Zero SR/S Review (2020) | Electric Motorcycles | Visordown.com

[@adnrider]

The best e bike you can buy today is the Lightning Ls-218... not cheap tho, but non of them are. Energica, Zero or Livewire also good options

[@rzu7120]

Is the Lightning even available?

[@r-saint]

Lightning is a scam (fraud). They delivered 0 (no) vehicles to anyone. Just try to find a single Lightning owner on youtube. There are none.

[@rzu7120]

@@r-saint It's the Elio of motorcycles.

[@Do.Christ]

They should cost less then a gas bike.

[@Enonymouse_]

Lightning looks great on paper but they really failed badly in areas that matter where the design is concerned. I was all about it when the company launched but after seeing it launch and diving through critical reviews of the design, I was left disappointed with it and the company's follow through. Zero and Enegica remain top of the heap for the foreseeable future. I'll be testing an SR/S this week, my last e-moto test was a DSR from Zero. Loved the bike but the ergos of the bike for a rider of my size weren't ideal.

[@sdcorrey]

I love how 90% of the comments on any electric motorcycle video are folks who feel the need to let us all know that "it's not for me".

[@rzu7120]

scott c Electric motorcycles are for me, really for me, really, really for me. There, feel better?

[@rocketrollsvlogs7625]

I have loved every electric bike I've road. It will be my next purchase.

[@mustafaalbarak9157]

total shit

[@CRPerformance1]

It's an excuse people use when they can't afford one.

[@Law-Enduring-Citizen]

Same shit when fuel injection came around.. new tech is always scrutinized by the loyalists.. I was one until I drove a Tesla and my buddys Zero.. That’s why I’m here, I had a shit eating grin the whole ride.. you literally feel like you’re gliding through the air because there is no vibration like a gas bike which constantly reminds you that you’re attached to a machine

[@evotrike]

Old school biker here 40+ years and OMG since test riding a srs iam hooked now owner of srf, sold all my ice bikes and i dont think any petrol bike cuts the mustard ,(once you go eleccy theres no turning back ) puts the fun back into riding motorcycles

[@dresdonfury]

Fantastic commuter bike that’ll turn heads but not for the wrong reasons. Bought a SR/S recently and have a few hundred miles of experience on it. It has touring package with panniers and top box. In short, this is a commuter bike. A really nice one. It’ll bang out fun miles on the highway but given regen only occurs when coasting or braking, it’s clear it’ll run out of juice rather quickly and cause undue range anxiety. I live 15 miles outside a city so, cruising in, it loses about 30% with regular sport bike riding (quick acceleration to pass others, hit very high speeds occasionally just because it’s fun, but otherwise set cruise control at 75MPH). So plan on the same on return trip unless you’re fine to hyper mile. But in the city is where it gets interesting... it barely loses any battery given the constant stop and go through city blocks. It’ll easily get over 120 miles per charge in pure urban setting with fairly reasonable operation.

[@bunberrier]

6:15 The estimated charge time is more accurate for lower charge targets. As the percent climbs into the 90s, current flow drops. The screen tells you how long it would take at the current rate, but doesnt seem to take into account that the last 10 percent or so of a full charge takes longer than the rest does.

[@F1ll1nTh3Blanks]

It looks like a really large faired naked/sport touring hybrid. Can't just be me.. Still, if it's nimble enough then despite lack of combustion noise and what not, it should be alright for a fine short-mediumish distance journey commuter.. If you can justify the price and charging time anyway.

[@AdamSuperAC]

Really impressed with Zero! Not so much HD Livewire, sadly here in Australia Zero pulled the pin back in late 2016. Pity, the price range was $23000 cheaper than Livewire, Here their $500000! Great Vid! Cheers.

