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Author Topic: Noob Questions  (Read 1943 times)

calamarichris

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Noob Questions
« on: November 30, 2017, 10:53:20 PM »

Sorry if this is addressed elsewhere, but I couldn't find an FAQ pertaining to the Zero SR.

~Who's got the most miles on their zero? Any issues?
~Can the SR be charged at all EV charging stations?
~What's the difference between the charge tank and the power tank? Power tank = no charging at EV stations?
~Typical service life of the belt drive?
~Anyone mount soft saddlebags (Tourmaster Cortech, for example) on their SR?
~Any tankbags that will work on the bike? (Asking for my dog who'll continue commuting to work with me every day.)
~How many miles are you typically getting on rear tires with that monstrous torque hit?
~Have any of you gone on any multi-day motorcycle trips? Charge in hotel rooms? EV charging stations?



I'm a life-long rider with over a quarter million miles behind me and am really excited to take the SR for a test ride this weekend!
Thanks for any guidance or links.
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NEW2elec

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Re: Noob Questions
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2017, 11:44:07 PM »

First let me encourage you to look around in the Zero section (and others for that matter) and also do You Tube video searches and that can get you caught up pretty quick.

Electric Terry is the Babe Ruth of electric motorcycles (he rides with a husky on his bike) over 75k miles on his 2012 super touring bike and lots more on later models.  Ben and others have been all over the country on them so mileage is what you make it.
Issues?  Oh course, most of the big ones were fixed after 2012 but some glitches still happen from time to time some more often and more troublesome than others.
You have to have a charge tank of after market chargers to work at charging stations.  The bike comes with slow house outlet (115v) chargers.

Belt?  Mine has 20k and counting but hard use and off road riding can pop the pre 17s pretty quick.
Lots of bag and hard case options but its no Goldwing for hauling your worldly possessions.
Tires?  i get about 10k on very cheap DS tires, softer sportier ones less.
As mentioned earlier the Youtube channel "Benswing" shows him going to all 48 states but you will need super chargers to handle faster charging at the stations and RV parks (extra adapter needed). Also you can get the power tank and then add the external super chargers to get the best of both worlds.

But mostly go test ride one!  Its great if you can live with a 100 MPH top speed and the range game you'll love it. 
Welcome aboard.
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calamarichris

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Re: Noob Questions
« Reply #2 on: December 01, 2017, 12:43:59 AM »

Only 100mph?  :-\

Thank you for the gracious welcome. I'm snooping around in the forum and Youtube (lot of useless crap on Youtube), but either the search function leaves a good deal to be desired or I need to hone my search terms. Thanks for the tip on Benswing--looking forward to watching them at home tonight.

Anyone mount any softluggage on their SR?




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2000 Kawasaki W650 (2)

calamarichris

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Re: Noob Questions
« Reply #3 on: December 01, 2017, 01:17:12 AM »

What's the shortest range you've experienced?
Say if a giant tsunami were on the way to level my town and I got on an Eastbound freeway, traveling 90mph sustained for the high ground, between all the gridlocked cars filled with doomed motorists like in Deep Impact, how far would I get?
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2000 Kawasaki W650 (2)

Burton

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Re: Noob Questions
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2017, 01:44:06 AM »

What's the shortest range you've experienced?
Say if a giant tsunami were on the way to level my town and I got on an Eastbound freeway, traveling 90mph sustained for the high ground, between all the gridlocked cars filled with doomed motorists like in Deep Impact, how far would I get?

90mph between cars? Not sure where you live that it is that flat and "safe" to travel so fast between vehicles.

@70mph you will get about 90 miles with a zero SR
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calamarichris

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Re: Noob Questions
« Reply #5 on: December 01, 2017, 03:00:15 AM »

Sorry, am in Carlsbad, about 3 miles from the beach, and about 40 miles from Palomar Mountain in beautiful California where lanesharing remains legal.
If the cop chasing me survives the tsunami, I'll cheerfully pay the fine.

Has anyone done a track day or exceeded 70mph for an extended period of time? I once covered 102+ miles in one hour in Northern California near the Nevada border on my carbureted EX500 (the little red twin cylinder with the dog on it above), and the bike still got 49.9mpg.

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BrianTRice@gmail.com

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Re: Noob Questions
« Reply #6 on: December 01, 2017, 04:39:09 AM »

There are racing teams that use Zeros, mainly Hollywood Electrics Racing; since they're in SoCal just give them a call to ask questions at least, and they might even try to sell you one of their retired but faired racing bikes.

I have 24000 miles on a 2013 DS and 26000 miles on a 2016 DSR and they're both operating well.

Any Zero with an IPM model motor (2016 and newer models) will not overheat even at 90mph.

I've ran my DSR at 80mph for an 80 mile rountrip commute (I280 in the SF Bay Area), but I put a really big fairing on my bike. I have an onboard supercharger for recharging and can charge in an hour and cover 400-450 miles in a day on a good day.

