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[dennis-NL]

Hollywood Electrics already took the time and investment to make a decent frame-mounted fairing for the bigger Zeros (meaning those NOT built on the FX platform).  All Zero would have to do is license them from Harlan and his people and resell them.  Win-win for BOTH companies.

A fairing for me is the bike is completely in 'plastic' (very low wind resistance. Don't think HE offers this or I missed something.

Your legs are still in the open, but easy enough to tuck into the bike and out of the majority of the airflow.  The HE fairing takes care of your upper body where the majority of the wind resistance is created.  Both Electric Terry and Brian T. Rice have posted plenty of photos of Zeros equipped with the HE fairing.  Think "BMW RS" rather than GoldWing:

https://hollywoodelectrics.com/products/zero-fairing-kit?variant=12817024516195

Yes, the first thing I thought: he, a Yamaha XJ diversion from the 90's! Not bad, but also not worth the extra money it is for me with already a screen.
 

[JaimeC]

Incidentally, in his testing, I believe ElectricTerry reported at 15% or BETTER improvement in range using the HE fairing...  That's almost the same as adding the power tank for half the price.

[dennis-NL]

Incidentally, in his testing, I believe ElectricTerry reported at 15% or BETTER improvement in range using the HE fairing...  That's almost the same as adding the power tank for half the price.

There is a difference, power tank will increase your range at any speed.
The 15-20% increased range from the fairing will only be above a x-speed.
Don't get me wrong, I do like the fairing and I would buy the fairing, but not for so much money.
If it was like €500 I would do it without thinking twice.
But now I would rather spend money on 1 extra Diginow.
 

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

Fairings accomplish what a charger or battery cannot: reduction of power consumption and heat production for a given airspeed in a given environment.

I have all 3: HE fairing, 5 DigiNow units, and a Power Tank on my 2016 DSR. Having all three makes a big difference in terms of redundant factors in keeping a trip from getting cut short by factors like:
- misbehaving charging system.
- misbehaving Power Tank.
- unexpected increase in drag or thermal load on the battery by headwinds, low temperatures, etc.

[caza]

Does the HE fairing really make that big of a difference compared to say, the zero commuter windscreen?

I definitely would like one but I'm with Dennis in that the price is a bit too much to justify. $1300 and I still would have to paint it? Cheaper than a powertank but still a very expensive investment.

Having all 3 would be great of course, but part of the appeal of electric bikes is low running costs and overall good economics and that kinda goes away if you're spending $1300 on a fairing, $3000 on a PT, and another $3500 on a diginow kit. That's $7800 in upgrades, a budget that could also afford a very nice second bike! And it STILL won't be as good for long distances as an ICE bike. To me that's just diminishing returns.

[BamBam]

+1, I couldn't agree more.  The Zero's are designed to be commuter bikes and that is where they excel.  If you want to turn it into a long distance tourer, you can, but it will really cost you and it still won't be as good as a larger cruiser bike that is designed for that purpose.  I guess I just don't quite get why some people are willing to spend so much time and money trying to turn their Zero into something it isn't.

Regarding HE's fairing, I can't see why anyone would spend that kind of money when there so many other good windscreen choices out there for a fraction of the cost.

Call me cheap I guess.

[JaimeC]

Biggest reason for me is that the other WINDSHIELDS (and NOBODY that I'm aware of makes a FAIRING for Zero besides Hollywood Electric) look like CRAP.  The other windshields are also generic items with the hardware to mount them on a Zero, whereas the HE fairing was built SPECIFICALLY for the Zero.  It was also tested extensively before being put on the market.

As for why they're so expensive:  Do you think all of that work was done for FREE???  It would be different if Zero sold tens of thousands of bikes a year; they could make up the development costs in volume but sadly that is not the case.

That's why I said Zero's best solution is rather than spend the time and money developing a fairing on their own, they should simply license the one HE already created.  That would bring the costs down somewhat, and both companies could profit.

[NEW2elec]

JamieC

That's why I said Zero's best solution is rather than spend the time and money developing a fairing on their own, they should simply license the one HE already created.  That would bring the costs down somewhat, and both companies could profit.
[/quote]

Agreed and the same thing with Diggi chargers replacing the Greenwatt chargers they use now.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

The Hollywood Electrics fairing is better than every windscreen I've tried by far, and I've been at this since late 2015.

Mainly, it creates a cockpit structure which pushes the dash and headlamp forward a few inches, and fixes the headlamp to the frame. It then places a cowl around all of that with an integrated windscreen.

