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Whoa, looks like there's been some responses I didn't see until now. Time to reply to those!

Don:
See previous page. I already tested the throttle pot and took it apart. It's working better but could still likely be the issue.

ESokoloff & Richard:
I'm sure the battery is a little worn out, but it would mostly be due to age and infrequent use rather than being used and worn out. The bike had 1700kms on it, and over 10 years that means the previous owner put 170kms on it a year, which equals about 5 charge cycles a year. When I got the bike I put about 300 or 400 kms on it in the 1 month I was able to use it before it snowed. The only thing that really changed in that month is that my range increased! However the power felt the same the entire time and the speed still felt limited to around 80km/h the entire time.
There's a massive hill I must climb every morning, and it is less than 1km away from my house. On a full charge, I can't go faster than 80km/h up this hill. Heck, I can't go faster than 80 on the flat road leading up to that hill either. And after cresting that hill, I can pull a u-turn and go back down it and still only go 80 with the throttle wide open. This hill is pretty big, and I'm pretty sure that if I shut the bike off completely and just gave it a push that I would go in excess of 80 using only gravity. But it doesn't do this; it limits my speed to 80 while I'm going down a huge hill. That makes no sense to me! Surely that's a sign of something limiting my speed when I can't even free-wheel.

I'll start by replacing the Magura throttle, since this one was a little buggy when I first got it. If that doesn't fix it, then maybe it really is the battery pack. I know that replacements won't be available, but I would pull the pack out and rebuild it using the nissan leaf cells. I've seen some posts about that working out pretty well. I definitely won't get any help from Zero, as there are no dealers around here anyways, and when I email them directly for simple questions like "what's the torque spec for this?", I get no response.

I tolerated this low speed for that one month of using it, but I can't get to work without using a highway, so I need this bike to go faster. It should go faster.

I'll give the new speedometer formula a go in the spring. Too cold (and too much snow) to do anything with it now.

The main problem I was having is that I can never go faster than 80km/h regardless of my battery charge level, ambient temperature, motor temperature, or throttle position. I could hop on the bike with a full charge and rip the throttle wide open and it would still only go 80km/h.

It's a perplexing problem, but similar to the speedometer issue in the way that I can't really do anything about it right now until the snow melts.

Thanks for the suggestions though! I'll eventually get the chance to experiment and then I'll report back.

More recent developments.

I got the serial to USB cable and connected to my Alltrax controller to adjust the max amp output. When I got into the menu's I found that it was set at 90%, but after doing some searching on this site, I found that the stock setting is supposed to be 90%. I also learned that it doesn't really matter what the settings are in the controller because it's all actually controlled by the MBB. Now I need to build a cable to plug into that and try to learn what to do to alter those settings because I'm still only getting a top speed of about 90km/h.

I tried adjusting the speedometer to the 0750 figure that was suggested and the result was when I was traveling at what felt like 80km/h, the gauges were maxed out at 120km/h and blinking at me. Clearly not the right setting. I put it back to the 0515 setting I had previously set.

And my throttle is still out of wack. Twisting it from 0 to halfway does the whole speed range, and anything over halfway does nothing. Again, this might be something I can fix in the MBB settings, or maybe I just need to try another twist throttle.

Clearly this is an old thread, but I'm looking for the OEM alltrax settings for the 2011 DS. Seems like it should be in the first post, but there's no info there. Maybe it was photos that are no longer linked?

Anyone have the OEM setting info?

According to the manual, this bike came with a 28 : 200 tooth belt sprockets. If the sprocket sizes are what I'm supposed to enter into the speedometer menu, then I would need one more space for a 5th digit. I only have space for 4 digits, so not sure how that would work. I've resorted to playing with the numbers and judging how traffic is reacting around me. I think I have it close. I should probably get a friend to drive beside me to confirm with the speedo in their vehicle.

Don, I'll try taking some readings from the charger and battery and see what it's spitting out. I don't really have the need to charge it any faster than the standard 4 hours, but if my readings are off I'll be sure to get a new charger. Thanks for the tip about AF1!

I was using a digital multimeter for testing the throttle potentiometer resistance. I do have an old timers analog one, but it's a confusing mess to use. I ended up using some Deoxit spray, and gave the pot a squirt and rotated it back and forth a zillion times. The readings are waaaay better now, and the throttle has better response. It might be fixed? Before, when I was driving and trying to hold a speed, the bike would kind of surge or lurch. It's better now, but still does it. I have to really pay attention to notice it though, so it's much more subtle. I should probably just get a new throttle to be safe, but I'll see how it goes.

A new developement regarding my top speed; I contacted the previous owner and asked him about how the bike seemed to limit my top speed. He told me that he had to replace the Alltrax motor controller last year and he programmed it to have reduced max amps so that it wouldn't burn out this controller like it did the last. So that explains that! I just need to get me a serial to USB cable, download the software, change that back to stock settings and everything should be tickity-boo!

Here's the gauges

Hi everyone, new member here! I joined this forum because I just got a 2011 Zero DS last week! The test ride before purchasing went great, but now that I’ve been using it for a week, I’ve found a few quirks that I could use help solving.

1. I can’t get a 100% charge. The charger never shows the green LED. I get the yellow 80% LED flashing, which supposedly means the charger and BMS are balancing, or that the BMS is cutting off the charge because 1 or more cells have reached capacity (at least, that’s what the manual says). I don’t understand why the BMS would cut off the charge if some cells are at capacity while others are not. Is it not the whole purpose of the BMS to balance the cells? How can it ever achieve full charge if it cuts off when 1 cell is fully charged but the rest aren’t?
Or is this just a sign of a failing battery pack?

2. I’m not sure how these twist throttles are meant to behave, but mine seems off. The total rotation range is 90 degrees, but I can only use about 15 degrees of rotation to go from a stop to full speed, then I have to try and find micro degrees between the extremes to cruise at a slower speed like 70kmh. Twisting all the way open doesn’t make the bike go any faster than twisting a tiny bit. Almost seems like my top speed is being limited. If I go up a slight incline the bike starts to struggle and slow down, but I can't give it any more juice because further twisting of the throttle doesn't give me more power or speed. I think the top speed is currently around 85kph, but I can’t be sure because of problem 3...

3. Speedometer seems way off. Either everyone around me in their vehicles has decided to go 100kph in an 80 zone, or my speedometer is incorrect. Sure didn’t feel like I was going 100. It looks like the speedometer resets itself during the start-up boot sequence, so I would think it's properly calibrated each time the bike is turned on, so what would throw this off?

Sorry for the long post. I'll likely have more questions about other issues too, but I'd like to find solutions to these larger issues first.

Any help is appreciated!