[@RoadcraftNottingham]

Tried to follow your link to Zero's reply but got loads of adverts on your site and half the screen on my phone was just blank white and couldn't see their reply. Can you please post their reply in your description? Thanks

[@2004sadmanco]

“You’re gonna have to change the way you ride your motorcycle.” $20k price tag says maybe the manufacturer should understand the way most people ride... and it’s not 80 miles or less

[@TAD-9]

Only thing zero needs to do to rectify this problem is to give their bikes dc charging like the competition (+ a small boost in battery capacity) . The Energica already has this (bigger battery and fast charging) and can top up to 80% in about 20-30 minutes. I feel like Zero are getting lazy.

[@foxylady1048]

It will get better. The ICE engine has been though so many variations up till now. Give it a little more time and you will love it to bits. SOLID STATE hear we come.

[@andybucher452]

I love your real world no bull reviews, mate, but in this case I have to be fair: You planned to ride nearly one and a half times the (possibly optimistically) quoted range. And to be safe you didn't start with a full tank? If you compare your percentage battery used to your miles driven you pretty much did confirm their quoted range for a full 'tank'. Undoubtedly that range is still a lot worse and more painful to refill than our conventional bikes.

[@Alexander5R]

I laughed a bit when I see the key switch position indicator had "Ignition" on it.

[@annekecornee]

And it has normal bulb indicators... Changed that to LED immediately!

[@fetchstixRHD]

@@annekecornee: Wait, they weren't LEDs? I can't understand why any vehicle wouldn't come with LEDs, especially electric vehicles but also any petrol/diesel ones too. They're so much better in efficiency and brightness... Gotta say with regards to the OP I also find "ignition" or "gas" to be amusing terms for electric vehicles, what exactly is igniting then 🤔

[@clasqm]

When carts were pulled by horses, there was a wooden board for the driver to brace his feet against if the horses made a dash. The horses are long gone but we still call the flat surface in front of the driver a dashboard. Language is very conservative.

[@1418jeff]

Great review. It’ll do the job for most commuters but unfortunately most of us ride for fun and need a bit more range. Can’t wait for what the big 4 have in store for us.

[@mattnicholas9842]

I am a commuter and it doesn’t just “do the job” it is perfect for the job, incredibly relaxing to ride, absolutely hilarious to ride, right gear all the time, peak torque all the time, my Tuono V4 factory was hard work and cost about £15 a day to run, with free leccy at work the Zero costs £0 a day to run and is virtually maintenance free. Agreed not for everyone, for my 70 miles a day it’s amazing, am i going to sell my Street Triple RS, Nope.. have i ridden it since I bought the Zero, Nope.

[@suddendilemma5137]

Wait you started at 89% and went 58 miles. At that point the bike said you had another 10 miles left of charge. So 58+10=68 miles. So 12 miles short of the max range. BUT you started 11% down. Plus if you look at a lithium ion discharge chart you would know the top end charge is linear. So that 12 miles would have easily been done with the 11% you were missing at the start. So how exactly did the range test fail again?

[@RoadcraftNottingham]

Agreed, doing a range test with only 9/10 "fuel" is just dumb. ☺

[@DJRTP]

I think the problem with electric Motorcycles is two things, 1) charge time, any rider that loves to ride does not want to wait to charge a bike up and most riders, ride with otheres and 2) charging station access is very limited now reduce the charge time to 60 seconds or less and it might be ok

[@fetchstixRHD]

A view made on them which is reasonable is that they're good for urban commuting, but harder to justify when it comes to longer distance journeys even compared to electric cars. I'm a bit biased towards electric motored vehicles (and not really from the environmental side honestly) though I would barely think about going on a group ride with an electric motorbike... not that I have either the people to ride with or the full licence entitlement for them!

[@goodfodder]

Why start at 90% battery for a range test?

[@Mikolaj_u]

What puts me off owning an electric motorcycle is that constant “economy run mindset” every time you ride one. Will I make it, do I need to slow down now, should I overtake, should I stay behind a lorry etc etc

[@bunberrier]

If you are riding to a charger within range, you can ride as fast as you want. Conserving is only for reaching far targets. For example there are chargers at my work so its full when I leavenfor work and full when I head for home, and I ride it so hard the thermal limiting will kick in sometimes.

