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[ed5000]

Anyone want a 2010 DS?   

[Electric Terry]

Wow, totally stoked about the 2013 lineup!  Great job to all amongst us who worked on it.

I love the fact it can still use the Sevcon Gen 4 size 4 and put out almost twice the power by close to doubing the voltage and still being within Sevcon's specs of 39.1v-116v DC.  For the 2012 running at 58-74.7v seemed like there was a lot of excess available.

And yes Harlan and Biff are right.  Today's J1772 charging stations aren't really charging stations, they are just a modified dryer outlet.  I still have to carry 4 12 pound chargers and all the connectors on my bike.  The DC/DC fast charging, eliminates about 60 pounds from the bike right there, as well as charges it faster!

Real 2 level sport bike seat?  Awesome, have almost all of the 10,000 iles on the 2012 with playing the "you go left, I'll go right" game as the passenger can never see over me.

LED tail light? Sweet! Hopefully there is a LED headlight option.  By turning my 55w headlight off while riding for max range at 45 mph with a lot of red lights stopped still for minutes at a time, I figured it allows me to go another 4-5 miles.  On one single highway trip however, it's insignificant.

Adjustable regen? Totally awesome!!

Battery metrics via bluetooth and smart phone?  Kick ass!!!  If I could view the battery voltages on the 2012, I'd never be stuck.  As any malfunctioning fuel guage, low cell bank or whatever it might be, I could see it and predict the cut out well before it happens.

And the Zero gloves with tips for touchscreens?  Someone is really thinking!!!

Can't wait to see what all the 50+ accessories and options available for this are that Richard Walker was talking about.  We spent a lot of time talking about this and a lot of the improvements for the 2013 a few months ago, hopefully some of that helped, although to me it just all made sense, so probably someone else thought of it long before I did.  

Again, great work guys.

[RickSteeb]

It's really making the news feeds!

http://tinyurl.com/Zero-2013

[trikester]

One interesting thing I noted was the new sealed motors, unlike the open ones on the 2012s. I wonder if Zero foresees that open style being a problem long term.

On my 50 mile dirt ride (2012 DS ZF6) in Utah I went through an area of what I always call "face powder sand". It is red dust several inches deep and as fine as face powder. When I got back on hard pack my motor sounded a little different for a short time. I wondered if it was in the process of grinding up, and spitting out, that fine sand? Hmmm.........................

I want to find out if I can upgrade my2012 DS to the new sealed motor.

Trikester

[protomech]

New lineup = 

For all you 2012 buyers; IF you had waited for the 2013's, what would you have got instead?

I'm guessing most of the SZF9 riders would go the SZF11.4

I'd really look at it as what batteries satisfy what trips.

Work and back ~26 miles 40-55 mph: ZF2.8 marginal, ZF5.7+ okay
Running with friend before work, work and back ~45 miles: ZF5.7+ okay
Running with friend before work, work, visit friends/errands after work ~70 miles: ZF5.7 okay with short charge, ZF8.5+ okay
88 mile trip to visit mom, typ 50+ mph: ZF8.5 okay with short charge, ZF11.4 okay

I would agonize a bit over the S ZF8.5 and S ZF11.4. I think for most of my riding, the ZF8.5 will get better range than the 2012 ZF9. For the vast majority of my trips, the ZF11.4 will be overkill.. and just be excess battery slowing me down.

[NoiseBoy]

Well i have to say i'm a little miffed as my ZF9 limited edition is due to arrive in a crate from Belgium next week.  Having said that the 2013 range looks great and i imagine in the future it would be relatively simple to 'upgrade' to 2013 parts without having to buy a whole new bike.

Anyone else wondering what the ZF11.4 with a size 6 controller would be like?  I know i am.

[Electric Terry]

Anyone else wondering what the ZF11.4 with a size 6 controller would be like?  I know i am.

I would bet money Harlan and Josh have already talked about it.  When I saw the 440A specs for the 2013 I wondered what 660 amps would be like too!  Would finally be able to not only beat the gas bikes in the corners like I do now, but not relose ground during the straight aways with the riding groups I ride with.  Boys and girls electric is finally a real contender and about to turn heads.

[NoiseBoy]

Of course the 2012 motor is a tried and tested unit, we know its happy with much more power than standard.  I wonder how well the new motor will cope when its asked to give more power, it may not have the same kind of margin.

[CliC]

New lineup = 

For all you 2012 buyers; IF you had waited for the 2013's, what would you have got instead?

I'm guessing most of the SZF9 riders would go the SZF11.4

I would clearly have gone with the XU ZF 5.7   --  more like my 12SZF6 but better and cheaper.

For road riding, the 11.4. I want as much battery as I can get. For primarily off-road, the 5.7 capacity of the MX or FX would be adequate, and the lighter weight would be an advantage.

[Vertigo1]

I wonder if it would it be feasible to charge the battery modules for the FX at a desk on the second floor of an office?

[craigq]

I wonder if it would it be feasible to charge the battery modules for the FX at a desk on the second floor of an office?

The ZF-2.8 power pack should be about 42 lbs or so (FX-5.7 weight 275 lb, FX-2.8 233 lb), as long as you can bring that with you to the 2nd floor why not?

[Richard230]

It is interesting that the Automated News Bot on my BMW forum (where I get a lot of my latest motorcycle news) still hasn't picked up the 2013 Zero line story - so I posted it under the General Discussion section.  I got a couple of "likes" and "thanks" but no comments.  I also found it odd that MotorCycle News in the U.K. has just posted a survey of all of the new models shown at the Intermot show and there was no mention of the Zero (or Brammo, for that matter) models.  Just revised gas-hogs, with BNG and suspension upgrades, more weight (due to emission requirements), more displacement (due to emission requirements) and higher prices.

[Richard230]

Say, it looks to me like the rear shock, and maybe also the front forks, are no longer the "Fast Ace" products.  The rear shock no longer has the remote reservoir and it appears larger in diameter.  The front forks also look different and have a gold coating on the sliders.      The Fast Ace components work OK, but they have a little more harshness when hitting bumps than do my BMW's and my Yamaha.  They are better in that regard than my Triumph, though.  It would be nice to have more mainstream suspension components that are more easily serviced and for which replacement parts are readily available.

[protomech]

They replaced the brakes (Nissin units), wouldn't be surprised if they replaced the forks as well. Zero seems to be on a slow but gradual progression away from its lightweight MTB roots - which is fine by me.

Also note that the 2013 S / DS bikes have passenger pegs, at least on all the gallery images. I wouldn't be surprised if they came standard, what with the two-tier seat.

Also, re: size 6 controller - someone somewhere (wish I could credit them) posted that on an electric bike the battery is the equivalent to the engine in a car (really engine, fuel, fuel delivery system). The motor/controller is the transmission. A battery capable of 80 kW peak (ZF9) hooked up to a 20 kW motor is a bit like a racing engine with an air restrictor in place to limit power output.

LiveForPhysics posted on elmoto that the 2013 bikes do NOT use EIG cells. The battery is 102V, lower than I had speculated (but still a significant bump from 2012).

[amahoser]

Forks and shocks remain Fast Ace. It does have a bigger rear shock and the front forks are reworked.

Passenger pegs are now standard.

I got this information from Josh over at Hollywood Electrics when I placed my order for one on Tuesday. 

Jose Soriano