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Aww thats too bad...it was a good time. I hope nothing is too wrong with your bike 
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Mar 28, 2014 06:08
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| # ? May 5, 2024 20:26 |
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Me too. Zero got back to me and said that now the demo day is first-come first-serve and "you don't need reservations any more". Which also means that my reservation has been made defunct, and I don't really know what to think about that sort of attitude from the company. But they assured me that everyone who shows up on the day will be able to test ride one of the bikes (they say they'll have all four -- S, DS, SR and FX), so if anyone in the bay area is free on the 5th between 11am and 2pm you can go to the Stanford Court Hotel (905 California) and screw around. The SR model has as much power as an Empulse R and twice the torque, albeit with a direct drive instead of the regular transmission. I'm looking forward to it.
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Mar 29, 2014 05:48
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So I just got back from riding the Zero model S. My new goal in life is to own a Zero model S. Goddamn is that thing fun! Narrow, lightweight bike, a little larger than a Ninja 250 and ergonomically well-designed. Turn the key on, turn off the killswitch, put up the kickstand and the dashboard goes green and it's live. No sound or other obvious change in the bike. Roll on the throttle a bit and it just quietly starts moving, with a hint of a hum from the electronics. Get out on the road and open it up a bit more, and the thing just suuurrrrges forwards like it's being dragged with a winch or something. No shifting, no delay, no dead spots or power pulses, just lean forwards and roll on wherever you are and uuuUUUUUMMMPPPHHHHH all the way up to its top speed of about 90 miles an hour (which it reaches in like 7 seconds). Goddamn. Also, anyone who says that electric motorcycles don't sound good is a big doodoo pants stupid head. This thing has all sorts of awesome sounds, none of them anything like a gas bike, but all extremely wicked. At low speeds you hear just an electric hum. Get going a little faster and it starts to turn into a musical whine. Really roll on and all these other harmonics show up in the motor note, and you hear the belt start to make a singing noise. Accelerating at maximum throttle (or the highest throttle I tried it in, which was about 2/3 to 3/4 I'd guess) the thing sounds like a light cycle. Seriously. It sounds almost exactly like the blue guy's cycle in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLWELFZ-XdM It is a ridiculously cool noise and I saw a number of people on the street rubbernecking to see what the sound was when I'd give the thing some juice. On the other hand, if you just feather it, there's almost no noise whatsoever beyond the tires, the wind and the disc brake ringing. At the demo they had two of the FX, two S, and one SR model. None of the DS, but the DS is basically just an S with longer fork and knobbly tires. However by the time I got there the SR and one FX were gone because one rider on an FX had a "mishap" and rear-ended the SR at about 20 miles an hour, tore off the turn signal and the license plate. FX guy crashed and went to the hospital (apparently he was fine though) but SR guy managed to keep it upright and get back. Anyway yeah I really really really want one of these now. It's completely inappropriate for what I actually want to do, which is go on longer trips into the mountains to find twisties, but good god how fun it is to whir around on your very own light cycle.  e: actually I can't decide whether it sounds more like the light cycle or more like the bat-cycle from the new Batman movies. Imagine something halfway in between, I guess https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPaTv98wUsE Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Apr 6, 2014 |
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Apr 5, 2014 23:05
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Welcome to not-underpowered electric vehicles. They're stupid great fun.
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Apr 6, 2014 02:58
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I need to ride one of those and compare it to a brammo.
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Apr 6, 2014 04:04
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Oh poo poo did I break it:
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Apr 14, 2014 20:39
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*sad trombone*
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Apr 15, 2014 04:04
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I wonder how much charge you could recover by coasting down a mountain with the regenerative braking on.
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Apr 15, 2014 05:22
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In my 100% not at all scientific testing, ~800 feet in elevation changes nets you about 1%, I think.
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Apr 15, 2014 05:23
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So now what, do you bring a big extension cord with you everywhere and prepare to sit for 8 hours? Seriously, what did you do? Or was the bike wrong somehow in its charge estimates?
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Apr 15, 2014 12:07
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I hit 0% as I rode up the hill to my house - I had ridden down to my friend's place, and made it there at 47% charge (about 40 miles). I charged it while I was there for about 2 hours on 110, which got me to 75%, but with the nasty headwind on the way home, plus gaining elevation, and speeding on the freeway, means I used quite a bit more charge on the ride home. I slowed down for the last few miles managed to make it home but it was close. 0% is a full value on the charge meter, so despite displaying zero it's not quite done yet.
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Apr 15, 2014 18:01
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A Dutch car mag or something charged their Leaf by towing it (something that the manual specifically warns against unless it's an emergency, apparently), 50% charge from empty in less than 30 minutes.
