ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
Makes And Models => Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2012 and older => Topic started by: baumisch on July 12, 2012, 04:20:01 PM
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Hi,
I have 600km on my new 2012 S ZF9 now and already had the side kickstand scratch the road 2 times on left turns. It's really a bad sound and a very worried feeling ...
Is this common problem or am I riding kinda strange?
Chris
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Hallo Chris
I recall ElectricCowboy having similar issues - when racing it hard !
So it might be racing or your riding style. Guess if our local Casey Stoner gets on the Zero he would scratch it a lot. On my part -- not at all and I get most of the tyres worn out ...
check the pictures of people on the racetrack and see how they ride it. For fast cornering they hang usually quite to the site so the bike does not drop to low.
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The kickstand or the foot pegs can definitely touch if you take a turn pretty hard. The bikes that race in the TTXGP remove the kickstands.
Adopt a racing lean on aggressive turns, turn less aggressively, or grind the kickstand down and then maybe Zero will have a higher-mounted kickstand by then.
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The kickstand will grind in 3 places after you wear the corner of the foot off. One of those places is near the pivot point. If you are going to carry more weight than average (how much do you weigh, or do you carry a passenger when this happens?) definitely increase the preload to the forks and rear shock. This will help prevent sag and increase ground clearance when taking fast corners.
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Chris, Yes, that is a design problem...either you:
1. Forget you would like to be Stoner, Pedrosa, Lorenzo, Rossi, etc...for a while
2. Change the suspension settings -which will also change the bike behaviour-
3. Remove the kickstand
4. Loose weight
No more options ;D I do not like any of the options!!!
Now seriously, I would think Zero will change the design for 2013
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I scraped my kickstand yesterday while making an off-camber tight uphill turn. It might help to lean your body more to the left in order to keep the bike more upright when negotiating a sharp left (or right for that matter) turn. You could remove the side stand and grind down the mount, then install an bolt-on aftermarket side stand. They used to be sold for the old air-head BMW models that had lousy side stands, but I don't know if these stands are still being marketed.
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Hey guys,
thanks for the lots of feedback,
I watched a few races and saw what you mean.
I would prefer to get another stand mounted some time so ...
If anybody did mount another kickstand I would love to see photos,
will ask my dealer when I bring my machine in for the recall of brake
sensor thing everybody of us got contacted for ...
let's see what my dealer thinks ..
chris
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I think this has more potential for a crash than the brake light issue, maybe you all need to complain to dealer, zero and the road safety body that does recalls.
I am sure it would not be deemed safe for part of the bike to scrape the road and upset steering and handling.
At least do warranty claims on scratched kick stands, so zero knows how many have issue.
This does not usually happen with other bikes, the footpegs may scrape and usually have an extra bit hanging below to let you know when you are at an extreme lean.
But the foot pegs also pivot up to so not to upset the handling of the bike.
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When it comes to scraping stuff going around corners, the Zero doesn't hold a candle to most cruisers, especially Harleys. I rode my brother's Sport Glide with upgraded "performance" suspension years ago and the first corner I came to I scraped his clutch case severely. It scared the heck out of me. I brought the bike back and said it just didn't lean far enough for me. I don't see any Harleys or Harley clones being recalled because they can't corner without grinding away parts. So I guess the owners just get used to living within the bike's performance envelope.
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When it comes to scraping stuff going around corners, the Zero doesn't hold a candle to most cruisers, especially Harleys. I rode my brother's Sport Glide with upgraded "performance" suspension years ago and the first corner I came to I scraped his clutch case severely. It scared the heck out of me. I brought the bike back and said it just didn't lean far enough for me. I don't see any Harleys or Harley clones being recalled because they can't corner without grinding away parts. So I guess the owners just get used to living within the bike's performance envelope.
Ha, that thing must've been really low. I pretty routinely scraped the floorboards on my Road King, but they were spring-hinged to fold up when that happened. I don't think I was even at 45 degrees over when that happened. But then again I also tended to wind out the motor in each gear, whereas a lot of Harley riders I see short shift theirs (that _can't _ be good for the motor ::) ). I don't think I was ever a "typical" Harley rider :).
I never scraped the primary drive/clutch or transmission cases, though they do stick out pretty far, or the exhaust on the right side. Maybe the floorboards protected all that :)
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Dont forget to feel the road with your knee... you have to get it out there though.
Yep I lost weight, got help with my suspension from a suspension god, and hang wayyyyy the hell off the bike to prevent scraping, but it still happens some times, so I just take it off if I am getting that aggressive on the track.
make sure if you take it off, you either short the kickstand switch, OR you put a strong magnet on the sensor. Once you do this, you will start to gringd the peg on the left side.
Other points I grind :
The foot break
the lower fairings
pegs
my boots
This pic shows well a 2011 while not dragging.
(https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/336309_3386792109535_219354681_o.jpg)
This demonstrates my lean :
(https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/288378_3386797629673_1436244926_o.jpg)
What happens after you take off the kickstand & fairings on a 2012?
(https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/458161_3232545253460_159840672_o.jpg)