Zero S ZF 7.2 11 kW 2020 Electric Motorcycle (Learner Legal) 

Agree on the mudguard kit. Yes, I can see what you mean about the side storage area. Still nice to have though. It's useful for stowing bits you might use less frequently. A spare cable, first aid kit, bulb kit, puncture kit, etc.

It can't have the two options in the same time,you got the Charge tank or the added battery

Slow speed control is all about rear brake only, Alex, and on a petrol bike, feathering the clutch for fine control. Essentially, use predominantly your front brake to take off speed, but once you're down to walking speeds, the final part of approaching a junction or coming to a complete stop, keep your hand away from that front brake lever. If you touch the front brake at slow speed, you're far more likely to unbalance the bike as the weight is transferred to the front wheel. Essentially keep your hand off the front brake lever and your feet up off the ground and you can ride at a very low speed using your rear brake to keep the bike balanced against the throttle and fine tune the speed with the clutch. The difference on an electric motorcycle is that you don't have the clutch, but the throttle is configured such that it works fine in slow speed riding too.

Thanks for the kind words, Dave! Yes, I'm wary of stats overload, but people seem to appreciate them in there. Sorry for the very slow output. It takes me a while to put these kind of bike videos together. I need to summon up the time and effort to do them, but there is fortunately a great set of other RU-vidrs like those you mention. I've particularly enjoyed Sam's (NewZeroland's) output for some time.

Thanks, Zerbro (well we fellow owners need a name)! Good idea on the SR motor and controller! That would definitely be an interesting experiment for someone brave enough and with the requisite skills. Sadly, that isn't me. 😁

That's a pretty standard bike seat. Pillion is usually raised and rider sits close to the tank. Plenty of room for pillion on this compared to many bikes which ostensibly can carry pillions.

Gosh! Just realised it's your good self. Let me just take the opportunity to complement you on your excellent videos. They've been informative throughout the past few months.

I don't feel like getting particularly defensive about registration plates, but I'm guessing the idea is that they can be read from a greater distance than those in some other countries. They're pretty strict on this stuff, even though some bikers in particular flout the rules. www.gov.uk/displaying-number-plates/rules-number-plates Just think of it as extra protection from getting a crappy streak of mud thrown up the back of the bike!

Thanks, Alan. In all honesty, I'd say not the 7.2 kWh battery version. The 14.4 kWh battery would be fine though. The average check ride would be over 50 miles, and of course you still need to get to the start point and back from the finish point. I do most of my observing on my 2016 13 kWh DSR, so a 14.4 kWh battery would be fine. I occasionally do a day out towards the end of the course, if an associate fancies it, where we alternate the lead ride position, and for that I generally use a petrol bike, although I could equally stop somewhere for lunch now and charge using the Charge Tank.

I'd avoid leaving the bike outside if at all possible. I don't think it will do it any good in the long term, even if it has a minimal impact in the short term. Better to keep it somewhere indoors if not in a garage. Bear in mind you won't have issues with dripping oil. There are some recommendations on dealing with cold weather on the excellent unofficial Zero owners' manual. zeromanual.com/wiki/Usage

I honestly don't know. My gut feeling is fairly fast depreciation early and then they'll hold their value very well. There is obviously a market for second hand EVs, as they work out cheaper for the buyer. We had an electric Smart car for a year or so and then sold it for £1000 more than we got it for through a dealer, who of course added their own mark-up. The buyer really wanted it and because of the relative scarcity of certain EVs at the moment, they do tend to hold their value well and even gain value. In this case, as a learner-legal bike, you also have to consider the high demand for second hand learner-legal bikes. Add in the fact that there is almost certainly a market for pre-owned, cheaper electric motorcycles, and I think it will hold value well, after the obvious depreciation once you ride it off the forecourt.

@@jtchivers I agree, I think I'd buy a good used one to avoid the initial drop.

You can have a 6kW Charge Tank fitted, no problem. I had one retrofitted to my 2016 Zero DSR three years after I bought it. I don't know for sure whether the S/SR/DSR Charge Tanks now have the Type 2 socket for Europe, but I think they might still be using Type 1 (J1772) socket, unlike the European SRF/SRS/DSRX. Not that that's a big deal, but it would mean your Type 2 Schucko lead wouldn't work. They should supply you with the T1 to T2 cable for use at fast charge points and you can get a domestic socket to T1 cable from quite a few places more cheaply than the official Zero one costs. The bike will charge at a maximum of the Charge Tank rating and the on-board charger, if you really want to do that. You absolutely can't charge at 22.5 kW. The battery wouldn't accept it and the BMS won't allow it. This is down to the 1C rating of the battery, which means the absolute theoretical maximum charging speed would be the kW equivalent of the kWh capacity. So, a 14 kWh battery would charge at a theoretical maximum of 14 kW. 2 hours will get you a full charge using just the Charge Tank. In my experience with my DSR, I'd tend to stop for around 90 minutes. I found the Charge Tank alone was fine on journeys away from home and I tended to use the on-board charger at home.

They quite possibly did.

The typical battery should easily outlast the life of the bike and by a long way. I don't know of a bike (or a car) where a battery has died through normal use, with one exception (a Tesla, where it was replaced under warranty). The BMS takes care of the battery, ensuring that it stays healthy and balanced, so replacing the battery monolith is not something you would expect to ever do, and more than you'd expect to replace an engine in a ICE vehicle. That said, NYA Bikes is the only place I know in the UK which lists the monolith battery price in its online shop and in this case, you'd be looking at £3200. But you shouldn't consider that a dissuading factor any more than you'd consider the price of a replacement engine a factor in buying an ICE vehicle. www.nyaparts.co.uk/shop/electric-bike/battery-chargers-and-electrical/battery-assembly-long-cell-7-2kwh-zero-s-sr-ds-dsr-fx-fxs/

There are 17 years olds driving Lambos. Just because _you_ can't afford it, don't assume everyone else is the same.

@@edge2991 In the UK, it means that someone who is learning to ride a motorbike but has not yet passed their practical test can ride it with L plates.

@@jtchivers thank you

Plenty of combustion engine motorbikes are that price and considerably more, and then you have constant high fueling and servicing costs compared to electric. Running costs for electric are minimal. I've covered the potential savings pretty extensively, but if you only look at the purchase price, you're not considering the real costs of ownership. I've mentioned elsewhere that I know of electric bikers whose fuel savings alone financed their electric motorcycle.

Meh. Work harder.