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[Ndm]

I'm not looking for a freebie or to thrash somebody's machine. I just really would like to test ride an electric motorcycle , I'm in Florida for a week and would love to ride a zero or brammo, canada doesn't have a lot of dealers that I can just check out and try the bikes, I have a good riding history and am classed as a young old rider! Daily ride is a weestrom (650 vstrom) and   if anyone has info or a rental place in mind that I can try please pm me , I'm a huge stalker and watcher on this forum and really need to see what the hype is about, ps I'm staying in the Indian rocks /Clearwater area till the 22 of November , any help getting a leg over an electric is appreciated

[CrashCash]

I got a test ride on a Zero at Orlando Yamaha/Kawasaki, I found out about them through the Zero website. (Edit: I've gone to OYK for decades, but I didn't know they'd gotten the Zero dealership... and in those decades this is the first test ride I've gotten there.)

I got a test ride on a Brammo at Euro Cycles of Tampa Bay... I found out about it from their email list, but I'm sure they're mentioned on Brammo's website.

Normally in Florida you don't get test rides at dealerships, but electric bikes are trying to break out, so they have demo bikes.

[Ndm]

That's exactly what I'm looking for, gonna call euro cycles on Monday , if I catch the bug I'll have to see if I can park a bike at my parents winter house in north port until I get a chance to bring the truck down! P.s. Any sellers in the area let me know!

[CrashCash]

Just make sure you try both Brammo & Zero out and make up your mind as to which you prefer. They're very different. Different strokes for different folks.

[Ndm]

Ok so I got to ride the empulse R at euro cycles tampa bay, let me first say that they are a great dealership and I would be so confident buying any bike from them, they are what the electric motorcycle industry needs, he knew I wasn't buying but said "take a ride, any exposure is great" now on to the ride, I wasn't floored by the acceleration but was very impressed with the smooth feel and how quickly you can become confident on the bike, it was like a wireless connection between your brain and the bike, think faster-go faster, not all that sure a gearbox is necessary, I rode around in 3rd for a while and felt that gears kind of spoiled the experience,might be another story if I was highway riding, I'd say that you really feel the weight under 30 mph but it disappears after that and the bike gets smaller, like blasting around on a cbr 250 with better ergonomics, personal opinions are 1-needs a windshield, it's hard to think with all the wind noise! 2- still shy on the range for me to make it the only bike in the stable (200kms at 100 km/hr would be ideal for me) 3- if the sale pricing on brammo were the regular msrp it would be on par with most peoples budget

[CrashCash]

Yeah, I got kind of a goofy salesman there that soured the deal ("yeah, we gotta white one, that's it, and getting it to Orlando will be $2K onna truck") The rest of the dealership is great, and they're the only ones that sell Rev'it gloves.

Anyway, I was not a fan of the transmission or the incredibly uncomfortable seat, which is why I went for the Zero.

The Zero replaces my SV-650 which was my zippy little zoot-around-town bike and my FJR-1300 will remain the heavy bomber and my long-range and get-groceries bike (however, I may be able to get 3 E45 Givi bags on the Zero, so that may change)

The work-at-home 2 miles here, 3 miles there, was killing the SV, even with changing the oil at 3K miles, and now I have a completely new technology to learn and play with (or will... when my SR gets here in January)

[MotoRyder]

Thanks for sharing your riding experience and thoughts on the Brammo Empulse R test ride.  Similar to you, I check out the forum quite often as I'm interested in buying an electric motorcycle when the budget will allow it in the future, so I'm trying to get a sense of what the machines are like. I'm wanting to see what the hype is about too.  Having two ICE motorcycles already, I've been more impressed with Brammo's Empulse to the Zeros, but that was for earlier model years.  Reading the forums fairly regulary, a fair amount of members really like the Zero SR (I think that is the popular model).  It'd be very interesting to hear your thoughts and experience on something along that line if you get a chance to do so.

[Burton]

CrashCash how does the Zero compare to your SV650?

I have a friend with an SV650 I am going to let ride my bike and would like to know your opinion

[CrashCash]

CrashCash how does the Zero compare to your SV650?

OK, on the bad side I don't have my SR yet. On the good side, I got a really long 20 minute ride around roads I'm familiar with, and I did u-turns, parking lot, corner flicks, stoplight takeoffs, and anything else I could think of. The bike was 68% charged when I left.

It felt even lighter and a bit more powerful than the SV, if that's possible. I went into the first couple corners a little hot because I underestimated my speed, due to the lack of engine noise. Once I realized the problem, it wasn't hard to compensate for it. It completely carved the U-turn. I went from the middle of the southbound lane, slammed around, and into the middle of the northbound lane without ever going wide. Niiiice.

