First ride: Zero SR electric bike

I’ve just encountered one of the best commuter experiences ever, and there wasn’t an internal combustion engine in sight. Instead, it was electric, thanks to American brand Zero and its rapid-fire SR model. The machine sits at the pointy end of performance in Zero’s four-model 2014 line-up, with a 660-amp motor that delivers 144Nm and 67hp at 4000rpm.

In Sport mode that torque propels the SR to 100km/h in a tick over three seconds, which from what we’ve heard exceeds the new Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric bike. And it’s an immediate hit of acceleration too, without having to confer with a clutch or gearbox to break stride.

It’s a quantum leap ahead of the first Zero e-bike the Bikesales Network rode way back in 2009, when an 80km/h range was the optimum and the chassis was quite rudimentary – mountain bike-like, really. It was a hard slog for Zero in those days, and it was no surprise when the local importer eventually gave it away a few years later.

But over the last couple of years, the Santa Cruz-based Zero Motorcycles has continued to make solid improvements to its line-up, dealing with a number of issues including dubious styling and “range anxiety” – a subject that e-bike and e-car companies constantly have to deal with. And if you need proof that Zero’s facing that question head on, the first subhead in every specs sheet is always ‘Range’…

And why not? In SR mode Zero claims a 220km range in the city. On a highway travelling at an average speed of 88km/h the range drops to 137km, and at 112km/h – way more in spirit with the SR’s performance ballpark -- it’s 113km. Combine highway and city in a 50/50 split and you get 169km (city, 88km/h freeway) and 149km (city, 112km/h) respectively.

But if you want some extra ‘juice’, buyers can also purchase an optional Power Tank, which brings the total of the battery pack out to 14.2 kWh (standard is 11.4kwH).  With the Power Tank, the rideaway price is $29,180, and the standard price is $25,490. Sure, you can buy a high-end motorcycle for that price, but Zeros don’t require regular servicing, the only consumables that need regular attention are the brakes, suspension, tyres and, to a lesser extent, the carbon belt drive (which lasts about 40,000km).

The estimated battery pack life to 80 per cent is 496,000km, a figure almost too great to comprehend – and another factor which should put the retail price of the SR into perspective. There’s a lot of longevity lurking inside the SR. The Power Pack warranty on the SR is five years or 160,000km, and the standard warranty on the bike is normal fare -- two years, unlimited kilometres.

Aside from Sport, the other standard riding mode is Eco -- and there’s a third which can be customised with iOS and Android devices. The App not only adjusts parameters for top speed, maximum torque and maximum regenerative braking, but it also provides real-time information, via Bluetooth, on the blue backlit dash such as the time until charged, average watts per kilometre and total charge cycles. Clever.

Sport mode is where the real action is, and the kick from the 660-amp motor ensures that every red light is a boon, for the sheer fact that it provides another chance to take off from a standing start. There’s no hairy-chested ‘warning’ of what’s to come either, only a small groan from the motor as the throttle is twisted and the SR is galvanised for action. After that it’s no shrinking violet by any stretch of the imagination.

It’s not just a master blaster though, as in slow start-stop city traffic the SR doesn’t waver: there’s no awkward jerking or onerous clutch work required, and if there’s a hole to be filled the instant torque delivered through the clutch-less direct-drive transmission ensures that the job is easier than it ought to be. It’s an amazing little bike, and at just 185kg -- well below a bike like the new Honda CB500F – it also has plenty of agility as well. It’s a small and compact bike, with a tiny waist.

The SR has an aluminium twin-spare frame, and the chassis also includes a 43mm upside-down fork (adjustable for rebound and compression) and a single rear shock with full adjustability. The twin-piston Nissin brakes are well up to the job – which is just as well as the single-piston J-Juan rear brake lets the retardation team down. It’s simply too weak. There’s no anti-lock braking.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t live in Sport mode the whole time on the SR as I had to flick to Eco – the modes can be switched on the fly – to head to my home town, 72km north of Bikesales HQ. I simply would have run out of spark in Sport mode, and as it turned out I only had four per cent left on the battery when I pulled into my driveway after starting with 80 per cent.On the freeway at an average speed of 105km/h, the battery was dropping one per cent every 700 metres, but the rate of freefall was scaled back immeasurably when I dropped back to about 90km/h – probably as slow as you want to go before becoming a highway irritant.

A few times on the freeway, I did sneak up to about 120km/h, but whether you can sustain that speed for too long is dependent on comfort levels and battery life – there we go, range anxiety again…  Zero claims a top speed of 164km/h for the SR, so it’s definitely capable of getting a hurry up.

On the return trip (a downhill trajectory) and after a full night’s charging – what Zero says costs about $1.28 (up to $1.60 with the additional Power Pack) -- the battery dropped from 100 to 35 per cent, and about a third of that trip was in Sport when I realised I was ‘safe’ to unleash the shackles when the office was in sight.

But don’t get me wrong – Eco mode has its place (sort of like Rain mode on a sportsbike), but why not get your kicks when you can. Even with a pillion the SR’s spirit in Sport mode is only mildly dampened, as my 14-year-old son found out after what he’d thought would be a scooter-like stroll through the city to return the SR.

Charging an e-bike is a simple exercise, at least compared to a car. At Bikesales HQ, I simply wheeled the bike into a small nook where a mains  resided and plugged it in. The charging cable, which resides in a soft bag housed in a depression in the ‘fuel’ tank, is a couple of metres long so you don’t have to park right next to the mains.

Accessories on the SR included heated grips, a 12V socket to recharge phones etc, and a heated seat – none of which drain the battery as much as you’d think. Drainage is still a function of how you twist the grip and what mode the SR is in.

Even the standard halogen headlight – a number of people have enquired why Zero hasn’t taken the LED path yet – hardly makes a dent on the massive lithium-ion battery, which, by a fair margin, remains the heaviest component on Zero bikes.

The SR has three siblings in the 2014 line-up – the S ($20,490 rideaway), DS (dual sport, $20,490 rideaway) and FX (stealthfighter, $16,490 rideaway). The S and DS produce 92Nm and the FX 95Nm. For full information on the line-up, visit www.zeromotorcycles.com/au.

We hope to ride them all down the track, but for the moment the SR is the Zero point of reference – and it’s been a real eye opener. Just like electric bikes have been making massive gains on the racetrack – average speeds at the Isle of Man have gone through the roof in recent years – the commuter side of the equation hasn’t been left behind, and the SR is illustrative of that. It’s a powerful motor, the styling has improved markedly – hiding the battery always helps… -- and it’s cool. Commuting has never been so fun.