Greetings to you all, this is my first post. I've read a good many of your posts and wished to contribute with my thoughts having had the opportunity to test ride a Zero S on Saturday morning. I was also lucky enough to be able to test a new Speed Triple at my local dealership shortly afterwards and can compare the two to riding my own Aprilia Shiver 750.
I've owned an Aprilia Shiver 750 since October 2011 and love it. I originally bought it to get back into motorcycling after a very long break. I started commuting to work on the Shiver last spring and have now racked up over 12,000 miles on it. My commute takes me from Hertfordshire into London (UK), a journey of approximately 24 miles each way. I commute in all weathers and only revert back to taking the train when the temperature is hovering around 5 degrees Celsius (41F) or below. At that point it's just too cold and there's also the risk of ice.
I stumbled across a review about the Zero S a few months ago and was immediately attracted by the prospect of using one for my commute. In advance of Saturday's test ride I've read a number of reviews, watched YouTube clips, read this forum and even gone through the user manual! So here goes...
The model I rode was had the smaller 8.5 kWh battery. My first impression of the bike upon seeing it in the dealership was its small size. It just seems like a smaller bike than my 750; narrower wheels, less bulk etc. This feeling was reinforced when I sat on it. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as it feels more light and nimble. I also liked the simplicity of the bike, with the green light on and the stand up it's just twist and go. That first twist of the throttle is quite an experience. The bike just gradually moves - as slowly as you like until you get a feel for it. Even though I'd read that the bike is quiet, I wasn't prepared for just how quiet it is. I ride with earplugs on my Shiver but I had not put them in on purpose for the Zero S. There was so little noise from the motor that it was almost negligible and it was soon drowned out by wind noise as the speed rose. Acceleration just happened. No fuss, no fanfare, just strong and rapid acceleration whenever I twisted the throttle. The throttle mapping felt extremely well refined and gave minute control along with instant access to full torque if needed. I can imagine it being an absolute pleasure to ride at length through the city, filtering through traffic and taking off effortlessly from the lights. All of this was made even more pleasurable due to the lightness and agility of the whole bike.
On the test ride we quickly got onto a dual carriageway to get some speed up. Again, everything felt effortless and overtaking traffic was a breeze. The bike reaches its top speed very quickly with strong acceleration all the way until it settles at 95 mph. However, within minutes of getting on the bike the red temperature warning light came on. To be honest I don't remember it even flashing at me before it went a solid red. Stage 1 is when the indicator flashes to warn you that the bike is about to enter its thermal strategy. Stage 2 is to apply the thermal strategy and start reducing the power delivered to the motor so as to prevent any components overheating. We can't have been riding more than five minutes when I noticed this. We were still riding on a dual carriageway and the bike was still maintaining roughly 80-85 mph, which is quite normal on British roads. Having been geeky enough to read the user manual I knew what was going on. Whilst trying to keep up with my fellow rider (on a big ICE bike), I tried playing with the throttle to see if I could notice any of this power management coming into effect. Not much is the short answer. There was a little less acceleration and the bike wouldn't go up to it's top speed at times but seemed to recover quite quickly. At one point the bike dropped to about 78 mph against my wishes and wouldn't go any faster, but despite the enforced reduction in power it didn't feel unsafe and I wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't paying close attention to the speedo. The red light stayed on until a good while after we'd come off the dual carriageway and started riding more normal roads under 60 mph. It was a hot day, being around 28C (82F) when we were out, but the bike had been standing in the showroom overnight before I rode it (out of direct sunlight and much cooler). The bike is also made in California where those kinds of temperatures are a regular occurrence. Perhaps it's a one-off issue with this bike, or perhaps it needed using more to get itself calibrated somehow? I was the first person to test ride it and it had only been delivered to the dealership a few days before. It would be a concern if I owned it and it would be interesting to hear if other owners experience the red temperature light often.
Other things I noticed were that the back brake was very ineffective and needed a good stamp to get any kind of braking out of it. Again, this might be down to the bike being so new. The front brake seemed strong and perfectly adequate. It was a bit noisy and I put that down to it being new as well.
