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[WindRider]

You don't !  It is cold.   I do have handguards that decrease the wind and i wear silk glove liners but it is just cold after a while.

[Richard230]

Speaking about riding in the cold, I notice that several comments on the Brammo Owners board seem to be reporting that the Empulse doesn't like the cold.  The bike's performance apparently starts degrading around at around 50 degrees and really starts to go downhill as temperatures approach freezing.  Some owners report substantially reduced "mileage" and performance, charging problems (including no charging at all), and other issues when it gets cold.  Apparently some of these problems are related to Brammo connecting the batteries to the aluminum frame and using the battery frame and chassis frame to help cool them.  That works great when it is hot, but appears to overdo it as the temperatures drop. The battery pack does contain electric heaters, but that does nothing for the model's range and I get the impression that the heaters get overwhelmed as the temperature drops to digits that wouldn't affect the Zero nearly as much.

[CliC]

Kinda surprising given that they're in Oregon. On the other hand, they can now sell a $200 battery blanket to "improve cold-weather performance"

[dahlheim]

for serious cold weather riding, nothing beats a combo of electric gloves, socks, vest and chaps.  i have ridden over eight hours in sub-30F temps with such a combo on a goldwing.  i don't think such extremes apply to the zero because of it's range and battery concerns, but i did install grip heaters on my ds and they sure make cold commutes a lot more pleasant.

[WindRider]

for serious cold weather riding, nothing beats a combo of electric gloves, socks, vest and chaps.  i have ridden over eight hours in sub-30F temps with such a combo on a goldwing.  i don't think such extremes apply to the zero because of it's range and battery concerns, but i did install grip heaters on my ds and they sure make cold commutes a lot more pleasant.

What kind of grip heaters did you use and how do you wire them in?

I have been thinking of adding grip heaters... Zero has them as an option but then they don't and they seem really expensive.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

for serious cold weather riding, nothing beats a combo of electric gloves, socks, vest and chaps.  i have ridden over eight hours in sub-30F temps with such a combo on a goldwing.  i don't think such extremes apply to the zero because of it's range and battery concerns, but i did install grip heaters on my ds and they sure make cold commutes a lot more pleasant.

What kind of grip heaters did you use and how do you wire them in?

I have been thinking of adding grip heaters... Zero has them as an option but then they don't and they seem really expensive.

I find that using an electrical outlet and heated gloves or glove liners is cheaper and more efficient than grip heaters, because the heater is next to your skin instead of working through a few layers to just the inside of your palm. Of course, they're less convenient since it takes time before each ride to set them up.

[dahlheim]

i used these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/180988080340?item=180988080340&viewitem=&sspagename=ADME:L:OC:US:3160&vxp=mtr
and wired in a better switch like this:
http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=2443.msg10745#msg10745
and just tapped off the 12v accessory line under the faux tank (same thread, a few posts above mine shows it's location)

for serious cold weather riding, nothing beats a combo of electric gloves, socks, vest and chaps.  i have ridden over eight hours in sub-30F temps with such a combo on a goldwing.  i don't think such extremes apply to the zero because of it's range and battery concerns, but i did install grip heaters on my ds and they sure make cold commutes a lot more pleasant.

What kind of grip heaters did you use and how do you wire them in?

I have been thinking of adding grip heaters... Zero has them as an option but then they don't and they seem really expensive.

[protomech]

8°F or -13°C this morning.



Not really sure what the range looks like in the cold now, as my ride is quite a bit shorter than it used to be.

[benswing]

-17C or 2F riding weather today!  Thanks to the polar vortex we have incredibly cold weather in North Jersey right now. 

Rode to work on town roads, no highway.  Worked like a charm, but I noticed top end acceleration was reduced a tad.  Motorcycle resides in a garage overnight, and going home is downhill.

Happy riding, boys and girls!

[kcoplan]

You are a braver man than I am, Ben!

I thought the BMS was supposed to cut out at around 20^o F.

--Karl

[benswing]

One other note.  When I was leaving work I had to turn around in a tight area. While turning around and accelerating very gently to do a 5 point turn, the throttle seemed to cut out.  However, I didn't need to restart or do anything besides throttle down, then it would work again.  Temperature was 8 degrees and the bike had been outside for 8 hours in single digit temperatures. 

When I finished turning around and could leave my parking area the bike worked fine.  Again, the max throttle was not available, but I had plenty of acceleration for normal driving and I rode home like I do every day.

It was so cold that my ankles were uncomfortably cold before I even left my parking area.  Whoa.

[protomech]

Monday morning I left a semi-heated garage (maybe ~30F) with 7 bars remaining .. when I left in the evening, the bike had been cold-soaking at ~8F and showed one bar faintly blinking. No problems getting home though; I think the SOC meter just gets refuses to provide an estimate when the temperature drops below a certain point.

Tuesday I elected not to ride in, due to an ice slick that covered an intersection.

This morning it's warming up! It's like 23F outside.. it's springtime!

@bensswing the throttle cutout could be a controller glitch .. the most recent MBB update will reset the controller after a glitch without having to restart the bike.

[Justin Andrews]

I think the SOC meter just gets refuses to provide an estimate when the temperature drops below a certain point

I've noticed that on my ZF9 as well. I suspect there is a temperate table for calculating SOC and it's not matching what the battery chemistry is actually doing (possibly because the batteries are heating up internally due to low temp internal resistance, and the temp sensors are not picking this up perhaps?)

[Electric Cowboy]

Terry and I had quite a ride a lot of it on solid ice... some places going over 10 mph was impossible or just too dangerious :

[benswing]

After my record breaking coldest ride at 7:30am on Jan 7, 2014 (according to this thread), I plugged in my 2012 Zero S into the onboard Delta-Q charger and it did not begin to charge (as expected). 

I tracked the charging and it appeared to begin charging at 8am on Jan 11th when the temperature had been above 20 degrees for more than a day.  The weather data for that week is included and I have identified the time and temperature when the charger turned on. 

This is just one data point, but I thought it would be interesting even though motorcycles are generally not ridden much when there is the possibility of ice on the roads. 

I got the weather data from http://www.weatherspark.com.