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[DPsSRnSD]

If I am the first one away from a stop light, I don't jump into the intersection.  I always take it easy and look both ways before entering the intersection.  Around here, it is quite common for car drivers to blow through stop lights as they are checking their smart phone text messages and don't notice the light turning red.  It is better to go slowly when first away from a light and look both ways before taking off.  You will live longer that way.   

To further hijack this thread with a safety tip, I think it's more dangerous to enter an intersection with a existing green light. If my light is red, I have time to check the cross traffic before entering. With an existing green, it's too easy to just go with the flow and not check the cross traffic for cars blowing through the red for whatever reason.

[MichaelJohn]

ChainGun the zero S doesn't have enough power to spin the back wheel in the dry (nor does the SR), are you sure you don't have an SR, and were you on dirt when it was dry and you lost control?

My SR will definitely spin the rear tire in the dry if I'm not careful coming out of a turn. I have learned after spinning up several times to take it easy if I'm leaned over at all.

[dukecola]

Seriously, people don't know that sport is full torque and they are blaming the bike for losing control? Just because it has the torque, doesn't mean you use it, especially pulling out, in turns, on gravel and wet roads.

[gman669]

This may not be the place for my rant but I wouldn't talk any friend I know into owning a streetbike without buying a dirt bike and getting good riding one.  Teaches so many important control skills only encountered on the public road under adverse conditions. When loss of traction, gaining of traction, low speed and high speed "curveballs" are the norm and your reactions are trained to handle them without thinking, all of that transfers to your ability to ride safe on public roads where the obstacles are 200hp,3000lb rubber wheeled boulders rolling next to you ready to smash you.

I have encountered wheelspin without planning on it on the zero but nothing I wouldn't expect the bike capable of, or anything unmanageable. 

[acacia1731]

Seriously, people don't know that sport is full torque and they are blaming the bike for losing control? Just because it has the torque, doesn't mean you use it, especially pulling out, in turns, on gravel and wet roads.

I certainly wasn't blaming the bike - just sharing my experience with a new learning curve.

Though it might be a stretch to say it's a "Zero problem", this series of responses has at least validated that the learning curve demands more respect than many of us anticipated, and that wheel spin is one of the watch outs.

With this in mind, when I let friends test ride my Zero I now specifically warn them that the rear will break loose if they don't respect it!

Of course, the same can probably be said for other high performance bikes, RWD cars, etc.  With my motocross bike, I typically warn people that dropping the clutch can make the bike flip in a hurry too.  When a lot of power is involved, there's always something...

It's a good point that dirt bikes are a good training platform.

[ChainGun]

If I am the first one away from a stop light, I don't jump into the intersection.  I always take it easy and look both ways before entering the intersection.  Around here, it is quite common for car drivers to blow through stop lights as they are checking their smart phone text messages and don't notice the light turning red.  It is better to go slowly when first away from a light and look both ways before taking off.  You will live longer that way.   

I'm 44 years old with three children so I don't jump recklessly into intersections. However, if there's a T-Max or a Harley standing next to me, it's my duty to teach them some humility...

[grmarks]

The SR will NOT spin the back wheel on a good clean dry tar road going strait. It will spin the back wheel in a turn (wet or dry). It will spin in the wet on tar if you are not careful.
The S has less torque than the SR so there must be oil or something on the road surface to cause this. It doesn't/can't do this on a good road surface in the dry in a strait line.

[Electric Terry]

Chaingun, there is something that can help you all the time and make it more comfortable too.  And that is weight transfer towards the rear tire offering more traction.   

Because the Zero bikes have a heavy battery right up front, we don't have a problem with the front wheel lifting up at all, but we do have an issue with the back end getting loose in less than optimal traction situations (wet, gravel, painted surfaces, bumps).  Do you have the powertank?  If you do this can place even more weight of the bike on the front.  What we all need to do is shift weight back somehow.

There is a seating option that will let you shift 150-250 lbs (what ever you weigh with gear) and shift it back 6-8 inches which is huge for taking weight off the front and putting it on the back.  Search Corbin seat and you will see what I mean.  It's under $400 and although the main reason to get it is comfort and leg room by being able to slide back a little more, by sliding your rear back and putting more weight on the rear tire might be a very inexpensive way to help save your bacon.

I have a power tank, and a dog I carry on the tank area.  My back wheel would spin up sometimes at stoplights splitting lanes when it would turn green if I wasn't in the intersection fully to start.  Meaning my back tire needed to be in front of the cross walk paint.  If not and I went full throttle as soon as my tire hit the paint it would spin many times, although I didn't mind it too much, I would still rather it not happen.  Once I got the Corbin seat it hasn't happened at all, and I attest that to the rearward weight transfer.

