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[McBoatface]

Hello,

Great to see such a passionate community here about ebikes. I'm trying to convince myself to shell out the $$ to join the ranks of owners but I have some questions about the long term of a bike, particularly the ZERO FXS7.2

The only way I can really justify spending 10k on a bike is if I can truly go 5+ years without further costs associated. I wouldnt have to pay for charge at work or home, so that's a plus. What are peoples experience with things breaking down outside of warranty or after a slide/crash? And some of the costs associated? How is ZEROs customer service on and off warranty? Will the 2019 battery be obsolete in 5-10 years and will it be possible to replace on the existing bike?

I just want to know if this bike is going to be like a cell phone, where the tech is shiny and new, but really only built to last a couple years. Thanks for your help!

[NEW2elec]

First welcome aboard.  Let me encourage you to read over the older threads and get a bigger picture of what is involved.
My 2013 DS is still going strong and I have about 29k miles on it now.  Not without a few issues though.
Zero did a full battery replacement at the factory for mine and had a recall on 2013 batteries as a result.  It was shipped cross country and back all for free.
Customer service is a grey area.  I often question the dealer commitment as much as Zero HQ.  Good ol Billy can rebuild a carb in his sleep but finding a software bug in the BMS has him scratching his watch and winding his butt.  It seems to be getting better overall but you're dealing with a small company not Honda.

Nothing is future proof but all the FX(S) bikes can take the new batteries except for 2013s they have the connector on the other side.
For example if you had an older 5.7kWh battery and it died they would replace it with a 7.2kWh so they have make it backward compatible.
 I bring this up because there are great deals on older new and used bikes in the $7k range that still have some of the 2 year full warranty.
The batteries are covered for 5 years and unlimited miles so ride that thing till the wheels come off.  Zero has went beyond that for batteries but they are getting stricter with the 2 year full coverage.

I'm told they crash well aka not much breaks but depends on the type of crash of course.

To close I'll say I now have 2 bikes and they are the best big boy toys I've ever owned I really love the smooth quiet ride and quick power.
Now if you have other means to get to work and this can be a fun/practical bike for you then go for it.  If you do have a breakdown it may take weeks or months (rare but it does happen) to get it back for the reasons mentioned above.  I don't want to scare you off but I'm telling the whole truth before you go into it.
Good luck.

[Moto7575]

Great answer. I would say the same. Check your dealer, and ask yourself - once they sold me a new bike (which they will probably happily do), can I trust them to solve issues. If you don't, and if you can't fix the bike yourself, go somewhere else or don't do it.

[domingo3]

  I think your odds are high to have a long-lasting ownership with very little cost for upkeep and maintenance.  When things do go wrong, there are very mixed reports of support.  Some people have reported "above and beyond" type service - overnight delivery of parts, free upgrades, out-of-warranty repairs, etc.  Other people have had truly horrendous experiences - months at the dealer with no action, denial that anything is wrong with the bike, failure after the warranty expires that is a repeat from an in-warranty issue, being forced to legal action or in some cases, just giving up.
 
  The majority of people, including me, are very happy with their bikes.  My 2016 FXS had problems that nobody could figure out.  Eventually I got a "free" upgrade from Zero to a 2018.  I ride every day and love it.  Although a few people have reported battery issues, it has a 5 year warranty.  If anything worries me, it's that the electronics are not something that just anyone can work on since it's all proprietary.  If some problem arises, the approach that I've read involves swapping out expensive parts that may or may not fix the problem.  That's OK when the bike is in warranty, but gets expensive when you are footing the bill.   Again, it seems these things are rare occurrences, but possible.

Hello,

Great to see such a passionate community here about ebikes. I'm trying to convince myself to shell out the $$ to join the ranks of owners but I have some questions about the long term of a bike, particularly the ZERO FXS7.2

The only way I can really justify spending 10k on a bike is if I can truly go 5+ years without further costs associated. I wouldnt have to pay for charge at work or home, so that's a plus. What are peoples experience with things breaking down outside of warranty or after a slide/crash? And some of the costs associated? How is ZEROs customer service on and off warranty? Will the 2019 battery be obsolete in 5-10 years and will it be possible to replace on the existing bike?

I just want to know if this bike is going to be like a cell phone, where the tech is shiny and new, but really only built to last a couple years. Thanks for your help!

[McBoatface]

Thanks for all the help guys! I've decided to go for it, I just made a new post asking for help deciding on whether to buy new or used. I would appreciate any further insight!

[flattetyre]

There's no way to know whether you will have further issues or not. I think it's a given you will probably spend some money on the bike even if it's for add-ons.

There's also maintenance: brakes, suspension oil / seal refresh, bearing / bushings and the belt. You can probably ride the bike for 5 years without doing any of these but it would suck. And if you want to go offroad a lot, you will want a chain kit for reliability.

In short, it sounds like you can't afford the bike. That doesn't mean you can't buy it but you would probably be a lot better off with a cheap combustion bike.

[Jarrett]

I got a brand new battery replacement on my 1 week old 2019 FX due to a "crimping" issue in the original battery.

The next month and a half have been rock solid though

[MostlyBonkers]

I think it's tough to commit to any bike for more than a couple of years. There's always an urge to try something new.  A lot of bikers switch bikes regularly. Five years is an eon!

Having said that, I've kept my Zero for over three years now. It's the longest I've kept a bike.

[JaimeC]

I think it's tough to commit to any bike for more than a couple of years. There's always an urge to try something new.  A lot of bikers switch bikes regularly. Five years is an eon!

Having said that, I've kept my Zero for over three years now. It's the longest I've kept a bike.

Not necessarily true.  20 years and 214,000 miles on my K1200LT...

[Richard230]

I think it's tough to commit to any bike for more than a couple of years. There's always an urge to try something new.  A lot of bikers switch bikes regularly. Five years is an eon!

Having said that, I've kept my Zero for over three years now. It's the longest I've kept a bike.

Not necessarily true.  20 years and 214,000 miles on my K1200LT...

I have a friend with a 1985 K100.  He literately can't give it away. 

[JaimeC]

I WISH I still had my 1985 K100.  I LOVED that bike.  Ten years and 158,000 trouble-free miles.  Then some mouth-breathing BASTARD stole it from the train station almost ten years to the day that I first brought it home and it was never recovered.  I went EVERYWHERE with that bike... from Daytona Beach to Newfoundland and Labrador and west to San Francisco and everywhere in between.