In the world of motorcycling the motard is a bike for crazies -- not packing much power but offering plenty of grunt for wheelies and other urban antics, making them quite popular amongst those who ride the city streets. They're typically modified off-roaders, as is the case with Zero X's new Zero S. The company took its
electric dirtbike, added some street-friendly tires, tweaked the suspension, and doubled the battery life to offer 60 miles to a charge despite keeping the weight down to just 225 pounds. While a zero-to-60 time of five seconds won't win any awards from two-wheeled aficionados, that's more than quick enough to ensure victory at stoplights. A top speed of just 60 mph means highways are to be avoided, but they're no fun anyway. You can throw your leg over your own later this month for $9,950, or catch a video of this near-silent screamer right now after the break.
posted April 8th 2009 10:03AM
But Ducatis are so...you know, common.
Is it just me? or is the rider on in the picture turning left on a right turn? The picture just looks wrong...
Yeah, I know, they're electric, they're just "different".
The picture looks fake to me (at least partially) look at the sky.
It little to pricey... $5000 yeah I would consider it. The Honda CBR125R8 is by far cheaper (about $3500 Canadian right now).
This lead pic is such a bad Photoshop job..........the bike rider is leaning on the wrong side for the corner apex!!!! Funny!!!
Learn more about supermotos.
On a bike like that at road speeds that's how you corner. You keep your body relatively straight and push the bike down under you. It's a function of the bike being so much higher than a traditional sportsbike.
Who is going to buy an electric bike that costs ten grand?????????
A typical road ready supermoto costs around $7k so it's not too far off.
@jkern you know, they put rumble strips on the outside of corners too ... like, you know, where you'd go after making it through the turn.
Why would anyone spend almost $10,000 for this thing, when one can buy the small engine Nissan Versa for the same price. Yeah, I like motor bikes, everything from a bicycle with a small, attached motor, to the big Honda's with big displacement, but price is important.
Near Silent? Greeeeeat Idea... specially in traffic. The title should read... 'No One Will Hear You DIE'.
The non-riding comments are laughable, 2k for a bike? Maybe a used ninja 250. If you crash you die knowing you were trying to save the world? WTF? As opposed to driving cars? Dont ride like a noob and you wont crash. I have logged over 300k miles on bikes in the last 10 years with the only ONE incident being on the track which resulted in a bit of a scratched fairing not even breaking anything on the bike or me. I wear riding gear as a rule none the less and have gotten so tired of the Whaaaaaaambulance rollingout everytime somebody mentions a motorcycle in an article or conversation about somefriend of of a distant thrid cousin that had a bad experince on a bike and got killed. Yeah it happens sometimes, but there are very few incidents that if the rider had better training, wore riding gear, or was not riding above their level the whole thing could of been avoided. Its just funny the "Comptards" rollout to talk about something of which they no nothing about. Maybe all you whiners should climb in the Whaaaaaambulamnce and let it drive you over some place for some milk toast and give you a bittie to put you to sleep.
I couldnt agree more @Zeit. Most also don't know how fuel efficient motorcycles are to begin with.
You got my vote.
Noise has nothing to do with noticing a motorcycle. Most motorcycle accidents are caused by cars pulling out in front of them. Unless the bike is illegally loud you will not hear it approaching just like you don't hear an approaching freight train.
I'm confused...It will hit 60 in 5 seconds but the top speed IS 60? So what happens if you try for that 5 second 0-60 time and then hit 60...your body gets thrown forward like a sling shot with the momentum while the bike remains at 60?!?! I can't wait to see a rider launch this way!
Not likely to happen.
Its top speed will either be drag limited, or electronically governed.
If it's the former, acceleration will decrease as your speed increases (drag increases with the square of velocity). So, you'll be accelerating much faster at, say, 15 mph than you will at 58 mpg. By the time you hit your drag-limited top end, you'll just gently stop accelerating - no flinging involved.
If it's the latter, just remember that with the power levels on hand here, the acceleration won't exactly be *violent*. So, if the manufacturer chose to limit top speed by suddenly clamping the motor's RPMs at whatever equates to 60 mph in top gear, again you would just stop accelerating (albeit more abruptly), and hold that speed. Even if you accelerated as hard as you could, then hit the kill switch and let the motor freewheel, you'd just slow down without getting launched over the bar.
If its a "dog-leg or Chicane" you transition from one lean angle to the other quickly. Flick left, flick right then straight up and head to next corner.
And it looks like track on the other side so I'm assuming he's leaning to take that left turn and come back around?
It could be either really, not know the track they are on its hard to say. He could be exiting a tighter corner straightening up, he could be double apexing a larger radius turn(think clover leaf) or in the case of getting a great lighting shot the whole thing is just a pass by shot for the camera.
Loud pipes saves lives is a misnomer; just like it has been mentioned, the noise is directed behind you. Anyone w/ marginal experience on bikes all ready knows this.
Loud pipes = SKWID.
@Digdug EXACTLY!!!!!!!!
sell it at best buy for $200
You want "Geek Squad" working on something that you ride? Now thats truly a death wish in my book!
1. Geek squad does auto-electronic installations a lot.
2. Geek squad should ride these (at least in regions with good year round climates). It would get Best buy a lot of publicity on the "green" topic, and would just be kinda cool...
Loud pipes save lives....
Electric bikes save... um.... the enviroment?
Just like loud pipes, you can make loud noises with your mouth to accompany your useful hand gestures, such as rude words, at idiot drivers. Just like loud pipes, the only drivers that can hear you above their own engines will be other electrics and Priuses at stop signs. I've seen Harleys biffed by trucks but everyone notices my street kitted Zero X in double lane commuting and often asks WTF just blew them away at the last light change the prior block, assuming that there's a very long red light at the end of the next block.
Don't motorcycles already get great gas mileage? Last time I checked even sporty bikes are capable of 50+ mpg. It's a neat idea but how dose this make any sense economically?