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[Green Caledonian]

Hey folks,
I had the chance to attend Zero's open house and factory tour and I went on a demo ride.  It was all a heck of a lot of fun.  I attended in the late afternoon hoping to avoid the crowds but it was still busy.  There were bikers all over the place.  It was gratifying to see so many Zeros ripping around and to see a factory with a row of frames ready for assembly.  Clearly they are drawing a lot of attention for their bikes.  Hey I noticed they even made the cover of an Italian motorcycle magazine and had a very favorable review.  The coolest thing about the open house was of course trying out the new Zero S with the new specs.  They took about six or seven of us out every hour on a five mile ride on a local back road.  Good twisties, a good hill to test the torque on and ample opportunity to get a feel for the bike.  They had the new Zero multisport bike, an X and a bunch of S's.  The bikes performed great.  I was very, very pleased at the improvement in acceleration.  We jumped away from all stop signs encountered with ample power for a bike in this class.  It is not 750 or 1000 cc bike after all.  I would put it in the 400 cc class with moments when I thought it compared to my 650 (sort of).  It charged up the hill like it wasn't there and it is so damn light that it handles like a gazelle.  I did not feel any issue with fork flex in front as some people have mentioned and the bike was easy to control and thrilling to push to its limits. I am more excited than ever to get one.  After having ridden this new version I am sure it will be worth the wait.  I also heard a rumor of a new torqueier and faster motor coming out.  Hmmm.  I asked about delivery delays and they said it was simply a matter of suppliers getting all the parts in on time to assemble the bikes.  Like any new product it will take extra time to coordinate things initially. 
I this is all useful info.
Good riding,
~GC

[Brammofan]

Sounds great!  Careful of where you make the claims that compare it to the 400cc class of bikes.  Make a claim like that on a Wikipedia article and some 400cc owner who is also a Wiki editor will muddy it all up.  For an example, check out the Brammo Enertia article.

[picasso]

Wow Zero must not like me now. I didnt get an email about the open house.

[guity]

I'm sure they like you Picasso -- how can they not like someone who paid them thousands of dollars?  Seriously, though, of all the companies out there, I think Zero has the best marketing, from front line sales people to Neal Saiki putting burn marks on Jay Leno's garage floor.  If you google "electric motorcycles" the pages are saturated with announcements of new Zero motorcycles and how great they are.  Now Zero just needs their engineering/manufacturing folks to step up to the plate and actually provide the motorcycles...

[ultrarnr]

Guity, There is no question that Zero is far more aggressive at marketing than either Brammo or Electric Motorcycles. I think they are also far better at research and development than either of the other two companies. Especially now with four models. Unfortunately that aggressiveness has not transfered over to getting their bikes into the hands of their customers. The level of customer service that Neil talks about is not even close to reality. It seems that everytime you call Zero sales they are in a meeting and will claim to get right back to you. Of course they never do. You have to be very aggressive with multiple emails and phone calls to get any kind of response back from Zero. And even then there is the issue of whether or not you can really believe them anymore. Zero has promised so many shipping dates that came and went with no action. I was told early August that mine would ship in two weeks and that I would hear from the billing department the following week for payment. The week it was supposed to be shipped I was told it would be another four months before it would be shipped. I have a very hard time understanding how this delay suddenly happened. I had hoped to get the Zero S as my first motorcycle but that is definitly not going to happen. I think riding an ICE bike will be a lot more fun than just dreaming about an electric motorcyle that may never come.
   

[guity]

ultrarnr, I'm not so frustrated because I went with another vendor, but if that wasn't the case I would be feeling terribly let down over this latest delay, and would be complaining bitterly.  But I can still feel your pain.  Zero has taken off into the street bike industry with a huge shuddering wobble, and it will be interesting to see if they can steady themselves and fly straight over the next few months, or if they will drop down into the drink...