[@Amuzic_Earth]

Link to zero's response just led me to the review article. I hope that was a big and not a clickbait to increase view count of that article.

[@Enfiare]

Thanks for the report!

[@visordown]

Thanks for watching

[@Enfiare]

@@visordown keep 'em coming - ever do retro reviews, cause the Yamaha GTS1000 was one of my fav bikes, and wonder if ever we'll see an evolution of that with an electric engine

[@visordown]

We'd love to! Noted 🙂🙂

[@kyleauty251]

I love the placement of the rear view mirrors, it really streamlines the sportsbike look. However that front fairing and windscreen need to be raked back a bit, it looks like an old man's sports-tourer. That said overall it looks great, I'd be proud to be seen on it.

[@mwsutt0n]

I was curious to read Zero's response to your review and clicked the link above. I found the transcription of your video review but no comments from Zero. Is it somewhere else ?

[@garylinnert1574]

Same question here. Unless it was the comment that range suffering was due to it being windy... Hello, it's always windy out on the big roads. A faired bike in a stiff cross wind, that's when you understand why naked is a thing.

[@dragoclarke9497]

Okay, looks are subjective, but I really like the style of the bike. Link to Zero's response doesn't work.

[@foxylady1048]

You have to remember that the normal battery doesn’t work well in cold of hot temperatures. It looks like it didn’t like the rain all that much. So range was reduced somewhat. Need to take that into account and then try again in warmer weather for an average mile readout. Try to remember it is not a petrol car, and must be planned for.

[@Red-ki4tk]

What does it effing sound like any time stamps please x

[@TheSteinbitt]

This is my dream bike, I never go for longer trips above 70-80miles, I almost never ride the highway, I hate going to gas stations and I don’t really love maintenance (I think it’s ok, and used to like it, but probably because we had to before). It’s a bit expensive, would like to get one second hand.

[@annekecornee]

Agree on the back brake. Disagree on the styling. I like it, especially the blue one (see my profile picture). It's a sportstourer, so if you ride it normally along backroads, the range is much better. Personally, on a motorbike I avoid highways as much as possible. Also noticed you started in sport mode, but switched to eco mode. Sport mode also is a range killer. And indeed is the weather. But that also applies to an ICE bike.

[@kmb957]

I'd like to know how Zero gets their range figures? Im almost thinking its a controlled dyno environment. 70*, 70mph, wind from a large fan. Nothing remotely the same as actually driving on the road with varying weather conditions and constant variations in throttle from traffic.

[@CRPerformance1]

The link doesn't have a response from zero. There's no way you're only getting 30 miles out of a charge unless you on a track. Even driving like an idiot, you'll still get about 100 miles. And your test bike had a burnt up rear brake pad.

[@M1XEDBAG]

I’m all about electric bikes, I want my first bike to be electric but I think it will be a while before they become feasible for me. Price and range need time to evolve

[@jobyEN]

I appreciate these companies' efforts, but the "evolution" so far does not justify the switch for me and I estimate about at least 20 more years until they become feasible for the average joe...

[@annekecornee]

ICE vehicles took over a 100 years for that evolution. If you see how far electric vehicles have come in only 10 years, it's not 20 years, but more like 5. Technology develops faster than you think!

[@Texarmageddon]

@@annekecornee for the record EV have been in development for about as long as ICE... even when ICE took over they never gave up on EVs

[@digger8180]

You are missing the point, it's materials technology that has changed the most over the time of both internal combustion engines and electric power and it will move forward hopefully as fast as technology has in the last 100 years.

[@Texarmageddon]

@@digger8180 no I’m not missing the point .. you are missing the point. If they never gave up on EVs that means they consistently provided newer materials and technology to make them more feasible. Why didn’t they catch on? Simply put convenience and price. If they aren’t convenient people won’t buy them. If people don’t buy them prices remain high which means even more people don’t buy them.

