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[JaimeC]

Just found out that, in their INFINITE wisdom, instead of having their demo fleet in Lake George for the Americade (where they could potentially attract tens of THOUSANDS of potential demo riders) they instead will be more than 200 miles south of that event at a local dealer on Long Island. Seriously... what the HELL are their marketing people thinking???

[TheRan]

I'd never heard of it before, but looking it up it doesn't really seem like Zero's sort of thing (or any electric bike company tbh). I'm seeing a lot of big loud Harleys with fairings and other similar bikes with owners who do (or like to give the impression that they do) trips of hundreds of miles. Sure there might be tens of thousands of people there, but a high percentage would probably just laugh at a silly little electric bike that doesn't make any noise and can't even go from one town to the next. At least with the dealer event they know that the people are there because it's actually what they're interested in.

[JaimeC]

I can't believe you've never heard of the Americade but if you live outside the US I guess that's not surprising.  It used to be called "Aspencade" and was held in Colorado up until it was moved to Lake George, NY. That first year (1985) they still called it "Aspencade" despite there not being any aspens in the Adirondacks. In 1986 it was changed to "Americade" to reflect the change of venue and the fact that it had been dubbed the American Motorcyclists Associations "National Rally" (a title it held for years until the AMA decided to grant that title to other events in later years).

The crowd you mentioned are a later development... people who used Americade as a staging ground before heading off into New Hampshire for Laconia Bike Week. In the early days it wasn't like that at all; in fact the bar owners were disappointed that most of the participants didn't drink. Restaurants, on the other hand, did a BANG UP business. In any event the local and State police are usually there in large numbers enforcing local noise ordinances so its gotten better in recent years. The fact that the event is now TWO weeks before Laconia (as opposed to the one week it used to be) also discourages "that crowd" from using it as a staging area; they're skipping Americade altogether and just going up to New Hampshire now.

The year Zero was there they had quite a queue for demo rides. One person in the Zero Facebook group said he'd never heard of Zero until he saw them at the Americade and one ride on the SR/S was enough to convince him to buy one for himself.

For years before a local Zero dealer brought bikes for demos and the Zero factory just had a static display. Unfortunately, they weren't at the main TourExpo; they were at a different site and you had to look for them. Zero only brought demos that one year mentioned earlier. I was surprised the year they introduced the DSR/X that they only brought static display models and didn't have demos.

Myself, I use Americade and their demo rides as an opportunity to try out bikes I wouldn't normally consider. As such, I've ridden some funky, weird-ass choppers, some trikes, and other models. It was a demo ride on a Suzuki Burgman YEARS ago that convinced me a Maxi Scooter would work in my garage. I've never owned a Burgman but I've had Yamaha and BMW Maxi Scooters since.

In fact, the primary reason MOST people go to Americade is for the demo rides, unlike events such as Daytona, Sturgis or Laconia.  By skipping it, Zero is missing out on a big opportunity to attract riders who might never have considered an electric motorcycle or have even HEARD of Zero.

[Specter]

Last i heard they were moving most their stuff to India and trying to basically divest from the American market to begin with, which might be why they are not marketing at the moped festival.  Another reason could be, as you said, people just used it to test ride stuff they never seen before and have fun, then go buy something else.  In their eyes it may not have been worth all the money and time just to appease some tire kickers, especially when you look at the current market for e bikes and how 'events' like that really love to sock it to vendors.

Aaron

[mdjak1]

I suspect the main reasons why Zero is conducting demos at dealers rather than big events like that is cost.   Shows like that charge exhibitors plenty of money.   Plus you have to cost of having lots of staff on hand to conduct the demo rides safely for the entire event duration.   Whereas at a dealer demo, the dealer is probably providing the parking lot for free.  They have their own staff helping out.  For Zero, they may also provide electricity for charging. (something an event at a fairground might not have or charge a lot extra for).

Zero isn't a large company with tons of resources.   They don't sell hundreds or even probably tens of thousands of bikes per year.  And frankly, the motorcycle market is currently in a deep slump.

[Protonus]

I live in NY (Rochester), I started and admin the largest motorcycle group around here ("Life on two Wheels - Rocmoto") with over 10k members, and I don't know a single person going to Americade.  In fact I forgot it even still exists it's been so long since I last heard it mentioned.  I have friends that go to Sturgis every year; others that ride cross country every year, and none of them have been to Americade despite it not being that far from us.   I just searched the group to see if anyone is even talking about it - and I don't see a single post in the past 15 years the group has existed that mentions Americade by name.  To say Americade is dead to young riders and sport bike riders would be an understatement from what I'm seeing.  Zero attracts a very specific rider; and that rider is not the sort of person that would go to Americade.  In fact at most traditional motorcycle events - that's where you'll find the people most UNLIKELY to buy a Zero.  Demo days don't change anyones mind that doens't take a ride. 

[Richard230]

Does Zero even have a consumer marketing department? 

[JaimeC]

I live in NY (Rochester), I started and admin the largest motorcycle group around here ("Life on two Wheels - Rocmoto") with over 10k members, and I don't know a single person going to Americade.  In fact I forgot it even still exists it's been so long since I last heard it mentioned.

That's a damned shame. Other than the pandemic years it's been held in Lake George since 1983 (there was one year it was in Queensbury because the organizer was fighting with the town). There is no better place to demo ride so many different brands of motorcycles and the Adirondack mountains are absolutely breathtaking. There is also no bigger collection of vendors in one area that I've ever seen in one spot either. I've been to the "Big Three" (four if you want to include Myrtle Beach) and I'll stand by that opinion.  The other rallies are all about seeing and being seen.  For me, Americade is all about the shopping. It's a great way to kick off the riding season.