This is Husky Relic: Link It does not seem like they are going after the traditional dirtbike market to me. .
Yeah, from my perspective, it's about dirt bikes, commuters and basic transportation is a big part of the ebikes focus. As far as ecars, if you work or shop within a few miles of home, it's kind of nice to think you have a veh. that can use zero gas, make you feel like you are doing your part. Motorcycle's in general have been mostly a pleasure thing, some people would buy them to save gas, or cut down on transportation expenses, but I think the majority use a motorcycle for the pure pleasure of riding them. So the cost of buying a bike, E or otherwise is chalked up to want not need. and use EXTRA, NOT NEEDED money for the purchase. Right now I think they are cute, the Ebikes, but the expense, you can get a full blown rip roaring motor bike for the same dollar. I mean you can buy a Harley for 11 grand for a ride to school commuter. Get more girls too..... Mike
thats great and I bet it would be fun too, but then you miss the vibration and music like sound coming up between your leg's. Too me, ebike would be like riding in one of my slot cars I had when I was young. I still remember the pure pleasure of the sound and feeling when I threw my leg over a opened pipe, dirt stipped honda 160 for the first time, reving the motor feeling that burst of power each time, almost forbidden power, that I had total control of, my first ride on a real bike....Then tossed my leg over a victor 441, I was hooked forever. Before that, my mini bike, sporting a 3 1/2 hp clinton lawn mower engine, with a straight pipe from 1/2 inch copper. Dont think it would have been the same if they were ebikes at the time for me. That 24 hour mx endurance video, zero has on their website, made me think they are. But Its all good, someone has to at least get the ball rolling before we get really high tech, new stuff that really works. Mike
I really don't have anything against the ebikes, I just think it's fun to discuss them, pro and con, and toss in some common sense stuff. Like reality is, if someone wants a fuel efficient commuter, or play bike, and only have so many extra dollars to spend on it, there are so many other options besides, an ebike. You can buy a Chinese dirtbike for under 800 dollars, and ride that all day everyday for pennies of gas and have fun. You can buy a 150cc scooter (Chinese) for around 600 bucks new, that's way less than a tenth of an ebike's price, and the scooter gets near a 90 miles a gallon. The ebikes have a long long way to go to match that. Me I just think the ebike is novel Idea, I don't think they are going to make lots of money selling them, I do think they make money from tax breaks and subsidies'. Not really an even playing field in the market place, but then again, how could they compete head to head with what's out there? If I have 10,000 dollars to spend I would buy me NEW TE 511, I think most would, Instead of a zero bike. Mike
While the mx market & other traditional dirtbike markets are interesting, Scot himself said that was not the focus current focus. I can definitely appreciate specialized applications such as police departments that find them useful... bicycles and gas powered do not fit every application especially in an urban environment. The 24 hour mx race was fun to watch. Niel was there and I talked to him about the bikes. At the time he was still doing the day to day operations, and those are now being handled by the new people like Scot..
Yeah, cops, I guess could use them. But they would have to be part time with the two hour battery time Ohh I guess they could plug in at the donut' shop I can see a cop pulling over a car, hits the red light and the bike stalls because the battery went dead. Long high speed pursuits will be a thing of the past, the bad guys will know they only have to go above 60mph and keep that up for two hours, then they get away. High speed foot pursuits would work, tazer probes could be mounted on the front of the bike and you only have to touch the runner, and down he goes. They can use them for crowd control at parades as long as the parade isn't to long....replace the horses that crap all over the place. I like the horses though. Me at a dog hunt test event as the marshal, and overall dog chaser, not my horse but he was definitly a husky guy. Zero emissions, (well as long as you dont stand behind them). No battery's, and go for 8 hours with out any fuel or water...... cops, I'm just having fun at your expense, sorry, no offence. ( jeeez now I have to change my profile and city I live in) Mike
Currently electricity is mostly generated by burning coal. I think in the USA the "clean" electricity is less than 1 percent of the total. So why burn a dump truck full of coal instead of 20 gallons of gasoline... how green is that? If you really want to go green I think a pedal bike will run for an hour or two on a bologna sandwich and a Monster energy drink.
While I understand your points completely with regards to energy efficiency and the ebikes short comings.. When I go to the local mall, the 'mall cop' (I am really going to regret typing that..lol..) is on a Segway.. while the Segway makes no sense for many things, for some things it does.
