ElectricMotorcycleForum.com

Well, it is obvious that this car's amazing performance is all about the flux capacitor!  That is hilarious.

I am just trying to crunch the numbers and find out how much this bike
will cost me over 3 years.

Over 3 years it would not be possible to wear out the motor and it will be under warranty anyway.  The new Zero Motorcycle motors should have a very long lifetime.

For calculating costs figure out how much electricity you would use and tires and brakes based on how many miles you will go in 3 years. 

Spartacus,

I have owned a Zero DS, a Zero FX, and a variety of ICE motorcycles.   I currently ride a Yamaha WR250R but I am looking at the new 2016 Zero DS 13 and am tempted to jump back into electrics.... Zero bikes are always tempting!

I have ridden a lot of miles on dirt from easy gravel roads to singletrack trails and I have done this on a Zero FX and on bigger ICE bikes with 17" rims and Dual Sport rubber as well.

From my experiences, and what you have stated for your intended purposes, I would humbly suggest the FXS would be fine for your use case.    Get some good 50/50 rubber on it and it will do fine in mild off road situations.   If you ride hard on the street and want more performance in the dirt get another set of stock 17" Zero rims and put more dirt oriented rubber on those for trail riding.

The main advantage for any motorcycle in the dirt is lightweight and the FXS is really light.   The smaller rims will wash out easier in sand and loose dirt and you will feel the bumps more but if your speeds are conservative you will do fine.

Personally, I like motorcycles with 18" rims in the back and a 21" rim in front for maximum dirt happiness but it is a compromise on the street side of the equation.   For any Dual Sport bike you have to make these choices but since you started by saying that you were 85% street and did not want to ride hard off road I would suggest you go FXS and try finding a DS tire that fits your riding style and use case first and another set of same size wheels second.   Swapping bigger hoops messes with more of the overall bike and is generally not worth the effort in the end.

After owning a couple of Zero Motorcycles (12 DS ZF9 and 13 FX 5.7) I have sold my FX and only have the old reliable Yamaha in the stable at the moment.

I have greatly enjoyed the electric motorcycle experience for the last 3 years and will miss some of the great things about electric vehicles but my career situation changed and now I have essentially a free ride to work so the commuting part of my personal transportation puzzle changed and the electric motorcycle could no longer be a part of that.   Although I still enjoyed having the FX and using it for short weekend jaunts I was not using it enough to justify it's ownership and I found myself going for the gas bike more and more on weekends since it could just go farther and refuel faster.   Range become much more of an issue for me for weekend only riding.

I have enjoyed this forum a lot and appreciate the people who post here and I will still checkin here from time to time.

If Zero can ever come out with the FX20 or get integrated Fast Charging implemented I would consider electric motorcycle ownership again.

Happy Trails everyone.

Excellent series.   Mr Cameron is a great tech writer and I always enjoy reading his articles. 

This is a good and unbiased series for anyone who wants to learn about Electric Motorcycles and the engineering challenges that surround them into the future.   

Price drop.  $9,200 OBO. 

Good analysis.   Looks like a great bike.

The problem with racing E Bikes in the dirt is that there is no class yet so you can't really race it at most tracks.