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Everything was better in 1969

Before I start this story, I better explain that I personally prefer the kind of motorcycles they built in the 1960s and 70s. For a street bike my favorite was (and maybe still is) the 1969 Norton Commando S 750, but I also liked the 1969 Triumph Bonneville and the stock 1969 Harley Sportster. 1969 was a good year for motorcycles.

A 1969 BSA 441 Victor (the 1964 World 500cc Motocross Championship bike) was actually the first “dirt bike” I ever rode. In the mid 1970s I moved on to 250cc Ossa and Bultaco bikes for riding in the California deserts and eventually on to the incredible Honda XL 250 in the mid 1980s, for street and trail riding in Thailand.

Electric Motorsport GPR-S

Keeping all that in mind, you can all probably understand that the “dirt bikes” from Zero and Quantya look more like heavy duty bicycles, than motorcycles, to me. As a matter of fact the only production electric motorcycle I have seen so far, that actually looks like a classic motorcycle, is the Electric Motorsport GPR-S.

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The AMA/Maxxis MiniMoto SX Race in Vegas

The AMA/Maxxis MiniMoto SX in Vegas probably looked like a sure thing to the marketing guys at Zero. After all hadn’t they just staged a very successful Motocross Marathon race, with Guinness World Records and everything. Ummm hold on a minute, I think most of us realized that the (Zero exclusive) Electric Motocross Marathon was just a publicity stunt.

Zero Motorcycles – Zero X

Did someone forget to tell the staff of Zero that this had just been a publicity stunt? Did the people who organized the Zero Electric Motocross Marathon, themselves forget that it had just been a publicity stunt? So what were they thinking, when they invited another team to compete with them, at an actual race venue?

When you add an actual race competitor into the equation, you better come prepared to fight for the win. Zero came to the fight with less weight, more power and more torque than their competitor, but the Swiss team came with possibly more experienced riders (all that riding up and down the Alps probably helped) and maybe even better prepared bikes for that competition. After all, this is what a race is all about, being better prepared than the competition, on race day.

What I am trying to say is that, if Zero wants to enter legitimate motorcycle races, they better start building a legitimate motorcycle racing team (and that includes a legitimate racing motorcycle). What I actually find really surprising, is that none of the electric motorcycle conversion specialists (like Electric Motorsport), have put together their own motocross racing teams. After all there are plenty of proven bike frames around, which can be fairly easily (by an experienced team of ev engineers and mechanics), converted into a competitive electric motocross bikes, that would give both Zero and Quantya, a really good run for their money.

The end result

Out of ten total entries, five each from both competitors, Quantya won first and second place, ZERO came in third. Quantya got the bragging rights this time and ZERO learned a hard lesson. Neither team accomplished anything that will go down in the record books, the electric race was just a side show at a freak circus, but unfortunately for ZERO, what happened in Vegas does not always stay in Vegas, not this time anyway.

My final take on this is, that these light weight electric motocross bikes look like they could be real fun around the neighborhood, in the desert, or out in the woods. Professional level motocross racing (which will influence the buyers) is going to require some serious re-thinking and re-design though.