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Makes And Models => Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2012 and older => Topic started by: mikeisted on June 29, 2014, 03:33:27 PM

Title: UK Owner
Post by: mikeisted on June 29, 2014, 03:33:27 PM
Great forum, BTW. I've recently purchased a 2012 S ZF9 which I am delighted with.  But of course Zero have pulled out of the UK for now.  Are there any other UK owners here? 

Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: Justin Andrews on June 29, 2014, 09:29:35 PM
Yep, I'm an ex-ZF9 owner myself, having very recently traded it in for a 2013 ZFS 11.4
Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: mikeisted on June 30, 2014, 02:03:04 AM
Good to hear from you Justin.  I was wondering if you have any good tips on where to get spares.  I'm drawing a bit of a blank right now trying to source a belt tension tester.
Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: mikeisted on June 30, 2014, 02:04:46 AM
BTW, I'm near Monmouth if you are ever in this neck of the woods.
Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: Richard230 on June 30, 2014, 03:33:37 AM
Good to hear from you Justin.  I was wondering if you have any good tips on where to get spares.  I'm drawing a bit of a blank right now trying to source a belt tension tester.

Gates belt tension gauges are available from Amazon.
Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: Justin Andrews on June 30, 2014, 04:36:20 PM
I'm just south of Leicester myself.
Funnily enough however I rode (on my Divvy) through Monmouth yesterday comming back from an event up at Tretower.

I'll have to give you a shout next time I'm going that way.
Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: mikeisted on July 03, 2014, 09:12:01 AM
Thanks Richard.
Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: mikeisted on July 03, 2014, 09:40:47 AM
Please do that, Justin.  Could I ask where you get spares from?  I'd like to have a spare drive belt at least to hand.
Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: Justin Andrews on July 03, 2014, 03:18:26 PM
I usually use Streetbike as my first port of call.  ;D
Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: mikeisted on July 04, 2014, 12:12:14 PM
Great. I've contacted them and they are going to call me back with a quote for a spare belt. Thanks.
Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: Richard230 on July 04, 2014, 08:33:42 PM
Great. I've contacted them and they are going to call me back with a quote for a spare belt. Thanks.

I bought a spare belt for my 2012 S late last year and it set me back $70 USD. I got a 10% discount for being a good customer at my shop. (I might add that the drive belt for a BMW F800ST/GT runs around $450.) The belt took a week to arrive from the factory, 90 miles away.  However, I was happy to see that it appears to be a standard Gates drive belt and even had a Gates part number on the belt.   :)
Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: MostlyBonkers on July 18, 2014, 03:22:40 AM
How long have you had your ZF9 now Mike? All good still?
Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: mikeisted on July 18, 2014, 04:04:12 AM
I've just cleared my first 1000 miles.  Everything generally fine, but had two glitches.  The first was a refusal to power on due to water in some electrics after I cleaned the bike.  The second more serious was an on- road cut out again due to water ( at least I think so).  I am starting to blog my mods in respond to these on my website at www.mikeisted.com, but it's early days yet.
Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: MostlyBonkers on July 18, 2014, 12:41:56 PM
Thanks Mike, no doubt your blog post will come in useful if I buy a 2012 S. Considering that Zero's engineers are from the motorcycle industry I'm surprised at how many fundamental design flaws there are with these bikes. Justin's Zero had to have a new motor fitted due to water ingress. If I'm going to use one of these for my commute it has to be able to cope. I don't want to have to revert back to my Fazer every time there's a cloud in the sky!

I was fascinated by your post on the hydrogen generation kit and fuel cells. Can you post links if you get a moment please?
Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: Justin Andrews on July 18, 2014, 02:42:08 PM
Reminds me a lot of the Suzuki Bandits, I've had three of them over the years ( I like Bandits ) and they all, without fail, would lose cylinders in the wet. (the the point where a can of WD40 was required riding gear)

Nearly half the bikes I've owned have malfunctioned in wet weather, so I was not that surprised when it happened with the ZF9 to be honest.
Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: mikeisted on July 20, 2014, 03:59:24 AM
Re fuel cells. Checkout http://arcolaenergy.com
Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: mikeisted on July 20, 2014, 04:01:22 AM
Re wet weather.  I have done some work to help prevent water ingress under the tank cover thing (what is it called?). I'll blog it shortly.
Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: NoiseBoy on July 20, 2014, 05:13:45 AM
I'm in the UK but Jersey not mainland. Up until last month I rode my 2012  in all weather every day. I am on my third throttle potentiometer because water gets in and it corrodes, I haven't worked out how to seal it yet. Other than that, no problems so far.
Title: Re: UK Owner
Post by: BSDThw on July 20, 2014, 12:10:50 PM
Oops three throttles!

Do you have "salty water" I know close to the see (Jersey) there will be salt in the air and make your rain-water salty.

Do you know what is corroding? I would spray the cable/solding pins with circuit board coating. The shaft I would use some grease to seal it the "gap"