Zero CTO unveils SS 'micro sports bike'

Zero Motorcycles is readying a ‘leccy sports bike that may just be the two-wheeler we’ve all been waiting for: a lightweight electric road racer equivalent of its soon-to-ship 125cc model S sports bike. Zero_model_s_01 Zero's model S: will be sold from soon-to-open UK stores Neal Saiki, CTO of Zero, told magazine Hell for …

[Martin]

ooooh tough choice

'Although we don’t have a price for the SS yet, Zero’s pegged the Zero S’s UK RRP at £8874'

that or a fireblade............................................

[GrahamT]

60 miles!

What use is a bike that only goes 60 miles between charges?

A 40kWh battery would charge in about 3-4 hours on a UK mains, but for commuting there isn't usually a socket near a bike parking bay, so a charge would have to last for the full commute plus lunch time/evening pootling about, i.e. 100miles min. Increase the battery to 80kWh for say 30kg extra weight and it is getting closer

31 bhp is too high for the normal 125 learner market, (15bhp max) though it fits well into the "just passed test and under 21 years old" 35bhp limited class, but not at that price.

A CB500 is about half that price, and will do 110+mph with a 200+ mile range at motorway and commuting speeds.

It is difficult to see what the market is for this bike - too powerful for learners, not enough range for commuters, too slow for scratching.

[Matt Bryant]

Expect the Killjoys to stop this.

"....It’s also got an electrically limited top speed of 60mph, but can hit 80mph without the limiter...." Seeing as here in the UK they have crippled the majority of 125cc machines so they struggle to hit 40mph, all in the name of protecting learners, I'm betting the anti-bike brigade will make sure elecbikes get some form of awful added restrictor to make them just as painfully slow.

Still, as a commuter it looks great, but what's the battery recharge time? And can you recharge it from a wall socket anywhere or do you need a special recharging unit which you have to leave at home in the garage? And is there a way to quickly swap out a flat battery for a charged spare without it being just as easy for Mr Lowlife to pinch it?

[Pete James]

8874 GBP?

When that money will get you a Ducati Monster they're not going to have it remotely easy. I'd like the names and addresses of the 600 people who buy them for that price. Let's face it, they obviously have not a clue and should be up for my latest innvoation - satellite gas.

[Jason]

crap

It looks rubbish, is impractical and is stupidly expensive. Thanks for that boys...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmm

8874?!?! I'd rather buy a 97 R1 for 2g and spend the rest on women & booze

[Anonymous Coward]

title

Forget converting petrol bikers to electric. Getting those in cars who could be on a petrol bike would be easier and have a much larger effect on pollution.

Ah yes, just what the easy-to-miss biker really wants - a silent bike to make car drivers even less aware that he's there.

Here's an idea, produce a noisy bike you can't miss in order to reduce those scary injury and death stats. That might get more people onto bikes and reduce pollution.

[jake]

@Pete James

The people who buy this kind of thing are the same clueless idiots who put 26 inch rims & ultra-low profile tyres on their SUVs, and then wonder why it rides even more like a truck ... The same class of idiots who pay a LOT of money putting nitrogen in their tyres instead of air. In other words, people with disposable income who are susceptible to marketing. The wives are the ones who buy into the diet-of-the-day, and the husbands buy the latest "herbal viagra" scam. Probably over half of them have responded to spam email.

Not that I have an opinion, mind ...