 |
By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
I wrote this after riding a Zero last year.
I'm old school. I've spent my working career, 43 years, trying to improve the performance of the internal combustion engine, both 2 and 4 stroke. Trying to make them stronger, more reliable, more powerful, more fuel efficient, or all of the above. Not all of them always possible, at least not all at the same time.
Well, today, I stepped into the future, or more accurately, rode into the future. A local motorcycle dealer had a display of electric bikes made by Zero Motorcycles and test rides were on offer. Why would I want to get involved? After all, that electric bike is going to be doing me out of work. I'll surely be relegated to changing tyres, pads and fork seals. Apart from the odd wiring problem.
I didn't take too much convincing though and took up the offer of a ride on the new model, 140 ft/lbs of torque and 220kg of weight. Several performance modes but I was given Sport mode, max everything but minimum regeneration or "engine" braking.
Manoeuvring around and pulling away from the dealership car park revealed that the bike rolled from a standstill easily, smoothly and jerk free, more smoothly and jerk free than many injected bikes I've ridden. And out on the road the power kept coming, linearly, with more throttle opening angle was more acceleration, just a seamless push. Impressive, very impressive.
What you have to get your head around though is not using the clutch to engage drive to pull away or to changing gear. There is no clutch lever. And you also have to get used to not shifting gear with your left foot. There is no shift lever. I suppose it's like riding a twist'n'go scooter and that's how you have to approach it.
The 220kg? So are many sport tourers. Once rolling it didn't feel that heavy, it steered, turned, rode the bumps, stopped and was comfortable. With the electric motor front pulley on the pivot point of the swing arm the chassis attitude didn't unduly or radically change, on and off throttle.
The looks? Well this particular model wasn't too futuristic, often for me a problem. Designers please don't change the propulsion method AND the looks at the same time. And also if the looks do change don't make it too Tron, too Falcorustyco. One change at a time please.
The dashboard was clear, informative and the switch gear just like a normal bike, including a kill switch. But with the addition of a mode shift button just above the turn signal switch. I investigated and tried Rain as well as Sport, there was a real difference. And modes can even be programmed by the rider, tailored to your own needs.
And it's quiet! Only a small amount of motor whine which didn't seem to get louder whatever the throttle opening or bike speed. And for me that's the main problem. It's quiet! Too quiet! It's too ..... well, clinical, digital.
For me part of the thrill of riding a motorcycle is the engine and exhaust noise, the induction roar, rattling carburettor slides, a primary gear and gearbox whine that rises and falls with engine revs or a gear change. Those little mechanical rattles and clicks from tappets or camshafts or injectors. Even the ticking from, in particular, an air-cooled engine cooling down at the end of a ride. Vibrations too. They matter.
Maybe here is the answer. Hang a fake exhaust on it that's really a loudspeaker. And let me download to my iPod from the internet a 'map' of engine noises. And let this bike and my iPod talk to each other and select and play the sound map according to either the selected performance mode, my style of riding or maybe let me choose my own noise map depending on how I feel. And gearchange noise can be part of that, computed from the road speed and throttle opening.
That way I can be riding a 6 cylinder Honda, a 3 cylinder two stroke Kawasaki, a square four RG500 Suzuki, road or race, maybe an RD400 or a TZ250. Or even a ZX10R, or a Monster or a Panigale, a Manx Norton or an MV-3. Maybe my own Triumph 1050 Speed Triple. Or maybe all of them on the same journey. That may help make electric motorcycles more acceptable to us traditional motorcyclists.
Or maybe not. For how do we replicate that oil smell, the fuel vapour, warm grease, that hot engine smell? And soul. Motorcycles have soul. They live. This one for all it's perfection was .... well, too perfect, too digital, I didn't feel it had a soul. Sure it moved me, rapidly, but it didn't MOVE me, we didn't connect, it didn't stir my soul. It's maybe why music enthusiasts are turning back to vinyl. For that more complete sound and all those little imperfections. For life. For soul. |
Wouldn't it be a safety issue too?
They are not for everyone though. I fully understood the limitations before buying it, but as a gadget freak I really wanted it. I did a longish ride the other week of 170 miles and recharged once. It needs a different mindset and you have to plan your routes accordingly. But every week there are more and more chargers opening up. 