# Zero "S" electric bike



## RIPPERTON (Jan 26, 2010)

Went for a ride on Australia's first ever production all electric vehicle (bike) this afternoon at Action Motorcycles in the city. The Zero "S"
Was ok to ride except for the so called "soft start"
the controller is configured to ramp up amps (torque) as speed increased so you dont get full amps at 0kmh.
This is a catastrophy, it not only defeats the purpose of electric motors but makes the bike dangerous to ride
because you cant get out of trouble and the bike accelerates very slowly off the mark.
The throttle also has about 10 degrees of dead turn off stop which worsens the problem
after you reach about 20-30kmh the full amps are available and it is a rocket. absolutely no lack of grunt.
Mark Rex of Action MC says he is getting about 100k's range of economical riding on his test bike.
The bike will cost about $230 - $280 to register and CTP for a year.
The frame and seat and general quality of finish was superb. The dash readout is perfect.
The bike feels nice and sharp to throw around and is a great city bike or street fighter.
The front disc didnt feel as powerfull as I would have liked.
I said if you can fix the (fkn) "soft start" I would trade the CBF in.
basically we need to access the controller to configure it and get a computer readout of the batteries cell condition would 
be nice to.
This bike is history in the making btw.
cheers Dan

http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/zero-s-specs.php


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## Tahoe Tim (Feb 20, 2010)

Um, it's an American bike made in Santa Cruz, California. I'm not sure what you mean by soft start but it is NOT a dog off the line at all. Did they mess with the programming?


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## RIPPERTON (Jan 26, 2010)

Yeah I know its made in the US but I meant it was the first production electric vehicle sold in Australia.
But its not actually I think the Tesla is but who cares.

Yes some where along the line the controller has been messed with and the throttle curves and the up down rates have been set to the most retarded setting you could imagine.
I swear I felt the throttle hanging once as I chopped it going through the traffic in Sydney's CBD.
I would like some feedback from US Zero owners about how it gets away from a standing start.
This test model I rode, you had to preemtivley pin the throttle to get ahead of the cars but once you got up to 30kmh it went like a rocket I mean it had serious balls.
Dealership salesman is trying to contact people to figure it out.
How easy is it to get into the controller with a PC and reconfigure it ?
I already have the config progy installed in my PC


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## Tahoe Tim (Feb 20, 2010)

I own one and ride it regularly. It won't pull the front wheel up from a dead stop but it is fast off the line. 

I have to hold back to save energy. You know you're wasting power when you pull way ahead of traffic when the light turns green


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## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

Are they still using alltrax?

If so, they're programmable, you can change things a little bit.


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## Rich02si (Feb 22, 2011)

Tahoe Tim said:


> I have to hold back to save energy. You know you're wasting power when you pull way ahead of traffic when the light turns green



Really? I mean really? The point of a motorcycle is the exhilaration of the power to weight ratio between your legs!


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## Tahoe Tim (Feb 20, 2010)

The key is saving energy with any electric vehicle. If you're zipping around town and have a lot of juice to spare, it is a blast to go all out. 

However, if you want to make a 40 mile trip through the mountains, you have to take it easy.


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## Electron Power (Jan 2, 2013)

Alltrax? That would mean that it is essentially a golf cart controller (definitely programmable). They are good quality, but pricey also. Anyways, I was a bit surprised (when I looked at the pic) to see that this e-bike uses chain drive. I figured that ANY e-bike would use a more efficient DIRECT drive (aka - hub drive) setup. I'm wondering if that was a "cost-saving" measure, or is it because the bike offers multiple gear ratios (has a shifter lever), like the fuel-burners have?


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## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

The New Zero's are BLDC motors with Sevcon controllers.

Motorcycles usually don't use hubmotors because they're harder to cool when the hubmotors are higher power. Also, it adds a lot of unsprung mass, so it changes how the bike handles.

And there's no transmission on Zero's, they're direct-drive single-speed. That's not a shift lever, it's the rear brake.


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## Electron Power (Jan 2, 2013)

Thanks for enlightening me on the poor cooling capability & increased unsprung mass concerns regarding hub-drive setups. I haven't really looked into e-bikes very deeply. But the 1 that I do remember reading up on, and considered purchasing (can't remember the name though - it was a year or 2 ago) DID feature hub drive. I think the motor rating on it was 2.5KW, but don't quote me on that. What I DO remember, is the claim that it had a range of 50mpc, and a top speed of 50mph. I think the MSRP was somewhere between $2500 and $3000. That does seem like a fairly decent price for an e-bike. But considering my geographic location (roughly 41 x -76.5), I could only make use of it (or any bike) for less than 6 months out of each year. That cuts my savings down to less than half of what your typical "SoCalite" would see.


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## Electron Power (Jan 2, 2013)

P.S. - I just noticed the zeroS spec link, and checked it out. It definitely has much more power & range, but it also costs 4X as much.


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## Electron Power (Jan 2, 2013)

Thanks for enlightening me on the poor cooling capability & increased unsprung mass concerns regarding hub-drive setups. I haven't really looked into e-bikes very deeply. But the 1 that I do remember reading up on, and considered purchasing (can't remember the name though - it was a year or 2 ago) DID feature hub drive. I think the motor rating on it was 2.5KW, but don't quote me on that. What I DO remember, is the claim that it had a range of 50mpc, and a top speed of 50mph. I think the MSRP was somewhere between $2500 and $3000. That does seem like a fairly decent price for an e-bike. But considering my geographic location (roughly 41 x -76.5), I could only make use of it (or any bike) for less than 6 months out of each year. That cuts my savings down to less than half of what your typical "SoCalite" would see.


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