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[smithy]

Hi All,

This is a fairly long post so please bear with me.

My Experia has just passed 20,000km this morning during my daily commute to work. I thought I'd put together a few thoughts on how it's going and my "long term" experience with the bike over the 13 months I have owned it.

I picked my Experia up from my dealer on the 17th of Feb 2023, VIN #029. It was the very first Experia to touch Australian soil. It had a grand total of 0.8km on it at the time and I rode it the ~150km from my dealer on the Gold Coast Queensland to my home north of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia, pretty much an uneventful ride, mostly 100kmh motorway. I was instantly impressed with how "smooth" the bike was compared to my BMW S1000XR, no vibrations at all...a revelation indeed. I felt the suspension was a little firm for my liking but since the bike was setup with stock settings I felt I'd "have a fiddle" with it after arriving home etc...

After a few weeks of riding the Experia and after "adjusting" the suspension to suit my weight and riding requirements, I'm 180cm tall & 75kg... I found the Experia very comforatable to ride and the suspension was plush and forgiving, the front springs are still a little firm for my liking but it works very well, notwithstanding the horrible stock seat which I never got along with...it felt as though I was sitting astride a log....it was very firm and uncomfortable for my skinny, boney ar$e. I looked around for an alternate seat but nothing was available for such a newly released motorcylce...This is where Rob Swartz from Energica of New England and Mike Corbin came to the rescue. I contacted Rob and he immediately set about organising for me to get the very first "customer" Corbin seat for the Experia....after a few minor niggles the "heated" seat was delivered to me in Australia less than 6 weeks after my initial contact...not bad considering the seat had not even been made when I had ordered one. Fit and quality are perfect and I find it much more comfortable than the OEM seat. Rob Swartz & Mike Corbin contacted me personally and kept in contact via email during the whole process....damn good customer service IMHO. 11 months later the seat is still giving me the perfect ride....firm but comfortable due to the custom contour advised by Mike Corbin.

Perfomance of the bike is outstanding considering it only has ~100hp, torque from a standstill is exceptional and it will out accelerate most bikes up to ~100kmh....you need a pretty handy liter bike to out accelerate it up to ~100kmh....certainly gives my "tuned" BMW S1000XR a damn good run for it's money....after that though, the BMW is gone.

I must admit I had a few issues with the "keyless" ignition system and was plagued with continuous "key not in range" faults during the first few months of ownership....it had me regretting getting the keyless option. After consultation with my dealer and through Energica, a new keyless module, sensor and FOB was delivered to my home straight from Energica....I'm pretty handy with the tools so fitting it was a no-brainer and my dealer principal Tobin Page from AEMC on the Gold Coast in Australia came to my house, a 300km round trip for him I might add, great service... and he did the .043 firmware update for me....no more issues and the bike has been faultless since.

I wasn't a fan of the Pirelli Scorpion-II tyres which came with the bike, it left me lacking confidence in corners... and I have now fitted a pair of Continental Road Attack-3 tyres....much more confidence inspring and I can now easily get to the edge of the tyre without worrying if it would let go on me. The Pirelli's would give me the occaisional hint that they we coming unstuck at generous lean angles and would often let go under even moderate acceleration throwing up the T/C light on the dash...no such thing is happening with the Conti's fitted, they're a great match for the bike.

I use the bike to mostly commute to work, 55km each way, and find I get a decent amount of range considering ~90% of my commute is 100kmh motorway...I can get to work and back twice and back to work on the 3rd day...so ~275km before I need to re-charge at my work...not bad to be totally honest. I also use the bike for the occasional weekend blast to my favorite riding and friends meeting place, it's ideal for that too. I don't have any CCS charging stations near where I live so I can't comment on how the local CCS charging infrastructure works.

Servicing of the Experia is a doddle, they only have 50ml of oil and no filter, so an oil change takes all of 15 minutes...which includes a nice cup of tea and a couple of biscuits. Chain, sprocket and brake maintenance is essentially the same as any other motorcycle...no issues there. I have fitted a new chain and sprockets at 12,700km as I found a couple of "tight links" in the original Regina chain, (I'm not a fan of Regina chains), I fitted new sprockets and a DID ZVMX 520 chain and it has been issue free since fitting. I went up 1 tooth on the front from 15t to 16t to get the speedo reading correctly, it's now within +/-1kmh now, so I'm well chuffed. Front sprocket is a 520 Aprillia Tuono item and the 520 52t aluminium rear sprocket is a Vortex item.

