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[trikester]

I purchased a better quality chain for my DS for two reasons. First was that I wanted a quick link, so I can remove the chain when I want to. Second is that I think the chain is a very important component on a bike and the factory chain, KMC, is about the lowest end, cheapest one to be found. I purchased a high quality RK chain.

Now for the thing that upset me. The new chain was about 1/16" shorter than the original (probably due to stretch) so I needed to move the motor back slightly to install the quick link. The first thing I discovered was that ZERO mixed English and metric bolts on the motor mounts.  The two rear flat head bolts are American Allan wrench size and the two front bolts are metric. What's with that? Next I found that they had been so over torqued that I had to extend my already long Allen wrenches. The lower rear bolt stripped out the Allen socket before the bolt would turn. I was using a high quality very good condition wrench. Now if I ever have to remove that bolt it will have to be drilled out.  What a bummer! I am very disappointed in Zero's design and assembly of this part of the bike.

With great effort I was able to force the motor back enough to install the chain with the lower rear bolt still tight (only three bolts loosened).

I also discovered, while I had the chain off, that there is a lot of drag on the rear wheel caused by the outside brake caliper pad rubbing. There appears to be nothing I can do to change this condition. I think that on electric vehicles in particular, it is important to have all moving parts as free from friction loss as possible.

trikester

[Brammofan]

Have you contacted Zero directly about this? I bet they'd be interested in knowing your experience and opinions.

[Richard230]

I wonder if they might have used a thread-locking compound on those bolts? If they did that then you would have to use a small torch to melt the glue and to be able to turn the fasteners without breaking the bolts.

[picasso]

I never counted how many different size tools I need to work on the Zero but yes its a lame amount. Zero need's to include a tool kit.

For the rear brake caliper you do know that you can adjust it yes?  Was going to link to the tool that helps set it but the justzeros site is down. Just a set of sims that you place between pad and rotor and next lock it all down tight.

[trikester]

I didn't know it could be adjusted. I need to find out more about that.

I inquired to ZERO if I could purchase a shop manual and they never said yes or no. They just forwarded my request to the local rep and he didn't know either and fired the question back to them. As far as I know they never responded to his request either.  I always like to have a shop manual for every vehicle I own.

trikester

[Harlan]

As the Southern California Sales Rep and Service Rep for Zero, I've had to adjust the chain on quite a few of our customer bikes.  All the motor mounting bolts are SAE, not metric.  The reason the motor mounts are SAE while the rest of the bike is metric is simple.  The motor is made by Agni and the motor mounts thread into the motor which Agni thread to be SAE.

Although the lower rear bolt is tough to get to, I've never stripped any of the bolts and find their adjustment procedure to be one of the simplest since it requires one adjustment rather than the two an axle adjustment requires.

Just my opinion.  If you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them for you.

[pennjon]

I'm not a big fan of the chain adjustment setup either........   This is compounded by that cheap  stock chain which  requires adjustment  
after every other  ride it seems.    
A higher quality chain should cut down on adjustment intervals.  I do worry about  a beefer chain .....thicker sideplates could cause a clearence issue on the frame/swingarm.  Did you notice anything with the RK?

I called and asked for a shop manual aswell.....my contact Jeff Jolin told me they are still working on putting one together.
Most hard parts on the Zero seem to be 3rd party stuff.  Like the motor, motor controller, throttle assem., Suspension parts.
Further investigation revealed most of these parts were available outside of Zero and have been used before  on other applications.  
I started feeling less of the R&D Guy for product development.     Frame and Battery are Zero designed /Spec
I really hate dealing with stripped bolts  , some factories have a tendency for overtorquing stuff.  I guess Zero is no better!

[trikester]

I haven't observed any clearance problems with the RK chain. However, as close as it comes to the frame one sure wants to make sure the clip on the quick link is in the correct direction! I too was surprised at how soon the KMC chain stretched. One would think that a $10K bike would have better than the lowest end chain. To confirm my own thoughts about the chain I took it to a well respected motorcycle mechanic that I know and his first words were; "that chain is cheap crap"! "I wouldn't ride with it".

As far as the bolts go, I could tell that the lower rear was going to be a problem as soon as I tried to loosen it. Therefore, I was extremely careful in trying to not strip the Allen socket head, but to no avail. Now I'm wondering,; should I go ahead and attempt to drill out the bolt now, or wait until I have to remove it at some later date?  It bothers me to know that there is a bolt in my machine that can't be removed in its present condition. 

[gasdive]

Does anyone know what size the allen key bolts are for the DS/S motor mounts?  The manual says the adjustment bolt is 13 mm but doesn't say the size of the mount bolts.

Cheers =:)

[Harlan]

Does anyone know what size the allen key bolts are for the DS/S motor mounts?  The manual says the adjustment bolt is 13 mm but doesn't say the size of the mount bolts.

Cheers =:)

The forward two bolts are 5/16" and the rear two are 7/32"

[gasdive]

That's really great!

Thanks for that.

=:)

[trikester]

I finally got around to drilling through the lower bolt and removed it with an Easyout. It must have been torqued in pretty high because it took a big wrench on the Easyout to get it loose. It sure was a good feeling when it finally started to turn! Kinda held my breath for awhile there 

Trikester

[wapit]

hi trikester,

Did you ever solve this issue:

"I also discovered, while I had the chain off, that there is a lot of drag on the rear wheel caused by the outside brake caliper pad rubbing."

   as I have notice this is a problem with my 2010 S?

[trikester]

Personal Message (Offline)
   
   
Re: Now I'm upset with ZERO!
« Reply #12 on: Today at 08:12:29 AM »
   Reply with quoteQuote
hi trikester,

Did you ever solve this issue:

"I also discovered, while I had the chain off, that there is a lot of drag on the rear wheel caused by the outside brake caliper pad rubbing."

   as I have notice this is a problem with my 2010 S?

Wow! You went back a long way to this posting but I'm glad you did.

The rear wheel drag turned out to be bad bearings, not brake drag which was also there but not significant. I didn't know this until I took the wheel off in preparation to my increasing the size to a 17" wheel. When I turned the axle in my hand I could feel the significant drag of the bearings. I was told by a Zero employee that since my 2010 DS was one of their very early shipments it had bearings that were found to sometimes be a problem and Zero had changed manufacturers.

This may be the same problem you are having. Remove your rear wheel and turn the axle. There should only be a small amount of resistance due to the grease seals. When I would hold the axle in my hand and spin the wheel it would stop in a few revolutions.

Zero sent me a new wheel at no cost to me. I hope they still have the same attitude, if that is the problem with your wheel drag.

Thanks for prompting me to update and close this issue.

Trikester

[zap mc]

I wonder if they might have used a thread-locking compound on those bolts? If they did that then you would have to use a small torch to melt the glue and to be able to turn the fasteners without breaking the bolts.

great tip!