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[Patrick Truchon]

I had two warrantee repairs which both covered reliability flaws with the bike's initial parts and assembly (all repairs involved replacements that addressed the original defect).

Brian, out of curiosity, which repairs where those?  I bought a 2013 DS factory demo with 50km on it a few months ago (which included a 2-year factory warranty from the time of purchase).  It now has a bit less than 2000km and I'm very happy with it, but if anything goes wrong between now and 2016, I want to make sure to get it fixed on time.  Anything I should watch out for?

[kcoplan]

I am a little late to the party (as always)  . . .

I loved my '12 Zero S when it ran, despite several returns to the dealer and two months at the factory in the summer of 2013.  Have about 7500 miles on it.   It currently does not run (Glitch 3.0 persistent stalling on the highway, wants to run backwards), waiting still for the fix that was supposed to be a few weeks away as of two months ago.  At least Zero has committed to repairing it in warranty.  Despite all this I would probably consider getting another Zero (more recent and more reliable) if Zero does the right thing by me.

My wife bought a '13 XU  . . . still in love with it (and I am riding it now since my own Zero is unrideable).  All the issues with that bike have been fixable.

--Karl

[Justin Andrews]

The 2012 motors were not that great, its not hard to see why the changed the design for the later bikes.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

I had two warrantee repairs which both covered reliability flaws with the bike's initial parts and assembly (all repairs involved replacements that addressed the original defect).

Brian, out of curiosity, which repairs where those?  I bought a 2013 DS factory demo with 50km on it a few months ago (which included a 2-year factory warranty from the time of purchase).  It now has a bit less than 2000km and I'm very happy with it, but if anything goes wrong between now and 2016, I want to make sure to get it fixed on time.  Anything I should watch out for?

Oh, I had a minor issue with the (I can't remember the right term for this) front sprocket bracket that on the early 2013's was not mounted properly and would get loose and clank around a bit. They replaced it under recall really quickly.

And then a BMS failure which took a few weeks, sadly, but the replacement / new version is supposedly more reliable now: http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=3622.msg21177#msg21177

[Patrick Truchon]

And then a BMS failure which took a few weeks, sadly, but the replacement / new version is supposedly more reliable now: http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=3622.msg21177#msg21177

Thanks for the link.  I haven't had any problems that bad, but I'll keep it mind...

Cheers!

[oobflyer]

Peter has a good point about this forum being biased towards happy Zero owners. Having said that - I think most of us have been pretty honest when things go wrong too.

I've had no major problems/regrets regarding my 2012 ZF9... except for the realization that I should've waited one more year for the 2013 ;-)

I sold my ICE bike earlier this year, as it was just sitting in my garage collecting dust and costing me insurance and registration fees.

Despite initial bad experiences at the dealership I love the bike and will probably never go back to an ICE bike.

[MostlyBonkers]

I agree oobflyer, Peter does have a good point.

I'd like to thank you Peter for taking the time to share your bad experiences without making it sound like you're on a rant.

I haven't spent so much time and effort considering buying something in my life!

Thanks again for all your comments.

[SunPropulsion]

I'm happy with my ZF9 DS, I have 11000 miles, and I'm waiting on a new motor as I've been dealing with intermittent glitches for a couple of years now. My bike recovers from the glitches on its own very quickly. Zero believes the glitch's are due to slop in the motor bearing. I live on a dirt road also so Zero blames the dirt and dust.  I've had problems with the plastic breaking almost everywhere, the rear directional mounting locations have broken out twice now, I'm customizing the rear fender, making it smaller and smaller as I relocate the directional lamps.  Zero has been good with warranty work, I had a dealer 40 miles away but they are no longer a dealer for Zero because of delays in warranty work compensation and poor sales.  I had an employee of zero come to my home for the software update once since then. I charge my bike from my Off Grid home solar system primarily. The bike has never left me stranded and it runs great most of the time on my 60 mile round trip commute. the furthest I've gone on a single charge has been 80 miles. My rear tires only last 3500 miles or so.
  Carl