All in all I'm quite happy with my purchase of the Experia and my dealer has been very open and helpful...no complaints from me on that front....I'm still waiting for a center stand to turn up like many others...but I'm sure it will eventually turn up.

Thanks for reading and I'm happy to answer any questions if there are any.

Smithy.



 

[Grauteufel]

dealer principal Tobin Page from AEMC on the Gold Coast in Australia came to my house, a 300km round trip

Thank you for the first hand experience I have heard about these guys, dropping >$50k on a bike is no small thing and having a dealer that actually deals with issues is important..... they are a zero dealer again too...

few issues with the "keyless" ignition system and was plagued with continuous "key not in range" faults

Has this been resolved with the new unit and firmware? I have heard heaps of people complain about this for years, but no one says it has been resolved.

[smithy]

dealer principal Tobin Page from AEMC on the Gold Coast in Australia came to my house, a 300km round trip

Thank you for the first hand experience I have heard about these guys, dropping >$50k on a bike is no small thing and having a dealer that actually deals with issues is important..... they are a zero dealer again too...

few issues with the "keyless" ignition system and was plagued with continuous "key not in range" faults

Has this been resolved with the new unit and firmware? I have heard heaps of people complain about this for years, but no one says it has been resolved.

Yes indeed, they are a Zero dealer now...Zero had all but removed themselves from Australia, I suspect due to the low customer base...not many Australians compared to other countries. We only have ~25.5 million people currently....in an area similar in size to the US, which has well over 331 million people.

I have one of the AEMC owned 2020 Zero SR/F's in my shed at the moment, I'm carrying out some mechanical work for them and doing firmware updates etc...

I no longer get the keyless issues since fitting a new keyless module, sensor and FOB....and having the .043 firmware update, all good thus far.

Smithy.

[Specter]

I didn't like the Pirelli's that came with the Ribelle either.  It's like they sold it with track tires, NOT street tires and they were slippery IMO and fkn thin.  THose bastards did not have a lot of rubber on them and went flat way too easy IMO. I ended up with the road 6 tires and love them.  Even on the track they performed decent, though track is a waste of a good tire using them, anyways.

The keyfob error is greatly reduced across all the models I am seeing but it still does pop once in a while.  Sure is a lot less than the 4 or 5 times a ride, THAT got real annoying!

Glad to hear you are loving the bike.  I am loving my bikes as well here.

Aaron

[Motoproponent]

Im at 12,000 miles on mine. (19,000 km) It's #094 I picked it up from the dealer in July of 2023.

I would echo your review. I have also toasted the stock chain and my steering head bearings are worn to the point of replacement, which I hope to have done this week.

I've had a few software type issues that seemed to have been remedied by the firmware 43 upgrade. (I didn't go with the keyless option) The only thing that I experience now is sometimes, after a DCFC,  the dash will continuously flash orange like the traction control is intervening at any speed above 25mph, regardless of traction being compromised or not. If I stop, do the 4 times start reset, and key the bike on and off it will stop. And sometimes Electrify America chargers just wont work. but again, 4 times on and off will clear the fault and get me charging.

My use has been a mix of commuting and road trips. I have found that I really like travelling on it here in California (and Oregon and Washington) where DCFC is plentiful. I changed out the tires to Road 6s. I'm digging them, a lot.

[smithy]

Im at 12,000 miles on mine. (19,000 km) It's #094 I picked it up from the dealer in July of 2023.

I would echo your review. I have also toasted the stock chain and my steering head bearings are worn to the point of replacement, which I hope to have done this week.

I've had a few software type issues that seemed to have been remedied by the firmware 43 upgrade. (I didn't go with the keyless option) The only thing that I experience now is sometimes, after a DCFC,  the dash will continuously flash orange like the traction control is intervening at any speed above 25mph, regardless of traction being compromised or not. If I stop, do the 4 times start reset, and key the bike on and off it will stop. And sometimes Electrify America chargers just wont work. but again, 4 times on and off will clear the fault and get me charging.

My use has been a mix of commuting and road trips. I have found that I really like travelling on it here in California (and Oregon and Washington) where DCFC is plentiful. I changed out the tires to Road 6s. I'm digging them, a lot.

