Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Is there a motocross or dual sport version of this bike? Trail riding might be a more interesting application for an e-bike. Great torque at all revs, plus a quiet engine, would be appreciated on a trail. As long as the trail isn't much over, say, 100 miles start to finish.

snakedoctEr726 wrote:Ok. Even in the context of commuter bikes, it's still a flat out fail because it costs literally 4x as much as a purpose built commuter bike should. If it's a commuter bike, where are the heated grips? Where's the windscreen? Where are the luggage options?

Besides, who only uses their bike for commuting and nothing else?

How so? Heated grips? Got those on the Trophy, never used them, good pair of thermal gloves has done the trick for me ever since I started riding. Windshield, ok but not required. Luggage, again nice to have, but not really needed.

Only my last two bike had full fairings, windshields, and luggage, and only the Trophy has heated grips, never really needed any of those before. Even my old courier bikes did not have any of those options, made do with a bag and bungee cord to tie down bigger packages on to my saddle or rear carrier rack if I had one.

And yes the up front cost is high, however given the cost of a litre of gas here in BC, recharging this bike would only cost a fraction of filling my Trophy's tank or even that of a smaller bike. Once you average out the cost per kilometre or mile over the lifetime of the bike, I'd bet it would close to that of a gas powered machine.

Grey Thumper wrote:Is there a motocross or dual sport version of this bike? Trail riding might be a more interesting application for an e-bike. Great torque at all revs, plus a quiet engine, would be appreciated on a trail. As long as the trail isn't much over, say, 100 miles start to finish.

This is the dual sport version, that's the DS in the DSR of the model name...

That's why the guy in the picture is wearing one of those weird-"O Ring" motocross helmets.

faded sun wrote:This is the dual sport version, that's the DS in the DSR of the model name...

That's why the guy in the picture is wearing one of those weird-"O Ring" motocross helmets.

I stand corrected. Wheels seem kinda flimsy looking though. Unless the whole dual sport aspect of it is more of a styling thing and this bike wasn't meant to be taken off pavement?

ceemes wrote:

snakedoctEr726 wrote:

It's ok if you prefer nakeds without any creature comforts, but none of that is an argument supporting the DSR as a commuter. I'll change my vote from fail to uncool when Zero brings this machine to market for about $5-6k.

ceemes wrote:
And yes the up front cost is high, however given the cost of a litre of gas here in BC, recharging this bike would only cost a fraction of filling my Trophy's tank or even that of a smaller bike. Once you average out the cost per kilometre or mile over the lifetime of the bike, I'd bet it would close to that of a gas powered machine.

Did you figure charging times into that calculation? My time is worth a small fortune at my age, waiting for the bike to charge, doesn't quite figure into my life...

Idea is cool, and looks pretty neat. Tech wise and price point though, not really doing it for me. What's the point of it looking like it can carve if it's a commuter?

Still, I'll go cool just in hopes it'll get better.

dr_bar wrote:

ceemes wrote:
And yes the up front cost is high, however given the cost of a litre of gas here in BC, recharging this bike would only cost a fraction of filling my Trophy's tank or even that of a smaller bike. Once you average out the cost per kilometre or mile over the lifetime of the bike, I'd bet it would close to that of a gas powered machine.

Did you figure charging times into that calculation? My time is worth a small fortune at my age, waiting for the bike to charge, doesn't quite figure into my life...

As a commuting bike yes, recharge times were taken into consideration, the key word is commuting, or commute. Depending on the distance you are commuting from home to work and back, you may just need to recharge when you get home, by the time you are ready to go back to work your bike should be ready to go, and many workplaces now have recharging points in their parking lots.

NorthernPete wrote:Idea is cool, and looks pretty neat. Tech wise and price point though, not really doing it for me. What's the point of it looking like it can carve if it's a commuter?

Still, I'll go cool just in hopes it'll get better.

What the point of small economy cars looking like they can do 200 MPH and zero to 60 in under 3 seconds, when in reality they are lucky to top 100 MPH and get to 60 in under 10 seconds? Aesthetics pure and simple mixed with equal parts of vanity and ego. People like owning things that look flashy and pretty because they believe it makes them look flashy and pretty. It basic marketing 101, push the sexiness of an item to sell said item.

I'm not done knocking this thing yet.

Picture this. You ride your DSR to work and back every day, then on the weekend your friends call and say "Hey buddy, want to come ride with us?" Then because you spent $18k on a bike with no range you are forced to reply "Well I want to, but I can only come on 1/4 of the ride you have planned, then I have to spend between 2 and 10 hours tied to an outlet to recharge." Does that sound like fun to you guys?

Let's talk performance. The DSR produces 106 ft-lbs of torque and it can do 0-60 in 4.5 seconds. My k1300s makes 103 ft-lbs, and it's capable of 0-60 in about 3 seconds. My K-bike also weighs 140lbs MORE than the DSR. The range figures published by Zero are almost certainly taken while hypermiling the bike and riding in the most boring and conservative way. If you were to ride one is a fast/fun way, I would expect to see the range decrease by anywhere from 10% to 50%.

The electric motorcycle is not a bad idea at all. Electric motors are interesting because they offer peak torque at any RPM, and they're way simpler than internal combustion engines. The battery powered motorcycle is a terrible idea for all the reasons I've listed in this thread. The technology just isn't there yet. I'm holding out for the hydrogen fuel cell and the supporting infrastructure. I'll freely admit that liquid hydrogen is difficult to get, but so is drilling holes hundreds of feet deep in the damn ocean and collecting oil. Humans are capable of solving bigger problems.