ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: princec on July 02, 2024, 08:46:33 PM
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Dare I tweak the nose of destiny but ... my SR/F is Just Working. Day in, day out, 60 miles a day or so. It goes. It handles. It stops. The new battery is an incredible upgrade from the original - if you're still on the original 14.4 battery, you're being conned. The 15.6 reliably gives me 125 miles of range versus 100 from the 14.4 - and of course doesn't suffer from magic charging. The discrepancy in range leads me to think the 14.4 had far less usable capacity.
The crappy misting dash can get in the bin, and mine did, replaced with the vastly improved laminated dash. Bluetooth works sometimes now, and the remote stuff all works as well. Latest firmware installed throughout. Apparently it will successfully update next time.
My short review of the last 18,000 miles:
Pros
- Travel is essentially free at the point of use, with electricity on average costing me just 1p per mile, it doesn't even cross my mind
- Relatively comfortable considering its sporty stance - but I have modified it about as much as I can with higher bars, lower pegs, and a good screen setup, and I've tweaked the damping.
- Super low seat height.
- Excellent mirrors and totally vibration and noise-free running mean seriously calm riding
- Just perfect throttle response in Street mode (which is fast enough for 99% of riding where I am)
- Handling's good for a relatively heavy bike: stable and surefooted, reasonably accurate
- Now it's reliable it's really reliable, and needs basically no attention from anyone at all to just keep going and going
- Sport mode still feels insanely fast after 3 years though I suspect that's because the suspension is too firm for the roads I ride on... and I'm getting old :P
Cons
- All the main cost of running the bike is bullshit expensive insurance premiums (at least twice what they should be IMO), and the insane depreciation, both of which make it stand out from an ICE bike. It's not a bike to keep for a couple of years and flog on. You have to ride the wheels off of it to get your money's worth, and that's a fact borne out with spreadsheets and cold, hard maths. This might come back to bite Zero eventually because much as I'd like to sidegrade to an SR/S, it isn't economically viable.
- It ain't quite light enough, especially compared to previous generation Zeros. I'm certain they could shave off 20kg but that'd really be a completely different bike. The weight doesn't actually bother me, though ... it's Mrs Prince who complains. She can't even move it on anything other than totally flat ground.
- Throttle response in Sport is slightly annoying off closed - just a tad more than you ask for.
- Spring rate and suspension travel: travel is very short, and I think they may have compromised by using very firm springs. While this makes the seat nice and low and presumably achieves the geometry they wanted, it does make for an unnecessarily harsh ride for what is really a commuter and pleasure vehicle.
- Finish isn't great: rust on every nut and bolt and lots of bits appear to be made of mild steel, all rusting, with paint bubbling away. I can and will replace bits with stainless or nickel plated as appropriate... but for 20 grand I shouldn't have to. The plastic bits have terrible sharp edges and seem to be slightly wonky and ill-fitting.
- The rapid charger is no longer rapid since the battery upgrade. Ongoing issue, waiting for Zero to at least say something about it.
- The OEM discs are shit. Don't bother getting them replaced. Put EBC discs on, or you'll just get the same problem over and over.
- Can't adjust the main and dip beam lights independently, so there's a dim unlit bar between the two with main beams on and it's infuriating. Beams not especially bright or wide - not really safe enough to ride at night
Stats
Age: red 2020 model
Mileage: 18,000 miles
Cost: ~£21k with the accessories, inc VAT (I own it through my ltd. co)
Value now: ~£9k inc VAT
Upgrades:
6kW charge tank
Next-gen TFT dash (replaced under warranty due to misting)
15.6kWh battery (replaced under warranty due to magic charging)
IP67 rated on-board chargers (replaced under warranty due to isolation failures)
Mods:
Michelin Road 5 tyres
Official sport screen + MRA spoiler
SR/S footpegs
EBC front brake discs (actually fitted under warranty, but I paid for the hardware)
Pro-bolt Bar Risers
Other things:
Spider bus & bus bar (replaced under warranty due to isolation failures)
On its 3rd belt (both previous belts snapped at 7k miles... coincidentally within 50 miles of being adjusted by dealer...)
So if you got this far... I 100% recommend the SR/F now, if you don't do 100+ mile motorway journeys, and you get a 2023 model or later with the nice new dash in it and battery.
Cas :)
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Regarding battery capacity, the old ones were advertised as 14.4 but nominally something like 12. Is yours the 17.3 that's actually 15.1 nominal and you got the number wrong, or is there another one that they advertise as 15.6? I only see them say 17.3 and then nearly 21 with the power tank.
When I get my full licence I'd like to go with an SR/S but it will be a used one (or a DSR/X depending on what the market's like). Even if I could afford a new I don't know if I could justify it, but some of the used ones I've seen are bargains.
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It's confusion of Zero's own making .. it's a 17.3, software locked to 15.6. Basically the DSR/X battery I think but with the 10% overcharging feature disabled. To make matters even sillier it is still labelled 14.4 on the side.
Cas :)
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I remember someone comparing the 13kWh battery of the 2018 S to the 14.4 kWh battery of the 2019 S. According to the chart, the 13 kWh battery was expected to last more charge/discharge cycles than the 14.4 kWh which makes me think that there wasn't really any difference in the two batteries, just that Zero decided that the battery could withstand the stress of the higher capacity and still last within the 5 year, unlimited mileage warranty...
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Haha, turns out ... not :P
Cas :)
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They're different cells from Farasis with a higher Ah capacity. The 14.4 used 32Ah cells that Zero soft-capped at 28.5Ah. The 13.0 packs used ... I think 28Ah cells soft-capped at 26Ah.
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Slightly different chemistry too, plus a bunch of improvements/changes to the BMS firmware. Whatever it is, it's a night and day improvement on the original battery.
Cas :)
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The 14.4 and 13 have the same chemistry.
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Ah yeah I meant between the 14.4 and the 15.6.
Cas :)