Although we didn't spend much time on twisty roads I did get a sense that the bike would be fun to ride given a few nice bends. I would have liked to take the Zero S out on my own and ideally I would like to test it for a couple of days during the week and ride it into work on my usual commute. A fifteen to twenty minute test ride was enough to get a flavour of the bike and to enjoy the unique experience of riding an electric motorcycle though.
The battery gauge had dropped significantly during the short ride and along with the overheating I got the impression that this is not a bike to take on fast roads; you'll be out of juice within about an hour and may find yourself held back by the power management.
After returning to the dealership and talking at length to the guys I was keen to get back to my local dealership and the motorway was the quickest way of getting there. Back on my Shiver I was please to find that the acceleration was at least comparable to the Zero S. The Shiver has 81Nm of torque compared to the Zero's 92Nm. However, the Shiver has six gears to make the most of that torque when you need it and also 95bhp compared to the 54bhp of the Zero. The motorway really showed up the limitations of the Zero. I know my Shiver would be happy cruising at the Zero's top speed all day long, it would easily manage 100 miles at that speed before a five minute stop for fuel would allow me to carry on for another 100 miles with no worries and no warning lights.
Trying out a Triumph Speed Triple brought into focus another aspect of owning a Zero S: the cost. The Speed Triple is the next step up from my Shiver in terms of performance and size. Its 1050cc engine gives up to 111 Nm of torque and 133 bhp. It weights 214 kg wet versus the Shiver's 189 kg dry. I reckon fuel, oil and water has got to be about 20 kg, so the Triumph's extra power comes with no compromises. The brakes are truly astonishing. It has a nice ride, soaking up bumpy country lanes nicely and handles at least as well as my Shiver, if not better. My only gripe was the clunky gearbox which needed a good strong heave from my foot to change gear and was noisy doing it. That might loosen as the bike was run in though. So a truly great machine that is all that most people would ever want from a motorcycle. The cost: £9,000 GBP. The Zero S retails for £11,750 here in the UK. Even with our sky high fuel prices and assuming you'll only get 40 mpg from the Triumph (probably more like 50 mpg); you've ridden 18,000 miles on the Triple before you've burn up the £2,270 price difference in fuel. Admittedly, you'd have also had three major services by then, but I'm sure you get my point. The greatest cost of owning a motor vehicle is always depreciation. The Triple has less money to depreciate in the first place and will likely hold it's value much better as next year's model won't be much different. You're also more likely to get favourable financing on a Triumph whereas the Zero weighs in with an APR of 14% - which isn't cheap. The only way the cost of ownership of a Zero is likely to start getting beneficial over that of a middle to high end ICE bike is if you're willing to own one for five years and do the kind of mileage I'm doing with my commute. Even then, do you really want to own the same bike for 5 years? Many bikers seem to want to try a different bike every year or two and I'm sure the 2016 model Zero S will knock the socks off the current model.
What we need is a Henry Ford's Model T version of the electric motorcycle for the masses. They would make a great replacement for all the scooters and small bikes on the road, especially the smelly two strokers. I would like to think that a bike like the Zero S has great potential to come down in price. After all, there are much fewer moving parts and the motor is much simpler to build than an internal combustion engine and a gearbox. I would also like to optional chargers provided as standard. The fast charging adaptor is £1,500! Surely this should be built in? Zero has worked wonders producing the 2013 model Zero S. The technology is fantastic. The next frontier has surely to make it affordable. I'd like to see the government subsidising electric vehicles more. Production volumes need to go up and the manufacturers and customers can start benefiting from economies of scale.
Whilst I wouldn't worry about range using a Zero S on my commute, it would prevent me from going on day trips out. I enjoy motorcycling the most when I have the opportunity to enjoy the freedom of being able to point my bike in a general direction and go where the road takes me. The ideal would be to own a Zero S as a second bike, but I can't afford it and don't have the space.
I hope this post is of some interest to readers and I look forward to any comments.
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Topic: 2013 Zero S vs. Aprilia Shiver vs. Triumph Speed Triple (Read 8093 times)