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[flattetyre]

Hi, my background with ebikes is building hotrodded bicycles both mid and hub drive. I have a QS205, QS273 and a few others running high power on ASI BAC4000/8000 controllers. So I'm used to fast high torque wheelie machines.

I rode a 2017 FXS 6.5 the other day and was disappointed by the power. It sure didn't feel like 47 hp and I couldn't get the bike to power wheelie. Yes it was in Sport mode. I'm 140 lbs, 6', sitting up and leaning back while grabbing the throttle. Full charge, warm weather, both packs inserted. Not one inch of wheelie. On the plus side the bike is very easy to break loose and slide around, but half the reason I want this bike is to do stealth wheelies all the time!

I'm aware of the various performance limitations including the motor which I got up to 200* in a few miles. That is all OK for the riding I'll do, but I was expecting this bike to wheelie easily. So yeah, how would you describe the bike's ability to wheelie and is something wrong with the model I rode?

[Jarrett]

This video immediately came to mind.  Start around 3 minute mark:

https://youtu.be/I12YF-NXUos?t=191

[domingo3]

The 2018 FXS will definitely wheelie easier than the 2016, but it's not a wheelie machine in my experience.  I believe the HP and torque specs are the same for 2017 and 2018.  I never wheelied on my 2016.  I've accidentally "wheelied" on my 2018, but only lifted the front wheel a couple of inches.  I don't believe an unmodified FXS would power wheelie like the FX in the video.

[Curt]

Unless I'm imaging things, the FX I test rode wheelied better than the one I got. Even the local wheelie king gave up trying to get my bike up.

I do notice that it's more wheelie-prone at higher speeds, 30-40mph such as the on-ramp of a freeway, especially if slightly uphill. But from a near stand-still, as a "first gear" wheelie, no way not even close.

It can lift off a bump pretty good. Once in a while I hit a speed hump just right and get a big surprise. But most of the time I'm slipping/chirping tires and this is probably terrible for belt life.

I still don't have a straight answer as to whether it's a hardware limitation or a software limitation. I asked this on Zero Tour Day and the non-response was "well, the people in videos don't seem to have trouble."

[Ireek]

The FXS (2016) that I test rode a while back is what got me interested in E bikes but the fact that it would not wheelie at all disappointed me, then I found and bought the Alta Redshift SM, that thing would spit you off the back if you weren't careful, wheelies on demand were never a problem, BUT, the seat was hard as a brick, the range wasn't great and it was noisy (gear reducer), so I sold it, now I'm back looking at the Zero's for the quiet factor, comfort and range, can't have it all I guess.

[flattetyre]

I'm looking into modifying the bike with another controller and some additional motor cooling. The overall platform is decent. More phase amps will get this thing skyward. Anyone break their belt just from riding hard or is that mostly a debris thing?

[Specta]

Hi, this bike can wheelie easily. It is a matter of timing between throttle and pulling the handlebar. See below

https://photos.app.goo.gl/S8wSA9Rtp3L9iLJt7

[Jarrett]

Nice!

[Richard230]

FXS torque and power curve.

[rayivers]

The bike below can wheelie as easy as the one in the 2nd video above, perhaps more so. On my Zero it's purely a matter of twisting the throttle more than halfway below 10mph, followed immmediately by either mad wheelie skills or (in my case) falling-backward-off-a-building panic.



It took some work, most of which is described here at EMF. IMO Zero intentionally set these bikes up to not easily lift the front wheel, even under full Sport-mode acceleration.  Once I realized a partial re-design was required, the gearing / weight-distribution / suspension setup / riding position / etc. issues were dealt with one by one, and now it pops the front up like every ICE MX bike I've owned.

[flattetyre]

Cool. Well I bought the bike and discovered pretty quickly that one of the packs is disconnected. Hopefully that is a simple issue and not a dead pack or something. Once I have two functional packs and a full charge hopefully I can tap into these "easy" wheelies.

[rayivers]

Just FYI - running only the rear battery pack is essential to the wheelie behavior of my bike (low-speed RW torque is the same with one or two packs), as are the many other mods I performed on it.  If two packs & a full charge were all I needed, my bike would've wheelied fine the day I bought it - but by all means try it and see, your FXS will surely behave differently than my FX.

AFAIK if both packs on a twin-pack FXS are in the correct positions, they are electrically connected (unless something has gone very wrong).  I don't know if the single-battery setup is a monolith or internally-connected packs.