What bike did you have on order?
Zero S
Were all these issues with your friends bike? Can you get him on the forum to post some pics and information on the failures? Did the throttle issue literally almost kill him or did it just have the potential to kill him?
I do all of the work on his bike cause he's not very good with a wrench and I've probably put more miles on it then him so I feel pretty good about knowing what I'm talking about.
The throttle got stuck wide open when he turned it on and sent the bike sailing into his garage wall. Can you imagine what would have happened if a kid were standing in front or in any other type of location with traffic or other...Here's a list of items: Kill switch (2 times) on the second one the connectors were the wrong ones (make that 3 times). New chain due to stretch in less than 200 miles (this is the 09 bike not the 08) fyi the chain is still the small 420 non 0-ring cheapest brand out there. Swing arm bolt backed out several times (I hear there was a recall on these as well). The front tire is always getting out of true. Blown front forks 3 times (these are the upgraged forks). Grips must have cost all of $1 last time I saw cheap grips like these were on my 8 year olds huffy. (they sent him two new throttles before they figured out it was a recall item on the control board or something like that rather than the throttle). Seat is as hard as a board - the one good thing is it will never rip). The motor gets super super hot where you can't even touch it if you go up a steep hill a few times. The rep said if you do it too many times the motor wil burn up, they said the fix was to dump some water on it if it gets too hot. Okay, we should cary an extra few gallons of water with us now...the new plastic fairing is like potato peeler on your knees (you need to ride one and put your leg into the turn to know what I mean). Swing arm makes the chain sound super load due to the chain guide an drollor or lack there of. The battery has had a lot off charging issues with blinking lights that you can't figure out so you have to call in to have them tell you what's going on. Forget about the specs being correct. We were told you could go 40 mile in a best case scenario. I think best case was with my kid all of 80 lbs in easy mode on slow flat trails and we ended up at 28 miles. Try a tow rope with the kid just learing how to ridea bike. Not very fun. The specs say 150lbs. Add another 15lbs then you are correct. Don't these guys weigh or test the bikes capabilities of the bike before their markting publishes. It's been said in someone elese spost but every bold is of a different size, there is no flow to the build quality. The foot pegs are wide but made of cheap material and wear quickly. No kickstand (and they don't sell an option) - you have to make a home-made set up or lean it on something. Handle bars need risers. Brakes are mountain bike brakes that overheat on any large downhill and if you hit somethign big they will get bent very easily. They need to put real MC wheels, tires and brakes on it (the new MX has a better front rim and tyre but the brakes are still mountain bike)
I would like to learn more about how Zero plans to fix the bikes that break. I think I read they will be shipped to Zero HQ? Are the reps trained in repairs?
The S has not shipped to customers yet. It is unfortunate the specs have changed, especially the weight increase but they did not sell any yet so it is hard to argue they mislead anyone.
If you put a bike on order based on specs then they change the specs because they were just plane wrong or they intentially mislead the public so they could say their product is better than the competitors then that's bogus. They reason they gave me the weight and speed changed is they did some upgrading the to battery case. Well the battery 4kw stayed the same and when I pressed them they said they moved from a plastic battery casing to a metal one. You don't gain 50lbs and lose a top speed of 65 to 50 because of this. They didn't properly test the bikes capabilities or even put it on a scale IMO before they went to print. When I asked a different rep, I got a different answer about the changes and delays. This time it was due to production issues where they couldn't produce enough parts. I later found out they had only shipped less than 20 bikes. I thought they were a pretty big company until I took a tour while i was out there, I spoke to one of the bike builders and they said they have only made a total of 300 bikes and 90% of those were the off-road bikes. This is when I cancelled my order after seeing and getting the feeling they would not be around for long.
I would like to see some facts to prove this claim..
Sounds like you work for the company? I have found reading many of the electric forums most of the people are either blinded by the dream of what electric bikes can be in the future so they are willing to make a lot of excuses for the many many short comings they have now OR they are somehow affiliated with working for the company as a rep so it is their best interest to hyp the bike and defend them. Reality is reality though, they are just not there yet. I agree, you do have to start somewhere though. But for 10k....ouch.
Please post the links to the regular customer who are unhappy. How are you differentiating regular vs representatives?
Regualr has no affiliation with the company or industry. Rep is someone who sells the bikes or works for an electric bike maker in some form. Brammo is selling through Best Buy but Zero has reps all around the country working at other jobs doing this on the side (at least this is what my rep told me and from what I've read).
