2016–2019 · Electric Off-Road · Buyer's Guide
Silent Torque, Dirt-Ready
The FX is a light, electric dirt bike with road manners, built for short, sharp rides rather than long ones. It carries 289 lb (131 kg) wet on an aluminum twin-spar frame, rolls on a 21-inch front and 18-inch rear, and gives you 8.6 in (218 mm) of travel up front, 8.9 in (227 mm) out back and 10.6 in (269 mm) of ground clearance. The motor makes 43 hp, but the number that matters is 70 lb-ft of torque, sent through a single gear and a belt. ABS, ride modes, adjustable suspension front and rear, and smartphone connectivity come standard. The bike's appeal is simple. There's no clutch, no shifting and almost no maintenance, and it pulls hard.
It's easy to live with, and that's why you end up riding it so often. Around town, on fire roads and on easy dirt it's a riot, and it sits well with the neighbors. Be honest about where it stops, though. The suspension is built to a price and the brakes are on the weak side, so demanding terrain is off the table. Range makes this a bike for shorter outings, not long days out. If you're shopping used, go through the electrics. Some owners report a battery gauge that reads optimistic and cuts power early, and a few chargers have died.
Spec sheets don't ride bikes, but they set the baseline.
| Power | 43 hp (32 kW) |
|---|---|
| Torque | 70 lb-ft (95 Nm) |
| Engine | Electric |
| Cooling | Air-cooled |
| Gearbox | 1-speed |
| Final drive | Belt |
| Fork | Upside-down (USD) |
| Front brake | 240 mm |
| Front tire | 90/90-21 |
| Rear tire | 120/80-18 |
| Wheelbase | 55.9 in (1420 mm) |
| Ground clearance | 10.6 in (269 mm) |
| Front travel | 8.6 in (218 mm) |
| Rear travel | 8.9 in (227 mm) |
| Seat height | 34.7 in (881 mm) |
| Wet weight | 289 lb (131 kg) |
| Top speed | 85 mph (137 km/h) |
Equipment check
Chassis
Connectivity
Safety
The first thing you notice is what's missing. You hear no exhaust, feel no buzz in the bars and get nothing through the pegs. What you do hear is tire noise, gravel crunching under the knobbies and the wind once you're moving. The FX looks so compact and harmless that I caught myself treating it like a bicycle, riding down to the lake in flip-flops as if it were nothing. Then you twist the throttle and remember it's a motorcycle. The seat is tall at 34.7 in (881 mm), but at 289 lb the bike feels light under you, and you can move it around the garage with one hand on the grip. At a normal road pace it feels calm and quiet, almost too relaxed for how quickly it gets going. You get off without ringing ears or tingling hands, and you'll probably find an excuse to go out again.
My own 0–100 score for this bike against the class, area by area — the marker on each bar is the class average.
The trap with the FX is that it doesn't look or sound like much, so you start using it for small jobs like neighborhood errands and quick hops around town without a second thought. It's small and quiet, and that makes it easy to get casual. I had to remind myself more than once that a single twist of the grip turns it into something much more serious. Respect it for what it is.
The suspension is built to a price, and you can tell. For daily riding and casual dirt it does its job without complaint. Once the ground gets properly rough, it's the limit you run into, and I couldn't take the FX seriously in those conditions. Put it together with the soft brakes and you have the two reasons this bike stays out of hard off-road use.
I'll be straight about the brakes: they're on the weak side. On the street and in everyday riding I could live with them, and they never felt like a dealbreaker. Take the FX into demanding terrain, though, and the stopping power doesn't match what the situation calls for. That's where I started braking earlier and riding more conservatively than the rest of the bike wanted.
What I value most here is honesty at the wrist. The motor does exactly what your hand asks, right away and cleanly, so you never have to guess what comes next. I've watched complete beginners and riders with decades on gas bikes get comfortable on it almost immediately. With one gear and no clutch, every launch from a standstill is the same thing: the torque arrives in one continuous surge with no break in the drive, and that makes traction easy to manage.
The FX felt most at ease at a crawl. I've wound it through a garden obstacle course and between parked cars on the throttle alone, and the motor meters power at walking pace so precisely that it never lurches. There's no clutch lever asking for attention, so my hands were free to work the brakes. That makes very tight, very slow turns much easier to finish cleanly than on a bike where you're also slipping a clutch.
The FX gets rid of all the chores. There's nothing to start, no fuel stop, no warm-up and no service schedule hanging over you. Because there's so little in the way, I rode it far more often than I expected. The quiet matters just as much. On a loud enduro, cutting through a residential street at dawn is awkward. On this bike it's a non-event, and the people you pass seem to take it as friendly rather than as a disturbance.
Over the years I've heard a lot about the FX. It comes up in paddock talk, on club nights, in conversations with owners and in the messages riders send me. The pattern stays the same: people love how it moves and how little it asks of them, and they're just as clear about what range, charging and price take away.
The praise owners repeat most is how strongly the FX pulls away from a stop, smooth and steady, with no shifting to think about. Close behind is how nimble it feels. Riders call it flickable on pavement and dirt, and several say the wide off-road bar and balanced chassis give them confidence. Many owners find the knobbies and generous ground clearance good enough for light trails. Others say they're glad to be done with chain lube and air filters.
The most common complaint is range. Owners put highway range at roughly 55 to 65 miles, and a full charge from an ordinary outlet takes five to six hours. That rules out touring and makes spur-of-the-moment day trips hard. A smaller group of owners brings up cost. They point out that the FX is priced well above gas dual-sports, and some worry about how the battery will hold its value.
Battery state-of-charge accuracy / sudden power loss
Some owners report that the battery gauge does not reflect the true charge level, occasionally leading to unexpected power reduction and stranding with seemingly sufficient range remaining.
Charger failures
Isolated reports of the on-board charger ceasing to function, requiring dealer replacement under warranty.
Where this Zero FX pulls ahead of — or falls behind — its rivals on the numbers, and the typical bike in its class on character.
Power
Torque
Seat height
Forget spec-sheet bragging. Here's who the FX is actually built for.
You'll love the silent, clutch-free control on slow technical moves. But the brakes and suspension won't keep up with Moab's hardest lines, and the range won't cover a long desert day.
Made for Moab · Bar M / Kane Creek · Imperial Sand Dunes
This is what you're looking for: no noise, no pre-ride routine and hardly any maintenance. Keep it to day rides on moderate trails, where the suspension and brakes are comfortable.
Made for Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area · Johnson Valley OHV Area · Moab
If this one isn't quite the fit, these are the bikes worth riding back-to-back against it.
Any price note compares both bikes at the same age — the youngest age both have on the used market — against this Zero FX. “cheaper/pricier” is what that bike costs second-hand, not how worn it is.
Competitor · 2015–2017
Orange Silence Hits Instant
Roughly $4,100 pricier used than this bike at 9 yr
Competitor · 2014–2020
The Dirt Bike Nobody Hears Coming
About the same used price as this bike at 7 yr
Same Platform · 2016–2021
Torque First, Everything Silent
About the same used price as this bike at 7 yr