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[MostlyBonkers]

...and so it begins. Rather fitting that my first commute was at zero degrees Celsius!

My bike managed to fully charge last night, despite it being below zero when I plugged it in. All components were warm after my ride home but there was a chance that the area where the thermistor lives to monitor battery temperature might have cooled quickly. It must be buried deep within the battery pack somewhere I guess. It's good to know it won't stop charging half way on a cold night.

I got to work with 66% left. The first 15 miles dropped me down to 75%. Those were the quick roads. The last 9 miles to work used the next 9%. The whole trip was done in Eco mode. I plan to do the return in Sport mode tonight.

[MostlyBonkers]

Here's the bike plugged in at work:



The GS next to mine is also plugged in.  It's there for the winter:

[Justin Andrews]

Looks like quite a few bikes at your place.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

Ride safe! Be careful with Sport Mode if there's a chance of ice or patchy oily pavement. If the wheel slips, you'll hear the motor spin up a bit; just ease off the throttle if it happens and it should recover. [I've experienced this in Seattle.]

I like that they kept the crash bars on the bike for you. They're a good safety feature and you can mount lighting or such to them.

Regarding cold, maybe we'll see people making "cozies" for the controller or battery to keep the range up.

[Richard230]

My Zero spun its tire while I was entering a freeway on-ramp the other day and the entire bike shook and wobbled.  Kind of scary, but I just backed off the throttle a bit and it straightened up, calmed down and headed down the road in one piece.   

[MrDude_1]

My Zero spun its tire while I was entering a freeway on-ramp the other day and the entire bike shook and wobbled.  Kind of scary, but I just backed off the throttle a bit and it straightened up, calmed down and headed down the road in one piece.   

Non-zero story, but the first day I had my CBR1000RR I got on the interstate with damp roads.. I rolled on the throttle (not snapped or anything) to go from the 30mph onramp speed up to the 70 of the traffic I had to merge with.
The rear tire spun up instantly, and I was drifting a bit with the tail out (from the crown in the road).
Turns out that I had picked up some trash from the on-ramp and punctured my rear tire... Had to buy a new rear tire, with only 10 miles on the bike so far... lol.

[MostlyBonkers]

Thanks for the tips Brian. I'm being very careful as I get used to the knobbly tyres.

I tried sport mode tonight. A different route as I had a meeting at Hatfield university, so it was straight up the A1. Approximately 22 miles with 62% left. About 13 miles were at high speed and I wasn't restricted to the 70mph limit that Eco mode imposes. I'm surprised at how stable the bike feels at all speeds, despite it being so much lighter than the VFR. This might sound daft, but even at this early stage it seems to corner better too!

Two people asked me about the bike on my journey.

It's going to be a little warmer tomorrow so I might try the M1 route I've been using for the best part of a year. I reckon I'll be lucky to get to work with 50%. I'm guessing it'll be more like 40%. I'm keen to try it even though it won't be my regular route from now on. On the DS it'll be a bit tiring spending 20 minutes at motorway speeds. I really noticed the wind resistance this evening.

I got the motor up to 92C tonight. This morning it topped out around 55 in Eco mode.

[NEW2elec]

Congrats mate I'd say pick up a windscreen to your liking asap makes motorway speeds much nicer and a bit warmer.  Glad you like it.
Cheers

[MostlyBonkers]

Thanks new2. A screen is a must, I couldn't agree more! Take this morning, for example. The met office tells me it's 5C outside and I can hear the rain. As it's relatively warm this morning I'm planning to do my VFR route. Lack of any weather protection will make the ride a sado masochistic endeavor. I know I'd get wet on the VFR, mainly around the top of my chest. It would be tolerable though.  The fairing certainly made a difference compared to riding the NC. I really want to see what a difference it makes on the DS, so I'll receive some punishment this morning. Retribution for some of the topics I've started perhaps? Direct from Zero too! [emoji6]

[MostlyBonkers]

My ride in wasn't anything like as bad as expected. I got wet a little, but not cold. The VFR run saw me end my journey with 45% charge left. That's more than I thought I'd have left but there was some traffic that kept me down at 70mph on the motorway for a little while.