Interesting to hear about the steering head bearings on yours.....mine were a little on the "tight" side when I first got the bike....they have loosened up nicely now and feel ok....there's no play or roughness at all. I'll pull the steering head apart in the not too distant future to give the bearings a good look at then re-grease as required....or just fit new tapered roller bearings whilst I'm in there.

I'm planning on doing some regular maintenance to the rear suspension linkages too, inspect and re-grease the links/shock bearings and swingarm bearings etc... Everything in there seems pretty easy to get at.

One thing I have noticed over the time I've had the Experia....the motor oil/gearcase breather pipe which goes up & over the motor and exits at the bottom rear of the motor onto the belly pan, it dribbles onto the belly pan, runs forward and drops onto the ground through a hole at the front of the belly pan....not a lot, but enough to be annoying. Since it has such a small amount of oil in it, only 50ml....it has me constantly checking my oil level to make sure it hasn't dropped too low and I top it up as required. I wonder if I can think of a better way to control this breather system, maybe route it back into the motor gearcase somehow and fabricate a different breather system...time will tell.

All in all, the bike has been brilliant for what I use it for... and since I have my own "stand alone" solar powered charge controller/battery/inverter system in my shed, it has not cost a cent to charge since I bought the bike....free fuel, whoda thunk it

I plan to do my first CCS charge this weekend as there is a new unit opening up this week not too far from me...and it's also "free" to use for members of the system, I've joined already but have yet to use it..

Smithy.

[weck]

Hi All,

This is a fairly long post so please bear with me.

My Experia has just passed 20,000km this morning during my daily commute to work. I thought I'd put together a few thoughts on how it's going and my "long term" experience with the bike over the 13 months I have owned it.

I picked my Experia up from my dealer on the 17th of Feb 2023, VIN #029. It was the very first Experia to touch Australian soil. It had a grand total of 0.8km on it at the time and I rode it the ~150km from my dealer on the Gold Coast Queensland to my home north of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia, pretty much an uneventful ride, mostly 100kmh motorway. I was instantly impressed with how "smooth" the bike was compared to my BMW S1000XR, no vibrations at all...a revelation indeed. I felt the suspension was a little firm for my liking but since the bike was setup with stock settings I felt I'd "have a fiddle" with it after arriving home etc...

After a few weeks of riding the Experia and after "adjusting" the suspension to suit my weight and riding requirements, I'm 180cm tall & 75kg... I found the Experia very comforatable to ride and the suspension was plush and forgiving, the front springs are still a little firm for my liking but it works very well, notwithstanding the horrible stock seat which I never got along with...it felt as though I was sitting astride a log....it was very firm and uncomfortable for my skinny, boney ar$e. I looked around for an alternate seat but nothing was available for such a newly released motorcylce...This is where Rob Swartz from Energica of New England and Mike Corbin came to the rescue. I contacted Rob and he immediately set about organising for me to get the very first "customer" Corbin seat for the Experia....after a few minor niggles the "heated" seat was delivered to me in Australia less than 6 weeks after my initial contact...not bad considering the seat had not even been made when I had ordered one. Fit and quality are perfect and I find it much more comfortable than the OEM seat. Rob Swartz & Mike Corbin contacted me personally and kept in contact via email during the whole process....damn good customer service IMHO. 11 months later the seat is still giving me the perfect ride....firm but comfortable due to the custom contour advised by Mike Corbin.

Perfomance of the bike is outstanding considering it only has ~100hp, torque from a standstill is exceptional and it will out accelerate most bikes up to ~100kmh....you need a pretty handy liter bike to out accelerate it up to ~100kmh....certainly gives my "tuned" BMW S1000XR a damn good run for it's money....after that though, the BMW is gone.

I must admit I had a few issues with the "keyless" ignition system and was plagued with continuous "key not in range" faults during the first few months of ownership....it had me regretting getting the keyless option. After consultation with my dealer and through Energica, a new keyless module, sensor and FOB was delivered to my home straight from Energica....I'm pretty handy with the tools so fitting it was a no-brainer and my dealer principal Tobin Page from AEMC on the Gold Coast in Australia came to my house, a 300km round trip for him I might add, great service... and he did the .043 firmware update for me....no more issues and the bike has been faultless since.

