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[benswing]

I think most of us have had good experiences with Zero in terms of service, with only a few exceptions.  Glad you are riding again! 

[manlytom]

Change of plans; they gave me their 2012 ds demo bike. It's still a zero and still a great bike so I can't complain. I just hope they are able to fix mine in a timely manner.

Zero is going to great lengths to keep us riding. Not sure if we buy these and expect the maturity of BMW or Yamaha with bikes not changed for years behind it.
By being tolerant and flexible when I started on a 2010 in our far away country with a not very interested dealer Zero managed the best out of it. Now very happy on a2011.

And Dan. Remember u r riding  new high tech. It's not a utility. It's a decision to ride differently.

[DesignerDan]

Today the dealership called and said my bike was fixed and I could pick it up. I returned the 2012 DS they graciously let me borrow and I rode off on my 2013 zero S. I've been riding it all day (I was so happy to have it back) and not a single issue. It does appear that the issue was the Main Bike Board. I have to say that I'm impressed with the way the dealership and Zero resolved the problem. It was a sucky situation for all three parties but Zero made the best of it and fixed the problem as quickly as they could. It was also very nice of the dealership to let me borrow their demo bike while mine was being fixed. You can't really ask for better service than that.

 In my opinion Zero has reached the level where it is much more than a start up company. After experiencing this issue I would have to say that Zero and their bikes are the real deal. I've gotten dozens of questions the last two days while riding the demo bike and my bike and I passed on good word about Zero as a company and their products and I would recommend them to just about anyone. I hope Zero is very successful in the years to come.

Happy riding everyone.

[TargeT]

I just bought a Zero from FL motorsports ( I see their logo on the truck in your pic) Good to hear they are willing to work with you on issues & it's good to see your luck has turned around

[Richard230]

I agree that Zero has excellent customer service.  This is something that they must do as a small manufacturer selling a high-tech, low volume and expensive product to "early adopters".  If they did not respond in this manner, they would soon be out of business, as most of their advertizing comes by word of mouth and not by an expensive advertizing agency's messages. 

If this was BMW, they would probably be telling you that the bike's computer is a "wear item" and not covered by their warranty.     BMW can get away with that sort of response because they sell so many vehicles that a few disgruntled customers are just a minor irritant to their sales department.  But Zero still has more engineers than sales staff, so the engineers rule and the customers, and any problems that they experience, get taken care of ASAP.  I love small companies without a big bureaucracy.

It also really helps to have a responsive retail dealer that is willing to work with both their customer and a low-volume manufacturer to ease the burden of any warranty issues..

[lolachampcar]

I had two issues with my 13 DS, both were with vendor supplied parts and not the core bits that Zero builds.  Zero was on top of both and got them addressed quickly.
Thanks Zero and Thanks Harlan

[NoiseBoy]

Ive had similar experience, I noticed that my rear brake didn't have much power at all so took it back to the dealer and they diagnosed the problem as a damaged caliper mount.  Zero sent down a new swinging arm and i was loaned an X to get me around in the meantime.  Unfortunately it took a month but at least i had electric transport.  The problem couldn't really have been resolved better (aside from using a faster courier!).

[manlytom]

Today the dealership called and said my bike was fixed and I could pick it up. I returned the 2012 DS they graciously let me borrow and I rode off on my 2013 zero S. I've been riding it all day (I was so happy to have it back) and not a single issue. It does appear that the issue was the Main Bike Board. I have to say that I'm impressed with the way the dealership and Zero resolved the problem. It was a sucky situation for all three parties but Zero made the best of it and fixed the problem as quickly as they could. It was also very nice of the dealership to let me borrow their demo bike while mine was being fixed. You can't really ask for better service than that.

 In my opinion Zero has reached the level where it is much more than a start up company. After experiencing this issue I would have to say that Zero and their bikes are the real deal. I've gotten dozens of questions the last two days while riding the demo bike and my bike and I passed on good word about Zero as a company and their products and I would recommend them to just about anyone. I hope Zero is very successful in the years to come.

Happy riding everyone.

Zero has been great I supporting us.  Even if far away away inAustralia creates challenges. Already with my 2010 great support in down under. Sadly some in Oz say otherwise. But sounds to me they have not tried or understood we are early adopters. See for comments on that Facebook fan page...

[protomech]

Glad Zero got you fixed up. Now you can appreciate their upgrades from 2012 to 2013 : )

[DesignerDan]

Bad news guys. The problem is back. I'm stranded at work right now. The bike won't turn on.

