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" NEW YORK CITY\u2013 Racing down the West Side highway in a torrential downpour, the $9950 Zero S indicates a silent 70 mph before the acceleration finally tapers off. This is the first full-size, highway-legal electric motorcycle to go into mass production. Yet its guilt-free low emissions are almost an afterthought. This thing is fast.  Okay, so 70 mph is hardly the stuff of bar-stool boasting, but the S is a supermoto\u2014a dirt bike prepped for road use with sticky street tires\u2014and with about the same torque as a Suzuki GSX-R750, it excels in the cut and thrust of urban traffic at the expense of outright top speed. Zero motorcycles designed the S to be the ideal machine for urban riding, something the electric operation helps rather than hinders. Let&amp;#039;s take a deeper dive inside this machine.  The Specs  With a 35.5-inch seat height, the S is much larger than its off-road sibling, the diminutive Zero X. It also has twice the battery capacity, 4 kilowatt-hours, which powers an electric motor good for 31 hp and 62.5 lb-ft of torque. That&amp;#039;s only a pound foot or two less than that 750-cc GSX-R, but at 225 pounds, the S is 212 pounds lighter than the Suzuki. All that torque is available from the first twist of the throttle. So in rainy weather, like the storm we experienced, you must be very careful with your right hand.  The bike&amp;#039;s low weight comes from the solid-looking but incredibly light\u00F3the wall thickness is 0.008 inches\u2014aluminum frame that holds little apart from the 80-pound battery pack and 22,000-watt motor. Most of the other components are lightweight aluminum too, including the all-aluminum forks (most motorcycles use steel sliders) and 16-inch rims front and rear. A bespoke Fox Racing remote reservoir shock supports the swing arm; it&amp;#039;s nearly as small as a mountain bike&amp;#039;s but built just for the Zero S.  &amp;quot;Supermotos and dirt bikes just get crashed a lot. One of the things our customers have been surprised about is how hard you can crash our motorcycles and just pick them up and ride off,&amp;quot; says Neal Saiki, the founder of Zero Motorcycles and designer of the S. The Zero may be light, but every component appears to have been overbuilt, designed to take abuse.  Despite the 70 mph reading during the test ride, the production-spec S will actually max out at around 60 mph, a figure it reaches in 5 seconds and chosen to maximize efficiency.  &amp;quot;As you go over about 60 mph the wind resistance is quite significant. The range really starts to drop. You get 20, 30, 40 percent less range the faster you go,&amp;quot; Saiki says.  Sixty seems to be the target figure for the S; its maximum range is 60 miles and a recharge uses about 60 cents worth of electricity. A full charge should take less than 4 hours using a 110-volt outlet.  The Ride  Swing a leg over the tall saddle, and the first impression you&amp;#039;ll have is unprecedented lightness. Lift the S off its side stand with the kind of force usually used on a gas motorcycle and you&amp;#039;ll almost throw the bike over onto the ground. That bicycle-like feeling lasts all the way to the first time you twist the throttle.  With no clutch, a single gear and no noise, it&amp;#039;s initially hard to judge how far you should twist your right wrist. Give it a fistful, and the S will shoot away from a standstill with its front wheel in the air. In this rain, with all the torque immediately available, the best approach is to gently roll on the power up to at least 20 mph before asking for more; it&amp;#039;s the only way to avoid wheelspin.  At that speed, the S begins to feel like a normal supermoto\u00F3one that doesn&amp;#039;t make any noise. You can shoot through traffic with ease, thanks to the upright tall riding position and the bike&amp;#039;s slim dimensions. Since there&amp;#039;s no need to shift gears, you just roll on and off the throttle. Like a two-stroke, there&amp;#039;s no engine braking, which means the back brake comes in handy both to regulate speed and to keep the bike pointed straight when you&amp;#039;re on the power.  Hearing the rain spraying off the tires and the quieter noises of the cityThe Bottom Line Think about where and how you ride. If you travel long distances at high speeds on a regular basis, then the S isn&amp;#039;t practical as your only motorcycle. If, on the other hand, most of your journeys are shorter than 60 miles at less than 60 mph, then the Zero S is a solid alterative to a gas engine equivalent. The Zero S is fast, easy to ride and huge amounts of fun. Then there&amp;#039;s the lack of emissions; almost an afterthought once you&amp;#039;ve climbed aboard and twisted the throttle. Breaking traffic laws never felt so clean. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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