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0 - 1000 miles

4 (25%)

1000 - 2000 miles

4 (25%)

2000 - 4000 miles

6 (37.5%)

4000 - 6000 miles

0 (0%)

6000 - 10000 miles

1 (6.3%)

10000 - 20000 miles

1 (6.3%)

> 20000 miles

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 16

[protomech]

One of the promises of electric bikes is low operational costs. Electricity is pretty cheap everywhere - even in CA's 30-40 cent/kWh tier, you're looking at 3-4 cents per mile.

The other big operational cost is repairs and maintenance. I'm like to consolidate everyone's experience with their bikes.

My 2012 S is getting close to 2k miles. About a week ago the BMS board got damp after a wet ride and disabled the throttle. After a tow and overnight sit in the garage it has been fine. The bike has silently disabled the throttle on one occasion when turning the bike on, but a power cycle restored throttle functionality.

2012/03 0 miles, purchased
2012/05 1700 miles, BMS fault after damp ride. Towed it home, dried overnight and fine since.

Edit: I'm going to update my post from time to time with mileage and observations.

[Electric Cowboy]

I'm around 7500 on my 2011 Zero S and have only had one issue, I fried my contactor in the first 3K miles. Not sure what the cause was, but it was waranteed. It had cut out on me once while riding on the highway, much like a traditional bike, I pulled off and hit the back of the battery pack a few times, got back on and rode home.

I would say over all that issue and the cost of repair ( warranted, so free ) is way cheaper than a traditional bike, with nothing more than the same inconvenience than a normal bike stalling out. No oil changes so far  and no valve adjustments, no chain breaking/stretching... .... yeah way cheaper

[ColoPaul]

2012 S ZF6:  450 miles, 16 days.  No rain rides, but was out yesterday in 40F weather!  I spent $16 on mirror extenders.  Outside of that, so good so far.

[dkw12002]

I bought a demo 2011 with 1000 mi. on it at the time. I have put 1700 more miles on it. No problems so far.

[rotoiti]

2012 DS ZF9, 1,450 miles. Got the "glitch" once on a highway, got the software upgraded and after that no issues. Paid $50 for 600 mile maintenance.

[Richard230]

2012 ZF9 Zero S with 1100 miles so far (I am also riding four other IC motorcycles at least once a week).  Two stalling issues early -on at a stop, bike fixed by Zero and it has run perfectly ever since.  I perform my own chassis servicing and so far have not had to take it to my dealer. Servicing has amounted to checking belt tension. washing and waxing and keeping the tires inflated.   

[CliC]

2012 Zero DS, 412 miles. Developed right fork seal leak at about 408 miles. Still waiting on replacement seals to get to my dealer, which is a 3.5 hour trip away from where I live. Bike is out of commission at the moment, as I don't want to ride all the oil out of the fork and do more serious damage.

It's been a little over a week since I called and reported the issue and the seals were ordered. Funny thing is, the entire bike shipped originally from Zero to the dealer in Austin, TX in well under a week.


I truly hope this is an anomaly, as I enjoy the bike, but if I end up having to haul it to Austin several times a year, I'll be riding something else.

[Lipo423]

My case is a kind of particular one...Got a ZF9 demo bike for a few weeks (which I'm very grateful to the Spanish dealer), and when I got the new bike around a week ago...

- The left handle control (riding position) has a bad position -controls too low- which could not be corrected without modifying the bar position (I suspect the hole that fixes the control was made too low)
- The front fork has leakings
- The rear suspension spring scratches the axle
- The rear brake foot pedal spring makes a cranky noise (an spacer has to be added to remove the noise)
- The brake pads are too hard (after more than 100 miles you cannot stop the bike safely) - Everybody has reported this -
- The motor gets too hot just driving at 50 MPH (this was not the case in the demo unit).
- The battery gauge "gets a bar back" -recovers- after I stop the bike for a few minutes (this was not the case in the demo bike)

Quite honestly, It's not been a nice start with the new bike...the demo one worked perfectly.

[Richard230]

Lipo423, that sounds like Zero put the "B" team on the factory floor when building your bike.  I sure hope you can resolve these problems.  They would drive me nuts - especially considering the cost of the bike. When I pay that kind of money (as I have for my two BMW motorcycles) I really expect a high level of build quality - which is not something that you always get with BMW products, either.

[protomech]

The only time I've seen the motor temperature indicator light up is when I pushed the bike to 84-85 mph for about 4 miles, WOT. I've never seen it light up outside that one time.

[CliC]

- The front fork has leakings

Mine, too. Not riding it at the moment due to this

- The battery gauge "gets a bar back" -recovers- after I stop the bike for a few minutes (this was not the case in the demo bike)

You know, I could have sworn I saw mine do this a couple times, though in my case the gauge was down when riding 55 mph+ and recovered a couple bars a second or two after I stopped. I just figured it was the BMS being fooled by a little voltage sag when I was at speed. I wasn't sure it had happened, as I prefer to watch the road rather than my battery gauge while riding, but I didn't dismiss it, either. I just made a mental note to check charge at rest rather than in motion.

I haven't had your other issues, though (I rode 40 miles at 70 mph in two 20-mile stretches with no motor overheating). I hope you can get them fixed soon.

[Lipo423]

Thanks for your support guys.
As Richard pointed out, when you pay big $$$ you expect premium quality, and premium performance...
I'm a positive guy, so I hope they will react accordingly.

The Spanish dealer GM has contacted me today...

[Richard230]

Speaking of the Zero's brakes, my bike has 1100 miles on the clock now and today while I was riding around, it seemed like the brakes were a lot more powerful than they had been when the bike was new. I would say that their current performance is equal to my daughter's 2003 Ninja 250 and better than her 1981 BMW R650LS, with its double-disc front brake and drum rear brake. Even my rear brake seems to be better than it used to be. Maybe the Hayes pads just need a long break-in period. The front lever is still pretty far from the bar and you do have to squeeze harder than most modern motorcycle brakes, but they seem to be good enough for me now and short emergency stops no longer generate a pucker-factor.

[ColoPaul]

Quite honestly, It's not been a nice start with the new bike...the demo one worked perfectly.

Can you trade in your "lemon" bike for the demo model?

Lipo423, CliC and sgmdudley have now all reported premature front fork seal issues.  Hmmm.

[Lipo423]

That's exactly what I said  Bring me back the demo one!!!

I had "Zero" issues on that one (except the brakes performance which is common in all of them).

I have to say in Zero's favour, that the throttle response is a bit faster on the new one...