Superhero of supermotos? Zero S is clean, green...but missing its cape

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Cleaner than a G-rated movie, quieter than a plug-in toothbrush, it’s Zero Motorcycles’ new Zero S -- the first production electric street bike to roll on to the U.S. market. About 600 of these lithium ion-powered motorcycles will be built at the company’s Santa Cruz facility this year, 100 of which have been pre-sold based on nothing but Zero’s rep and former product.

The street-legal follow-up to the off-road Zero X introduced last year, the S is the clean, green superhero of supermotos. Powered with a four-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack that propels the bike as far as 60 miles at a maximum speed of 60 mph, all it’s missing is a cape. Designed to slink through town silently, spewing zero emissions while in use and sipping electricity from an ordinary wall outlet when at rest, it’s a bad ass with a Colgate smile. It’s Erik Estrada gone electric.

The S uses the same brushed, magnetic motor as the X; it’s just been re-geared for higher speed to keep up with city traffic. Customers who ask for a custom chain and sprocket can boost the 60 mph max that’s standard. Unlike the X, the S has an on-board charger, located just beneath the oven-sized battery. Attached to that charger is the world’s shortest power chord. About three inches long, it tucks in to the bike’s frame and attaches to an extension chord that can be carried in the bike’s aluminum frame.

Zero founder Neal Saiki was, at one point, a NASA engineer, and that’s apparent in his bikes’ designs. Purpose-built and custom made, the components are lightweight and modular. The digital dash is connected with a plug, rather than wires. Take a socket wrench to the four bolts that hold the battery in place, and it can be removed -- and upgraded. According to Saiki, a giant leap in mankind’s battery technologies will be happening later this year. Customers who want to upgrade to that technology can have it from Zero at cost, Saiki says. What to do with the old battery? Salt-based, it’s recyclable and landfill approved.

Like many electric-vehicle manufacturers, Zero’s distribution network is as novel as its machines. Zero doesn’t have any dealers. Its bikes are shipped via U.P.S. -- a feat that’s only possible because its motorcycles are so light. The X weighs 151 pounds. The S is 225. If U.S. customers have service issues, they need to reach out to Zero’s headquarters, and the company then ships them new parts to install themselves.

Pains have been taken to reduce weight all over the A, such as the hydro-formed tube aluminum frame that weighs just 28 pounds. Reducing the weight of the bike reduces the size, weight, power and -- most importantly -- cost of the battery that’s needed to propel it. As it is, the battery accounts for 50% of the bike’s already steep price.

Early adopters of new technologies tend to pay for that privilege, and that would definitely be the case with the Zero S if it weren’t for some generous financial incentives. Priced at $9,950, the S is almost double the price of a comparable, i.e. 250 cc, internal combustion supermoto from the Japanese. But thanks to the multi-billion-dollar federal stimulus package passed earlier this year, which gives buyers a tax credit for 10% of an electric motorcycle’s purchase price, and, in California, a $1,500 rebate from the Air Resources Board, the up-front price of the S is almost equal to its gas-powered competition. In the long run, it works out to be far less because the bulk of its operating cost -- the battery -- is part of the purchase price. Running it costs about a penny per mile.

I’ve been eagerly anticipating saddle time on the S since I first heard about the bike last year. I finally got my chance just yesterday, and I have to say: I’m wildly impressed and mildly disappointed. Having spent years riding hundreds of motorcycles from dozens of manufacturers with decades of product and history, I wanted Zero’s groundbreaking product to match, if not exceed, the imported engineering that is the standard in the lightweight supermoto category. While it is very close, it falls a wee bit short.

The bike is well balanced because its 80 pounds of battery power are centered and low. It has instant and amazing torque because it’s electric. Its ergonomics are natural feeling. And the bike, as a whole, is extremely easy to ride because it’s clutchless and so lightweight. Where it disappoints, ever so slightly, is its handling. It’s nimble, but its steering isn’t as precise as its competitors. Nor is its suspension quite as plush -- something that might not have been so noticeable if not for the saddle.

Considering the millions of dollars that have been dumped into this bike’s development and its meticulous, performance-oriented engineering, it strikes me as phenomenally perverse that the S could fail on such a seemingly simple matter as the seat. Its plank-like comfort was painfully apparent from the moment I sat down and pretty much guarantees riders won’t be tempted to push the bike to the limits of its range. When I asked Saiki about the seat, he just smiled and said it was a matter of longevity. The softer foams he’d tried only lasted a year.

Earth to Saiki: You need to work this one out.

The S isn’t the first electric 2-wheeler I’ve ridden. I’ve tested several e-bikes, e-scoots, an e-sportbike and Zero’s X. Each time I’ve marveled at -- and pondered over -- the bikes’ lack of sound. Is it a safety issue? Maybe. I prefer to think of it as a re-gifting of one of my most crucial senses. Cars can’t hear me, but at least I can hear them. It’s way too early in electrics’ trajectory to know how this odd, two-wheeled silence will play out, but Saiki is stepping in to the void. He’s hired a sound engineer and plans to offer an iPhone app later this year that will allow riders to do something that’s traditionally pissed us off whenever we see drivers do it -- talk and ride at the same time.

Intriguing, groundbreaking, boundary pushing. Zero traffics on all those fronts, and I hope it keeps pushing on all fronts. Zero or hero? The S can be both, but it’s a work in progress.

Zero Motorcycles Zero S
Base price: $9,950*
Powertrain: brushed permanent magnetic electric motor powered with a four-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery
Maximum speed: 60 mph
Maximum range on a single charge: 60 miles
Charging time: about 4 hours
Seat height: 35.5 inches
Weight: 225 pounds
* Price can be reduced $995 with the new stimulus bill’s federal tax credit for electric, two-wheeled vehicles. In California, the price can be reduced another $1,500 with a rebate from the California Air Resources Board. Other incentives may apply.

-- Susan Carpenter

Video: Don Kelsen, Los Angeles Times