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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: July 8th, 2023

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  • Hey! No problem, community is why we’re here :-)

    Soo for where I am in the US, the toughest thing is there’s basically no bicycle infrastructure between my house and the lab I work in, plus I have to cross 2 e-lane highways, so having something that is road legal with license plates, turn signals, etc was a huge requirement.

    I also wanted something I could load in my truck bed and take trail riding in the Appalachian mountains, so a more aggressive suspension set-up and support for knobby tires was important to me.

    These 2 requirements narrowed the field significantly, and in 2021 I ended up finding a used 2015 Zero FZ that was the perfect balance for me, at the right price.

    The good news for you is that 12-20 miles should be easily doable with any electric motorcycle! Your budget will probably be the biggest dictator of what you decide to get. An electric motorcycle will cost more than a moped, but of course the low maintenance and low energy costs vs a moped are things you can add into the equation.

    I’ve had the Zero for 5 years now and aside from knobby tires (which would have been unnecessary if I was ONLY commuting), I think all my running costs, “fuel”, taxes, registration, insurance, EVERYTHING, is under $300 since I bought it! It has been a great value.

    The main thing I would caution you about is manufacturers like to add app-attached crap to everything now. Zero famously pissed off a TON of motorcycle folks (I’m not affected but still angry about it) when they tried to make a “pay to unlock” feature with batteries already installed in bikes. Just make sure you do a little research about the models you end up liking so you know caveats like that up front.


  • I have an electric motorcycle (Zero FX) and a borderline ebike (Sur-ron X). Honestly military use cases are probably great for them.

    They’re super quiet, they can be laid down on their sides without any fluids leaking out, you can charge them without crazy charging infrastructure. I have charged mine with a large solar blanket before! Swapping batteries is pretty quick, but honestly when I spend a day in the woods with either, I’m worn out before the battery is.

    Range anxiety is real for serious highway miles, however for scouting where you have even 1 proper truck to strap it to for distance travel, I could see a very real benefit to having a couple of these available for fast, offroad, short-range mobility use.