ZERO’S BIKE A BIGGER BLAST THAN PETROL
An electric adventure bike may sound as much of an oxymoron as the Jacob Rees-mogg Joke Book or Vladimir Putin’s cuddly charm.
You see, there was a time when the range of electric machines was about 100 metres, so you bought one, rode it down the road from the dealer until it ran out of electrons, then walked back and bought a nice sensible petrol bike.
But Zero claims that its new DSR/X has a range of 180 miles in urban use, 85 on the open road and 115 for combined. With the optional power pack, the company claims 222 miles is possible.
The riding position is comfortable and commanding, the mirrors are brilliant, and a nice big TFT dash has all the info you need, including which riding mode you’re in – Eco, Standard, Sport or Canyon, the latter giving you lots of regenerative braking to keep the battery smiling.
Even in Standard, progress is a seamless swoosh of joy, although it’s hardly surprising, with a monumental 166ft lb of torque which is even more than the 163ft lb of the 2,500cc Triumph Rocket 3.
Handling, thanks to the low centre of gravity, perfect balance and high, wide bars, is superbly featherlight and instinctive, and the linked brakes make soaring around even downhill hairpins laughably easy.
The real surprise, though, was when we hit the off-road section, where the bike was so smooth and stable that even as an off-road idiot I actually found myself enjoying it. Astonishing.
Back on the road, Sport mode adds an exhilarating urgency to progress, and even after an enthusiastic ride of 50 miles on and off-road, the battery was at 63% with 64 miles of range left, indicating that Zero’s estimates seem reasonable.
It may be less powerful than the BMW R 1250 GS, the Ducati Multistrada, the Triumph Tiger 1200 and the KTM 1290 Super Adventure, and doesn’t have their gizmos or range until battery tech improves, as it will. But you know what? I loved it. In fact, I enjoyed riding it more than any of them, with its brilliantly effortless performance and handling giving a unique purity of pleasure both on and off road.
If you put all those bikes in a row and asked me to pick one for my own use, I’d opt for this. So mark my words. The future is closer than we think.