Zero

[twodogs]

Ok first let me say that I have been saving my pennies to buy a v85tt for a while and can do it but work has been a real pain in the #%^"&  I'm only 5 miles from work now and it would not work to buy a guzzi and ride that short of a distance, so I have sold all my ice bikes in the last couple of years and have been bikeless till I'm done with work, I do 12 to 15 hr days so taking the long way around just don't work at the moment, so about 2 months ago a multi brand bike shop started selling zeros which is a shade over 100 miles from me compared to over 200 plus miles to a Guzzi dealer. So I went and test road a 2021 SR like another post that just came up, his is a 15 model, and I brought it home, it has 2 years warranty plus 5 on the battery, mine has they think 70 HP and 116 ft. Pounds of torque from the get go in sport mode it goes like stink. I only have 106 miles on it at the moment because the weather has sucked the last 2 weeks but I will have it ready next spring, it will work till I retire then I will buy another ice bike for the longer hauls, what gets my goat is all the nay sayers and Harley bashers (live wire) that have never road a electric bike pipe right up and cry about the expense and the life of the charge of the battery and how far they can go when most riders average only 35 miles from home per trip, I'm tired and have to get up at 3:30 and go back to work so for now my rant is over, but let me tell you till you have rode one they are a blast, it will work for me just fine for now 
Twodogs
P.S. I started riding in 63 when I was 5 yrs old, you do the math.

[inditx]

I am a fan of Zero bikes especially for around town.
A hoot and you can actually hear things like birds and such. 
inditx

[AJ Huff]

Two Dogs,

Where'd you buy a Zero in Iowa? I want to see one in person. I'm all in for a Zero in my future too.

-AJ

[rschrum]

Friend of mine in DesMoines has 2, one road and one off road. 35,000 for the pair. Made money the old fashion way, inherited it.

[alanp]

Awesome, sounds perfect.p for you.  I don't have an electric bike but I have been driving an all electric Chevy Bolt for three years. I will never buy another ICE car.  Electric is profoundly better. 

[Lannis]

I'd do all sorts of different things that don't work for me now if I only lived 5 miles from work.   I'd probably be bicycling every day like I did when I lived 10 miles from work in Atlanta.   A nice used classic steel road bike costs less than $1000.

Lannis

[wymple]

Awesome, sounds perfect.p for you.  I don't have an electric bike but I have been driving an all electric Chevy Bolt for three years. I will never buy another ICE car.  Electric is profoundly better.

 

I'm not a fan of the electric only stuff. But my daughter has a Volt and that is seriously efficient. Her daily routine covers about 35-40 miles and she doubts using a quart of gas in a week. It charges on a 110 circuit. She takes a road trip down this way once in a while just to get the gas refreshed. Amazing. The range is limited, but even when the gas kicks in it still gets 35 mpg. I prefer not to run up against an empty charge with no backup. My nephew used a Nissan Leaf to commute to work, round trip 40 miles, and in the winter he got caught short a couple of times. You can't recharge on the side of the road, so it involves a tow truck or in his case, a relative with a trailer. He got rid of it.

[usedtobefast]

I'm very interested in going electric, both for moto and car. 

Several years back a friend leased an all electric Fiat ... guess they were not popular so his monthly lease was very cheap, like $120-$150/month.  He would drive it to work, put it on the free charger at work, then drive it home.  He did that for 3 years ... zero maintenance, zero for charging.

Currently for cars, I'm most interested in the Hyundai Kona.  Chevy Bolt 2nd.  Tesla Model 3, 3rd.  We bought a new Honda Accord in 2018, base model, was $20K and gets 28 mpg just driving around and 36-38 mpg on the highway ... kind of hard to step up to a $38K - $44K electric car ... $18K-$22K buys a lot of gas!!!   

For motorcycles, my normal ride is 60-150 mile day rides, so for most I would have to alter my trip with an electric moto. 

I've read a bit about the Eregenica bikes and they sound pretty cool.  But lots of money and range isn't where I need (want) it yet. 