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Apr 15, 2014 20:15
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What if you place an electric vehicle on a treadmill... 
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Apr 18, 2014 10:18
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Just saw this story about Harley (!) coming out with an electric bike. http://www.bikebandit.com/community...roject_livewire
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Jun 29, 2014 01:59
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A while back I was out on Mines Road, which is basically 60 miles of two-lane rural twisties between Livermore and San Jose with nothing along its length other than ranch gates, and somewhere in the middle I passed a Leaf going the other way. The Leaf is advertised as having a 73 mile range, which implies that's the absolute maximum you should expect driving as frugally as possible. I wonder if they made it to San Jose?
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Jun 29, 2014 02:19
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Actuary X posted:Just saw this story about Harley (!) coming out with an electric bike. LOL at the top comment #STEREOTYPICALHARLEY
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Jun 30, 2014 17:56
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And the video ends with the bike being trailered. #stereotypicalharley
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Jun 30, 2014 18:21
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I find it amusing how much the new HD bike looks like a Ducati. 
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Jun 30, 2014 19:21
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I'm very very very tempted to shell out on one of the new Zero bikes after my speed triple is paid off. It's mostly for commuting (around 80 miles a day) so this is extremely appealing to me. How well, at a guess, will the battery pack hold out? I'll probably be doing about 30+k miles a year on it. Will it be worthwhile or will I be shelling out for a fresh set of batteries before it's recovered me money saved on fuel?
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Jul 4, 2014 08:11
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For the mid-range model, Zero estimates 300,000 miles on the pack, 105 miles from a charge, and around $1.30 to charge it. So at your 30,000 miles a year you'd get ten years before the battery was shot. You'll pay $13,000 + tax etc for the bike, plus $365 a year in electricity to ride 30,000 miles. If you bought a gas bike that got 55 mpg, rode it the same 30,000 miles a year and filled it up at $4.00 a gallon, you'd pay $2180 a year in gas. Assuming the gas bike cost you $6000, the Zero would start saving you money sometime in the fourth year of ownership.
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Jul 4, 2014 08:25
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Sagebrush posted:For the mid-range model, Zero estimates 300,000 miles on the pack, 105 miles from a charge, and around $1.30 to charge it. So at your 30,000 miles a year you'd get ten years before the battery was shot. Our costs are teeny bit different here, we're paying on average $5.50 per gallon so the petrol cost is good amount higher, closer to $3180. Plus I'm realistically doing 50mpg, plus services every 10000 miles at $300 a service, which I wouldn't have to factor in... With that said, the bike retails for $17800 here, so I guess the savings factor will work out about the same. Gah. It still makes me seriously consider it though, because of maintenance costs saved and the ability to switch between bikes. Decisions!
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Jul 4, 2014 09:00
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As the owner of an electric car, I would like to say that whatever they tell you is the max range is usually as much as 1/3 less in reality. My Leaf has a 100-mile range, which I have never even come close to getting. 70 miles of range is closer to the actual truth. Highway miles (60+ mph) take it out of the battery faster, of course, so if you're going 35 I bet you could get closer to your max range. Also keep in mind that weather conditions can really affect your range; cold weather may drain your battery faster, warmer weather may give you better capacity, and hot weather over extended periods can permanently affect (badly) the amount of charge your batteries can hold. The other major issue (for some people) is infrastructure. If there's no where to plug it in, it's a little nerve-wracking to be far enough from home that you're not sure you can make it. I wonder if you could further drop some of the initial price by finding one used. That seems like it might be the best of both worlds. I have no idea if anyone's going to be selling them immediately, though.
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Jul 4, 2014 17:40
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Well, one nice thing about the Zero is that they can all charge from a 110v outlet. It takes something like eight hours for a full charge in that situation, but it does mean that you're unlikely to get anywhere that you absolutely cannot get out of as long as you're willing to hang around for a while.
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Jul 4, 2014 21:10
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You can charge the brammo out of a 110 as well but you'll need to carry around the adapter.
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Jul 4, 2014 21:23
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I tried an E-Golf and an E-Up yesterday at the VW dealership. Both were great, I loved the concept before I tried it, love it even more afterwards. Sooo smooth. Just sitting behind something plush, quiet and elegant while the adaptive cruise control sorts me out. Totally the battery range lets me down. But by feeling how perfect it is I know it is the right way to go. Battery tech or whatever, we'll sort that out down the road.
