Yesterday I signed the title for my new (to me) SS9-. My 2017 Zero SR has been a great bike and fulfilled my years-long dream of riding electric, but after a little less than a year of owning it, I found myself frustrated with the combination of limited range and slow charging. There wasn’t much I could do about the range, but the charging could be remedied with external charging units. However, buying a second ElCon 3.3 kW charger and some side cases and racks to better carry them was going to be an expensive proposition, and I would never get that money back in the resale value. A well-priced Energica SS9- came onto the market with low-miles, and I realized that by just stretching the budget a little more, I could have DCFC without any of the extra chargers, cables, and hassle, along with even more power and torque and a much better build quality.
I had previously considered these bikes to be out of my price range, and I was also turned off by the need for oil changes and chain maintenance compared to the Zero, and the fact that they make more noise. As I read more about the Zero’s and talked to more owners, however, it became clear that Zero’s may have less regular maintenance than Energicas, but they’re also a lot less reliable and with much worse customer support. I haven’t experienced as many problems as some of the Zero owners on this forum have, but I’ve had issues with charging that cuts out, refuses to start, or is slower than it should be.
So far the Energica has been a dream. I laughed like a hyena the first time I cracked open the throttle in sport mode, and the handling is much more stable and confident (although it’s not as flickable and the tip-in takes some getting used to). I love that I can control the charging rate and limit the SOC, and the included J-1772 to 3-prong adapter is of high quality (although I did have a charging fault last night, which hopefully is a rare occurance). I’m very happy to have cruise control again, and sorely missed it on the Zero (my Atlas throttle lock helped but was no replacement for genuine CC). Traction control with adjustable levels makes me feel a lot more confident even though I never truly needed it on the Zero. I love the strong regen at the medium setting and the fact that it activates the brake light. I also love that it has dual-disc brakes up front, as inadequate stopping power from the single-disc on the Zero was my biggest concern about riding at highway speeds. The slow speed reverse and forward is a godsend, and makes the heavy weight of the bike almost irrelevant.
I’m planning to transfer some of the farkles over from the Zero and then sell it, so anyone who’s in the market for a high-mileage (48k) but well-maintained 2017 SR should consider it. I’m hoping to bring the CalSci windscreen over to the Energicas mounts, which would keep the good part of that product (the windscreen itself) while ditching the rest. Failing that, I’ve seen that a couple of people have had success with the Puig up-and-down adjustable screen. I’m planning to at least try bringing the bar-end mirrors over, although I don’t hate the stock mirrors on the SS9 nearly as much as the ones on the SR. I might also get some bar risers and try to lower the footpegs for a more comfortable ride. It’s already a lot more comfy than the SR, but I feel like it begs for just a little bit extra. I’m also planning to have some top and side case rails made for it.
Negatives compared to the Zero are that it’s significantly less efficient with the short stock windscreen at ~180-190 Wh / mi at 70 MPH compared to ~130 on the SR at that speed. We’ll see how much that comes down when I get a bigger windscreen and a top case installed. It’s also definitely a heavy beast, which matters the most in tip-in and slow-speed handling. It takes some effort to get it to start leaning and once it does it falls into the turn rather abruptly. With the Zero I never worried that I might drop it, but this one has me acting a lot more carefully. I also had a hard time finding a suitable charger last night. The first one was at an AM/PM gas station and only charged at 8 kW, so I abandoned the charge and went to the next closest, which was an Electrify America charger that I couldn’t get to start charging. It wanted me to plug in first but the bike had already rejected the handshake by the time I could initialize payment, no matter how fast I swiped the card. I had to give up and find an EVGo charger that worked like a charm with a credit card swipe, and topped me up to 80% in only 12 minutes. The attempts to figure out what was wrong and get charging took about an hour, though, so I’m hoping I can learn the quirks of DC fast charging and get through the teething period quickly. I also didn’t care for the limp mode that the bike automatically went into when I had 9 mi of estimated range and 17% SOC. It started limiting me to 59 MPH on the highway, which I did not appreciate and felt was dangerous. I hope there’s a way to override that, as I would prefer to make my own decisions about how far to push my luck with range and speed.
All in all, I’m in love with the bike and look forward to taking it on trips that never would have been feasible with the Zero. Maybe someday I’ll trade for a newer one with the bigger battery and new motor, but so far I don’t feel like I’m missing out.