I didn't think about the mall cop, and so on, I have been racking my brain to come up with some practical use for the ebike in law enforcement or for that matter, any practical use. Coffee you did it, inside use in some of those 6 block malls would be ideal. Zero you gotta make a etrike for that stuff. Let's all post what we can think of, that an ebike would be ideal for. Something not already stated, like green, we already know they are not, or cheap commuter, a Chinese scooter at 600 bucks that gets 90 mpg is way cheaper to buy and run. so whatever we come up with has to be better than anything out there now..come on lets play whatever ideas we come up with can only help the ebike industry anyway. I'll start: The ebike is better suited for indoor rental, warehouse style racing tracks. Great Idea for those that are super snow bound months a year. (coffee inspired me) Mike
I commute 10 miles each way currently on roads posted 45 MPH or less. An EV bike or car would work for me in that application only because I also have a 2008 F-250 4WD Powerstroke Diesel truck for longer distances. But lets consider the economics. For simplicity's sake we'll say the truck gets 15 MPG in that application (haven't driven it enough that way to truly say but it gets 10 MPG pulling toy hauler at 70 MPH, 12.5 at 60, 16 MPG pulling small open trailer, and 18.5 MPG unloaded at 70 MPH). Say diesel costs $4.00/gallon. And I drive my "city car" 10,000 miles/year for 667 gallons at cost of $2668/year. That looks rather favorable for recovering the cost of a $10k e-bike in 4 years. But what about insurance? What about not being able to use the e-bike about half the year? To add more fuel to the fire, I also have a 2007 Prius. Insurance is about $700/year. The Prius honestly gets 50 MPG measured at the pump average the past 37,000 miles on this route. Thats 200 gallons per year. Gasoline costs less than diesel so figure $3.50/gallon for another $700 in fuel. There is $1400 which replaces $2668. Sounds great until you ask how does one purchase a $27k car with $1268/year (or just over $100/month)? We could nickel and dime the other expenses, but lets not as they aren't as significant. Prius holds 3 quarts of oil and uses a $5 filter, truck holds 15 quarts and uses a $20 filter, I change both vehicles at 5,000. Prius tires are about $100 each mounted while truck tires are $250 but I have reason to believe the truck tires will last almost twice as long. Clearly by owning a Prius in addition to the truck I am being environmentally wasteful. I have triggered the consumption of an additional $27k of the earth's resources in the purchase of the Prius. Over the 12 year average life of a car I will only save $15k vs what I would spend on fuel for the truck. Thats a net excess consumption of $12k. And while most can not or will not perform a similar analysis, this is why an EV is only a novelty and rarely practical. Thats why I have a Prius, I can afford it, and it amuses me. Thats also why I have dirtbikes. The truck also amuses me but it only exists to serve my dirtbikes.
It needs to get a full day of riding in, no matter how hard. And charge back up to full in 8 hours or less. Once they get there, Electric bikes are going to become a lot more popular. And they'll get there. Sooner or later they'll figure out a power source that'll get the job done.
skate parks, yeah. Hey here's a video of some very concerned greens, over a tree cut down. These people seem very concerned and loving. I would put my trust in their, stewardship over out lands, not. I don't think I would want to live next door to any of them. having a funeral over the tree I cut down in my yard, or preying over my recently mowed lawn, wishing it a speedy recovery. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElJFYwRtrH4 I have come across some of these folks while hunting birds, very weird bunch. I had to leave the area, because of the talk about doing bad things to my dog, As they followed me around. Driving away, they were so happy, and were high 5ing and hugging each other cause they won. You don't want to give these people a chance to react to you riding. They will spike trails, put up wire across a trail at neck level. Put out meat with poison for your dog get in your face. If you encounter them please don't react to them, leave the area, these people are not all there. That's why I don't think it's a good idea to have an ebike company and get grouped in with the green crowed, My ebike company would promote the product as strictly fun, I would never promote the idea of saving oil, or how non polluting they were, that would be obvious. The ebike needs to be shown as fun with lots of happy riders doing their thing on the bikes. They also need to cost way less than that dream dirt bike I always wanted. Mike
I could only stand to watch 1/2 of that video as I was too embarrassed for the actors. I kept thinking this is a spoof of some kind.
Mike, I've seen that before, do we really need to turn a thread about Zero Motorcycles into a general rant thread against those types of people? Especially when it contains good feedback from Scot?
not really coffee. got a little carried away. Nothing writen was against scott. actually was to help him, by explaining the pit falls of taking the green approach to the ebike. Sort of put up a yellow flag in the middle of a race. But your right, back to biz... Mike
Nice !!! I think it's a pretty cool idea. I don't recall reading anything on Zero's website implying that their customers are more envirementally responsible. It was all about the bike, technology, quality of components etc.... If Zero ever decides to go public (maybe they already have) I would buy some stock. Seems like a pretty sound investment as I could see this technology blowing up(not literally) in the near future with not only motorcycles but cars too. I'm sure the oil companies wouldn't be too thrilled about it but it's coming.
