I now have ridden about 1400 km, here is a writeup on a 182 km round trip i did yesterday, combined with some of my thoughts so far.
Introduction
Yesterday i went to Charlottenberg, Sweden to purchase some cheap glutenfree food. The trip to Charlottenberg mostly consist of twisty road, in which most are in reasonably good condition, and the weather was well suitable for a ride -basicly there was a 18-24 degrees celcius and partial cloud cover forecast. From where i live it is about 91 or 92 km in one direction. Technically i could have ridden both ways without charging, that would for sure induce some range anxiety. I left home at around 1400 and arrived at Charlottenberg around 1530with around 56% charge left, and I got lucky and found one of the two (non Tesla) free AC chargers that i could use while shopping. In the end i left at about 17:25 with 72% charge.
Now due to covid, there are restrictions to enter Norway from Sweden, which should not be a problem to me, as i have my corona-pass having taken my first vaccine shot more than a month ago. The only problem is that the border control does not cope with traffic; under normal circumstances they only stop ppl on random or suspicion. This means there was a 5km queue to get into Norway, and it was moving very slow. My original thought was to stop and check whether there was a queue at the border before entering Sweden, but I was caught off guard as the queue started somewhere i could not make a turn, so i just went with it and took the queue.
Tank bag
At 17:15 the weather was warm as anticipated, but thankfully there was shadow most of the places the queue stopped. The 5 km queue back into the Norwegian border took slightly more than 4 hours (I texted my wife after passing the border control at 21:37). One lesson learned from being in such a queue is that it is much more convenient having your food and drinks in a tank bag than in a locked sidecase or stowed in a bag on the pillion seat. In the Zero i had earlier, i always had some stash in the tank storage which in a way resembles a small tank bag. On the SS9 i did buy a tank bag, but i didn't mount it for this trip (next time i definitely will). When you cannot know how much time you have to work with your luggage, the fastest available option will beat any other.
Most of the time the queue was standing still, and now and then it moved 50-200 meters at a slow pace.
Heated Grips
Between 20 and 22 the temperature usually falls drastically, and I did not anticipate being out that long, since my earlier experience is that the trip takes slightly less than two hours with a car (each way). Now most of the trip back home was in the range of 12-14 degrees celcius, and not the 18-24 I had anticipated. Thankfully I had stowed my winter gloves and the rain gear, but I regret not having stowed a down jacket to use as a mid layer (at 18 degrees that would be overkill, but 12 is a whole different story). With the SS9 I now have the luxury comfort of having heated handgrips, which served me well. Of course it cannot compete with dressing properly for the temperature (which I had not), but it did help a lot. I started out using 2/3 of the power on the heated grips, but soon realized it is an all or nothing feature. Once the winter gloves isn’t enough, you will need the full blast, no less. Previously I have only tried this feature when it was sufficiently warm that I did not need it, and then perhaps the lower settings would make sense. All in all I am happy that I have this feature, because I will probably use it on a daily basis later this autumn when I commute to work. I am also very happy that the bike has an air temperature gauge being displayed at the front. This is really something every bike should have (The Zero did not have it), as it gives you information that enables you to better learn how to gear up in different conditions, and to learn when frost is about to form.
High and low beams
While riding home, dusk turned into night, so I got to use the high beam. One thing I noticed is that the low beam does much more to the ground near you than the high beam. This forces you to shift focus further ahead when using high beam, which perhaps is for the better when riding on country roads; but it also means that in situations where the focus needs to be close (such as roundabouts or tight corners), you will be better served using the low beam. The high beam does not compete with the sodium street lights, as certain car-beams do, but it is strong and high enough that I had a couple of cars signaling me that I should use the low beam. One did so when I forgot to turn it down, the other so early that one could argue that I should wait longer, however the point being is that the light is strong enough that it will be noticed unless turned down. With my Zero someone signaling that the high beam was on would be less frequent, but since I cannot put the bikes side to side, it is hard to tell whether this was coincidence or not. Anyway the beam pattern is perfectly OK, slightly better light distribution than how I remember the Zero, but I guess there will always be some that would want more (as with all cars I have owned).
