Other Bikes » Motorcycle Consumer News tests the 2020 Zero SR/F EV

The August 2019 issue of Motorcycle Consumer News has published a compete test of the SR/F. They gave it their highest rating in their Evaluation chart for all areas of the motorcycle. Oddly though, the comments in the text didn't seem quite that positive in some aspects. Also, no power/torque curve was included as they say that their their "dyno is currently challenged in reporting accurate EV numbers."

One big negative was the short range of the SR/F. They experienced a maximum city range of 130 miles and a low of 46 miles when ridden aggressively on mountain roads and at high speeds on the freeway. Their average range was 88 mph under typical riding.

Their bike seemed to have an issue with the Bosh Advanced MSC system. With the system on their braking from 60 to 0 mph distance was 135 feet. However their braking distance from 60 mph with the system turned off was 121.5 feet.

The bike sure accelerates hard. 0-60 mph took 3.6 seconds, while the quarter mile was covered in only 11.72 seconds at a speed of 119 mph.

The editors said that the SR/F has "excellent suspension" and then went on to say that the Showa Big Piston forks had harsh valving and was difficult to adjust because the adjustment screw was obstructed by the handlebars. They felt that the 24.5 degrees of fork rake was too aggressive and produced some oversteer at hard lean angles. They would like to see the fork trail increased to 3.7 inches and would also like to have a 10% larger chassis as they felt that the riding position was somewhat cramped.

One big improvement over previous Zero models was that they only experienced battery overheating, which generated a dash warning, when the SR/F was ridden extremely aggressively. Under normal conditions the battery temperature was listed as "medium".

The article said that: "The gauges reported inconsistently, especially those measuring range and state of charge. These need to be precise, since riders can't pull over just anywhere to quickly refuel. When range is off by as much as 20 miles, it could leave EV riders stranded."

The editors said that they "also experienced many random trips of the ground-fault interrupt circuit (GFI) in the garage, which interrupted the nine-hour charge cycle."

No mention was made of the gap in the front of the "tank".

Their maintenance chart shows just one routine service at 20,000 miles, requiring 1.25 hours of labor and $135 for parts.

The article ends with the following comments: "The Zero SR/F will meet the needs of more riders than its predecessors. It seems expensive up front, but long-term costs are comparable or even favorable to many gas motorcycles. Performance is amazing, about 50 percent better than previous Zero models in both top speed and range (?). However, range is still limited by the inconvenience of recharging. Electric is the future, though it's not yet as convenient as its traditionally fueled competition."