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[rider7]

Hey all,

I missed my first inspection at the zero dealer by a whopping 700 miles.
Oh well... it is a simple encoder alignment (Timing) of the electrical angle kind and a couple of firmware updates.

But, oh boy, a 30 min job turned into a 2.5 hour job.

The computer crashed during the procedure and the tech had to do it manually.

But here is the good news, Brent from AF-1 racing knows these bikes really well and was able to get the alignment (timing) adjusted by hand, which is a pain in the butt according to his description of the procedure.

And here is the best part, instead of simply having to succumb to the system not working correctly and kind of being stranded, he knew how to do it manually and then or while, contacted Zero and reported back the issue to them and in real time received the report and can work out a solution.

Initially I was gettin g a bit mad since I was simply stranded in the shop, but Brent took the time later on to explain the technical details and that really turned it around for me.
In the meantime I was entertained by Kate their curtious front desk manager.
Thank you Kate  

Also, they were just about to put me on one of their zero demos to get me back to work.
And that is classy and gives me the fuzzy that we want from our dealers.

It gave me the good feeling that I am in good hands, that this shop knows what they are doing and that they have a direct line of communication with the Zero team.

Good feeling, good job AF-1.

I'll be back for more bikes, maybe even an ICE one day (still want a tank like adventure bike for long, long rides). Guzzi or BMW because of the shaft drive.
Or a BMW R9-T custom just because they look so good and there is no maintenance on the drive train. (Almost none)

Anyway, this was a full sucess and I am happy to have bought at AF-1 racing.

Thanks team at AF-1 Racing

[MajorMajor]

I'm interested in hearing the technical details.
I didn't even know it was possible to manually time the motor.

[Kocho]

How is it done manually? On my Vectrix, the procedure was not that involved. In fact, the bike was self-regulating. You just initiate the calibration procedure via a sequence of brake and throttle inputs, rear wheel off the ground, and it does it. If the sensor is dirty or out of position (seriously misaligned) it can be realigned manually, but that was morn involved and tricky...

[Yon]

Zero Motorcycles are not Vectrix scooters.  There's no manual timing a tech can do of Zero Motorcycle.   

[Kocho]

Hmmm... "The computer crashed during the procedure and the tech had to do it manually."

Zero Motorcycles are not Vectrix scooters.  There's no manual timing a tech can do of Zero Motorcycle.

[MajorMajor]

There may be a disconnect between what the tech "says" he's doing and what he's actually doing.
He could (not saying it's the case) be doing absolutely nothing and still charge you for 2 hours of work.

[NEW2elec]

Yeah 30 min job ($35) turned into a two hour job ($140) but luckily he was able to pull through.
He ended up makeing the same money as if he were doing a tune up on an ICE bike what are the chances? 

[rider7]

Guys, AF-1 doesn't charge for this first timing.
When I made the appointment, they already said it's free.



Brent, the tech said that that instead of the computer running its sequence and doing it for him, he can do it manually.
It is tedious but he did it.


Undietunaly i don't have real details. He simply told me the outline of the procedure, but we didn't go into the exact details, or I would have had to stay another hour


Rider7

[MajorMajor]

Good to hear that he didn't charge for it.
What's the outline of the procedure?

[rider7]

MajorMajor,


now that you ask me, I only remember the last outline he mentioned, which was the one their computer used to have, and that was that you have to run it at 200 RPM and then you had two curves that would converge with a lot of data points on them.
It was tedious as well. The new software is supposed to do it fully automatically, unless the computer crashes.


I'll call Brent and ask him if he can send me some documention. Not sure if it propriotery though.


Rider7

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

The manual aspect of aligning curves does seem achievable to me. The Sevcon isn't so complicated that this absolutely requires a computer. Sine and cosine curves have limited parameters and working out the details visually can be worked out interactively. Historically, this is what oscilloscopes are for, by analogy.