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[baumisch]

I absolutely don't get it - why does it take ages for someone somewhere on this planet to compare these 2 most promising mass-market e-bikes against each other. I am a big Zero fan - I fear that Brammo might take the performance crown for 2013 - but I want the facts ...

[Richard230]

I have a suspicion that neither company wants a direct comparison of their bikes right now. 

When they supply the test bikes to the magazines or other testing organizations that would publish their findings, one would likely be said to be better than the other - resulting in reduced sales of the "lesser" model.  Plus, both companies are likely assembling bikes for sale to customers as fast as possible and taking a couple of production bikes out of the sales line would not be fair to customers and retail dealers that are currently waiting for the 2013 models to arrive.  Finally, the magazine testers tend to trash the bikes and if they break will be very critical about both the brand and the technology.  That is a risk that both Brammo and especially Zero may not want to take until sales start declining sometime this summer.

Can you imagine what would happen if one of the magazines got a lemon like the one that DesignerDan bought?  That would not be good for the company.

In the case of the Empulse, there are likely people that have been on their waiting list for a couple of years now and I would like to think that shipping the bikes out to the long-suffering pre-order customers are a higher priority than giving a new production bike to the magazines to destroy.

So I suspect that we will all have to wait until sometime this summer before seeing a test of either or both new models - much less a direct comparison of the two.   

[frodus]

I wonder if there's anyone near Portland with a 2013

[Biff]

Post

First Public Dyno of a 2013 S (That I know of) .. any Brammo Dyno pulls yet?

At the end of the video you can see it did just over 58hp according to their dyno.

-ryan

[frodus]

And how do we know that's a stock Zero without controller tweaks?

According to what I've heard (and with my experience with them), Brammo Dyno's every bike.

Wonder if there's a Dyno here in Portland I could throw the bike on.

[Richard230]

I don't know about the 2013 bikes, but the 29 hp claimed by Zero for the 2012 street models seems to be right on when the magazines have tested the bikes on their own rear wheel dynos.  My recollection is that both Bike and Motorcycle Consumer News achieved 29 hp on their dynos. 

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

I as a 2013 Zero DS owner don't need it to be the fastest or strongest on the dyno. I need a bike that's reliable and fun and pays itself off with reliable continuous usage. It's also a huge factor that I have a dealer to turn to in case anything goes wrong. I'd love a Brammo in principle, but it's just not available in any sense I care about.

[BSDThw]

Hi Biff thanks for this nice link,
hope the demo 2013 S of my dealer will arrive soon so I can witness this performance personally  

[jazclrint]

In @Pinkyracr's last piece for Gas2 she was told the waiting list for the press bikes was really long.  But I'm with what Richard230 said.  I think Zero is straight out making bikes, and I don't think things have slowed down much for Brammo either as we are still waiting to see the standard Empulse hit the street.  I suspect it is simply availability.  Going with what Richard said, they may want to fill all their orders first and then send them off for testing.  Also think about how late into the year we get reviews in the major rags.  I doubt these things are at the top of the list.  And after some of the articles I've read I'd be darn trepidatious handing free bikes over to these guys, or me. 

But you're not the only one.  The Empulse v Zero S spec sheet comparison I wrote a few months back has steady traffic every day.  It's the second most popular post of all time and the most popular for the year so far, for my site.

[trikester]

I'm still pissed that Jay Leno got his first Zero before me, when I had been on the waiting list a long time 

Just kidding.

Trikester

[baumisch]

I was not exclusively talking about some official media testing both machines - I am a big newmedia fan and I still hope some blogger/ev-enthusiast takes the leap here and does a nice review and comparrison of both ...

[CliC]

And how do we know that's a stock Zero without controller tweaks?

We don't, but that's pretty close to Zero's published specs (55 hp).

I would like to see what a Sevcon 6 would do on one.

[frodus]

54hp:
http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/zero-s/specs.php
4+ horsepower isn't trivial ...


Not sure what a Gen4 Size 6 would do... it really boils down to "can that motor take it". I'd be interested to see if the motor can cool itself effectively at that higher power/current.

[protomech]

Dyno pulls are fun but hard to calibrate & compare accurately. Ex: is that 58 HP measured at the rear wheel, with all the usual dyno temp/atmospheric compensation turned off?

58 rear wheel HP is probably more like 63 HP at the motor output shaft, which is way more than specified. 54 HP at the motor is already incredible with the size 4 controller..

Let's see the bikes at the dragstrip and the track!

[NoiseBoy]

54hp:
http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/zero-s/specs.php
4+ horsepower isn't trivial ...


Not sure what a Gen4 Size 6 would do... it really boils down to "can that motor take it". I'd be interested to see if the motor can cool itself effectively at that higher power/current.

Well they haven't admitted it but Hollywood Electrics 2013 custom 'Super S' is almost certainly using a size 6 controller.