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[WindRider]

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.

[Cortezdtv]

Clearly my comment about the rotor size being different had no value to this conversation.......


One rotor is huge one is tiny.  They arnt interchangeable..... That 21" front from the fx isn't going to fit the fxs.... The fxs has street wheels and their fire the BIGGER rotor if you put the original fx wheel on it I doubt the rotor will even reach the caliper.....

[grmarks]

Why not just get dual sport tires on the FXS at purchase time, if you don't ride that hard on dirt? If it's dry most tires work just fine, just avoid muddy riding.

[Biff]

Lots of people (including myself) ride Supermoto setup bikes offroad.  Checkout youtube if you want to see examples of what riders do with supermoto bikes off-road.

If you are doing 90% street and 10% off-road (and those off-road trails are not really loose or super steep terrain that pretty much requires the use of knobby tires), you can just air-down your tires and go, but be somewhat careful to not run hard into edges of big rocks as that might break the seal on the tubeless tires.

As Cortezdtv pointed out, the front brake rotors on the FX and FXS are different, so you can't just swap wheels.  The caliper and caliper mount is different too.

I think you would be best to buy an FX and add the parts to make it an FXS if you want to switch between full dirt and full street, because the FX comes with the smaller front caliper and caliper mount on the forkleg.  you can build a brake adapter to make the FX fork/caliper fit the S wheel, and buy an S wheel/tire/sprocket/brake-rotor set, and you should be able to switch between full street, and full dirt pretty quickly.  If you started with an FXS, you would have a tough time making that fork / caliper work on an FX wheel.

The one down side of that approach is that the ABS system will not work properly.  When you put the larger brake and smaller tires on the FX, the ABS may still work, but likely not as well, and possibly not that predictably.  And when you set it up for dirt, you don't want ABS anyways.  If you started with an FXS, and figured out how to get full dirt tires onto it, then the ABS would work as expected on the road, since that is its stock configuration.

Maybe you could get an FXS more dirty by putting a DS front wheel with dirt tire on rather than trying to to fit an FX front.  you cold get an FX wire wheel for the rear.

-ryan

[Ndm]

For the sake of simplicity I would buy a set of Avon distanzia tires, they make a supermoto sized tire that is good for 90% road 10% dirt , they were on my drz when I got it and I liked them

[grmarks]

For the sake of simplicity I would buy a set of Avon distanzia tires, they make a supermoto sized tire that is good for 90% road 10% dirt , they were on my drz when I got it and I liked them

I second that, just as I said earlier. This is the easiest way to go.

[Spartacus]

Thanks for all the feedback.  I didn't realize a SM could be competent in dirt with DS tires.  Sounds simple enough.  Now to figure out how long i have to wait to buy a FXS.

[BenS]

Spartacus, If it were me in your situation, I'd just get the FXS, and ride it as is on dirt. 
For casual trail riding and fire roads, it'll be a bit loose, but otherwise should be fine. I'd just be a bit worried about denting and/or cracking the rims on square edges(like rocks), but they should be ok if you're careful. I'd run a fairly high pressure(at least 18, although not ideal for grip) in the tyres to prevent bottoming on the rim. I've been riding my FX on dirt with the stock tyres and pressures, 'cause it has to do road aswell. I don't push my FX too hard off road, I mainly use it for some adventurous casual riding by myself, because I can go nearly anywhere on it, due to it's queitness. I've even ridden sand/hard-pack on road tyres before, on a KLX250 I used to have; it's not ideal, but possible, and ok for non competitive fun. If you are riding with mates on knobbies, they will definitely have the advantage over you, though.

Edit: oops, a lot of what I said has been said already, 'cause I replied to the first page, and didn't see the second page!

[V155]

Hello I'm new here, Recent tested a FX & a DS-P (overyear new 14 stock former Police bikes)
I liked the FX more. The DS-P had lousy suspension & brakes, I'm used better on my RC8.

But becuz I'm only planning 99% roaduse, I guess the FXS will be my choice.
It's ment mainly for commuting. It has to charged every day.
Asked the Zero dealer overhere to check if it can be delivered before end of this year.
Nowadays the highways overhere have a trajection control system. Planning my commuting trips away from those & have some silent blasts on shortcuts & bypasses. The FXS will be great for that.

During winter maybe an extra pair of wheels with some sticky rain tyres will also fix the roadgrip.
Only problem they use a lot of roadsalt overhere during winter, not sure if the Zero will survive this?

Also the battery protection is worrying me. Bike is parked for 8h on a public space, I can imagine with the succes of electric bikes battey thievery could become a bit of a problem somewhere in time, considering the price of a new set of batteries.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

Hello I'm new here, Recent tested a FX & a DS-P (overyear new 14 stock former Police bikes)
I liked the FX more. The DS-P had lousy suspension & brakes, I'm used better on my RC8.

It is worth noting that 15/16 DS models have much better suspension and brakes.

[V155]

Hello I'm new here, Recent tested a FX & a DS-P (overyear new 14 stock former Police bikes)
I liked the FX more. The DS-P had lousy suspension & brakes, I'm used better on my RC8.

It is worth noting that 15/16 DS models have much better suspension and brakes.

Yep that was what the dealer also told me.
At first i tought it will be great, but those 14's need a rebuild. It was a rather good deal 9000€ + lets say 'bout 1000€ for the updated suspension including new full rear shock & 150€ for a new brake pump.

[V155]

What also need a change, is the headlights of the FXS (FX) with some much better HiD H4's?
I found really good replacements already, first gonna test them upon my RC8 race fairing.
Sounds stupid, but I do a lot of night rides