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[meark]

So my 2017 DSR is dead.. just past 3k miles. Turned on and lights were just flashing at me. Called the dealer and they said it had to be towed in for service.. Warranty and dealer won't cover towing, no replacement vehicle.. After 2 weeks at the dealer they said it has to go back to Zero for servicing. Luckily I live close to Zero headquarters. Going on 4 weeks now and might be done by the end of the week.

1. I bought an electric bike so I can save on gas.. Had to us a gas vehicle the past 3+ weeks.
2. I bought an electric bike on the premise that there should be nothing to repair.. haha yeah right..
3. I'm paying for a vehicle I can't use.. depreciating every minute..

I really enjoy my Zero DSR for commuting, but it just seems the technology and service is not up to my standards. I have never had to wait a week for a repair let alone a month.

[flattetyre]

1: Saving on gas is the dumbest reason to buy an ebike. You pay a gigantic premium that could have bought many many gallons. If you're doing it to save the planet that's dumb too. Your own use of fossil fuels will be smaller than microscopic in a planet-wide context even if you REALLY stepped up your game and started filling up tankers or 747s or something.

2: What, you thought electronics are invulnerable to damage? This is somewhere between believing you can fly if you take a running jump out your office window and expecting Santa Claus to come down your chimney.

3: If you're worried about either being deprived of a vehicle or depreciation you bought a motorcycle you couldn't afford. That's because if you had any business spending beaucoup bucks on a DSR you can easily afford multiple alternative vehicles.

Oh and all that aside, Zero's service does suck and is inexcusable. I had a longer delay than that on a new bike that had to be sent back for repair.

[meark]

Welcome to the forum I guess?

I bought the electric bike for many reasons, but gas, and the environment are the two of the bigger reasons. I guess I'm a dumbass?

I actually have 5 vehicles, 3 are bikes. I paid cash for this bike so I can surely afford it. I guess I just like to complain?

There are electronics in every vehicle. It's actually quite rare for an electronic failure, especially with only 3k miles.

Guess I'll go wait for Santa now.

[Fran K]

Waiting for Santa will be safer than jumping out the office window.


The motorcycle dealership experience seems like it can be frustrating depending on what you are used to.  I think I only have taken wheels to a dearership to get mounted and balanced, and then the receipt reads it takes like 20 minutes and computed by the hourly rate.  I have been to competitive events with loud mouthed self identified service managers boasting how their job is to figure out the most expensive way to bill out things.  Riding lawn mower dealers and even real tractor dealers will come and get things for less $ by a lot than the formula used by towing as in state rate off the highway.

How about dealer prep, freight, documentation fee?  Just to get you going I went to the Southwick motocross last year.  Dealer there had a little booth, not ktm but the others $75 plus sales tax nothing else.

[alko]

Welcome to the forum I guess?

I bought the electric bike for many reasons, but gas, and the environment are the two of the bigger reasons. I guess I'm a dumbass?

I actually have 5 vehicles, 3 are bikes. I paid cash for this bike so I can surely afford it. I guess I just like to complain?

There are electronics in every vehicle. It's actually quite rare for an electronic failure, especially with only 3k miles.

Guess I'll go wait for Santa now.
[/quote

Don't fret about flattetyre. Typical of him.
Welcome to the forum. Sorry for the bad luck. I own a 2017 dsr. But other than one breakdown, it's been a great bike with 8000 miles so far. If it wasn't for this forum, I would be in same boat as you, but they gave me the info to fix it myself. Since the nearest dealer is 80 miles away, I would always come here first with my issues. Very smart people on here.
Good luck to you.

[meark]

Welcome to the forum I guess?

I bought the electric bike for many reasons, but gas, and the environment are the two of the bigger reasons. I guess I'm a dumbass?

I actually have 5 vehicles, 3 are bikes. I paid cash for this bike so I can surely afford it. I guess I just like to complain?

There are electronics in every vehicle. It's actually quite rare for an electronic failure, especially with only 3k miles.

Guess I'll go wait for Santa now.
[/quote

Don't fret about flattetyre. Typical of him.
Welcome to the forum. Sorry for the bad luck. I own a 2017 dsr. But other than one breakdown, it's been a great bike with 8000 miles so far. If it wasn't for this forum, I would be in same boat as you, but they gave me the info to fix it myself. Since the nearest dealer is 80 miles away, I would always come here first with my issues. Very smart people on here.
Good luck to you.

