ElectricMotorcycleForum.com

You guys are an amazing source of knowledge. I talked with Harlan in LA who said he's been selling used Zero bikes to Mark Baierle who cannibalizes them for his eGull fixed wing aircraft as noted by Protomech. I spoke with Mark several years ago when he was using banks of R/C model aircraft batteries (100's!)...and carried a fire extinguisher. Now he's using Zero. That's progress. I found a demo Model DS up here in WA this morning and placed a deposit on it. So we're committed. Trikester, congrats on being a pioneer in hang gliding. You probably bumped into (maybe literally) my good friend Rick Wickman. I did that last year tandem but at 72 I think I'd better stick with sailplanes :-/

I'm brand new to this forum and really glad I found it. Some great posts and super-friendly. I haven't owned a motorcycle for a long time (BSA 650) but got interested in the Zero propulsion system as a replacement for the 2-stroke 40 HP gas engine in our home-built motorglider. I know this post probably doesn't belong on this forum but thought I'd give it a try. The post by Bonkers on batteries was brilliant and there may be someone out there with experience in cannibalizing Zero bikes for other purposes. I checked with the factory and they choked, not surprisingly. The Zero 40 kW/11.4 kWh configuration looks just right for our purpose. We need enough power to take off and climb for about 10 minutes until we can take advantage of upwards convection (thermal lift) to shut off the motor and gain altitude using rising air (often up to 15,000' above ground in this area). A reserve of another 10-15 minutes at low power would prevent coming down in an undesirable place if the convection stopped! We would plan to install the complete Zero package of motor, battery, controller and "throttle" welding up our own frame to match and routing cables as necessary. The motor develops full power at 4,300 rpm and we have a reducer that would deliver 2,600 rpm to the propeller. Feel free to declare us legally insane. We have a lot of experience building airplanes but none of them electric and given our ages this could be the onset of dementia. Thanks and regardless of progress on this I'll enjoy the forum from now on.