Brammo Owners Forum

well, abs for the rear is not a tiny little bit as important as abs to the front.

another note:
they seem to have kicked out the chademo charging posibility (before: 1800$ extra, but 30m charging) ...
sadly, chademo seems kind of dead except for japan.

yet another note: the stated carrying capacity is getting ridiculous. 147kg for the 15kwh-version ... that basically makes the existence of a second seat a marketing gag.
even the 185kg of the standard version are not quite a lot. It would already restrain the possible weight of a companion if both were wearing full gear by quite a bit.

well at the speed I'm cycling the red light seems to be rather green-blue

yes, the windmills/minute ratio ist much to high for germany, so obviously in the netherlands

kinda strange, because the numberplate is from altoetting which is 20km from the austrian border (thats exactly the opposite corner of germany)

In any case -- anybody had a serious scrape with accompanying gear recommendations and/or condemnations?

Jeah, I got hit by a car from the left (a bit less than 50 km/h) while driving at about 15 km/h forward about 2 months ago. Got hit pretty hard on my left leg and foot, but nothing broken, just very hard bruises (theyre still there and only slowly going away). Flipped twice and landed on my helmet, breaking it (actually the most expensive part of the accident safe of the car which has about 7000 Euro damage ).

Gear was some reasonably priced kevlar trousers and jacket, both undamaged, some acceptable gloves, some Shoei helmet for 400 bucks (Shoei Multitec I believe, but I wasnt that convinced. Will buy another one this time) and very very comfortable Dayona Burdit XCR (1). Man, those boots are awesome. Can recommend. Took the hit like a champ, protected reasonable well (it was a fucking 2 ton car driving its numberplate directly into my foot) and are that comfortable I actually wear them on bad weather days, too.

The motorcycle (Honda CBF 600 S/A) has a dent in the tank (proved to be softer than my knee), broken footpegs and minor parts and a bend bar, nothing else. About 150 bucks to repair plus value drop through scratches (which hurt the most because I actually wanted to sell it this fall and replace it with a KTM Duke 390).


Its not certain yet which fault it is - both sides could have prevented it if they were more careful, but both sides had the right to be there - very faulty shilds in a very very complicated place (3 meters away from Hitlers Reichsparteitagsgelaende actually). The insurances are fighting that one out.

(1) http://www.daytona.de/index.php?page=453  I love those. 10/10, would dance again.

Last year a Dutch university team participated in (and won) the solar challenge "cruiser" category with a car that seated 4 persons and was powered by sunlight obviously.
Top speed with 4 passengers was around 120km/h (75mph) if I remember correctly.
Average speed during the 3000km challenge was 72km/h!
That car (named Stella) was made road legal in the Netherlands which is not easy...

Here is the link to the website: www.solarteameindhoven.nl/en/pages/car

Once you go EV, gas is history!

Wow, very cool! I didnt know there was still some active research in that area with that impressive results (well, Australian desert sounds a bit flatter and sunnier than the alps, but 70km/h crusing speed is quite nice indeed.).
I forgot to mention that my fathers efforts were late 80ies, early 90ies and therefore was restricted to lower-eff-solar-panels from that time (I think norm efficiency was about 14-16% at that time?).

Lucklily this problems doesnt exist here, every vehicle has a precise leaflet with all the technical details with must be with the vehicle at all times (I assume in order to make the excuse "I didnt know I was overloading" invalid).
Therefore I know that my Honda CBF 600 has a 197kg (~435 lb) carrying capacity, about the same for the KTM Duke 390 I currently fancy.
While obviously higher than the capacity of the Zero or the Brammo it is still not a lot, I e.g. weight about 115kg with boots, helmet etc, which gives only 82kg for a fully protected passenger - not an awful lot, it keeps most of my male friends away and sometimes serves as a excuse to avoid carrying someone . Keep in mind this is an explicit touring vehicle!
One wonders why the limit is so low. Is it the frame? The tires (which would explain the low general level on all known bikes)? The suspension (maybe fixable/modable)? The very conservative estimation by the manufacturer in order to avoid any problems and/or legal responsibility?

I would like to hear from Brian how they got their numbers for the GVWR of the Empulse. Is it a conservative educated guess? Were you limited by some bought subcomponent? I cant possibly imagine one would design a frame with such low carrying capacity in mind.

Hi Adan,

im currently working out how much importing and shipping (to germany) might cost me. It may be that I dont have to pay 19% Einfuhrumsatzsteuer (import sales tax?) due to the purely private nature of the sale. Im also unsure about the custom fees, quotes go from 0% (cause EV) to 8%(cause motorcycle with engine size <250ccm).

In the most positive case I might be very interested

Its not very probable though, therefore I wish the best of luck elsewhere. Price seems very reasonable to me.


EDIT: Typo