Thanks for the reply. Yes it's been great besides this malfunction and the fact I have no power driving under 45 degrees and 50% battery.

[2014ZeroSR]

So my 2017 DSR is dead.. just past 3k miles. Turned on and lights were just flashing at me. Called the dealer and they said it had to be towed in for service.. Warranty and dealer won't cover towing, no replacement vehicle.. After 2 weeks at the dealer they said it has to go back to Zero for servicing. Luckily I live close to Zero headquarters. Going on 4 weeks now and might be done by the end of the week.

1. I bought an electric bike so I can save on gas.. Had to us a gas vehicle the past 3+ weeks.
2. I bought an electric bike on the premise that there should be nothing to repair.. haha yeah right..
3. I'm paying for a vehicle I can't use.. depreciating every minute..

I really enjoy my Zero DSR for commuting, but it just seems the technology and service is not up to my standards. I have never had to wait a week for a repair let alone a month.

meark - Dude, I feel your pain.

Here are some random thoughts -

I’ve been there a number of times, often without an end in sight.
When I believed the repair should only take a week, the week quickly turned into a month. Once it turned into 6 months.

When the weather is good, I use my bike exclusively. When I’m without my bike, it costs me about $250 a month - bike insurance, fuel for the car, if needed, extra expense having to trailer the bike, just the sheer inconvenience of the whole event.

Because of numerous events, I’m considering an Energica. I never considered one until I ran into someone with one. An interesting discussion ensued. FWIW - Comparing the two, I feel Enerigca’s are vastly superior at a similar price point. 

For fun, while you’re waiting for your DSR, compare specs and test ride an Energica or two (CalMoto in Mountain View).

[DonTom]

So my 2017 DSR is dead.. just past 3k miles. Turned on and lights were just flashing at me. Called the dealer and they said it had to be towed in for service.. Warranty and dealer won't cover towing, no replacement vehicle. After 2 weeks at the dealer they said it has to go back to Zero for servicing. Luckily I live close to Zero headquarters. Going on 4 weeks now and might be done by the end of the week.

Welcome to the forum--and welcome to the issues of trying to get decent service for an electric motorcycle. The stories are endless about the service. Here in Reno, I cannot even get a firmware update done (first update must be done at the dealer) since I have owned my two Zeros. No qualified people to do it.  Fortunately, both of my Zeros  are running fine at around 7,500 miles on each. So far, my only real problem was an open  front wheel ABS sensor, which I troubleshoot and replaced myself--on my SR--while the bike was still in warranty!

On things I can repair myself without too much trouble and expense, I prefer to do the work myself. The ABS sensor cost me $50.00 from AF1 Racing. And an hour or so of my labor.  IMO, that is much better than bringing the bike to the shop and dealing with all the hassles.

I take it you're not far from Scott's Valley and the Santa Cruz area of CA.  I assume you can get the very best service on a Zero there in CA.  That doesn't say much for CA and says even less about  Zero service in the other states. The name "Zero " probably means Zero service.

Nevertheless, I love my two Zeros. I ride them more often than my other seven ICE bikes combined. 

Not many mechanics know how to work on these things and by the time Zero trains many of them, most  go work somewhere else or whatever where they don't even work on Zeros.  This has happened twice here in Reno since I have owned my own Zeros. Both since new in 2017.

Who is your Zero dealer out there and do they have any real Zero mechanics/techs?  I am going to guess not, so they shipped the bike back to the factory.


-Don-  Reno, NV

[pacificcricket]

1: Saving on gas is the dumbest reason to buy an ebike. You pay a gigantic premium that could have bought many many gallons.

That may be a stretch, but if you consider the fact gas prices aren't constant and are likely to start increasing due to climate related policies as
well as promised longevity of the electric bikes, one may be able to save on gas the amount equivalent to the purchase price of the ICE bike.

On top of that, I factor in my time spent going to and at the gas station.

If you're doing it to save the planet that's dumb too. Your own use of fossil fuels will be smaller than microscopic in a planet-wide context even if you REALLY stepped up your game and started filling up tankers or 747s or something.

That's a shortsighted comment too. One of the purposes for being an adopter of this technology is to promote it to other people. I haven't been successful (to my knowledge),
but others have. Collectively we can make a difference, but you have to play the lottery in order to win.

2: What, you thought electronics are invulnerable to damage? This is somewhere between believing you can fly if you take a running jump out your office window and expecting Santa Claus to come down your chimney.

