtown.

Actually that's a really interesting realization I came to when riding this bike. The lack of a clutch/friction zone isn't just about tactile nostalgia. The lack of a friction zone creates a kind of on-off awkwardness when trailing between brake and throttle through corners. If you ride this bike in a "spirited" way it becomes more apparent. I never realized just how much the clutch friction zone accomplishes with regards to smoothing out those actions and helping the bike flow from side to side. The lack of that action was sorely missed, and not just because the mechanical action of shifting and clutching is emotionally satisfying. it serves a real practical function.

[Gone in 60]

I rode the same Zero last year at the Progressive show in OC. In sport mode on a freeway ramp, I hit 70 before my brain knew what had happened. The price was a killer for any consideration, around $25k. That was before prices went nuts.

Still, for my 13 mile one-way daily commute, it really made me think about an electric once prices became equivalent to a same power gas bike.

[the Ferret]

Clutches can have purposes, but when you think about it, Honda sells a lot of DCT bikes that don't have manual clutches and I can tell you from experience that they can be ridden in a sporty manner.

The big difference between a DCT and an electric, or a CVT, all without manual clutches is the ability to upshift or downshift with the DCT just like a manual clutch bike with an up and down quickshifter.

An electric is most like a CVT where there is a direct connect power to drivetrain with no interruptions, although the electric is the most direct.

talking about riding an electric in a sporting manner, they race electrics in a MotoGP format, called MotoE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpSdD4wYEAQ

like MotoGP bikes, once rolling there is no need for a manual clutch