ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
Makes And Models => Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ => Topic started by: Richard230 on March 21, 2014, 09:34:14 PM
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Motorcyclist magazine reviews the 2014 Zero SR in their May 2014 issue, starting on page 42. Unfortunately, it is not much of a test. It appears that all they did was to ride it across the Golden Gate Bridge and take a photo overlooking the Bridge. Everything else in the article about the bike seems to have been plucked off of the Zero web site, with no observed facts or performance testing provided. They even got one fact wrong, when they stated that the new Fast Ace forks have a pre-load adjustment. However there is a photo of the factory "assembly line" that is kind of interesting. Plus, they state that the factory has the ability to build 10,000 Zeros a year. When I look at the photo, I am just not seeing that type of volume being possible. ???
Anyway, thumbs up for giving the 2014 Zero SR magazine exposure and thumbs down for not actually testing it.
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Richard230,
Motorcycle.com also did a review of the Zero SR.
http://www.motorcycle.com/manufacturer/zero/2014-zero-sr-review.html (http://www.motorcycle.com/manufacturer/zero/2014-zero-sr-review.html)
Actually what I found most interesting about this review is the fact that it was very briefly posted to their home page and then removed! If you search for motorcycle reviews and click on "electric" you will see the SR review but someone obviously doesn't like to see electric motocycles shown on the motorcycle.com home page. It is a much better review than Motorcyclist magazine did since they really did ride them and the first topic they discuss is performance.
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as did yours truly at gas2.org http://gas2.org/2014/03/19/2014-zero-s-zf11-4-review/ (http://gas2.org/2014/03/19/2014-zero-s-zf11-4-review/) thanks to my pressure on the folks at Zero.
I pointed out that magazines like Motorcyclist had waited until the FALL to publish any reviews of the 2013s. Which didn't help Zero much, as they'd pretty much wound up production by then. One magazine even waited until November. I promised Spring coverage, and delivered. OK, so Motorcyclist didn't bother riding them, but at least they gave them Spring editorial space.
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Wow! Motorcycle.com compared the Zero SR to a Suzuki Hayabusa and a Kawasaki ZX-14R. Those bikes cost $14-15k each, which is pretty close to $17k for a Zero SR.
They made a lot of good points that we in the EV world are familiar with, but you don't see them on more mainstream sites.
Also, I enjoyed your review pinkyracer! Thanks for the detailed report!
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I finally finished reading the May issue of Motorcyclist magazine and (to my surprise) came across the first Zero full-page color ad that I can recall seeing in a monthly U.S. motorcycle magazine. The ad is on page 81. It is very conventional and there is nothing "edgy" about it. It could be any other brand's ad. Probably a good thing as most motorcycle magazine readers are kind of conservative and something goofy would have gotten them all riled up. ;)