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[protomech]

Motorcyclist posted a contributor review of the 2013 Zero S back in January.

Now Zero has given their staff a Zero S for a week to play with and garner their own impressions. They're not quite done yet, but the impressions have been overwhelmingly positive. The bike has attracted a lot of praise for the power delivery, looks, and some mixed thoughts on range - Dave Sonsky hopped off a ZX-14R and managed to get down to 20% in 39 miles, but Martha Cook reported "Only later would I learn that my loving husband greatly underestimated the range capability of the Zero [at 65 miles]. Trying to keep me close to home?"

In fact, with my eyes closed (figuratively, of course) I tried to imagine the equivalent of a garden variety Japanese 600cc sportbike beneath me, but I couldn’t. This bike seemed faster. Or “thrustier.” I’m not sure how to explain the forward momentum because there are no gears to bother with which means instant torque and acceleration anywhere in the “rev” range.

Their week with the bike was not without incident. On Day 5, Editor-in-Chief Marc Cook commuted home with the intention of going on a 93 mile point-to-point trip the following morning.

But the Zero itself took care of the quandary. On Friday night, after a happy and successful commute home, it refused to charge. Despite trying three different cords on two different circuits in my home shop, the Zero could not be convinced to charge; it clicked and chirped from somewhere down below but would not light the charge indicator. A few e-mails later, Zero’s Scot Harden decided that rather than take the time to troubleshoot that machine, he would have the fleet manager swap for another one.

The 2013 bike will pull harder from a 120V socket than the 2012 bikes (~12A vs ~9A). It's possible that he was tripping a breaker somewhere in the shop, but more likely that he hit the same charging glitch as seen by another poster here. Zero swooped in and replaced the bike, which was very nice of them but not exactly the same service shown to owners.

It'll be interesting to see if they grill Zero any over the charging glitch. I don't expect any such hardball questions from a magazine review, unfortunately.

[nicktulloh]

I've known one of the editors - Zack Courts - since he was smaller than the battery pack.

[Richard230]

Motorcyclist magazine has wrapped up their week with the 2013 Zero S.  All-in-all, they gave it a very positive review and I think they hit the major points that could still use a little improvement. 

http://blogs.motorcyclistonline.com/2013-zero-s-streetfighter-34739.html#axzz2T1XacoI7

It is kind of funny about the width of the mirrors.  Last year we were all complaining that the mirrors were not wide enough and we were running out and buying mirror extenders.  This year the mirrors are apparently too wide (at least for lane-splitting) and the editors turned them upside down to reduce the width slightly.  I guess you have to be careful what you wish for.   

[trikester]

I swapped Harlan new mirrors for old for my 2013 FX.

Zero must be saying; "aren't these guys ever happy"? 

Trikester

[lolachampcar]

I've smacked car's mirrors while splitting lanes but I STILL prefer seeing behind me while riding.  Thank You Zero for listening and I love the 180 rotate for those that want the bike just a bit thinner

[benswing]

Favorite line of the week-long review article:  "Electric propulsion is intoxicating." - Editor-in-Chief, Mark Cook