Look in the picture below to see how far I sit back now.  You can kind of see where it is indented a little.  Makes a huge difference.  Although I would like to see traction control one day, but like Brian Rice said, the speed of communication will need to improve or the controller take over the duty which I don't think is possible yet.  For now the seat is a good insurance policy to have more traction and I am more comfortable accelerating earlier and harder in turns which in a way makes me feel faster and more confident than before with the stock seating position.

[Ndm]

Are you the first owner? Is it possible someone has messed with the sevcon controller to get more power off the start, I would have the dealer confirm the settings if you are a second owner, just a thought

[Electric Terry]

Are you the first owner? Is it possible someone has messed with the sevcon controller to get more power off the start, I would have the dealer confirm the settings if you are a second owner, just a thought

Despite peoples thoughts that power is somehow limited in the controller for a less violent launch and more power can be somehow programmed, this isn't true.  The power ramps up because of torque times RPM, and the torque doesn't drop off until about 4000 rpm so the bike will make more power the faster the motor turns up to that point.   Then if torque drops faster than RPM's increase, then power will drop off.  But there aren't any aftermarket programmable configurations to get more power at a lower rpm in the controller through electronic settings.

I'm guessing he probably has a power tank and weight is biased over the front wheel and he has low traction situations in the intersection.  Oil, paint, sand, moisture, or too high rear tire pressure.  Shift your weight back with the Corbin seat and drop your rear tire pressure 3-4 psi and see if that fixes it.  The sidewall says 41 psi, are you running that?  You could take it down to 28 and improve traction.  Just sacrifice a little range but it might be worth it.  The seat allowing rear weight transfer is the easiest thing to do I would say.

[MrDude_1]

Since I am used to lighter, more powerful motorcycles... I cant replicate this problem. I pin it... and the wheel doesnt come up.
I pin it out of corners, and I wish there was more power.

If I rode it like an idiot I could spin up the rear wheel on corner exits, but thats only if I do it intentionally. Ive highsided enough times to know that intentionally drifting a bike that doesnt have full flat-track steering angles is kind of dumb.

That said, its a great mid-low power bike. Just because you cant overpower the wheels doesnt mean its not fun.

[Ndm]

Despite peoples thoughts that power is somehow limited in the controller for a less violent launch and more power can be somehow programmed, this isn't true.  The power ramps up because of torque times RPM, and the torque doesn't drop off until about 4000 rpm so the bike will make more power the faster the motor turns up to that point.   Then if torque drops faster than RPM's increase, then power will drop off.  But there aren't any aftermarket programmable configurations to get more power at a lower rpm in the controller through electronic settings.

I didn't know that! Thanks Terry I had thought docbass was doing just that, I guess a little information was misinterpreted from doc's drag bike posting,p s no power tank is optional on the 2013, believe me I would have one!

[Electric Terry]

I didn't know that! Thanks Terry I had thought docbass was doing just that, I guess a little information was misinterpreted from doc's drag bike posting,p s no power tank is optional on the 2013, believe me I would have one!

No prob!  Doc does some great things.  He did replace his S controller with an SR controller.  so went from 420 amps to 660.  I think he also increased his voltage from 66 to 102 (18s to 28s) and he went with a super light weight battery chemistry that is very power dense for drag racing purposes.  Doc is a great pioneer with power supplies and all sorts of stuff.  But even he couldn't get a stock Zero S to accelerate faster without making a hardware change of some component.

[Doug S]

It's all about the gearing. One of the great things about electric motors is that they have maximum torque at 0 rpm, as opposed to an ICE, which literally can't even run at 0 rpm. That's one of the big reasons our bikes feel so incredibly responsive, and so much fun to ride. It also makes it possible to use a fixed-gear drivetrain, which literally no ICE vehicle does. That eliminates the gearbox, which is heavy, expensive, requires service, and takes up space on the bike. Eliminating the gearbox is a good thing, but it does reduce the ultimate performance of the machine somewhat.

Think about it...how much performance could you expect out of a Hyabusa if all it had was fourth gear? Your top speed would be reduced, and the performance off the line would be uninspiring at best and require a lot of clutch slipping to do it at all. But the amazing torque of our electric powerplants make the performance off the line surprisingly good, even considering they only have a single, fairly tall gear to give decent top speed. ICEs just can't do that.

[stevenh]

I took a hard spill in my driveway taking off earlier this summer.  I had washed the bike and was going to take it for a "dry off" spin, and hit the throttle a little hard at the top of the drive.  I was down so fast I did not even know what hit me (oh yea, the driveway).  Anyway I healed and the bike was not damaged, but I really look at conditions before I hit the throttle now.

I've spun the rear wheel on an older ICE bike (Honda 750 Magna) and it never fish-tailed on a straight line.  I swear I was going pretty much straight when I lost it on the DSR.  Is there something special about the drive or power delivery that makes it swing so hard to the right (at the rear)?

Steve