[DesignerDan]

The dealer picked me and the bike up and I was given the demo bike again. The dealer was actually very nice and remorseful about this whole situation. One of the managers even expressed that he is mad at zero because they are making the dealer look bad. The joys of early adoption. I'm trying to stay positive but this might be a serious problem. The LEDS on the front of the BMS arnt blinking when the key switch is turned on or while I plugged in the charger. Zero suspects this is a problem with the BMS or perhaps the main bike boards of the 2013 bikes have some type of error. I love my Zero dearly but I'm starting to question my decision in purchasing it. I expected a few little things since these bikes are very new but this is a more serious problem.

[WindRider]

Sorry to hear it Dan. 

Hang in there though.   It sounds like you have great dealer support and the problem is manifesting itself plainly.   Those kinds of problems are always easier to solve than the intermittent ones. 

[Richard230]

Let's just hope that problems like this do not deter dealers from selling the Zero in the future. All it takes are stories about Zero reliability headaches to circulate in the industry news, on the internet, or by word-of-mouth between dealers, before some dealers will be reluctant to sell electric motorcycles.

That is what happened with my BMW dealer.  When Brammo was trying to find dealers to sell the Enertia a few years ago, before they decided to market the bikes through Best Buy stores, they dropped by my BMW dealer and left a couple of Enertias there for them to try over the weekend.  (I hear this story every time I ride my Zero to the shop.)  Both bikes failed to run.  Brammo picked them up, made repairs, returned them, but they still wouldn't work.  So the shop, based upon that one experience with electric motorcycles, has become permanently down on the technology - and especially the idea of making money selling and servicing the bikes.   

I might add that they are not too happy about selling Vespa motor scooters anymore, either.  Vespa sales started out strong and have faded quite a bit lately at the shop.  They tell me that the scooters are only really liked by college-age people, but college-age people either don't have enough money to purchase a premium-priced scooter, or they don't need a scooter to get to school because their parents have bought them a BMW car for transportation.   

[WindRider]

It is really important these days to make a first impression with a new product that is positive.   The internet amplifies problems a lot.   Consider all of the views on this thread compared to my own experiences.   I am also a new Zero owner for the last 3 months now.   I have had a perfect experience with my bike.   It has never had any issues at all and always runs perfectly.   But you don't find a thread here with a headline that is:

"My Zero Motorcycle is Perfect !!!"

The internet amplifies problems.

I used to ride Buells and liked to spend some time on the BadWeb forum but it started scaring me that Buells were all poorly engineered piles of failure because most of the threads were about issues that owners had.   In my own experience I owned 2 Buell Ulysses models and put over 50K miles on the combination of them with only a few minor issues and typical of any motorcycle in my experience.

It is really important for anyone starting a new endeavor, especially related to technology, to be very proactive and aggressive in addressing issues because the internet forum and blogosphere amplifies any issues because you hear a lot about the failures but precious little about the successes.

[DesignerDan]

It is really important these days to make a first impression with a new product that is positive.   The internet amplifies problems a lot.   Consider all of the views on this thread compared to my own experiences.   I am also a new Zero owner for the last 3 months now.   I have had a perfect experience with my bike.   It has never had any issues at all and always runs perfectly.   But you don't find a thread here with a headline that is:

"My Zero Motorcycle is Perfect !!!"

The internet amplifies problems.

I used to ride Buells and liked to spend some time on the BadWeb forum but it started scaring me that Buells were all poorly engineered piles of failure because most of the threads were about issues that owners had.   In my own experience I owned 2 Buell Ulysses models and put over 50K miles on the combination of them with only a few minor issues and typical of any motorcycle in my experience.

It is really important for anyone starting a new endeavor, especially related to technology, to be very proactive and aggressive in addressing issues because the internet forum and blogosphere amplifies any issues because you hear a lot about the failures but precious little about the successes.

No offense, but I don't think you would be posting that if your $14,000 bike broke after one day and then again a week and a half after it was allegedly fixed. This isn't a minor issue. The problem left me stranded twice now.

I hate to bring this up but I've built several ebikes in the past. My latest one features: Mountain bike frame, Hubzilla laced in a 26" rim, kelly 50/120 amp sensored brushless controller, 20s 10ah lipo, reversing switch, key ignition, main contactor, precharge circuit, full regen braking with ABS, cycle analyst, dc dc converter, headlight, tail light, everything fuse protected.. ect. This ebike is equally as sophisticated as a zero (minus the MBB and BMS). I used this bike to commute to my old job for EIGHT MONTHS. Never a single problem. This is part of the reason why I got a Zero. From my personal experience, electric vehicles were very reliable. At this point, I honestly think there is no excuse for the problems with my zero. This bike never should have made it past quality control. There is obviously a serious issue and this is the second time now I've been stranded somewhere. (not fun) I'm almost considering trying to return the zero and putting the money toward building my own two wheeled EV since that has been more reliable for me in the past.