Alternative Fuel Adventure

[esh]

Thanks for the info! Did the zero go 100 miles on one charge or was that over the trip span?

I have been watching out for electric bikes for a while, wanting to use one as a base camp scout vehicle and city commuting. The other bike besides the Zero I found was the Quantya Strada dual-sport(edit: and KTM also has one now). Did you come across that when you were looking into the Zero? Curious if you did a comparison.

http://www.quantyausa.com/detail-strada.php

The only other bikes I've seen aren't production and setup for drag racing or MotoGP. Hope this segment matures, I think bopping around the boonies in a fairly quiet machine (with better range than at present) will be sweet.

 

[Scott Brady]

The 100+ miles was for the entire trip. It included forest roads, ice, snow, rocks, high-speed graded roads, sand, hill climbs, long descents, etc.

We charged the bike three full times on the route.

Compared to the other offerings, the Zero is the most refined and usable. It has a legitimate top speed of 65 mph and easily moves along with traffic. It also has a solid range of 40 miles and we found that over 30 was possible in the dirt.

The KTM has real potential for a bumper mounted bike on a larger camper. We hope to test one.

 

[goodtimes]

How does it act as the battery approaches it's limit? Does it run hard then just fall on it's face, or does it gradually lose power -- or did you even get the battery that low?

 

[Brian McVickers]

How does it act as the battery approaches it's limit? Does it run hard then just fall on it's face, or does it gradually lose power -- or did you even get the battery that low?

The battery indicator gives some warning, then your remaining time/range veries depending on terrain. Once the battery is done it just stops though.

Brian

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

This is awesoe that you guys are trying this stuff out.

I've been following the Zero bikes since their first press releases hit the press wire.

One of the reasons we put our Air-X Wind Turbine on the camper would be to help produce power during the night time winds that are so consistent during the desert nights.

This should be something you should look into for future trips. This way when you pull over to stop for the night, the bike can be getting charged while you sleep.

Our portable turbine mast can hook to any bumper hitch and the turbine itself can produce 400watts of power with a good breeze

Cant wait to see how the long term tests with this combo play out

 

[Scott Brady]

Congrats to Austin for the job well done:
http://www.kpho.com/news/26866920/detail.html

Channel 5 Coverage.

 

[proto]

Hey, (not to diminish your alternative energy adventure, but) your rescue story made the national news this morning!

Saw video of "Grandpa Hank" during the 10-o'clock hour here on the East coast. He was describing how glad he was to see another human:

"I just kissed him. He looked like an angel to me."

He said he survived by drinking windshield washer fluid (?!!!)

The best line was about his family who decided to take away his car keys. His response was that, from now on, he'll be happy as a co-pilot.

Glad this little episode turned OK!

 

[swampjeep]

yes, it was on the news here in Detroit a few days ago,

Great job on both helping the recue and the electric bike testing.