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Jul 4, 2014 22:23
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Oh definitely - I love electric vehicles. I just wish the infrastructure was better for quick charging, and I wish that the range wasn't so piss-poor. Until we got our bikes, we hadn't been to the beach in 3 years. Car couldn't make it there and back, and there's nowhere at our destination to charge.
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Jul 4, 2014 23:02
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Lynza posted:Oh definitely - I love electric vehicles. I just wish the infrastructure was better for quick charging, and I wish that the range wasn't so piss-poor. Until we got our bikes, we hadn't been to the beach in 3 years. Car couldn't make it there and back, and there's nowhere at our destination to charge.
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Jul 5, 2014 01:27
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It was more of a matter of convenience. It's not like it was some terrible hardship not going, it was just inconvenient to go on a whim. So we didn't go.
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Jul 5, 2014 18:52
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There was a bunch of coverage in late 2013 about the Suzuki Extrigger, a little pit bike like the Honda Grom, but electric. I've been idly pondering getting a Grom to keep at my house in Austin, since with my new job I might be back there for a few weeks every few months, and that way I could keep the Grom in my garage for getting about the city when I was in town, and not have a Corolla cluttering up the place and taking parking away from my tenant. An electric bike equivalent to a small 125cc-250cc would be even cooler, since presumably it could sit unused longer with less ill effect due to fewer moving parts and fluids. Easier to "winterize" for the months I'm out of town. Is any small electric like that, little urban getaround, on the forseeable market? 
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Aug 13, 2014 22:10
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There's this thing. I don't know anything about it other than what's on their promotional site. http://www.genze.com/?utm_source=urbancommuterslp&utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_campaign=GFlandingpage Some of the pictures look like a scooter, some look more like a bike I wouldn't be ashamed to ride in public.
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Aug 14, 2014 01:08
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Lynza posted:As the owner of an electric car, I would like to say that whatever they tell you is the max range is usually as much as 1/3 less in reality. My Leaf has a 100-mile range, which I have never even come close to getting. 70 miles of range is closer to the actual truth. Highway miles (60+ mph) take it out of the battery faster, of course, so if you're going 35 I bet you could get closer to your max range. That sucks your range is so bad. My Leaf reliably gets 85mi on a charge as long as the weather is above freezing. Hell, the furthest I've ever gone was about a 110mi trip, straight up a mountain and then regenerating all the way down. Seeing a 4 percent battery charge when I'm 50 miles away from home and making it there without an issue was scary/awesome.
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Aug 15, 2014 14:53
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:There was a bunch of coverage in late 2013 about the Suzuki Extrigger, a little pit bike like the Honda Grom, but electric. BRD Redshift? Not for sale yet, but is designed to be a 250CC supermoto beater. http://www.faster-faster.com/ Anyone on here signed up or ridden the Harley e-bike? I'm going to ride it when it comes to San Jose in October.
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Aug 15, 2014 18:39
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Looks like harley doesn't wanna come up to the pacific northwest. 
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Aug 16, 2014 20:00
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Blooot posted:BRD Redshift? Not for sale yet, but is designed to be a 250CC supermoto beater. Looks cool, awfully pricey though for a runaround. I've been hoping someone will eventually come out with a Puch-like e-moped at reasonable price, but I guess battery tech is still just too pricey. I found one new Dutch company that has kinda what I'd want, but it's still like $9k, so still in the novelty/rich-kid area vice a practical option: https://www.meijsmotorman.com/ 
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Aug 24, 2014 14:47
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Thought that said "MOOT."
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Aug 24, 2014 19:02
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MonkeyNutZ fucked around with this message at 00:25 on Aug 25, 2014 |
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Aug 25, 2014 00:22
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I'm not entirely sure what it is we're doing here.
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Aug 25, 2014 00:41
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Never 'moped' again If we weren't already in love with riding electrically, then this machine would surely convince us. This is the Scotch&Soda trim of a true Meijs Bike: one completely hand-built moped without ornate frills. He has the looks of a cafe racer from the twenties. The steps are made from wood, the seat is made from saddle leather and the electric motor is hidden in the rear wheel. Yes, it is more expensive than a vesp,a but oh what pleasure when it accellerates almost silently from 0 to 45kph. Bicicletta Provatore, Price: around € 5000,-. Range: 45-km version: 75km; 25-km version: 110km. The moped will be delivered in a wooden transportbox to your doorstep. At least they know it's hipster as heck.
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Aug 25, 2014 01:23
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Even the bicyclist love for Italy is a throwback.
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Aug 25, 2014 17:41
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| # ? May 5, 2024 20:26 |
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A cafe racer from the twenties, eh?
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Aug 25, 2014 18:03
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