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I too had the bearing failure on a previous Zero.

I learned the following from examining wheels used by Zero-
First, the quality of the hub and repeatability on the machining of the bearing receivers was poor.
Second, the bearings used are not designed for axial loading.  These are standard roller ball bearings and can take only a small percentage of their load rating along the axle line.  Cars have tapered bearings (along with the steering neck on bikes) so you can tighten down on the them; they accept radial and axial loads.  Zeros standard ball type bearing can not tolerate axial loads.
Third, the width of the aluminum sleeve that runs on the axle between the two inner bearing races (the spacer between the inner bearing races) was shorter than the measured distance the hub establishes between the outer bearing races.  Even using a press to make sure the bearings were completely seated in the hub, I still could not get the spacing remotely close to that needed by the inner bearing race spacer.  ANY amount of axle nut tightening made for a huge axial pre-load on the rear bearings and caused the rear wheel to slow much faster when I spun it on a bike stand (with the belt off).  I did not have a new spacer to see if the above poster's theory about crushing the spacer is accurate.  I just did as they did and made one from steel.

The bearings should have a taper element to them or at least be of the deep race variant of standard ball bearing where there is increased axial load capability.  In addition, there needs to be accurate spacing of the inner and outer races so as not to pre-load the bearings in the axial direction when you tighten down the axle nut.  Lastly, I did not test the theory but I suspected that, as the hub heated from rear disk thermal loads, it would expand more and more quickly then the steel inner race spacer which could put significant axial load stress on the bearings.  The hub heating would be spreading the outer races more and faster than the inner race spacer could keep up with.  I got rid of the bike.

Bike one 0 one.....

Thank you!

Thanks for all the replies.

I asked because I had an interesting interaction with them.  I was calling around in the SE looking for an inventory FXS.  I talked with a salesman from WOW who quoted $7890 for a bike with 62 miles on it.  I asked if that was for the larger battery one and he confirmed it was.  I asked if there were any other charges (picking up from Florida so there was no sales tax) and was told there was a $499 shipping fee.  I said great; that sounds good please drop me an email.  I got the email and the net was something like $8800 and included some dealer fees.  I wrote back and said I would buy the bike for $8500 (their price and shipping round up a bit) and was told that was not possible.

$8800 is a good deal for a new 2016 FXS but I just can not bring myself to spend money with people that do not do what they say.  The final numbers they gave me dropped to something like a $230 difference so its kinda silly but every time I've made an exception, I've been bitten.

Anyone looking for a good deal on a FXS let me know and I'll forward you the email correspondence so you can go in armed

Thanks,
Bill

The RC model industry teaches that there is a trade off between high C discharge capability and high cycle life.  It would not surprise me at all to think that Zero prioritizes longevity while Alta looks to higher discharge capability.

As for durability, I would think the extra $5K would buy you much better components. 

By chance does anyone have an opinion regarding World of Wheels in Marietta Georgia (just north of Atlanta)?

I love the looks of the RedShift but am concerned about the learning curve that all manufacturers go through.  The sane side of me says buy an FX while the boy in me craves the RedShift.  Would love to hear impressions of the two experienced on the same day.

https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/posts/1391932/

The neat thing about electric motors is they provide all their torque at low rpm then the torque falls off when you reach the battery's current limit. This is the opposite of ICE and provides you with a torque when you need it and most often use it on the street type experience.

BeVs are a long way from getting near the energy density of gas. Heck, you waste 80% of the gas and yet ICE are still bad fast. I'm finding I prefer BeV fun over ICE bad fast on the street for both bike and car (M5 gone for a Tesla and S1000RR replaced by an SR).