The cold weather may have helped, but despite a good length of time at high speed, I didn't incur thermal management. The motor was up to 104C by the time I reached the end of the M1 so the little yellow light was flashing as a warning though.  The motor cooled very quickly once I was off the throttle and into a 40mph zone. It had dropped to 83C within a few hundred yards. The distance between here:

Dropped pin
near M1, London NW4
https://goo.gl/maps/1ZEeTtE6FqJ2

And here:

Dropped pin
near Brent Cross, London
https://goo.gl/maps/Kx49YGrhyZt

I took the A1/M25 route home and ended up with 64% having used custom mode with everything at maximum. That's good considering Eco mode only gave me 66% on my first trip. The bike did start cold on that one though.

I like being able to charge at work. It may not last though as I'm changing jobs soon.

[MostlyBonkers]

A1 route to work and back. Both riding with fun rather than economy in mind. 55% left in the tank on my way in, 65% on my way home. I don't think wind speed or direction was a factor. I'll keep testing!

I haven't plugged in to charge tonight so tomorrow is a test at fully charging at work instead of just half a charge. Living dangerously...

[NEW2elec]

Sorry man that's not a good idea.  You know you have enough power to get to work even going about as fast as your route allows and you know you can charge it at work and do the same ride home so why set yourself up to fail?  Plenty of time for range tests on the weekend.  My guess is that bike may need a few weeks of riding to fully balance that battery out.  Good luck if do it but please only blame yourself if your stuck.

[MostlyBonkers]

Sorry man that's not a good idea.  You know you have enough power to get to work even going about as fast as your route allows and you know you can charge it at work and do the same ride home so why set yourself up to fail?  Plenty of time for range tests on the weekend.  My guess is that bike may need a few weeks of riding to fully balance that battery out.  Good luck if do it but please only blame yourself if your stuck.

Haha, just read this and there's no time to plug in and charge before going to work! I'm not worried at all really. I've got 65% charge and I'll take the A1 route that only uses 45% charge at most, according to yesterday's ride. Perhaps you got the impression that I was planning to take my M1 route? That would be cutting it very fine, as I did use 65% of my charge the other morning on that route.

I'll only run into trouble if I can't charge at work for some reason. Is that your concern? It's a very small risk to take, in my opinion.  There is a higher risk that I may need to get home earlier than usual and I won't have enough charge. I just like the idea of getting work to pay for my fuel! [emoji4]

[MostlyBonkers]

Headwinds! Wow, what a difference they make!

I was on the motorway for a short stretch and the bike wouldn't do more than 75mph. It was on a slight incline, but still, I was surprised. I would have thought the bike has more than enough power to cope with some headwind.

The only other thing I can think of is whether the battery was able to provide enough juice to the controller. It felt mild this morning but it could have been as low as 7 or 8C when I left.

The only reason I'm thinking along those lines is because they reckon an 11kW engine in a 125cc ICE bike is good for 80mph. No doubt in ideal conditions of course. I would have thought the extra 29kW of power the electric motor can produce is more than enough to combat headwind and the kind of gradients you get on motorways. Maybe not!

The state of charge dropped very quickly on the fast bits and I found myself thinking about New2's advice from earlier. Still, I managed to get to work with 18% having started with 65%. I'm happy with that.

The motor's temperature hit 98C on the short stretch of motorway, which reminded me of my experience test riding the SR.  As soon as I turned into a headwind, the motor temperature shot up in no time. It all makes sense of course. For my commute and the style of bike it really isn't a concern. I don't want to be spending any length of time at motorway speeds.

I'm really enjoying the DS. It feels like I'm gliding around town, it's so smooth, agile and just plain fun! [emoji4]

[Erasmo]

Isn't the motor airduct something for you?