Intro & performance question

[CbadDon]

Hi All,

My name is Don, and I live in Carlsbad, CA. I am thinking of buying an Enertia. My commute is three miles, but there are big hills both ways. I see lots of videos, none showing going up hill from a stop. I am also concerned about acceleration on a flat surface. I weigh 150 lbs, so would like to hear some 0 to ? times for someone near my weight. I think performance is one important way to stay safe while on a bike. Maybe someone could compare the Enertia to a xxx cc type motorcycle. Thanks for your repies, and regardless of the replies I will most likely buy one.

Cheers,
Don 

[Gavin]

http://www.brammo.com/index_video_plus.php

at 55 secs in he is going up a nice San Francisco hill.

Gavin

[Brammofan]

Hi Don, and welcome to the forum.

First, let me tell you about my experience with my Brammo Enertia and hills.  I weigh about 210.  There is this one particular intersection near my house that is particularly dangerous.  It is also on the way to some of my favorite routes, so I have to deal with it often.  It's a "T" intersection, and I have the Stop sign  - the cross traffic does not stop, and the line of vision isn't very good.  Plus, the road at the stop sign is a serious grade - upward angle at about 20% grade, I'd guess.  So, from this stop, I usually take a left and have to really power up quickly just in case someone is coming from my right.

Of course, one of the good things about the Brammo is that, while I'm waiting at this stop sign, it is silent, allowing me to hear if any cars are coming.  Additionally, the brakes (Brembo) are great at holding me from sliding backward, usually into a car creeping up from behind.  When it's 'go' time, I'm still usually holding the front brake, and I roll on the throttle.  No sense going FOT in this situation, I've found -- they have the motor controller software configured so that you don't do a burn out.  But it's plenty torquey to get me moving forward (as I slowly release the brake) with no chance of rearward rolling.  

Now, past the point of no return and while I'm turning into the lane (going left-ward) the smooth torque curve gets me moving and up to speed plenty quick enough.  I don't do any 0-35 or 0-50 measurements, but it's comfortable, smooth, confident and quick.

...and that's with my 210 lbs.  You only weigh 150 so, especially in a situation like that, your performance would be better.

The Enertia has been compared performance-wise to a 250cc motorcycle.  It doesn't have the top speed of a Ninja (around 90?) but torque and handling are supposedly similar.  

I'll let some other folks chime in.

[HighlanderMWC]

One major factor would be the speed of the road you're turning onto. The Enertia accelerates pretty well (even uphill) to about 45mph, but really starts dropping off in the 50s. One of the motorcycle magazines published 0-60 times but I'm trying to recall if any 0-30 times were published as they would be much more useful. I have no problem pulling ahead of cars from stop lights and keep up with most bikes unless they're going all out.

[protomech]

Hi All,

My name is Don, and I live in Carlsbad, CA. I am thinking of buying an Enertia. My commute is three miles, but there are big hills both ways. I see lots of videos, none showing going up hill from a stop. I am also concerned about acceleration on a flat surface. I weigh 150 lbs, so would like to hear some 0 to ? times for someone near my weight. I think performance is one important way to stay safe while on a bike. Maybe someone could compare the Enertia to a xxx cc type motorcycle. Thanks for your repies, and regardless of the replies I will most likely buy one.

From the performance specs I've read, the Enertia 3.1 is between a fast 125cc bike and a slow 250cc bike. Cycle World tested the bike and gave some details for performance compared to a Ninja 250. Traditional tests to 60 mph are not very useful, as the Enertia 3.1 falls off on speed very quickly as it approaches 60 mph and is much slower than the gas bike. 0-30 testing is really the most relevant performance metric for the Enertia 3.1, which is completed in 4.1s.

I suspect the batteries in the 3.1 limit its burst and sustained performance. If I'm correct, then I would expect the Enertia Plus 6.0 kwh to be substantially faster, keeping pace with the 250cc bike to 40-50 mph. No one but Brammo knows until the bikes are reviewed.

Click pictures for source links.

Ninja 250 on the dyno.


Brammo Enertia 3.1 vs Zero S vs Native GPR-S.


Cycle World tests the Enertia 3.1 on the dyno.

[Enertia122]

Hello Don.  I just happen to work in Carlsbad and commute from Vista.  I will tell you that the bike has absolutely no problems getting up the hills around here.  I take different routes to work and the best one is oceanside boulevard to the coast, down the coast to cannon, past legoland to faraday.  If you know the area well you know there are quite a few ups and downs along that route. 

[CbadDon]

Thanks for all the replies. @Enertia122, you must work near me. We should meet at the food court some day. Have you ever gone up college from palomar towards faraday prior to the big dig?

[Enertia122]

Yep.  I've taken all the hills around here.  I have the Brammo tech coming to my office possibly tomorrow.  If i can get a hold of him, maybe he can bring down a demo bike for you to try. Let's jump off this thread and send direct messages.

[oobflyer]

Torque - the advantage of the electric motor: my Vectrix motor has a 21 kW motor and I've had no problems at all going uphill. The Enertia is lighter than the vectrix with perhaps a similar power:weight ratio. The Empulse has twice the power at 40 kW!
I haven't calculated the 0-60 time while riding myself, but Vectrix claims a 0-50 MPH of 6.8 seconds, which sounds about right.