Honestly, I really didn't care for his review; it doesn't seem "honest" to me at all. It seems like he's trying desperately to hold onto reasons for skepticism.
I come from a similar background as him, so I'll try to translate/explain.
Early on, he says "The only place where they struggle performance-wise is weight, but the bulk of that comes from the battery." But several times later in the review, he does refer to the light weight of the bikes, and we know they ARE lightweights for their niches. My SR weighs 407 pounds stock, which is quite light for a sportbike.
1st off, all the 600cc sportbikes claim weights far below 400lbs. With a full tank and everything, people have weighed them close to 400. full wet weight literbikes are 440lbs.
The SR, while fun.. its not a sportbike. Its more like a 600cc standard. I would compare it to my HawkGT... thats a 650cc Vtwin. Its almost a sportbike, but its not a sportbike. You can race it, but its never ideal. I love it, but it has its limits. I dont know the weight of my hawk off the top of my head, but its a 1980s motorcycle design, and I can pick it up off the ground. I would guess 280lb range.. give or take 20lbs.
And what the hell does "With only one gear, they feel like a two-stroke stuck in fourth. They take a bit to spin up and then come on strong, and then free-wheel once you let off the throttle." mean? Was he or was he not riding a Zero? There is no "spin-up" time on a Zero! Throttle response is their biggest advantage! And if you don't like it "free-wheeling", turn up the regen! That's what the option is there for!
The zero is amp limited... so you do NOT get full power until RPM rises. Thats a fact. as the RPM rises, the amount of power available rises. until it hits on full.. it DOES feel exactly like a 2 stroke... also when you close the throttle, as you know, it coasts. Sure he could change it, but how? someone has to tell him, he has to download the app, sync up his phone then play with it. easy when you own it. Harder when you're on a press trip with 50 other guys.
There is only one gear on the zero...so from the perspective of someone that is used to the center of gravity as the limit on acceleration, holding WOT and waiting while it spins up... is accurate. It is exactly like an open class 2stroke stuck in a gear between 2nd and 3rd.. its not slow, but it could be much faster.
He writes "At 293 pounds and with 44 horsepower and 70 pound-feet of torque, it makes the 321 pound, 32 horsepower, 24 pound-feet of torque Suzuki DR-Z look like it belongs in the D league. At least on paper." Then goes on to offer NOTHING that refutes ANY of those advantages. What's his point, assuming he has one? It's as if by merely using a negative tone in his writing he's proving the Zero is a lousy machine.
uhh, the DRZ doesnt have 24 pound feet of torque.. it has 24 pound feet of torque through a transmission, giving it MUCH higher acceleration than a FXS. It can blip the throttle and lift the front, because you downshift... and then it rains.. so you upshift and its now smooth and easy to cruise.
The two bikes going around the track, are about equal... even though the FXS has a power advantage, its so inefficient at putting it to the ground to go fast, that it doesnt feel fast.
Dont get me wrong, I love the bike... but when your only input is the throttle... you're limited on what you can do.
"Sure, when I was in the mid-range of the single gear, there were gobs of power and I had a blast - when I rode it like a sportbike." So when he doesn't ride it like a sportbike, what's he expecting from it? It's supposed to feel like a sportbike when he's not riding it that way?
He only had a blast when he rode it like a sportbike.. not a supermoto. its a "supermoto" that can not easily wheelie. It cant jump either (unless you swap the belt for a chain).
You're just reading the sentence wrong.
"Even little techniques we use as riders subconsciously have to be adapted." Yes, because another word for "techniques" is "band-aids". You've developed habits over decades of riding ICE bikes to try to adapt to their shortcomings. You don't have to do that on a bike with instantaneous throttle response.
No. Not band aids. Not habits. He blipped the throttle to lift the front, and... the front didnt lift. Because the whole bike is build with one huge compromise that knocks it out of ever being a performance machine.... it only has one power requesting input. the throttle.
without the ability, mechanically or electronically, to widen the power request input... the bikes output will always be a compromise between easy riding, and hard hitting power.
You think you have instantaneous throttle response? Zeros throttle is soggy compared to a 2stroke supermoto or sportbike. Everything seems slow compared to my CR500s throttle. Even my best 150A Field Oriented Controller on a 89v brushless ebike cant compare... lol. (it also has faster throttle response than a zero and its electric)
"By the end of the day, I kept noticing that I’d learned an entirely new throttle application technique. On these electric bikes, I never really found myself at constant throttle, because the only friction presented on the bike is that between the tires and the road (and gravity). Instead, I just blipped the throttle whenever I needed to go a little faster, and the bike would carry the speed." I'm not even sure what he's trying to say here, though again, the use of a vaguely negative tone tries to make the Ebike sound bad. Gravity is NOT a form of friction, and by far the biggest drag on this or any bike is wind resistance, which is essentially identical between an ICE and an Ebike. Is he again blaming the bike because he wants more regen but isn't smart enough to set it up the way he wants it?
I'll give you that he needs more regen to be happy... but why wasnt it setup with ICE comparable regen already? Thats a question we should be asking zero.
The press people should have atleast been informed about the regen setup.
Finally, my biggest beef is when he claims that "People who aren’t attracted to motorcycling are often attracted to electric bikes. On the flip side, traditional motorcyclists tend to be left wanting when they experience riding one." I've been riding since my 12th birthday, 41 years ago now. I find NOTHING wanting with my SR -- quite the opposite, in fact. If he wants to be a curmudgeon and a naysayer, he's got that right....but he DOESN'T get to speak for me.
oh, hes 100% correct on this.
Electric motorcycles get a ton of people that just want to go from point A to point B. the same people that also speak softly and dont eat beef.
Motorcyclists in the USA, other then cruiser riders, tend to go after performance in one way or another... something that Zero can provide up to a point. The problem occurs when they try to exceed that point.
They are on the cusp of exceeding it with the FXS.. some people will expect a real supermoto, and it is not one.
They would be committing brand suicide if they released any of their bikes, including the SR, as a fully faired sportbike at the moment. The power is not there for that. The control is not there for that... they would just be known as that fast looking bike that cant even wheelie, is slower than even a entry level 600, and weighs as much as a literbike.
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Topic: Lanesplitter/ Jalopnik Zero review (Read 2679 times)