Zero's quoted range figures for 70mph are accurate, and should not be discounted as bragging: http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/zero-s/

70 miles at 70mph is the current stock expectation. You'll get 85 miles or more if you put a good windscreen on the bike - that's how much speed/drag cuts into the range.
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BrianTRice@gmail.com

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Re: Noob Questions
« Reply #7 on: December 01, 2017, 04:41:12 AM »

Also see the "unoffical manual", a website I contribute to to compile knowledge about the Zero:

https://zeromanual.com/
https://zeromanual.com/index.php/Potential_Buyers_Guide
https://zeromanual.com/index.php/Travel
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calamarichris

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Re: Noob Questions
« Reply #8 on: December 01, 2017, 05:18:30 AM »

Good poop, thanks Brian! As a road cyclist (the pedaling kind) who's trained & raced with a power meter, I can appreciate how many Watts an aerodynamic position can save.
And I've ridden my ZX9R from Carlsbad to Philadelphia & back, so I tend to appreciate a slightly sportier position anyway. So far I figured Zero's commuter screen would be enough for me and my dog.

Looking forward to carefully reviewing your links tonight at home.
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togo

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Re: Noob Questions
« Reply #9 on: December 01, 2017, 06:03:24 AM »

I'll answer the ones I can.

> Who's got the most miles on their zero? Any issues?

idk

> ~Can the SR be charged at all EV charging stations?

it comes with a home charger setup, for public stations you need adapters. 

a relatively cheap adapter is an adapter for the onboard charger, which lets you charge at public stations, but just as slowly as you would at home

a more expensive option is a rapid charger.  chargetank is one, and there are aftermarket chargers as well.  look for systems that can charge at 6000+ watts, don't waste your time on "quick chargers" that do a measly 1000 watts.

> ~What's the difference between the charge tank and the power tank? Power tank = no charging at EV stations?

charge tank is a faster charger that comes with the adapter for publich charging stations, it lets you charge at 6000 watts, which is like 4-5 times faster than the onboard charger.

powertank is an extra battery. 

> Typical service life of the belt drive?

depends mostly on whether you do full open throttle over bumps.  10000 miles or more is common for people who go throttle neutral before they take air

> Anyone mount soft saddlebags (Tourmaster Cortech, for example) on their SR?

yes there are all kinds of bags and cases people have mounted, read zeromanual.com and this forum.

> Any tankbags that will work on the bike? (Asking for my dog who'll continue commuting to work with me every day.)

yes pretty much any tank bag that doesn't require magnetic attachment works fine

> How many miles are you typically getting on rear tires with that monstrous torque hit?

I change one tire at 5000 miles and two at 10000 on my 2014 SR.  Depends a lot on how you ride.

> Have any of you gone on any multi-day motorcycle trips? Charge in hotel rooms? EV charging stations?

Yes, lot of discussion of that, read the forums, and the touring recommendations at zeromanual.com
I know mrwilson and anton and briantrice and ElectricCowboy and ElectricTerry and LiveForPhysics
have reported on their road trips.  Most recent ones were anton SF-Canada, briantrice SF-Seattle,
ElectricCowboy and ElectricTerry to Baja.  A bunch of people did the trip from their homes across Europe
to Zurich in September- I think more than half of the ElectricNightRide2 folks ride Zeros, there are cool
videos on Youtube.

> I'm a life-long rider with over a quarter million miles behind me and am really excited to take the SR for a test ride this weekend!
Thanks for any guidance or links.

Have a blast!

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togo

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Re: Noob Questions
« Reply #10 on: December 01, 2017, 06:07:19 AM »

> @70mph you will get about 90 miles with a zero SR

heh, I have trouble getting 90 miles riding slow, but mine's a 2014 Zero SR and I weigh 210 lb.

If you are smaller and your bike is newer you will go farther than I do.  It's crazy how much bigger the batteries have gotten in 4 years.
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benswing

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Re: Noob Questions
« Reply #11 on: December 01, 2017, 09:19:15 AM »

Hi CalamariChris, welcome!  I've got on a cross country trip on a Zero motorcycle for each of the past 5 years and have now ridden a Zero through all the lower 48 states.  There is much better fast charging equipment (digiNow Supercharger) and more infrastructure than when I first crossed the country in 2013. 

Video and written reviews from my 4-Corners trip in 2016 are here:
https://www.benswing.com/2016-road-trip-blog

Video and written reviews from my 3-Country Tour (Mexico, US, Canada) are here:
https://www.benswing.com/2015-mexico-to-canada

The new 18kWh Zero S or SR will carry you about 125 miles riding conservatively on the highway.  If you add fast charging equipment, like the digiNow Supercharger V2, you can take road trips going a few hundred miles per day.

Some more info is on my facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BenRidesElectric/

Cheers!
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calamarichris

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Re: Noob Questions
« Reply #12 on: December 01, 2017, 11:36:50 PM »

This is exciting. Am really looking forward to the test ride tomorrow.
Thanks for the responses Togo, I appreciate the guidance.
And thanks Ben. I'd seen several of your informative Youtube vids.

Has anyone in here done a Babybutt? (>1,000 miles in <24 hours)?

Anyone herein live in the San Diego area? I live about half an hour from Palomar Mountain, which is a fun sillystring road.
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Burton

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Re: Noob Questions
« Reply #13 on: December 02, 2017, 12:00:17 AM »

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calamarichris

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Re: Noob Questions
« Reply #14 on: December 02, 2017, 12:38:46 AM »

Neat, but has anyone in here done a Babybutt on their Zero?
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