[@danpolk]

@@Texarmageddon I know this is old but it's funny that you twice missed the point and even said you weren't missing it, then explained exactly how you did miss it. KZbin is so entertaining sometimes.

[@michaeladler3035]

Why is the rear sprocket so big? Seems ridiculously big to me! Wouldn't reducing the diameter of the rear sprocket increase range?

[@garylinnert1574]

This is a great question. Why not have a high / low gear planetary hub or some way to mechanicaly augment what the batt gives for running range ?

[@GoneToHelenBach]

It's weird that you've never heard the brakes on a bike with an engine, mine make a sizzling sound, perhaps it's because I use very good pads.

[@foxylady1048]

You have to remember that range is reduced by cold weather.

[@KevinKvn69]

The battery have more power when it's more charged . 100% will keep you going for a long ride until you get to 75% , from 75% it's will discharge much quicker

[@lamraliang7587]

I find these electric motorcycles interesting. No chance of owning one soon though, especially not in a small town like the one I'm in.

[@donnerschlag41]

Kawasaki is developing an electric bike with a gear shifter. They showed the prototype engine in a motor show. I like the way it sounds though.

[@MrSovrin]

From my experience a solid 70 to 80% of bike riders just want to hop on and ride that 100 miles with their buddies on the weekends. E-bikes need to get up to that 150 to 200 mile range then they'll be great toys.

[@emmanuelgeorge4112]

Could u do a review of the new lexmoto lxr 125

[@InsolentMind3981]

So far i can't complain at all about mine, i'm just more and more concerned about all the comments i'm seeing here and there about the customer services / aftermarket things...such as the firmware upgrade issues. As mine is running like a champ as it is, i don't dare to upgrade it, i just want peace of mind and not worry about charging issues post firmware upgrades.

[@rocketrollsvlogs7625]

I'm buying a Zero DS next. I don't need the range and the bike will weigh 320lbs with loads of torque. My commute to work is 15 miles in the city. In three years I've probably done 6-8 days of more than 80 miles. I'll keep my CB500X for long range options.

[@thulsadoom544]

Get a pair of roller skates

[@digger8180]

Until the technology moves forward the best electric motorcycle for a short commute say 30 miles is the Zero FXS, a Super Moto at +/- 10K. I have also had the opportunity to test the larger Zeros and the great Harley Davidson Livewire, it's the price of these bikes that puts the normal biker off. If you can buy a New Triumph Trident for 7K !

[@omardude39]

It was not a fair test of range if you started on 90%.

[@Enfiare]

Time for aftermarket regen assist tech, like high capacitor carbon fiber light solar panels for every surface, a series of micro DC fans in every flow space, and regen suspension as well as hydro regen for all possible cooling fluids. A built in juicer would be nice. 🤑😷

[@vinyl-witch]

F stands for fairing? Nope not neccessary: GSF 650 "S" is the faired version ;) maybe it stands for "shell"?

[@bunberrier]

I have this exact bike with the luggage, to get to work and back. Its a fantastic bike with unreal, wicked acceleration and hopefully will be low maint in the long term. Im over half a century old and very very done with doing regular valve adjustments and all the rest. However, Zero's milage claims are so optimistic they might have been invented by a politician. If your application can accomodate the short range, its a dream come true but if you arent sure, dont rely on their estimates as a metric. For slow in town riding they might not be far off but high speed highway use makes the battery percent tick down like an odometer in reverse. Also , for now at least, their phone app to control some features is messed up, they know it, and are working on a fix. At least they said they were. I cant turn on cellular coms, capture rides, capture bike+battery data , ( only bike data ) , or adjust the charge target with my phone. The only thing Im disappointed about with the motorcycle itself is the headlights. The high beam is set so high above the low beam that there is a band of darkness between the two lights and you can only adjust the whole assy up and down, not high and low seperately. The headlight is a pathetic fail. Other than that I love it.

