Electric motorcycle demo rides

[custmmc]

I'm out of town but this is the weekend to try out an electric motorcycle.

Zero at Big 1

Alta at Highland Park Resort.

http://www.highlandparkresort.com/calendar

I would like to hear your thoughts if anyone rides either bike.

[Slede]

this is late but I'm more interested in the alta, just because they seem to be telling the most truths about what their product will actually do. the zero's on paper are great but everywhere I've found a test by someone that isn't trying to sell them it bairly does half of what is advertised. time will tell but I'm very interested in what will come from both of these companies.

[bblass]

I rode the zero DS-R at big number 1 when they had their demo day.

Initial thoughts were mostly "wow this thing is quiet". It was creepy hearing the wheel scratch and slip in a few of the turns.

The lack of left side controls (clutch, shifter) would definitely take some getting used to. I wouldn't describe it as "fast" but it was extremely quick. Big twin torque in a sumo package. I personally found the suspension to be rather rough and the brake feel wasn't quite as good as I expected them to be on a "premium" package.

Would I buy one? Not for 16K but possibly for 8K and probably for 6-7K. It would make an excellent commuter bike and to do short weekend jaunts but it's otherwise pretty useless due to the range.

The salesman quoted me that the bike I was on had a 160 mile range. I find that hard to believe given that I watched the battery gauge go down around 5% on a short but spirited trip from the dealership to Lakeshore business park and back. Normal riding, I'd estimate you get around 100 miles from the larger battery pack and that's in between 8 hour charge times.

The technology has immense potential and I would absolutely buy a bare bones electric scoot as a woods bike. If they could build one around 200 lbs with the weight down low and a decent suspension I would think they have a hit on their hands. In fact, I'd bet the forestry service would by them buy the hundreds.

TL;DR - Nice, but not there yet for the premium they're asking.

[kylepeterson]

@bblass how about that torque?

I've never ridden one, but these electric bikes are  a lot more exciting to me than everything else on the market. in recent years the DS long rides fun died (no need for DS with range), streets are full of people texting instead of driving, so 100 mile range would be fine for me. I would love to silently slip away and go play at night when it's cool, and I'm sure as hell not trailering to sturges ;-)

[bblass]

The torque was absolutely the best part of the ride! The bike I was on had two modes, eco and sport. Eco stepped up the torque gradually and sport was 100+ ft lbs from the moment you cracked the throttle.

They should have another demo before the end of the summer and if you're curious about them you should definitely go and ride one for yourself. Once Mr Musk starts making lighter and longer lasting batteries there's no doubt these will be the wave of the future. 

[Moto Guzzi]

I rode the SR (street oriented) and the DS (dual sport) at Big 1's Zero demo day.  The FXS (motard) was on charge and not available when I was there. Of the 2 I really liked the DS best, the SR was a bit too much of a lean to the bars for my old wrists.  The silence was actually kind of cool. Plenty of torque available.  I rode the SR once and the DS twice.  First time out on the DS it was in Econo mode and topped out at 70mph on Lakeshore.  Second time was in Sport mode and I backed off at 85mph on Lakeshore.  I though the suspension was rather stiff but it is fully adjustable so that could be fixed with some setting changes. Overall I really liked it, the drawbacks are as noted above, price and range, both of which Zero is well aware of.  Hard to spend 16k on a commuter when I already have 2 excellent commuter bikes (DR 650's).  I still would like to get one though.