I wasn't a fan of the Pirelli Scorpion-II tyres which came with the bike, it left me lacking confidence in corners... and I have now fitted a pair of Continental Road Attack-3 tyres....much more confidence inspring and I can now easily get to the edge of the tyre without worrying if it would let go on me. The Pirelli's would give me the occaisional hint that they we coming unstuck at generous lean angles and would often let go under even moderate acceleration throwing up the T/C light on the dash...no such thing is happening with the Conti's fitted, they're a great match for the bike.

I use the bike to mostly commute to work, 55km each way, and find I get a decent amount of range considering ~90% of my commute is 100kmh motorway...I can get to work and back twice and back to work on the 3rd day...so ~275km before I need to re-charge at my work...not bad to be totally honest. I also use the bike for the occasional weekend blast to my favorite riding and friends meeting place, it's ideal for that too. I don't have any CCS charging stations near where I live so I can't comment on how the local CCS charging infrastructure works.

Servicing of the Experia is a doddle, they only have 50ml of oil and no filter, so an oil change takes all of 15 minutes...which includes a nice cup of tea and a couple of biscuits. Chain, sprocket and brake maintenance is essentially the same as any other motorcycle...no issues there. I have fitted a new chain and sprockets at 12,700km as I found a couple of "tight links" in the original Regina chain, (I'm not a fan of Regina chains), I fitted new sprockets and a DID ZVMX 520 chain and it has been issue free since fitting. I went up 1 tooth on the front from 15t to 16t to get the speedo reading correctly, it's now within +/-1kmh now, so I'm well chuffed. Front sprocket is a 520 Aprillia Tuono item and the 520 52t aluminium rear sprocket is a Vortex item.

All in all I'm quite happy with my purchase of the Experia and my dealer has been very open and helpful...no complaints from me on that front....I'm still waiting for a center stand to turn up like many others...but I'm sure it will eventually turn up.

Thanks for reading and I'm happy to answer any questions if there are any.

Smithy.



 

Thanks for the write up.  I have the same feeling about that horrendous stock seat.  How is the Corbin for standover compared to the factory seat?  I'm about your height but longer in the torso, so I cannot quite flat foot the bike stock in regular shoes, making it a bit of a handful parking.

[smithy]

Thanks for the write up.  I have the same feeling about that horrendous stock seat.  How is the Corbin for standover compared to the factory seat?  I'm about your height but longer in the torso, so I cannot quite flat foot the bike stock in regular shoes, making it a bit of a handful parking.

The Corbin seat will have you sitting quite a bit taller than the stock OEM seat...I fear you may be worse off with the Corbin height wise....but it is a lot more "comfortable". I can just flat foot it with the Corbin but if your legs are a tad short, you'll struggle.

Smithy.

[weck]

Thanks for the write up.  I have the same feeling about that horrendous stock seat.  How is the Corbin for standover compared to the factory seat?  I'm about your height but longer in the torso, so I cannot quite flat foot the bike stock in regular shoes, making it a bit of a handful parking.

The Corbin seat will have you sitting quite a bit taller than the stock OEM seat...I fear you may be worse off with the Corbin height wise....but it is a lot more "comfortable". I can just flat foot it with the Corbin but if your legs are a tad short, you'll struggle.

Smithy.

Thanks, i was afraid of that looking at the shape of it.   I'm thinking I'll need to pull the seat cover and try some different foam density in there, see if I can make it more comfortable with the stock shape and height.

[Specter]

what size tire do you have on the thing.  going to 180's if you are higher # might help, or from a 65 to a 55 I think will fit that rim too.  There are a few things you can do to help the height a bit before trashing around with the seat.
Trust me, Ive looked plenty hard, im a short shit too.

Aaron

[smithy]

what size tire do you have on the thing.  going to 180's if you are higher # might help, or from a 65 to a 55 I think will fit that rim too.  There are a few things you can do to help the height a bit before trashing around with the seat.
Trust me, Ive looked plenty hard, im a short shit too.

Aaron

Changing tyre sizes dramatically will have the ABS & Trasction control system having a hissyfit.

Smithy.

[Specter]

you are correct there smithy.  I forgot, the street bikes you can't change those numbers to let it know what's going on.  You can  change the sprocket count on the Corsa and there really is no TC on that.
The only alternative is to turn it down maybe?  Set TC to a less tempermental value?

Maybe this would be a good thing for Energica to put in their next update, user inputs where we can put in our tire size and sprocket teeth count.  This could be used to properly drive the TC / Antilock, AND speedometer.

Just thinking out loud.

Aaron