[@MOOONSTERno]

I got around 75km on the battery range :)

[@annekecornee]

75 km's? On this SR/S? I easily get double of that.

[@MOOONSTERno]

@@annekecornee it depends heavily on your right wrist, u know.... If u ride at urban environment, and never open it up, u may even get 150 :p

[@annekecornee]

@@MOOONSTERno And it depends on the riding mode. Sport vs Street vs Eco vs Rain. In dry conditions I have it in custom, set to a combination of street and eco. Then I get 180 km. In eco 200.

[@MOOONSTERno]

@@annekecornee Rode it on sport mode, acceleration was ok, equals 900cc bike. But it rubs off 42% battery in 30km the way I ride bikes....

[@Enfiare]

Yes please

[@Zee216]

Still waiting on that Cruiser from Zero

[@annekecornee]

Harley Livewire

[@Zee216]

@@annekecornee it's dope but it's not a cruiser

[@bfarm44]

With a four and a half mile commute to work and back and a limited riding time due to back issues this would be just fine for me aside from winning a portion of the lottery to afford it. I would rather wait for better technologies in battery life and charging but then again I haven’t won the lottery have i. If I did upgrading wouldn’t be an issue

[@khrisstake2210]

Just get the cheapest model. Maybe even a used one

[@bfarm44]

@@khrisstake2210 nah I want all the available bling

[@johanbadilla9400]

Laaa ne- ce- si- tooooooooo!!!!

[@Biter1975]

Still rubbish then. Utterly useless for anything other than a very close a commute to work.

[@annekecornee]

Depends on what you call close. My commute is 51 km (32 miles) one-way. I can do that 3 times on 1 charge. A few weeks ago I did a group tour of in total 260 miles on 1 day. Charged it at every break (not even to full every break)

[@JAF41972]

I admire the design and development etc but the technology just can't match a conventional motorcycle for range etc . Not for me thanks .

[@WStar4Life]

This is not made for highway riding. This is made for city riding where you stop a lot so you regenerate more energy while in stop and go traffic. These electric bikes are only good for short distance rides to work and back or a nice ride around the city.

[@annekecornee]

Agree. Neither is any ICE bike (in my opinion) Though intercity is also fine. At 80 km/h range is still acceptable.

[@martinobrien4164]

I wouldn't mind the poor range if you could just pull into a service station and top up in 10 minutes for another 100 miles.

[@TimoBirnschein]

60 miles for 22k... kinda harsh

[@Gersti96]

I find the front looks like a dinosaur from jurassic parc, the one with that weird bulge on its head

[@ReshardsAutomotiveWorkshop]

RST! 😃👍

[@tonymiddlehurst8438]

What happens on a cold winter's night I wonder. Hmm.

[@annekecornee]

The same as with an ICE bike (if you mean range wise)

[@BritishBikerPhilippines]

That bike is a chuffin waste of time. You are great though Toad!

[@GarryMcGovern]

Hmmm, who uses the rear brake anyway (unless off-road on a GS or SuperTenere, etc.)? ALL rear brakes, no matter if it's on a learner legal or a Panigale are pretty much useless!

[@garylinnert1574]

Disagree, good rear brakes will save your bacon. Piaggio had linked brakes on their big X9 scooter in 2004. Worked great.

[@julienarrijs]

Id love to see zero bikes with ohlins and brembo brakes

[@magnanimus9692]

As soon as someone come ups with a better battery, our technology is going to overcome its biggest bottleneck.

[@clientjj4896]

Except for the handle bar, the bike looks nice..

[@nokneedownian8521]

That range indicator is as accurate as my ktm 😂

[@nickthequick]

I will happily "get behind" electric bikes when they reach a range of 160 miles and a re-charge time of 15 minutes or less - but these are minimum requirements.

[@Riley_1955]

For me it's 200 + miles and way less than $20,000 + dollars.

