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[trekguy]

Its a 2014, 11000 trouble-free miles, until now. I don't know if these series of events have anything to do with the bikes behavior, but here goes.
A non-Zero shop put new Michelin tires on the bike, front and rear. It ran perfectly for 100-plus miles over several days.
Then I rode through some light rain, which has happened a few times in 11000 miles. Dried off the bike and put it in the garage.
NOW, I get a creaking/snapping/cracking sound from the rear, accompanied by a moderate and disconcerting twitching also in the rear. All the bolts and everything look ok, but what do I know. The dealer is across the state (Ohio), 220 miles away.
Any suggestions?
Thanks

[mrwilsn]

Check your belt to make sure you aren't missing any teeth.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[grmarks]

My 2 cents worth - check your belt tension. Chances are the non zero dealer has no idea how tight or loose the belt should be.

[Ndm]

Possible damage to the rear wheel bearings, you are around the right mileage for bearing replacement, mine went at around the same mileage, after that check alignment and tension of the belt as mentioned above

[quixotic]

Wheel bearings at 11,000 miles?  Good Lord, what have we come to?  The bearings on the old Beemers would be good for a million miles.

[MrDude_1]

Wheel bearings at 11,000 miles?  Good Lord, what have we come to?  The bearings on the old Beemers would be good for a million miles.

zero started out with dirtbikes, and use smaller bearings than most street bikes.  They have moved to higher quality bearings, but they're still a little undersized for street use.
I suspect sometime they will move all the S models to a larger axle and bearing size... but probably not until there is a "refresh" of the model. Too much investment in the current wheels, hubs and suspension.

[JaimeC]

Wheel bearings at 11,000 miles?  Good Lord, what have we come to?  The bearings on the old Beemers would be good for a million miles.

As an owner of MODERN BMWs, I can tell you that none of the current model BMWs have bearings that'll last that long except in someone's wildest imagination.  At 200,000 miles my K1200LT has gone through THREE sets of rear wheel bearings with the second set lasting the longest (so far)... about 140,000 miles.

My C650GT scooter had it's rear wheel bearings replaced last year under warranty when they failed at 18,000 miles.  Check the boards... BMW bearing failure is a VERY common problem with their new bikes.

[Richard230]

My daughter's 1981 BMW R65LS has over 100K miles on the clock, as does her 1986 Honda VFR 700FII.  Both bikes have never had their bearings even re-greased and they are still rolling as well as ever.   

[Electric Terry]

Yeah in 2015 Zero got much bigger and stronger wheel bearings that should last the life of the bike now.  But on the 2014 and earlier bikes they would go out around 20,000 miles.

[trekguy]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I will hobble the bike back to the tire guy.

[Martin]

25k miles and same bearing.

[buutvrij for life]

The belt may be to tight... that way, i blew the bearings of my e motor of my govecs scooter. After 1300 miles..
German crap.

[JaimeC]

Yeah in 2015 Zero got much bigger and stronger wheel bearings that should last the life of the bike now.  But on the 2014 and earlier bikes they would go out around 20,000 miles.

Good to know. 

[JaimeC]

The belt may be to tight...

Another possibility.  If this is your first belt-driven motorcycle, you may be surprised to learn that as belts age they get TIGHTER, not looser (like a chain).  If it gets too tight it'll put unnecessary strain on both your wheel bearings AND your motor bearings.  Keep an eye on it.  I recently had to loosen up mine after a little over 3,000 miles.  I'd noticed the bike getting louder and that was the cause.