I did notice they changed the lower front of the frame to the more common tube bent at some radius. Before they had a sharp edge that would have got pounded by a log or some rocks. They were thinking track and not offroad, so maybe they carried that through to other parts as well. I hope they seal up everything so it works in the rain. I question that a California company knows much about waterproofing. Zero kind of did a bad job at water proofing.
As far as building their own motor, battery, and controller, I think they considered that the core technology of the bike. The frame and suspension they thought was pretty standard and stable so not really changing much from year to year. It seems reasonable. There might be motors available but probably not light weight or compact enough for a dirt bike. I think the e-bike world is still small/new enough that just buying from some existing electronics company might not get you what you want. Even with all their efforts they were 15 pounds heavier than their target.
Seat height looks really tall though and I think that will hurt them. Seems like most people complain about the tall dirt bike trend. People taller than me complain about it. Zero is lower and probably hit the mark closer on seat height. Looks like they have a nice start though, 3rd quarter this year for first bike out, that's getting closer. Interesting that both Alta and KTM really took a long time after their prototype. Must be more difficult than it looks.
Author
Topic: Dirt Bike Magazine ALTA ELECTRIC MOTOCROSS BIKE (Read 2441 times)