[@jayc7644]

This bike actually has a max range of 200 miles and recharge at a level 2 charger in an hour from 0 to 100 % if you equip it properly

[@thegodhoward8037]

And meanwhile harley is charging 10k more for an inferior product

[@Riley_1955]

Yeah after watching "A long way up" it was pretty obvious the Livewire isn't a $30,000 top of the line ebike.

[@thegodhoward8037]

@@Riley_1955 its a nice bike but not 30k nice for 30k i could buy an electric car

[@ingopaul67]

Electric scooters for the city I get, for bigger bikes with todays battery tech it just doesn't work - range and charging time plus the price !!! Plus it bloody ugly.

[@swicher]

Range, range, range... Whatever way you try to sugar the pill, it all comes down to the fact that the current electric bikes (and cars) have a very inadequate range. I have absolutely no problem with electric vehicles, I'm looking forward to trying them and will happily adapt to riding them, but the range of these vehicles at the moment is so woefully inadequate that it makes using them in the real world extremely unviable. Any conventional petrol bike that does around 100 to 120 miles on a full tank routinely gets berated in the press for it's poor range, and yet their expecting the public to spend 20k on a "touring" bike that does 80 official miles on one charge? Come on. Let's drag ourselves into the real world. If your touring consists of popping down to the local chippy and quick jaunt to see your mum 10 miles away, then that's great. But if your touring consists of a 500 mile round trip to Liverpool or a 110 mile round trip to see your parents, as I often do, then you're stuffed really. You'll spend your life looking at your charge left, looking for a charging point and then waiting for it to charge. The freedom of motorcycling is then forever gone... I love this bike. But I'll wait until it has a "tank" range of 200 plus miles and is around 11k to buy, just like my Kawasaki Z1000SX...

[@I-am-not-a-number]

I have one with a petrol engine,

[@chris_rides_kawasaki]

if Mad Max made bikes..

[@BarnettSpeedSuzukiThou]

Yep that’s one too many zeros

[@clinster78]

My cbr500r can get 85mpg average so one gallon of petrol on my cbr got more range than that yip these Electric bikes are still way off

[@-DC-]

Styling by Stevie Wonder 👀.

[@0xc1d34]

Own bmw i3 i8 next is a zero

[@h2489-m2l]

Not for me thanks.

[@stephenpidwell3427]

It's proper fugly

[@adiohead]

It's ugly. Prefer the SR/F looks. This just doesn't look right

[@barbieandbellaadventuresby9134]

If that’s the future then kill me now. Based on this I review though I don’t think I’ve got much to worry about in terms of the ending of the petrol motorcycle. Utter rubbish.

[@hernancortez491]

Electric is so efficient, they burn natural gas to produce it....

[@annekecornee]

Not if you charge it from the solar panels on your own home. And petrol uses way more energy to produce, store and distribute.

[@hernancortez491]

@@annekecornee Are you serious? Think about what you just said. How much fossil fuel has to be burned to make those solar panels,. Try getting some sand to melt using your solar panels, you forget nothing can be made without fossil fuels efficiently, your wind turbines never produce more power to offset the carbon footprint, they make the claim that they will, but that’s already been proven false. It’s government tax incentives that drives their production. Now, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to reduce energy consumption, but currently we do not have anything that replace fossil fuels, also do you think these lithium batteries are good for the environment,, humans and lithium don’t mix to well. Research a little and you will be surprised what you find out. Just don’t read the first bias news you come across and remember scientists will claim whatever to keep the funding coming. We no longer live in a time where we can believe what we hear on the news sadly.

[@thulsadoom544]

@@annekecornee Solar panels in the UK get to fuck ya daftie

[@normalaverageboring]

great review but just no.

[@Roy_Godiksen]

It's far from silent. It sounds like a broken sowing machine.

[@amanieltekie5873]

Don’t like your review..you’re very negative...towards the zero bikes in general?...