ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
Makes And Models => Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ => Topic started by: MostlyBonkers on March 11, 2018, 11:13:09 PM
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Unfortunately The Missenden Flyer has come a cropper at the hands of the Zero DSR he had on long term loan.
https://youtu.be/d1zcLltukUY
If it can catch an experienced biker out who is used to riding all sorts of different bikes, then I think we have all the proof Zero should need.
I'm glad our beloved TMF wasn't hurt and a little sad that we might not see any more Zero reviews from him for a while.
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If Zeros had traction control I predict this forum would be full of stories of experienced riders who disabled it and then crashed. Muscle memory works against experienced riders who are used to gassing an engine to keep it from stalling on launch.
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Custom mode with reasonable max torque is a kinda traction control!
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Bloody hell, that's a new one!
If he were riding in the right hand lane that would not have happened :)
Ok now for my real thoughts. Traction control could be a useful add on but I don't know what kind of extra cost that adds. I think he just had some ICE age habits and was powering out of a turn waiting for the engine to rev up and, surprise, it don't need no stinkin rev up. 8)
I'm glad he's not hurt but I go slower past the apex of the curve and know I can hit it after the bike is more up right. A wider or stickier tire couldn't hurt either.
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If the streets are wet or otherwise look slippery to me, I thumb "eco" mode and take it easy. While I have never dumped a Zero while it was moving, I have had the rear wheel spin up a couple of times and that got my attention as the rear of the bike would violently shake for a couple of long seconds. I am happy to hear that the Flyer is OK, but it is too bad that he likely won't be able to give us a long-term ownership review for a while. :(
The damage to the Zero didn't look too bad to me. I have seen much worse. Try crashing a BMW some time. :o Twenty years ago I dropped my 1991 BMW K100RS on an oily tight corner at only 10 mph and the crash resulted in $4,500 (1998 dollars) in damage. The engine valve cover broke, the muffler was damaged and had to be replaced, the right side of the fairing had to be replaced and the bike's plastic repainted. I would say that the Zero survived the crash better than many other motorcycles would have.
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I did a 180 kind of like that but off road on wet trail. Happened very fast. In replaying what happened I realized that when the rear starts to slide out to the right, holding the bars to keep going straight means that your right elbow goes down and you get MORE throttle. With no delay, you get more torque, the rear wheel passes you and you hit the ground before you know what happened. With the bike pointing the wrong way. Mine was a round left sweeping corner, not a sharp turn and I was not accelerating. With handguards, full offroad gear, unbreakable enduro mirror and crash bars there was no significant damage except to my state of mind. It hasn't happened since, maybe I learned, maybe the same conditions haven't happened. I'm very accustomed to loosing traction, having ridden open class two strokes off road for years. This was different.
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I have 27 years worth of riding experience (I ride 5-6 days a week, about 50 weeks per year) and I still want Traction Control.
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I broke my hand and chipped my ankle when I was a little over zealous on a 2015SR during a test ride. My ankle still isn't right over two years later.
When I was a little over confident whilst overtaking a lorry on my VFR 1200 the traction control kicked in and saved my skin!
No matter how much experience a biker has, they'll get it wrong one day. Or there'll be some oil on the road that's impossible to spot. I'd much rather have a computer onboard that can react in a tenth of the time it takes me. The sooner you get traction back, the more chance you have of recovering the situation. Us humans just don't have good enough reaction times.
I'm all for rider aides and safety systems. They save people from injury or worse and they can also help you learn the limits of your bike.
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In Quebec province in Canada east that's something we must pay attention seriously. As we have 100% true REAL winter here, the road are often covered of ice and hard snow . To improove the traction on these they spead sand and salt on them on a regular base ( that's also what keep our car dirty! >:( )
On the spring season, all that sand remain on the pavememt after snow melted.. and it act like a ball bearing for tires! Here motorclist are aware of that and some decide to just not ride until that sand have been cleared... other choose to ride anyway their motorcycle but to reduce speed and acceleation on the road..
Most critical area are the highway entrance and exit where acceleation and deceleration are required.
Doc