Post-Sale Update: This custom electric sold for $1,975 after 15 bids on eBay.
Introduced in 2011, Zero’s XU model utilized a dirt bike frame but it was designed for street riding. One year later the bike gained belt drive, a new AC motor, and 50% more battery capacity. Two years later the bike was discontinued, making room for more new models in the Zero fleet (like the FXS I recently reviewed). This is the first custom Zero I’ve seen for sale, though it unfortunately has an issue with the motor.
The 2012 XU produced 14 horsepower and it weighed just 221 pounds. For more on the XU, check out this ride report from Richard Backus at Motorcycle Classics. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the bike, here’s what it originally looked like:
Photo courtesy of Zero.
This example (VIN: 538XU2M2XCCE00025) has 1,631 miles and it’s been given a ‘cafe treatment’. The bodywork has been removed, the instrumentation has been moved to the “tank”, it has KC headlamps, and it’s also got an Android tablet for a dashboard, though it’s unclear what functionality you’ll get from that. Customization of electric bikes is a new frontier, and it’ll be interesting to see what people start doing on the technical side of things. Alas, this bike has a motor timing issue which will sometimes kill the motor. The seller says he’s been dealing with Zero support on this but the short story is that you’re probably going to have to replace the motor if you plan on riding this regularly. It’s be easier/cleaner to replace than a gas motor but it’s still more work than the average buyer is going to want to take on.
Find this Zero for sale in New Orleans, Louisiana with an unmet opening bid of $1,000