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[JaimeC]

Every year a band of New York City motorcyclists arranges a ride humorously dubbed the "Isle of Man(hattan)."  We meet downtown where an old motorcyclist's hang out used to be ("The Sidewalk Cafe").  The cafe closed years ago, a new owner took over the space but it closed again during the pandemic.  The building is currently unoccupied but we all still meet on that corner.

Anyway, in year's past, I've done this ride on my K1200LT, my C650GT and (two years ago) my XMAX 300.  Every year when I looked at my total mileage for the day I think to myself "I could've done that on the Zero!"  This year, I decided to go for it.  It is roughly 30 miles from my house to the starting point.  The ride itself is under 40 miles (it's a lap around the perimeter of Manhattan Island).  So I'm looking at a little under 100 miles.  Not a problem during the summer but as we all know, the winter cold can have very adverse effects on range.

This year I REALLY lucked out.  Temperatures were in the high forties/mid fifties.  I slow-charged the bike overnight in my garage so the cells would be balanced and at 100%.  I checked the air in the tires to make sure they were to spec and not under-inflated.  In order to maximize range, I stayed OFF the highway (I used Google's Navigator and turned on the "Avoid Motorways" option).

At the end of the day, I logged 83.7 miles according to the dash.  The battery was down to 42%, and according to the estimated range I could've gone another 61.4 miles before having to get off and walk.  Not bad at all!!

[Curt]

That's very lucky indeed. A week or so ago I was on the east coast for Xmas and it was 5 degrees F (-15C).

What did everyone else have to say about the electric bike?

[JaimeC]

Oddly enough, this was the FIRST time since I've been riding Zeros that NO ONE walked up to me to ask me about the bike! 

[Richard230]

When I ride my Royal Enfield, people come up to me all the time and say what a great looking bike it is. When I park my Zero somewhere, no one pays attention to it and I have never been asked about it since I bought it almost 5 years ago, except for one Prius owner a couple of years ago.   

[DonTom]

When I ride my Royal Enfield, people come up to me all the time and say what a great looking bike it is. When I park my Zero somewhere, no one pays attention to it and I have never been asked about it since I bought it almost 5 years ago, except for one Prius owner a couple of years ago.   

Bring that Zero to Nevada and have people ask you about it at every stop!


-Don-  Auburn, CA

[Richard230]

When I ride my Royal Enfield, people come up to me all the time and say what a great looking bike it is. When I park my Zero somewhere, no one pays attention to it and I have never been asked about it since I bought it almost 5 years ago, except for one Prius owner a couple of years ago.   

Bring that Zero to Nevada and have people ask you about it at every stop!


-Don-  Auburn, CA

I guess the residents of the SF Bay Area are just so used to seeing electric vehicles, what with all of the Teslas, Leafs, Bolts, Prius, etc. around, that they don't bat an eye when they see one. But an old Indian-made, 1950's British single style motorcycle, that goes pop, pop, pop, instead of potato, potato, potato, does get their attention.