When you’re working around electric dirt bikes all the time, you pay attention to the up and coming bikes. Some of the new e-motos are a bit, well, average, but then there’s the occasional new player that has us thinking, ‘Is this the next best thing?’
Early this year, Bullet, Rusty, and a few others in the GritShift team went to the AIMExpo – the leading expo for all things brand new in motor vehicles. Of course, the new electric dirt bikes were there, along with a range of weird and wacky inventions.
To hear about their visit, check out this article.
Anyway, as far as e-motos go, there was one standout bike. Zero. As in the brand. If you haven’t heard of them before, perhaps you haven’t been looking for a high-performance motorcycle – that is electric! Although Zero has been around for decades, they have only just entered the e-moto scene with an entry-level priced electric bike.
Fast forward to today, we have our hands on one of the first Zero XE bikes, but before we tell you what we’ve already modded and why, I think we need to start at the beginning of our journey with Zero…
Love at first sight!
It’s true when they say love at first sight, but strangely, it took a few moments to get acquainted with the Zero XE. On first impressions at the AIMExpo, the GritShift team didn’t think much of the aesthetics of the Zero XE. But it’s not all about looks.
On closer inspection, they noticed many exciting features. If you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll know that we’re all about modding our e-motos to withstand competition-level riding that is well beyond what the manufacturers intended. This means that when discovering new bikes, we focus on the bones of the bike. What is the frame like? What is the build quality and the engineering like?
It’s easy to change things like the front fork, handlebars, and even the rear suspension, but it’s much more difficult, if not impossible, to change the structure and the geometry of the frame; and even the most basic changes cost money.
What Bullet first saw on the Zero was a really well-designed rear end. The linkage and triangle were promising, and the whole design was very motocross-inspired. Everything looked really well balanced, as far as geometry goes, for some good riding.
And if anyone should know good bike geometry, it’s Bullet and Rusty. They have a ridiculous amount of experience with hands-on modding on most e-motos currently available. And by hands-on modding, I mean stripping down the bikes to reveal the weaknesses found on hard ride tests, then CAD designing, welding, cutting, testing, and reiterating until a stronger, high-performance part is formed.
This process isn’t because the e-moto is ‘bad’, it’s just that we ride the bikes well beyond their capabilities, and know that some of you do also, and need these parts.
Waiting to get the Zero XE
From the first moment Bullet and Rusty saw the Zero XE in person, they knew they were on to something special. Something that would complement the e-motos that we already sell, and a fantastic bike to mod for those who want to ride hard.
But, like a kid on Christmas day, we had to wait. We asked Zero for a demo bike to start our testing, and, in Bullet’s words, ‘I’m pretty sure they are waiting to send us bikes last because they know we are going to push the bikes through their paces, and they want to make sure other dealers get to see the demos before we get our hands on them’. I think Zero knows what we’re like!
Then the day finally came!
We got one! Testing the Zero XE
Right out of the box, the Zero XE was living up to all expectations. So, we decided to let Mr. Chow ride it first.
Here is a little snippet of how some of the first rides went:
Well, at least we know that the Zero XE takes a beating! There are a few things that we wanted to change right away, so let’s go over the mods that we first made to the Zero XE, why we made them, and if it’s something that everyone should make, or just those who want to ride up crazy tall hills!
First Mods to the Zero XE
The very first mod made was changing the forks. We went with KKE Ultra Bee forks for extra stiffness. These are slightly longer than the stock Zero forks, giving a bigger rake angle for extra top speed stability. The reason why we changed the forks first, without even taking it for a good ride, is that we wanted to test this bike at some serious off-road locations. Did you see what we did in the video above! This is well beyond what we would expect the usual rider to do with their Zero XE!
The wheels were also upgraded to the MX14 rear and the Geomax on the front. This suits the terrain much better where most of the team is riding in Florida. And we also changed the position of the display. We moved it into the middle of the handlebars, mainly to protect it more when things don’t go as planned!
Does it get our stamp of approval?
From our first ride, we were impressed! There is a good amount of torque down low, but we did find it falls off slightly around 25mph. Top speed with our mods was around 55mph, which isn’t fantastic. The overtemp warnings also came on a few times, but the bike didn’t shut off or even cut the power, so a few tweaks to the tune could be all that is needed. Keep in mind, we were riding hard, in tight, sandy, technical tracks.
Overall, the chassis feels really good, and with a tune update or a few mods to the power output, this e-moto is getting closer to becoming a winning race bike for the season.
Other things we could look at are possibly some new handlebars, but that’s more of a personal preference than a necessity.
Make sure you subscribe to our newsletter so you hear what else we do with the Zero XE, how Mr Chow goes in his race season, and how the bike holds up! If it can handle some hard racing, then we know it will handle anything!
Would we recommend the Zero XE?
Yes, we would recommend the Zero XE. From what we know so far, this is a solid build and would make a great bike for anyone, either starting out or – with a few modifications – pushing the limits of competition use.
As the Zero XE is really new, we can’t talk about longevity yet; however, Zero, as a company, has been great to chat with and give us all the information we need. They’re also listening to their customers and taking in the feedback.
If you’re looking for something similar and available now, check out the E Ride Pro SS 3.0, it is similar in power. Subscribe to our newsletter to learn more about Zero as we put their bikes through even more paces over the coming months and years.
For more info, have a look at this article:
And whatever bike you get, just get out and ride. For any upgraded parts, come and see us at www.gritshift.com
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