Reliability of electronics is a product of proper design, quality of components and quality of assembly. Get those things right, and you will have an electronic product that is significantly more reliable than a similar mechanical system subjected to wear, mechanical stress and corrosion.

3: If you're worried about either being deprived of a vehicle or depreciation you bought a motorcycle you couldn't afford. That's because if you had any business spending beaucoup bucks on a DSR you can easily afford multiple alternative vehicles.

Now that's a fallacy. I have a car, and I have enough cash in the bank to buy ANY motorcycle. Doesn't mean I should buy one, considering I paid (like you said) premium for a Zero, which I prefer to any other vehicle at this time for a number of reasons.

Oh and all that aside, Zero's service does suck and is inexcusable. I had a longer delay than that on a new bike that had to be sent back for repair.

See, you are part of the club after all

[NetPro]

I think the OP is quite right in expecting a brand-new electronic device to be trouble free for a much longer period than this.
Of course, any device can break at any time but the chances of it happening should be less on a properly designed electronic device than on a mechanical one.

It goes without saying that Zero has a lot of room for improvement on the service side.
The only mitigating circumstance is how new the SR/Fs are. Hopefully, things will get better soon.

I went to my local dealer looking to buy a couple of parts that got scratched and was told they did not have access to the parts list for this bike yet.
An email to Zero was promptly addressed and they sent the parts to the dealer right away with overnight delivery. I picked them up less than 48 hours after my original trip to the dealer.

As I see it, training the mechanics at the dealership is one of the most important things Zero can do to improve service.
Having to ship a bike to the factory for service is outrageous: they should instead ship any possible parts needing replacement to the dealer and have them replace the whole component, for turnaround's sake.

If they were to provide a loaner to those individuals whose repairs would take longer than a "normal" turnaround time, then it wouldn't be so bad.

Hopefully, when competition ramps up they will have no choice but to improve service satisfaction but until then, it's a hit-and-miss thing.

[Jarrett]

Welcome to the forum.   Don't mind flat tire, he's just grumpy.

Hope they get your bike fixed to your satisfaction.  As someone who just bought a 2019 DSR, this is certainly concerning news.

I really enjoy my Zero's, but when I read stuff like this, I wonder if I should sell them and get out before the headaches start.

[Doug S]

First, I second Jarrett. Some of the members of this forum are highly opinionated and very...vociferous...about said opinions. Doesn't make them wrong, necessarily, just highly irritating sometimes.

1. There isn't anything stupid about saving gas. It's unlikely you'll save enough DOLLARS to justify buying electric on a strictly economic basis, but "saving gas" goes beyond that. This world needs to get over its addiction to petrochemicals, and us early adopters are the tip of the spear.
2. There's no device in the world that has "nothing to repair". Occasionally you'll need to sharpen the shovel in your garage. Yes, "EV reliability" probably isn't fully realized on the available electric bikes, and that's annoying. We feel your pain.
3. Again, we feel your pain, some more than others. I live in San Diego, and my bike has been shipped up to Scotts Valley for extended periods twice (though the first time wasn't Zero's fault). It definitely sux, especially since these bikes are so much fun to ride, you want to ride them every day you can.

Every once in a while, you just have to close your eyes, count to ten, and remind yourself "it's still an early adopter market". Then you'll get your bike back and be reminded why it's all worth it.

[Richard230]

Regarding electrical component reliability:  I grew up during the days of Joe Lucas, the Prince of Darkness.  He always said never go out at night if you want to see what is in front of you.   

But I will agree that most electrical things seem to have improved since then.   

[meark]

Yes, I live within 30 miles of Zero HQ. My local dealer is San Jose BMW. Zero is going to deliver to my house once it's done which is nice.

I really like my 2017 DSR. It's the best vehicle I've ever used for commuting. I've been riding for almost 40 years.

Like previously stated above.. it's not just the price of gas, it's the whole process of stopping to get gas too. Plus my employer has free rapid charging and the electric charging spots are in the best location in the parking garage.

[flattetyre]

You fellows need a sense of humor.

I have a car, and I have enough cash in the bank to buy ANY motorcycle.

Many words to say nothing: the value of your car could reasonably vary by 3 orders of magnitude. Same with your bank balance. Looks like the record for most expensive bike sold is about to break 7 figures. Anyway, being able to pay cash for something doesn't mean you can afford it. What about your savings? I could have 7 figures in my retirement but be unable to afford a $15K zero if I'm not working and have no income, limited liquid assets and incur penalty withdrawing from something like a 401k.

Affordability is actually not a well understood concept.