The first Edelweiss electric motorcycle tour of the Alps has been completed. There is a two-page article about the trip written by a participant, Gary Prickett, in the February issue of
Motorcycle Consumer News. The caption for the first photo of the article pretty much summarizes his experience: "
Alpine Passes make a terrific challenge for an electric motorcycle, with their steep climbs and hard acceleration from tight hairpin turns. The Zero not only met the challenge, but provided us with new sensations, like such silent operation that we could hear cowbells in the distance. We found we didn't miss the usual noise." I also liked his comment that they could ride through small towns without disturbing the residents, like you might do riding an IC motorcycle with a loud exhaust.
Interestingly what he (and everyone else that rode the Zeros on the tour) didn't like about the Zero was the poor fender protection that: "
At the end of a day of riding in the rain, mud was covering our jacket backs and helmets." The author also mentions the lack of a parking brake, which permits the Zero to roll forward on a downhill slope as a design deficiency. Apparently, Edelweiss didn't think about using a Velcro strip placed around the front brake lever and handlebar to lock the front wheel when you need to hold the bike in place on a slope.
The author really enjoyed his experience riding the Alps on the Edelweiss tour and the bikes never ran out of battery power, but he felt that the Zeros didn't quite have enough range for his typical riding of 200 to 300 miles and longer on multi-day trips, so he plans to wait for future improvements before buying one. He comments that Edelweiss plans additional European Alp tours using their fleet of 2014 Zero S and DS motorcycles.
Author
Topic: Zero tour of the Alps article (Read 911 times)