At the stoplights, I just twisted the throttle and WZZZZZ away I went! I didn't feel like I had the throttle open and was waiting for the engine to catch up. It also didn't wander at steady speed. I felt I didn't have to do as many micro-corrections to keep a target speed.

It was like an SV with a bit more power and fewer engine/transmission management requirements. Actually, the bike it felt most like, handling wise, was my RZ-350 street two-stroke, except unlike a two-stroke, it was never "off the pipe" and I didn't feel I had to wring its neck to get anywhere.

One of the things that REALLY impressed me was the low speed parking lot handling. I'm used to EPA-mandated ultra-lean fuel injection causing the bike to buck around on low throttle. On my FJR it was so bad, I had to get a Power Commander to be able to endure low speed stop & go traffic.

The Zero just did a figure 8 and was like "you wanna do 1.44mph the next mile? no problem" - I didn't have to drag the rear brake to tame a bad engine throttle response.

It had confidence. I never had the demo-ride thought "OMG I'm on somebody else's bike and I'm not sure what it's about to do"

Waiting at a light behind a huge line of cars was much better than an ICE. There was no holding in the clutch or constantly having to pop in and out of neutral to creep up with the car in front of me... or feathering the clutch to match the really slow speed of the car in front. I just fed in the throttle in/out as needed and I was golden.

I've already warned my boss, I'm skipping my Christmas vacation and when my SR gets here, I'm outta there for 2 weeks. I'm going to terrorize the hell out of Orange County.

[CrashCash]

Having two ICE motorcycles already, I've been more impressed with Brammo's Empulse to the Zeros, but that was for earlier model years.  Reading the forums fairly regulary, a fair amount of members really like the Zero SR (I think that is the popular model).  It'd be very interesting to hear your thoughts and experience on something along that line if you get a chance to do so.

I spent the first 8-10 minutes of a 20 minute loop figuring out the transmission. An ICE has engine inertia, so even if you don't completely close the throttle, it doesn't rev that fast. When I clutched the electric motor, it instantly spun up to 5 million RPM and the computer shut it down, and I had to wait for it to calm down. I then sort-of realized I had to slam the throttle to the stop before clutching.

Then I got home and did some research and realized I didn't have to shift it like an ICE, I could have stayed in 2nd the entire test ride. Damn it.

I tried the Brammo not even being interested in electric bikes. I came away really impressed with electric power, enough so that I felt I had to find out who their competitor was and ride that too. "Oh... who're these Zero guys...? And they don't have a transmission? What?"

However the seat was a deal-breaker. I'm picky about seats. I was spoiled by my '82 CB450SC that had a huge wide flat cushion that slept two. On everything else except for my FJR I've had to put on a Sargent or a Corbin. My SV-650 stock seat couldn't make it from Orlando to Daytona without a sore-butt stop, and the Brammo was even worse. I haven't found anyone that makes a seat for them, and I'm tired of the really expensive custom seat process, even though I'm lucky enough to have Corbin in Daytona and Sergent in Jacksonville.

Plus I got the ugly maroon color FJR and I've gotten tired of staring at a color I didn't like. When the salesman said the only one they had was white, that was another deal breaker. Plus I'm spending HOW MUCH on a bike, and it's still "another $2K or $3K to get it home"? Really?

I guess I'm lucky the Zero dealer is just down the road. I don't feel they have a clue about servicing it, or if problems arise as I've had many issues with them with my ICE bikes. However, I did talk to Zero at AIMExpo and came away with the feeling they're really enthusiastic and committed. They're not just selling a product to make money, and if I have problems, they'd do their damnedest to help resolve them.

I was really surprised Brammo didn't show up. It is a big show and even tiny Chinese and European vendors showed up. I'm also surprised Brammo hasn't announced their new model year, and they seem to have gone from a noisy marketing push to completely quiet. Or maybe I'm overreacting to all I originally heard about electric bikes was BRAMMO BRAMMO BRAMMO BRAMMO and I had to work to dig up Zero and find out who they were.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah I was riding my 900cc Diversion into work today (as its the one with the cargo tray, and I have an amp to shift) and all through the ride I was thinking that I REALLY REALLY wanted to be back on my Zero-S.

I'm spoiled for ICE now, they just are not as nice as riding an electric.

[lolachampcar]

In West Palm Beach
Have a 2013 11.4DS I am looking to sell.
bill at lolachampcar with the normal dot com