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[oobflyer]

I got my bike back today (2012 ZF9 S) from the factory in Santa Cruz. To find out why I never achieved the kind of range that other ZF9 riders were getting, they thoroughly checked it out, did every test and finally found the problem: the encoder. They explained that inside the encoder there is a component with a series of magnets - there was something wrong with the one on my bike from the very beginning. When they replaced this component with the magnets, the efficiency improved by some 20%.
I rode 60 miles today, mostly on the freeway at speeds of 55-60 MPH, before the last bar disappeared.

This is a significant improvement over anything I achieved previously. I'll make some more runs at various speeds to compare to the range I got initially.

[Doctorbass]

Great to see that solved your problem!!

did you also had teh glitch?

I know that theer is a new recent firmware update that Zero released recently

Doc

[oobflyer]

Yes,
They updated all of the software/firmware to the latest and greatest, not sure what other issues that it addresses, but I did not experience any glitches while riding it today.

[NoiseBoy]

Im having a problem now where below 22mph the bike is very sluggish.  Sometimes after a few miles i start to feel a clunk from the motor as a pull away and then correct performance is resumed, other times it stays slow the whole way home. Range is also reduced. Does that fit with your experience because my guess was an encoder problem?

[oobflyer]

No clunk, no sluggish performance - for me it was just poor range. No matter how conservatively I rode I wasn't getting the kind of range that others were reporting. I started the thread, 'Real World Range' two years ago when I first got the bike - now it seems that all of those numbers were wrong. Hopefully I'll see improvement in range at various speeds. We shall soon see ;-)

[oobflyer]

Well - it was a fluke, apparently. Not the encoder.

I was able to ride the 60 miles home last Saturday (at 60 MPH), but when I decided to ride it again yesterday, at a slower speed to test the range at 55 MPH, the range dropped from OK to terrible.

I had President's Day off of work yesterday, so after charging the bike up all night Saturday night, all day Sunday and overnight on Sunday night -  I hopped on it yesterday morning - and headed off at a steady speed of 55 MPH in ECO mode... only to watch the bars disappear every 4 miles. Luckily I was able to stop after riding 29 miles (burned through 7+ bars), charge up, and head back home. I was originally planning to ride the 60 miles to Vacaville... but would've been stranded at about 2/3 of the way there.

So, back to the factory....

Can you guys please back me up on this? From what I've read from other 2012 ZF9 riders here on the forum I should be able to easily make a 60 mile ride on a single charge. Right? Even the reviewers (Motorcyclist/Poplular Mechanics, etc.) reported better than this.

I hope I can get my bike fixed and get the kind of range that you guys are getting!

[Richard230]

My ZF9 2012 S would travel 80 miles, about one-third at 60 mph and two-thirds at an average of 35 mph.  I once traveled 100 miles by sticking to secondary roads and their speed limits. It's range was almost identical to my 2014 ZF11.4 model.

[protomech]

You should see around 60 miles at 55 mph.

[Justin Andrews]

I've done a 70+ mile run at 45mph on a single charge on my ZF9-S last september, I had just about 1 bar left at the end of the run.

(if you want to map the run, its a UK route, from Lutterworth to Biddlestone (just past Silverstone) and back)

[Justin Andrews]

You should see around 60 miles at 55 mph.

This fits in with my riding experiences on my ZF9.
My normal commute is 43 miles a day, at 50 mph I tend to have 3 bars remaining.

[oobflyer]

Yesterday I decided to try the opposite - instead of hypermiling at a steady, slow speed in ECO mode - I switched over to SPORT mode and rode hard all day.

I accelerated quickly from each stop, I zipped around town at speeds above the speed limit (don't tell) - I jumped on a nearby on-ramp and opened up the throttle on the freeway. I continued this irresponsible riding behavior until the battery was dead - stopping and taking a picture each time a bar dropped off. The results don't make any sense at all!

[Doctorbass]

Here are the data i recorded on my 2012 ZF9: http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=3152.0

Here is the original spec:
Rated battery capacity: 120Ah
Rated battery energy: 7900Wh
range Up to 182km


Doc Tested spec: ( see also new spec measured  4sept 2013 few reply down to that page!)
Tested battery capacity  ( no Regen): 115Ah ( at 3500km age)
Tested battery capacity (with regen): 123.7Ah
Tested energy:  8221Wh ( including regen energy)
Nominal voltage (calculated) 8221Wh/123.7Ah = 66.45Volts
Tested energy (no regen): = 115Ah x 66.45 = 7641Wh
Regen Ah: 8.4Ah ( 7.2%)
Discharged voltage: 62.3Volts
Nominal Volts:        66.45Volts
Fully charged Volts: 75.0Volts
Wh/km = 8221Wh/ 152km = 54Wh per km (include used additinal regen energy)



I was able to acheive nearly 152km on a single charge and i can easy do 120km at 50mph average speed.

Doc

[benswing]

I get similar results to Doc.  Took a road trip to DC and did legs of 70 or 60 miles at 55mph on highways the whole way.  Always had a bar or two remaining for the 60 mile legs.

[oobflyer]

On Saturday it was nice and warm (70F/21C) - so I took off on the Zero on the same route (~30 miles/50km) and speed (55 mph/88kph) as I rode on 2-18.  This time I got nearly six miles per bar - it took only five bars to go the 29 miles.
I charged for about 40 minutes (back up to eight bars) and flew back home at 70 mph/112kph - got home with two bars left. Not bad.
When I did this ride last time it was quite cold out (well, for California) it was about 40F/4C. I think the cold had more of an effect than expected.
It seems that the bike is OK - I'll be riding more as the weather gets warmer to confirm.

[Richard230]

I was told recently by a Zero employee that the reason they ditched the EIG cells for the Farisis (excuse the spelling) brand was due to their poor cold-weather performance.  Apparently, the new cells used in the 2013-2014 bikes charge and discharge better when cold, which had been an issue for owners of 2012 bikes in locations where it gets colder than 40 degrees F.  I guess that is what happens when you design and test electric motorcycles in "Surf City" Santa Cruz, CA.