[twodogs]

Sorry AJ that I have not gotten back to you, I got the bike at struthers brothers north of the HD on 2nd. They just picked up the brand about 3 months ago, I think they only have the Dr and srs left unless they got some more in. I test road the dr, it's a 20 model and they knocked off a thousand bucks, I went with the sr because my wife can touch the ground easier than the dr. Lannis I thought about a bicycle but at the end of a long day beating myself up in a dump truck the last thing I want to do is ride a bicycle, plus I have not rode one in 50 years, but I got the wife a fat tire bike for her to exercise on and I will get me one soon to, so maybe one day I'll ride it to work.
Bruce

[steven c]

 Used Live wires (well one) are showing up for thousands less. Still a lot of bucks.
https://www.bike-urious.com/380-miles-2020-harley-davidson-livewire/?utm_source=wysija&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyemail

[twodogs]

[twodogs]

The pics make it look pink but it's red and black.

[Tusayan]

Several years back a friend leased an all electric Fiat ... guess they were not popular so his monthly lease was very cheap, like $120-$150/month.  He would drive it to work, put it on the free charger at work, then drive it home.  He did that for 3 years ... zero maintenance, zero for charging.

A friend of mine took that one step further and bought one of those Fiat EVs off lease, for $9K (I think that’s about 25% of new MSRP)  His other ride is a F350 truck, and his wife has a real car so he needed only a single purpose commuting car. It’s still doing the job of being a third car - which at $9K market value just about makes sense versus buying fuel for an F350 but it was the huge EV depreciation that made it so, not the motive power.  The gasoline/tax cost for another small car would’ve been low for his commute.

I settled on using a car for my commute years ago, the current car cost new $22K out the door, annual fuel cost is $300 and the climate control works well.  I use motorcycles for fun, because they are better at fun.

[AJ Huff]

Sorry AJ that I have not gotten back to you, I got the bike at struthers brothers north of the HD on 2nd.  <snip>
Bruce

Cool. When this creeping crud is over I'll head over to DM and check them out.

Thanks!
-AJ

[Moparnut72]

I was given a Zero to ride while my V7 was getting it's first paid service. I had a blast on it. Unbelievable how much power it had at highway speeds, all speeds for that matter. The seat was terrible on the model I rode.  Sloped forward pretty badly.. Don't know which model that was though.
kk

[danomar]

I was ready to buy a new Zero SR/S but the local dealer blew the deal. I still want an electric bike but am not crushed by missing out. The latest Zeros (SR/F and SR/S) are very close to regular bikes, but they are still a little heavy and range is still an issue. The Zero SR is a super nice bike, too, and is lighter and nearly as fun, but still rides more like a toy to me than the bigger models.

Electric bikes are super fun to ride. Aside from the instant acceleration and gobs of torque, the lack of vibration and absolute quiet make me focus on the ride more than the bike. I look forward to one day owning one.

[Darren Williams]

Test rode a Zero a few years ago. I would really like a SR/S to commute on. Can't justify the costs or make space in the garage without unloading a couple other bikes I have now. Maybe some day, but by then I might be retired with no commute.

[Gliderjohn]

From Darren Williams:

Maybe some day, but by then I might be retired with no commute.

Sure you will. To the local coffee and donut shop each morning. 
GliderJohn

[Kiwi_Roy]

I'm still waiting to see how the hidden on road costs compare
What is the cost of insurance and tax compared to say a V7?

[twodogs]

I think the registration costs was a little higher but I'm not positive on that one, I went with progressive insurance and for full coverage the burgman and sr came to 333 a year, I didn't think that was to bad.
Bruce

[Darren Williams]

From Darren Williams:Sure you will. To the local coffee and donut shop each morning. 
GliderJohn

Then the ride might be in the back of my truck to do day rides in the Ozarks. Well short day rides anyway. 

[danomar]

What is the cost of insurance and tax compared to say a V7?

I know that, in Georgia, a new SR/S maxes out the insurance premium for me—with a long-time Progressive policy, mid 50s age, and no accidents or bad driving record. The most expensive bike I insure costs me approximately $400 per year, but the Zero would have been more than double that.

I am fairly sure the premium is so high because (A) insurers still have little data on Zeros (I could not get a VIN-specific quote for any Zero) and (B) they are still unknown as a liability. The cost for a new or used Zero SR was the same, funny enough.

I still want one.

[twowheeladdict]

Congrats!  I haven't ridden a zero yet, but have test ridden the livewire twice and am infatuated with it. 

My dual sport ride on Sunday was a shy under 80 miles of fun on the Himalayan.  I could see having an electric bike one day.