Brammo Empulse R versus Victory Empulse TT, which is a better deal?

[shayan]

I think the liking towards a bike will entirely depend on what ur looking for. If you want a bike with a super acceleration, even lesser sound perhaps?, decent components, decent handling bike u can go for the Zero SR.
If you want something that handles fantastic, has very good acceleration, great chassis but is decent in range (85miles mixed in pretty hard riding conditions for me), default level 2 charger then its the Empulse. Also, i'm not sure until when the current deals on the Empulse would last. I dont know if Victory will stop making these, but Victory being a big brand, i'm sure they'll honor the warranty period.
Looking at the way Victory is going at Pikes peak and IOM TT, i doubt they're going to stop producing Empulse's.

Also it finally depends on ur budget

I've already pointed you out to the used Empulse R that Roland has put up. I feel thats a great deal. Good luck!

[kingcharles]

There's been a bit of a discussion going on in a Dutch motorcycle forum about Zero's inability to charge below zero Celcius.
I know that my Empulse has battery heaters. How about the Victory? They changed the battery and there is no clear mention on the Victory website so does the Victory Empulse still have heaters?

[shayan]

I am not too sure, but ideally it should. Do you know where the heaters are located? I can check on my bike and see if i find them.

[frodus]

I am not too sure, but ideally it should. Do you know where the heaters are located? I can check on my bike and see if i find them.

They're inside the battery modules, in between each cell.

[Shinysideup]

Another way to tell: Charge the pack until full. Then the next night (assuming it's a cold night), after not using the bike, plug the EVSE into a usage meter to see how many watt hours were used.

Here's one such meter:

https://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU?psc=1&SubscriptionId=AKIAJJY2YKHHLJKYIBNA&tag=slk03b1-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00009MDBU

If I remember correctly, the heaters use about 300 watts, so that usage should show up.

A quick-and-dirty way, is just to look at the dash, the next cold night after a full charge and see if your bike is drawing about 300 watts.

[shayan]

Guess , what that answers my morning's question.
Was pretty cold in San Jose last night and today morning. I turned on the bike and the power usage reading on the dash was showing 0.3kwH (when the bike was stationary) and i was wondering why the bike was consuming the energy (i did make a wild guess that it could be to heat up the batteries). After i got to work, the readings went back to zero.

So the Victory has a heater too then 

[Shinysideup]

I would have been very surprised if Victory didn't carry over the heaters.

Are you in San Jose, CA?

If so maybe you could post something about your Victory dealer service experience when you get some data...

[shayan]

Yep. San Jose, CA. Sure, i'll post about my experience. I had checked with him initially if he would service Brammo motorcycles and he had said YES (this was when i was still contemplating on a used Empulse R). But i havent asked anything beyond that. I'll post my experience after i get my first service done.

[kingcharles]

Thanks for confirming the heaters!