This spring I noticed a decrease in the range of my Zero SR/F. Thanks to the internet, I realized I wasn’t alone. Most SR/F and SR/S from my model year suffered a similar issue. I contacted Zero HQ with my logs, and they verified that I had a battery problem, and gave me a case number with a recommendation to visit my nearest dealer for the work to be done (all within about 90 minutes on a Saturday!). Unfortunately, the dealer where I bought the bike in 2021 has since dropped Zero, so the nearest authorized party was the Wild West Motoplex 124 miles away in Katy, Texas. After careful wrangling with Plugshare and A Better Route Planner, I found it would be impossible to ride the bike to Katy with a range of only 25 miles or so (not to mention taking all day and most of the night). I enlisted the help of my motor friend with a trailer and we headed out to Wild West Motorsports of I-10. Dropping off the bike, I asked for a new set of tires(Michelin Road 6) and a spare belt.

The bike was finally ready, with new battery, ignition switch, tires, and belt. Around 11:30 I left the dealer with an 80% charge.

I had mapped it out several ways, and settled on a 3 stop strategy – at a Target in Katy 9 miles from the dealership to top it up to 100% on Highway 99. Pretty uneventful trip to the Target – the charging was free, and all four chargers were available, but three of the four spots were occupied by internal combustion cars. I snaked into the remaining spot, and charged up while eating crackers and cheese.

On the way to the next stop, I was startled by a pack of American V Twin enthusiasts, snorting and weaving and hooliganing on the tollroad. One of the pack was the assigned videographer and held out a phone recording them while riding on the shoulder. Sure, I was the dork on the electric bike with the mesh jacket, Shoei and boots, but I was still unsure of the range with the new battery so I was taking it easy within the limits (75 MPH) of the tollroad.

I made it the 50 miles to Brenham after realizing I missed my exit. I’ve got a QuadLock on the handlebars, but I found it a dangerous distraction when I tried navigating with it before. I had spent my last charge trying to memorize the exit, but the heat must have scorched those neurons. I just followed the road signs for Historic Downtown Brenham, sniffed out the electrons, and was charging in no time at a steady 6 KW/h. I strolled over to the Mescalito Cafe for a Topo Chico and an iced latte. Cool place, friendly staff, tasty iced latte.

I loitered around the town square until the Zero was up to around an 80% state of charge. I was reasonably unworried about out the navigation, since the next turns off 290 were into my neighborhood, but I did think I would need another charge.

I played around with ECO mode until I got on the highway, but once on the highway, the heavy region with ECO made it hard to maintain a steady speed at 75 mph. I made the easy calculation to charge up at the Austin Community College campus 66 miles away in Elgin. I stopped at a gas station to grab some cacahuetes japones, water, and a soda before hitting campus since ACC Elgin is a lonely place on a summer Saturday.

Again with the loitering on the nice new facility (complete with nature trail clear of visitors since it was 95 F at least) and the exceptionally slow charging. And the only charge of the journey that cost me money. After topping up to around 40% SOC I headed the final 20 miles into Austin.

It took around 5 hours (as predicted) and three stops, but if I was starting from home on a full charge, I bet I could do it in one.

It cost $1.45 in fueling costs – the ChargePoint in the Target parking lot said they would add the cost of $3.00 if I charged for more than an hour, but Brenham was free and ACC was $1.45. The tolls were about three times the fuel costs.

The Michelin Road 6 tires felt planted and smooth, much more stable that the aging stock Pirellis.

First long travel in the summer in a long time, but reminded me of the joys of a mesh jacket. I figured the heat would fatigue me more than it did, but soaking my scarf in water, drinking plenty of fluids, the mesh jacket did its job.

With the new battery, and at highway speeds (mostly between 65 and 75 mph) I was getting about 1 mile per percent SOC. Not bad. Ready to explore more in the coming months now that I have a longer tether.

And thanks to Ryan at Wild West Motoplex for taking care of the Zero.