So, as a result, a single aerodynamic surface from the headlamp backwards is in front of the rider and sleeker than any handlebar-mounted windscreen can be. The angles involved are lower because the surface starts much further ahead of the rider.

Regarding the paint issue, I'd infer that if they aren't offering the paint option, it's because they can't get a quality paint match against Zero's plastics.

[caza]

To be clear, they do offer a paint option, but it is more expensive and it's only available for the current model years paint. (You can have it in any color as long as it's black)


Again, I don't doubt the HE fairing is better, it's obviously a well through out aerodynamic solution and yes that takes time and money to develop.

What I'm saying is that $1400 is a lot of money for a marginal range difference, and for myself I can't justify it. Especially since I already have a zero windscreen. If you have the money to throw at this kind of stuff that's awesome, but for me it defeats the purpose of an economic commuter.

Aesthetics is an interesting point. I do think the fairing looks good, but it also is at odds with other accessories. For instance, the HE fairing would look really odd with handguards, while the zero windshield does not.

I do think it would be smart for Zero to license the HD fairing, but also it would just end up being more expensive for the end user if now two companies need to profit from it.

[dennis-NL]

Looks a bit weird having HE fairing, an extra shield on top of it and disc wheels and..... 2 large blocks superchargers on both sides wasting the gain gained...
Are you going to adapt this charging solution?
Maybe behind the legs using footpeg holes for mounting?

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

Looks a bit weird having HE fairing, an extra shield on top of it and disc wheels and..... 2 large blocks superchargers on both sides wasting the gain gained...
Are you going to adapt this charging solution?
Maybe behind the legs using footpeg holes for mounting?

Regarding drag, my design is intended to have a dustbin fairing wrapping it entirely, which is delayed by fabrication complications and my lack of a personal budget for this effort right now. I don't find that range is impacted much - air in that area has to travel past my legs, anyway, so the frontal area is similar.

I no longer want to move the chargers to the rear, because luggage back there is already enough of a concern in terms of handling. Chargers are denser than clothing, groceries, etc. There's also a concern about protecting the cabling from moisture and debris flying off the rear tire.

I'm currently testing a better mount for these "boxer" chargers in the same place that I might offer for a reasonable cost (especially since manufacturing brackets in bulk is way cheaper than one-off prototypes, I already have a set of five pairs of my test articles).

[JaimeC]

BrianTRice (and ElectricTerry) are TRUE enthusiasts.  If I'm faced with a longer ride, I just leave my Zero in the garage and take my K1200LT. 

Still, the Zero is good for well over 80% of my riding so I get to save the LT for the real touring. Since it has over 214,000 miles on it already, I figure the less I use it, the longer I'll have it.  None of the new touring bikes do anything for me.  The new Wing comes close, but Honda made the stupid decision to reduce the locking luggage capacity to "useless for more than a weekend getaway" size.

[GaryArt1]

BrianTRice (and ElectricTerry) are TRUE enthusiasts.  If I'm faced with a longer ride, I just leave my Zero in the garage and take my K1200LT. 

Still, the Zero is good for well over 80% of my riding so I get to save the LT for the real touring. Since it has over 214,000 miles on it already, I figure the less I use it, the longer I'll have it.  None of the new touring bikes do anything for me.  The new Wing comes close, but Honda made the stupid decision to reduce the locking luggage capacity to "useless for more than a weekend getaway" size.

I am glad you said this because I am faced with a similar choice.  My current ICE ride is set up as a Tourer.  I am very comfortable with it on the long trips but it is pretty big to ride around on short jumps.  It is also almost 15 years old but the mileage is still low.  Being it was passed on to me, I would not like to give it up.  I was originally looking at the new Tour Bikes but the one I liked was the Yamaha Star bikes that weigh over 900lbs.  Little too much of a bike.  I plan to keep my Boulevard so I was looking for something "different".  That is how I found my way to Zero and electric bikes.  I thought this bike would be perfect for the short jumps around my area which is about 75% of my riding (hence the low mileage on my current bike).  I was almost ready to pull the plug and purchase until I saw the teaser on the SR/F.  As you can imagine I am cautiously excited to see what they are going to offer (I was really disappointed with HD Livewire announcement) and will probably know what I am getting by this riding season.  Hopefully it is one of the Zeros.

[Richard230]

My guess is that the SR/F was specifically developed by Zero to take on the LiveWire. After all they have had about 5 years advanced notice of the Wire's introduction. It will likely have better performance and range, but not as good after-sales support by the factory.  My other guess is that the price will be around $20K, thereby undercutting H-D by a good margin.