Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[oobflyer]

First of all - THERE ARE ELEVEN (11) BARS ON THE FUEL GAUGE - what a strange number.
I thought there were twelve when I first posted. In the owner's manual the diagram shows ten bars. But there are actually eleven. Really.

Real World Riding Range from my experience so far:

70-75 MPH:  34 Miles
At 65 MPH:   39 Miles
At 45 MPH:   55 MPH

I received an email today stating that my windshield has arrived at the dealership - I'm hoping that my range will improve with the increased aerodynamics.

[Brammofan]

Maybe they're on to something.

Spinal Tap - 11

[Richard230]

I like the idea of having the eleventh bar show a little man walking.   

[oobflyer]

I'll keep adding to the list as I make more runs:

70-75 MPH:  34 Miles
At 65 MPH:   39 Miles
At 60 MPH:   50 Miles
At 45 MPH:   55 Miles

And, YES, I charge at work 

[Biff]

That is great real world information.

Is the range based on 11 bars = 1 full battery, and assume that each bar is 1/11 of the pack, or did you ride 55 miles at 45mph from a full charge right until the bike wouldn't go 45mph any more?

I am surprised that the range didn't increase more at lower speeds.

[RickSteeb]

Was so busy at work yesterday that I never got around to charging my bike [DS ZF6] so the 29 mile round trip took 4.5 kWh to recharge.  Being Friday, the trip home was a bit less than full-throttle most of the way... guessing an avg speed of 65 for 80% of the way.

[Richard230]

I just returned from a 30 mile ride, which consisted of about 1/3 freeway, 1/3 expressway and 1/3 residential riding. My ZF9 used 4 bars during the trip in Sport mode.  Once I took the bike up to an indicated 85 mph for a few seconds - but that 85 felt more like 75 to me.  It is now charging at only 7.5 amps. That seems kind of odd as yesterday it was charging at 9.5 amps.  I passed by a couple of electronic speed boards on my trip and the speedometer seems to be reading at least 10% higher than actual.

[Biff]

That seems kind of odd as yesterday it was charging at 9.5 amps.  I passed by a couple of electronic speed boards on my trip and the speedometer seems to be reading at least 10% higher than actual.

I believe the Delta-Q chargers are constant battery current, so when the battery is low on volts, it charges at less power, so less amps from your wall.  As the battery gets up to 80-90% full you should see the wall current increasing, then decreasing once the battery is almost full.

-ryan

[Richard230]

That seems kind of odd as yesterday it was charging at 9.5 amps.  I passed by a couple of electronic speed boards on my trip and the speedometer seems to be reading at least 10% higher than actual.

I believe the Delta-Q chargers are constant battery current, so when the battery is low on volts, it charges at less power, so less amps from your wall.  As the battery gets up to 80-90% full you should see the wall current increasing, then decreasing once the battery is almost full.

-ryan

Thanks Ryan. I think I got my amps mixed up with watts on my Kill A Watt meter. I think I was seeing 950 watts on the meter at the time, which sounds about 7.5 amps at 121 volts.  However, I am sure I was seeing 7.5 amps input last night.  I believe you are right about the charger. When I checked it last night before going to bed the meter was showing 7 watts.

[Richard230]

OK, here goes nothing. I am going up to Alice's Restaurant this morning. I and the Zero will be up there between 8:30 and 11:00 am.  It is a 80-mile round trip and entails a lot of climbing and it is windy along the coast. Hopefully, they will let me recharge at an outlet for a couple of hours while I am there. Pictures will be posted this afternoon.

[Richard230]

This morning I stiffened my spine, swallowed my range anxiety, and rode up to Alice's Restaurant on my Zero.  I put the bike in Eco mode and rode slowly where I could. I only rode about 2 miles on the freeway at 60 mph and the rest of the time I was on secondary roads at 35-40 (indicated), passing the occasional bicycle rider.  I rode down the Peninsula to get there, which meant that I froze my butt off on Canada Road, between Hwy 92 and Woodside Road. It must have been close to freezing along that stretch.  Fortunately, it started to warm up to the high 40's by the time I reached the top of the hill (1500 feet above sea level) via Highway 84 (Woodside Road).  I only used 4 bars of the 11 on the energy gauge going the 36 miles to Alice's.

While I was there, I asked the owner if I could recharge from the outlet behind the gas station and he said it would be OK.  I recharged for 2.5 hours and bumped the gauge up to 10 bars. Photo attached of the bike charging behind their "no parking" sign.

On the way home, I rode up Skyline at 45 mph and used up two bars by the time I reached Skaggs Point (about 2500 feet elevation). The rest of the way was downhill to Highway One and back home. That was a shorter route and I used a total of 4 bars riding the 31 miles back home at an average of about 45 mph.  If I had to, I could have ridden the entire 67 mile round trip and still had a little juice left. I estimate that the entire trip used 10 bars, meaning that 70 miles would probably be about the limit.  Of course, it all depends on how smooth you can be with the throttle - you mileage will differ for sure.  The 3-bar top off at Alice's gave me a lot more confidence on the ride home.

I plugged in to recharge at the outlet on the back of the gas station's wall in the distance.

The attached photo is the only one that I have that came in under 600K, but a friend took several email sized photos of my new bike with me standing next to it with his camera and will send them to me. When he does I will post the photos under the "review" thread.  The seat pack only worked so-so, as it slipped around a bit as I moved back on my seat to get a better position while riding.  Note my not-to-elegant helmet locking system.  That needs work, too.

[forgitaboutut]

thanks for the post!
I talked to a dealer yesterday,(Surprised he could answer very little about it...I think I had more info just reading a few posts here than he knew...)
And they sure aren't trying to push them out the door! They want MSRP for them!
I told him if I could get it on a 50 mile test ride on a single charge,I would be buying one!

[dkw12002]

Great post. Beautiful bike too. How do you get on the bike with the pack on the back.

[Richard230]

Great post. Beautiful bike too. How do you get on the bike with the pack on the back.

I have lots of experience lifting my leg with my hands to clear the seat pack.  When I go touring I strap my sleeping bag and tent on the seat.  I used to be able to swing my leg over stuff on the seat if it wasn't piled too high. Then one day I forgot there was stuff there, swing my leg over with the side stand up, my foot hit the stuff, I lost my balance and there goes the bike.   

Now, having learned that lesson, I bend my knee and force my foot over the seat with the help of my hands. Not to elegant, but it usually works - without scraping the top of the seat too much.     I also don't raise the side stand until I get on the bike, now.   

[dkw12002]

Do you suppose all the bars represent equal amounts of energy. In other words would you get the same range out of the top 5.5 bars as the bottom 5.5 bars. The reason I ask is that my dealer suggested I let the battery run down to the last bar, then run it around my block a few times until it shut off, so I could walk it home if need be.  The idea was to see just how far I could go on empty. Apparently there is a protective mechanism so that the battery does not drain completely and cause damage.  I did come close I think to having the bike stop. I was a mile and a half from home last week when the bars were gone (2011 S, same color as yours) and the gas icon started flashing. I rode home without any problem but didn't continue going around the block to see how far I could go. Perhaps there is like a reserve that gives you more range at the bottom. I mean I was out of bars and still going. For all I know, this could be a significant amount of battery still left, sort of like the reserve tank concept on other motorcycles. What do you think?