Sliding a motorcycle into a corner is one of life’s great pleasures. Do it right and it feels like surfing or wakeboarding, the world going by at 45-degrees with the engine noise providing a solid back-up to the concerto of squealing rubber.
Sliding an electric Zero FXS is a different matter. There’s still tire noise by the bucket load, but the thump and bang of a traditional single-cylinder dirt bike engine is replaced by a whirring, almost aircraft-like squeal. It’s a strange sensation.
There’s also no gearbox and no clutch. The slide is initiated purely on suspension pitch and braking power, and, in that way, it’s almost like when you were a kid and you used to lock up the rear brake and skid to a stop. Riding like this is untamed good fun. Skids and wheelies are what made me interested in bikes 30 years ago. It’s good to see some things never change.
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Photography by Kevin Wing
Scott Valley’s Zero Motorcycles has been leading the electric motorcycle game for a decade now. As the largest mass-produced electric motorcycle manufacturer (discounting Polaris, who’s Brammo concern is part of a wider conglomerate), Zero has enjoyed solid year-on-year growth as their products get better and their customers become more plentiful. I remember the first time I rode a Zero back in 2010 in Sydney. It was awful. The weight felt like it was sitting on top of where a traditional gas tank would sit, its balance was like a drunken clown and the range was terrible. Six years is a long time between drinks in motorcycle manufacturing, and I was pleased to see by the time I rode a Zero SR last year in California they had vastly improved in terms of power and torque, suspension quality, handling—everywhere that mattered.
Now, with their app well and truly sorted, these bikes have become genuine alternatives to petrol power. The bikes are tuneable via your phone, meaning you can dial in and out as much engine/regenerative braking as you like, and check all the main parameters like charge time, average watts per mile, time until fully charged, etc. They are still some ways off in terms of overall charge times—I don’t think these bikes will become fully accepted until they are able to be charged at the speed of filling a tank of gas—but battery and charging tech is moving at such a pace it wouldn’t surprise me if in five to 10 years this is the case and Zero goes from big to absolutely huge. Remember, these bikes are still very new. How long has the internal combustion engine been around?
I rode the Zero FXS around Costa Mesa in California for a couple of months and for bar hopping or hitting the beach, this thing was awesome. Plenty of immediate torque, an extremely light and nimble chassis, in that instance of short runs from home the FXS was very hard to top.
Translate that to the highway, and it was a different matter. I sucked through nearly an entire charge going from work to home on the 55/91 freeways while in ECO mode, and as I was limited to 70 mph, that made for some, err, interesting moments. Kinda felt like rocking up to a paintball match with a butter knife. I could have taken it out of ECO and gone Sport, but I’d have sucked through the available juice faster and may not have made it home.
In the end, 27 miles got me home with 16 percent battery life left, and I wasn’t game to see if the Zero was like an iPhone in that once power gets below 20 percent, it starts draining faster and faster.
That wasn’t the right instance to test the Zero FXS in. Besides, there are other bikes like the Zero S and SR that fit that bill better. The FXS is a supermoto, so to test it in the right environment, we hit up Adams Motorsport Park in Riverside, California. This tiny point-and-shoot supermoto circuit highlighted just how much fun you can have with a Zero, albeit if you have a few extra power packs to play with as you’ll go through the juice pretty quickly if you’re on it.
We had the use of the ZF6.5 power pack that pumped out a claimed 70 lb-ft or torque and 44 horsepower, enough to get your jollies but not quite enough to scare you like a 450 dirt bike.
The torque, as with all electric bikes, is immediate. It’s well metered and easily controllable, meaning small throttle outputs when on the side of the tire don’t upset the chassis and allows for smooth and strong acceleration. The electric motor will begin to run out of puff when you start really winding it up in high rpm, but around the relative slow speed venue of Adams MP it’s not much of an issue as higher speeds are only attained for a split second.
On the brakes the Zero’s 41mm Showa inverted forks provide good feel and even on standard settings can take a bit of a pounding into the corner. These forks are fully adjustable so you can play around with them all day long if you like, the same for the rear shock. Matched to the Pirelli Rossi II rubber (not the new Rosso IIIs that have just been released), you get nice, predictable handling and once you’ve got some heat in there you can easily slide the bike around just on brakes and suspension alone.
I rammed the regenerative braking as high as it would go to help with the initial turn in of the slide, and as you can see from the attached video I was having a fair bit of fun getting the thing screeching into the corners!
The Zero FXS still has a bit of a playbike feel to it. The chassis is made from ultra-stiff aircraft grade aluminum and transmits plenty of suspension feel front and rear, giving you the confidence to push further and brake harder. It’s exceptionally slim, from the width of the seat to the panels where your knees sit, all of which makes the FXR a fun package to try and squeeze every last drop of performance from.
The limiting factor is the battery capacity. When you’re really giving it to it on the track, the available power begins to drop pretty quickly, and unless you have a power charger—or indeed a spare power pack—your day will be over all too quickly. A power pack will have you ready to rock from near flat to full charge in about two hours, whereas a normal charge will take eight hours. If you have a spare battery pack, the change is about five minutes, but not everyone who buys one of these bikes will have a spare pack!
Regardless of this problem, there’s no denying the Zero FXS is a blast to ride on a full charge and hot Pirellis on a supermoto track. These bikes are in their absolute infancy in terms of battery capacity and charge times, and as these packs become smaller and more powerful so too will we see more of these little weapons on the street—they already represent a good alternative to petrol power if you live and work in the city or ride only short distances with charging options at each destination.CN
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SPECIFICATIONS: 2016 Zero FXS |
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Engine: |
Z-Force 75-5 passively air-cooled, high efficiency, radial flux, interior permanent magnet, brushless motor |
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Controller: |
High efficiency, 420 amp, 3-phase brushless controller with regenerative deceleration |
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Horsepower: |
44 hp @ 3700 rpm |
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Torque: |
70 lb-ft |
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Chassis: |
Aluminum cradle |
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Front suspension |
41mm Showa inverted fork, fully adjustable |
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Rear suspension: |
Showa monoshock, fully adjustable |
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Front brake: |
J-Juan asymmetric dual-piston floating caliper, dual 320mm discs, Bosch Gen 9 ABS |
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Rear brake: |
J-Juan single piston floating caliper, 240mm disc, Bosch Gen 9 ABS |
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Front tire: |
Pirelli Diablo Rosso II 110/70-17 in. |
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Rear tire: |
Pirelli Diablo Rosso II 140/70-17 in. |
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Rake: |
24.4° |
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Trail: |
2.8 in. |
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Wheelbase: |
56 in. |
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Seat height: |
32.9 in. |
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Overall width: |
N/A |
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Overall length: |
N/A |
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Weight: |
293 lbs (curb, claimed). |
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Color: |
Black |
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MSRP: |
$10,990 (additional government incentives may be available) |
