2024 · Electric Motorcycle · Buyer's Guide
Silent Pull, No Drama
The 2024 Zero S runs a single-speed electric drivetrain making 68 hp and 97 lb-ft, so there's no gearbox, clutch, or exhaust note to manage. What you get instead is instant torque from zero and a 104 mph (167 km/h) top end, wrapped in a 492 lb (223 kg) naked-bike chassis with a USD fork and dual 320 mm front discs. ABS, traction control, and selectable ride modes come standard, while a 5-inch TFT, a small front storage compartment, and over-the-air updates handle the tech side. This is Zero's usable urban and suburban street bike, not a science project.
On the road it behaves like a light, approachable naked. The 31.0 in (787 mm) seat and neutral steering make it easy to place, and with good rubber underneath it stays composed when you lean on it. It's built for city and short weekend duty, where the low maintenance and near-zero running costs pay off every day. The honest caveat is range and hardware. Ride it hard and the battery empties fast, charging is an overnight job with the stock setup, and the brakes, controls, and tires read like a mid-range bike because the battery ate the budget.
Spec sheets don't ride bikes, but they set the baseline.
| Power | 68 hp (51 kW) @ 4,500 rpm |
|---|---|
| Torque | 97 lb-ft (132 Nm) |
| Engine | Electric |
| Cooling | Air-cooled |
| Gearbox | 1-speed |
| Fork | Upside-down (USD) |
| Front brake | 320 mm |
| Front tire | 120/70-17 |
| Rear tire | 180/55-17 |
| Seat height | 31.0 in (787 mm) |
| Wet weight | 492 lb (223 kg) |
| Top speed | 104 mph (167 km/h) |
Equipment check
Chassis
Connectivity
Lighting
Safety
Thumb the throttle and the first thing that lands is what's missing. No cranking, no idle, no vibration buzzing up through the pegs and bars. At a standstill it's dead silent, and rolling through traffic you become a thing that just glides past. Pedestrians don't flinch or glare the way they do at a combustion bike, and one afternoon a pedestrian zone quietly turned into part of my route. The riding position is upright and roomy, the 31.0 in seat lets most riders flat-foot, and the 492 lb heft you feel while wheeling it around vanishes once you're moving. Plugging in is its own kind of calm: the charger lives inside the bike, so any wall outlet at home or work tops it up while you do something else. What it costs to run barely registers.
My own 0–100 score for this bike against the class, area by area — the marker on each bar is the class average.
Put decent tires under it and the bike behaves like a nimble lightweight, changing direction with real willingness and staying settled once it's leaned in. Brake late into a bend and it holds steady rather than sitting up or drifting off line, and that stability lands right away. Everything hinges on the tires, though. Run the cheap originals and you cap what a genuinely sharp frame could otherwise deliver.
The surprise here isn't the launch, it's what the motor does when you lift off. Ease out of the throttle early before a slowdown and it hands a small amount of energy back to the battery. In isolation the gain is minor, but it becomes a real tool once range gets tight, a way of stretching the pack that no gas engine can offer you.
On cost it's almost embarrassing how little it asks. A full ride home barely registers on the electricity meter, so fuel stops being a line in your budget at all. The trade sits in the parts you handle every day. The brakes do their job but feel underwhelming the harder you push, the switchgear feels cheap, and the rubber is basic. It comes across as a mid-range machine, because the expensive battery leaves little in the budget for anything else.
What the bike can really do for you only shows once you stop watching the battery gauge. Early on you ride like an accountant, rationing every mile. Let that habit fade and what's left is a machine that's flat-out fun to hurry along a road, its immediate power drawing you into corners and tempting you to keep riding well past the point you meant to stop.
Whether this bike fits your life comes down almost entirely to your daily rhythm. In town the silence is a genuine asset: I slip through congested traffic and the people around me stay relaxed instead of bracing at an engine note. Topping up is about as simple as charging a phone, since everything I need travels with the bike and plugs straight into an ordinary socket at home or the office. What you trade for that is speed and discipline. Ride it flat out for hours and the pack gives up sooner than you'd plan for, so how hard you twist the grip counts for more than the miles on the clock. And refills run in hours, not minutes, so they happen in the background of your day rather than on demand. Owners with a settled daily routine will barely notice these limits. Anyone who improvises long, spontaneous days will feel them keenly.
Over years of listening to riders, in paddock talk, in owner conversations, and in the emails and messages that land in my inbox, a consistent read on the 2024 Zero S has come together. The enthusiasm and the gripes both fall into tight clusters: riders like how it moves and what it carries, then keep coming back to range and reliability.
The handling draws the most consistent praise. Riders describe a sporty, eager chassis that carves into corners and feels lighter on its feet than the scales suggest. The instant torque earns steady mentions too, with owners citing effortless pull off the line and strong roll-on at any legal speed. Many single out the everyday side: a lockable front storage compartment, a bright color display, and over-the-air updates that make it feel genuinely modern. Newer riders point to the smooth, clutchless operation as an unintimidating first step into electric.
The recurring concern is range on faster roads. Riders report that highway pace empties the pack quickly, leaving thin margins that force careful planning around dependable charging. Reliability surfaces nearly as often. Owners mention firmware and charging faults, including modules that lock up the bike, state-of-charge readings that don't add up, and fixes only a dealer can apply. A few also flag the price, which sits well above comparable gasoline nakeds once a home charger enters the math.
Intermittent firmware and charging system faults
Users report instances of the bike failing to recognize the correct battery charge level, sudden shutdowns, or a 'bricked' main battery board (MBB) that requires dealer reprogramming. The issue appears unrelated to specific battery wear and occurs sporadically.
Where this Zero S pulls ahead of — or falls behind — its rivals on the numbers, and the typical bike in its class on character.
Forget spec-sheet bragging. Here's who the S is actually built for.
If your world is city miles and short weekend loops, this is a clean fit. Instant torque, near-zero maintenance, and wall-outlet charging suit the commute, as long as you plan around range.
Made for Austin · Bay Area Ridge Roads · Denver / Front Range
For NorCal ridge roads and coffee-stop culture it's genuinely fun and photogenic, and it flicks nicely on good tires. Just know a hard day up the hills empties the battery fast.
Made for Bay Area Ridge Roads · San Francisco / Bay Area · Skyline Boulevard / Alice's Restaurant