Range
When I got home I had about 22 or 23% range left, which means that I used about 49% of the available energy on my way home. Given a temperature drop of 10 degrees celcius, and that I probably went slower at night than during day, I think this was reasonable. If there had been rain or a change in wind condition, the consumption could have changed more than the what I might have available if I did this trip without charging.
Now I found out how to reset the wh/km average, by advice I got on the Energica owners facebook- nowat the present I’d consider this a hack or a bug, since when having the bike in the correct riding screen (not the default one), you can hold the mode button to reset the trip-meter, which first indicates yellow, but in stead of resetting the trip counter, you press right, then hold mode for 2 seconds- which will reset the wh/km setting. With my firmware (EU 39) there is however no other indication that this is what happens (so you operate blindly) as the yellow colour on the trip meter vanishes when pressing right, and nothing in particular is displayed, except for the chosen riding screen until the average wh/km is reset.
The bike reported 60 wh/km for the last half of the trip but I doubt this is entirely true. If I 16kwh would be available at the time at full charge, using 49% of that in 91 km would indicate that I used 86 wh/km. Now of course some if those calories were burnt while standing still. The 4 hours spent on the first 5 kilometers took about 2-3%, which isn’t completely bad considering that lights were on all the time- however I switched to Dalight running lights being on auto to save the 15W buld when standing still.
All in all, the bike seems to have a range of about 180 km with my style of riding on twisty roads. I can go both harder and slower than this, but to me this serves as a reasonable reference. For trips at or above approximately 150km I will certainly plan charging even if it is not needed, but I much rather prefer returning at 30% than at 5%.
Riding Modes
At the present I have ridden 1400 km and yesterday I tried out doing most of the riding in urban mode. Now when I first tried the bike, I said there is little reason to change from sport mode, which is very manageable due to excellent control, but im going to moderate that statement a little bit now. Comparing to the zero which was mostly all right, for me at 80-85 kg changing modes would be something I did frequently, as the throttle control in sport wasn’t all that good in slow/ dense traffic, and you would need it every time 90km/h or above was a suitable speed. With the SS9, the throttle response in Sport is so good, there is less need to change, however I found good purpose for the Urban and perhaps the rain mode too. The reason for picking Urban over Sport is mostly relaxation. You can be slightly less precise (because the mode is more precise having a lower maximum torque output), and it just is more relaxing to ride in this mode. At times I would change to sport to pass a car, since this helps you gain speed much faster, but it is entirely doable in urban too. So when going on longer trips, where fatigue is an issue, the urban mode can be great, and I am sure I will use it more from now on. I have still not decided whether Urban or sport will be the most favorable mode for my commute to work. With the Zero I mostly used my own custom mode when commuting since it was much better when splitting lanes. With the SS9 I can probably use any for that purpose. Now at first, coming from the Zero, I found urban to be more difficult than handling the bike in sport when going at low speed. Now being more tuned with the bike and the urban mode, I believe the urban mode actually is better for slow speed maneuvering, but it just took me some additional time to get used to. Perhaps if I came from and ICE bike, id be more happy to do my slow speed maneuvering in Urban from the beginning. It is all about how much you have to turn the throttle to get the desired response.
The eco mode (which according to the manual turns off anything unnecessary (heated grips,?) and introduces a 90km/h hard speed limit is something I probably never will use. Id actually prefer if I could remove it as an option (ie a preference to not show eco when riding).
So far I have done little riding in rain on my Eva, but I think the rain mode serves well as a reminder on what surface you are riding on. It seems more docile than eco did on the zero, which probably is a good thing, especially if you have somehow managed to turn off traction control. For me the traction control will stay on at all times, but there will always be the issue of sliding out in turns. The SS9 makes turns beautifully, and I can go faster and more confident into turns than with my zero, so a gentle reminder to slow down a few notches when wet is probably a good thing for me.
Regeneration modes
Weighing almost 85 kg’s I mostly find the low-setting sufficient for braking and trailing into turns. While I would still much prefer having the option to switch regeneration modes without going into menus, I mostly find myself switching between no regen and low regen. At the times low regen is not enough, I am mostly happy to use the front brake, as this both gives more traction, and it is mostly sufficient to only use it very gently. Other riders may of course feel entirely different than I do on this, depending on riding style, weight and experience.
