Empulse ride review in MCN - By Wes Siler

[Brammofan]

Just saw that Wes Siler's ride review was in the print version of Motor Cycle News (MCN).  Probably violating something here, but will take it down, if asked.

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Pic of first page:

[Lastb0isct]

Just saw that Wes Siler's ride review was in the print version of Motor Cycle News (MCN).  Probably violating something here, but will take it down, if asked.

Glad I got in before then...can't wait to read it.

[Richard230]

Thanks for posting the article.  Unfortunately, my local Barnes and Noble doesn't carry MCN, so I never get to read their magazine - although they do carry BIKE, which I usually try to pick up every month before it sells out.

That was a very positive report and it will be interesting to hear what sort of response their readers will have.  It is interesting that the Empulse R review got to the U.K. before being published in a U.S. motorcycle magazine.

I was also interested to hear that Brammo is building their own batteries in their Ashland factory by assembling Chinese-made pouch cells into their packs.  That is what I had been told by one of the Brammo staff when I first saw the original Empulse when it was displayed at Scuderia West last year, but this is the first time I have heard that statement confirmed.

[protomech]

But you also know the typical electric motorcycle problems. Slow as treacle. Incredibly limited ranges. Impossibly high prices. With this new Brammo Empulse R, all that's about to change.

I'll choose, perhaps unfairly, to interpret those as jabs against Zero's bikes.

Speed
Empulse has much better acceleration than the Zero, no question. 250-type acceleration to 650-with-a-passenger type acceleration is a huge upgrade.

Top speed is a little higher. Sustaining 100 mph is more than acceptable for don't-throw-me-in-jail highway operation, but it's not a huge step up from a peak of 88 mph. That's more akin to stepping from a 250cc bike to a 400 or 500cc bike.

Range
In normal use I expect the Empulse to see about 20% more range than the Zero ZF9 bikes. 20% more than "incredibly limited" is welcome but not a game-changer. I expect a UK mains circuit to charge the Empulse about 2-3x faster than Zero's charger (230V 10-12A vs 230V ~4A), which is a significant upgrade. Provided that you have opportunity to charge, the effective range of the Empulse is likely to be much higher than the Zero bikes.

Price
If the GBP equivalent of $14k USD is "impossibly high", I wonder what the to-be-announced price for the Empulse will be.

The Empulse is a nicer bike than the Zero, as long as you don't mind the extra weight and complexity. It also will arrive closer to the 2013 Zeros than the 2012s in the US .. who knows about UK .. and likely at a significantly higher price.


This is a nice rehash of the Empulse report for the UK market, but it has the same flaws as the previous HFL, Wired, and Jalopnik articles.

Except for one: this one is called a "First Ride" rather than a "Review". Wes's Zero DS report was a review. His Empulse report is a first ride. Hopefully we'll see reviews popping up soon .. perhaps from owners as well.