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[Rewski]

Well my 2010 DS is in the local Denver dealer (about 20 miles from my home) getting a new controller. It would intermittently fault on starting up. Giving it some throttle would barely make the bike creep and would make an awful electric clunking sound near the motor. Fortunately the 2 year warrantee is not up until the end of this riding season but I have my worries about the longevity of this bike. Already last summer they replaced my entire battery/BMS/brain with an upgraded 2010 pack (supposedly the only 2010 with these upgraded internals but unfortunately the same kwh pack) by stopping by my home in Denver on their way through CO and making the swap in my garage. Yesterday the lead Zero technician was in Denver training the guys at the local dealership and I got a call from him as he was heading back to the airport. He said they would ship out the part today to the dealership. The interesting thing was he said their was another 2010 DS in the shop with the exact same problem!

Can't wait to get back to commuting soon. My ride to work is 29 miles round trip and I love every day I can ride! If the fellow Coloradan with the other busted 2010 DS is on these boards let me know! I'd like to exchange issues.

[trikester]

My 2010 DS was cutting out on me, especially on rough dirt. Harlan (Hollywood Electrics) replaced the power contactor with the one they changed to early in the 2010 production. I have one of the very early 2010's so it had the poor quality contactor. The later 2010's had the better quality, heavy duty, contactor. I wonder which you have? That's a question you may want to ask your dealer/service person. If it has the early small contactor, ask them to change it to the later version while it is still under warranty. It didn't cost me anything to get mine changed (well except for a 110 mile round trip, in my truck, to H.E.).

Trikester

[Rewski]

Little update. Bike is STILL in the shop! Replaced the controller...no dice. Thought it was the motor, so new one put in...no dice. Already put a new throttle on it before I took it to the shop...no dice. Now waiting for Zero to get back to dealer. Last thing to replace is the whole battery/BMS (which was already completely replaced last year!).

Maybe they should just give me a 2012???

[ed5000]

An "awful electric clunking sound near the motor" sounds like a bad motor to me.   In fact, my 2010 DS motor brushes burned up last December and Zero was very nice and sent a whole new motor to the original owner (I'm the 2nd owner) and the bike has been working fine ever since.  I was told the reason for replacing the whole motor was because they had to set the brush timing. 

I've put 1300 miles on it since March when I bought it and so far I'm having a blast!  I drive it to work everyday for a 32 mile round trip. 

[Rewski]

Well still no fixed bike yet. Originally brought it in on May 8th! I truly never thought I would be take this long. Finally talked to Zero directly...they have replaced the throttle, controller, motor, all wire harnesses and new battery on the way to Denver to finally fix and get my bike back! I hope.

[manlytom]

It seems easier to swap parts then do a root cause analysis on each bike. Kind of make sense if you have higher numbers of bikes in the field. With my 2010S so far away we did eventually a complete swap.
Would love to learn about Zero's quality procedures on how they learn from feedback and make lasting improvements.
If they get this right with a fast service the company is set for further success.

[CliC]

Well still no fixed bike yet. Originally brought it in on May 8th! I truly never thought I would be take this long. Finally talked to Zero directly...they have replaced the throttle, controller, motor, all wire harnesses and new battery on the way to Denver to finally fix and get my bike back! I hope.

Sorry to hear that. I was getting withdrawals on the couple weeks I couldn't ride due to a fork seal leak (I know, I know, I need a backup bike

Are they plugging anything into the bike (laptop, perhaps) to see what its internal diagnostics are telling them? I'm not intimately familiar with the Zero's internals, but there probably at least 3 microprocessors in it, and I have read that there is a CAN bus and an OBD port.

Sometimes error messages can be deceiving or devoid of information (Microsoft has a patent on that I'm sure), but it might point them in a general direction. I'm just curious if the dealers have this capability, or if they're flying blind.

[Rewski]

Well the verdict is in. The bike needs to be sent back to Zero. The offer: my local dealer has a 2011 DS on the floor and Zero will swap my bike (2010 DS) for $1000 plus registration/tax plus an additional one year warrantee. I don't think I can pass this up. Zero is processing the paperwork and I should be able to pick up the new bike on Saturday. Looking forward to getting my hands back on the bike!

[dkw12002]

Wow, that is a good deal. New bike with a 1-year warranty. I'm a little surprised there are still 2011s around. I wonder if they would sell you a new 2012 for $2,000?

[Rewski]

Wow, that is a good deal. New bike with a 1-year warranty. I'm a little surprised there are still 2011s around. I wonder if they would sell you a new 2012 for $2,000?

Unfortunately that was not an offer on the table The alternative was to ship my bike back to Zero, fix it, then ship it back to me. I think Zero feels it is less to just pay the dealer for their cost and I pay the small profit and get a happy customer to boot.

[ed5000]

I hope it works out.  That would be a nice deal! 

[protomech]

Definitely worth doing. About 10% more battery, better motor cooling (IIRC), belt drive.

[Rewski]

Deal is set. Driving home the new bike tomorrow after I pull a few accessories off the 2010. I appreciate Zero making this right. Will likely keep me as a repeat customer because of it!