Suspension.
I have adjusted the suspension quite much softer than the stock settings. The stock preload was not too far off (according to the book), and the ride felt safe enough at the stock setting, but I prefer having both rebound and compression damping a lot softer. The bitubo rear I have softened the preload slightly to get into the recommended range, and I have set the bottom dial to the softest available spot. This has made the ride noticeably more comfortable than even one notch harder. On the Marzocchi front, the preload initially seemed to be where it should, but I am close to using the softest settings available on both rebound/extension and compression damping. This have made the bike noticable more comfortable to ride over bumps, but I guess I could go even softer. I did use strips on the front forks to see how much play I have, so I reckon I could allow some more play without fearing I would bottom out the spring. I have not tried my softer settings with a passenger, but I guess it will be fine, since I usually go slightly more gently then.
Keyless option
I bought my SS9 with keyless option, which I am happy that I did. I have seen the “key not in range” warning on a couple of occations, but I haven’t had any issues where things did not work as it should. So far I am happy that I have the keyless option, although the key is used when opening the seat to allow for charging. This means I have to bring out the key when parking at home or charging, which seems ok. Im not too afraid of leaving the key in the seat, since it can always be taken out immediately (there is no reason to leave it there once the seat is open).
Parking lot modes
The reverse mode is handy when parking the bike. I like the way it is implemented, it is not something that will happen at a surprise, and it goes to reverse first which does make sense. Personally, being able to flat foot the bike, I only need the slow forward mode when having to go back and forth several times. Sitting on the bike, I can maneuver the bike well even in sport mode going forward, so the benefit of the slow forward is mostly that the throttle response matches that of the reverse when going back and forth, and that you can switch between slow reverse and fast with short button push. Comparing to the Zero, this is hands down better. The SR is lighter, but still heavy to back up and move around. With the SS9, moving around in a parking lot is not an issue, thanks reverse and slow forward. I do not consider it an issue that it takes a couple of seconds switching between go and reverse. I believe one could switch from reverse to “go” fast by using the kill switch or kickstand, but waiting 2 seconds isn’t an issue for me.
Sound.
I usually listen to music while riding, at least when riding for pleasure (not always when commuting due to dense traffic). The SS9 has a more pronounced sound than the Zero ever had, but I still can enjoy music while riding, so while it would like as quiet as possible, I still find it manageable. Other people still comments on how quiet it is, which I think partially is because it makes no sound standing still, partially because there are enough of bikes making a whole lot more noise, even though some ICE bikes probably run more silent.
Maintenance.
When comparing to the Zero, there are some fluids that must be serviced/changed, which adds to the cost of the bike and there is chain maintenance that the SR simply does not have. The benefit from having the chain is that you don’t have to worry about the belt snapping from debris or pebbles, which at times made rides a nervous exercise with the Zero. I know some would ride their belt driven zeros offroad, but having experienced the belt snapping due to a belt not being much protected, for the time being, the chain gives more confidence when riding on gravel.
EDIT: Center of mass
I have tried to brake while making a turn to see how much the bike will raise up due to the bike geometry. This is one thing that i have been a bit concerned about due to some early (13.4 model) reviews complaining of the tendency for the bike to raise up when braking in corners. As far as i know the model i have has a slightly lower center of mass than the 13.4 model, and the newer EMCE motor models will have an even lower center of mass. Now the way i ride, during my normal ride, i feel no particular tendency of the bike to raise, or misbehave when trailbraking into corners. I have attempted to make an emergency brake (ie almost come to a stop from 80-km/h or so) while in a turn with reasonable lean, and then the bike will raise up, without doubt, but this is hard for me to accomplish (I never tried braking that hard in a corner with my zero). When braking reasonably hard compared to what i normally would, whatever tendency the bike has of raising up is little enough that i compensate without giving it much thought. So for me, the bike feels neutral and stable during turns- in a way that gives me more confidence than my zero ever did.
