With electric,…You can be efficient and be a devastator.” – Luke Workman, former Zero development engineer, Gizmag.com interview, May 17, 2016 All year around, winter or summer, a Zero like ours can move through city traffic better than any gasoline powered bike, especially if one has occasional impulses to take advantage of evolving traffic situations with a few moto-only moves. So be warned: You’ll soon be riding through traffic a little more selfishly than you did on your trusty ol’ suck-squeeze-bang-blow exhaust generator. Aboard a Zero you’ll usually be over-and-out-exit-stage-left-tail-lights-in-the-rear-view-mirror-gone before witnesses realize you did anything funny, and whatever that was played a bit like a silent movie…in other words, sort of unreal. It registered visually but without confirmation from the other senses. No audio insult added to a possibly perceived injury. This never stops being neat. So enjoy exploiting the prime in-traffic secret of electric motorcycles: Stealth. Saving money on gas is also cool and no periodic engine maintenance is pretty nice, too. So is the virtue of maybe being slightly kinder to our warming planet. Taken together all this is nothing to sneeze at…but it’s still the dead-silent kick-ass 10-50 mph torque that’s the biggie. No muss…No fuss...“Yippee-ki-yay, mother-fu—er!” all the way home. So beware. As with all addictive experiences, managing this can be a problem. Take away all of the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and replace it with the soft whrrrr of dancing electrons and you’ve got a completely new game. Trouble in River City, my friends, and it’s spelled Z E R O. You traffic-cutting, bad-ass, son of a bitch, immature sociopath. Enjoy. April 29 email from Zero to Aerostich: “There’s no reason to put it away until it is shipped back. Keep riding! Ride the wheels off of it! The more miles the better as far as we are concerned.” A drug dealer, writing to a junkie: “Here’s a bit more, it’s free…”. The motorcycle not only survived intact, it is 5 for 5. All who took turns riding it now want one. Not a single functional or mechanical problem. It sat outdoors overnight all winter, in temps as low as minus 20ºf, and each morning it came right back asking for more. Even those anticipated corrosion-ugliness-damage situations were minimal…it’s actually developed kind of a nice hard-ridden patina. In fact, just yesterday right in the center of Duluth’s downtown, a man about thirty five dressed in scruffy clothing with a sketchy kind of ‘I’m between jobs’ look paused in front of the bike just as I was about to put on my helmet and looked it over end to end then directly at me and asked “Did you build this?” “No” I replied, half-smiling, “It’s made in California.” This was at two in the afternoon on a typical windy, chilly, crummy overcast Duluth-springtime Monday. There were still a few patches of snow in the shadiest places and my guess is the temp was only about 39 or 40. A few moments later someone else hurrying past said, without breaking their stride, “Nice bike”. Spring is in the air here. Definitely. As MY commuter tool, this bike has been a revelation. In the beginning I thought I’d miss the shifting and uhmm…’roar and thunder’ of my DRZ 400. Nope, not one bit. In fact, the ease-of-use, smoothness, quiet and forget-about-the-machine aspects of this Zero have been really nice. It’s so much more of a magic-carpet feeling than any regular motorcycle, and so much more fun to slice and dice around and thru surrounding traffic in silence. Going back to the DRZ is going to feel like getting on some kind of an antique. This bike is not for touring, traveling or those long back road riding days with friends, but rather it’s for putting more effortless fun into getting back and forth to work. For this, it’s the cat’s ass. Ten years or fifteen years from now every motorcycle company will probably be making a few models of electric motorcycles for exactly this kind of riding. Every one. And, if all this wasn’t enough, lots of today’s tech ‘insiders’ are predicting great increases in battery capacity very, very soon! If I could design one of these bikes idealized for ME and MY commute, based on what Zero offers today, it would not be much different than this two-battery dual-sport model. I’d prefer this one’s relaxed steering geometry to the supermotard version’s steeper fork angle, but I’d really want to have the bigger front brake from that model. I’d also like the ride height of this one to be about 1” lower, and the handlebars to be about 1.5" narrower to fit my body size better. And I’d want to be able to install electric grips easily, and a larger headlight, and figure out a way to mount a low front fender. Maybe even a 19" front wheel with a rim the same width as the rear, and a similarly fat tire. Also, some way to cleanly eliminate the stylized forward-thrusting plastic ‘wings’ on either side of the frame. And I would like to be able to lock the forks in the straight ahead position, no matter how stupid this seems. (Uhhh…if Zero also offered a slide-in hybrid option to go into one of its two battery spaces with some kind of small gasoline-powered battery charger, it would sell. Engine from a small chain-saw, lawn trimmer or RC model airplane…I’m not a customer for this myself…just sayin’.) One more small note about winter-riding-in-general. Today it’s about 38ºf, which is a helluva lot easier and more fun than riding was a few weeks ago at 18º, much less at minus 8º a month and a half ago, even wearing some of the best gear money can buy. But regardless of the temperature, the feasibility and ease of riding all winter was a revelation. One year ago it was a big deal to take a bike out for a short spin on that one sunny, nice dry-road day in January or February…we’d celebrate it. Our Zero-Below-Zero commuting experiment proved that even in the most adverse cold weather situations riding is still far more fun than driving, and electric motorcycles left outdoors all year in very low temperatures worked just fine. These results were not anticipated, nor that it would quickly become easy and routine to commute all winter via motorcycle. Nobody expected that. “I’ve Got a Secret” was the name of a pioneering and popular 1960’s TV game show (full-length episodes on YouTube, kids). The phrase contains a great truth about motorcycling-in-general as well as about many kinds of unrelated-but-similarly-societally-marginalized, non-mainstream activities and experiences. Across the USA the wonderfulness of using motorcycles for commuting has been a long-time-secret known to only a very few riders. Most people have almost no idea how great riding nearly every day can make you feel, especially compared to the falsely ‘relaxing’ experience of being inside a car or bus. Soon after you first learn to ride you find yourself going down the road thinking you know something everyone in the cars surrounding you doesn’t know, so you giggle to yourself a little. (…And now a word from our sponsor: Same thing when first wearing an Aerostich one-piece R-3 suit. You quickly realize you’ve discovered something about dressing for riding everyone else who rides in regular gear doesn’t know…Now back to your regularly scheduled program.) Then, as you ride more you forget this is secret stuff and begin to take it for granted. With an electric bike you discover anew it is a lot more fun to slice through urban traffic, partly because you are able to do so with greater abandon because of the silence, and because you don’t need to devote attention to managing an internal combustion engine with its lumpy torque curve and multi-speed transmission. No amount of fuel injection programming sophistication at the other end of any twistgrip works quite as smoothly as this Zero’s one-speed digitally-controlled stepper motor. To be fair and complete, you do need to recognize most recreational riding is some version of an all-day, or at least several hours long, group affair: You and one or more of your buddies go riding, tracing out some interesting roads with maybe a lunch or dinner stop along the way. A Zero doesn’t work well for this unless everyone else is also on one because the limited distance-to-empty range and longer energy refill time is fundamentally incompatible with combustion bikes. But taken by itself it’s another story. If its battery range falls within your requirements it’s a far superior piece of equipment: Less costly to ride, simpler to manage dynamically, and even more slippery thru surface-street traffic than the very best gasoline powered motorcycle. You’ve got a secret and it’s a big fat one. But don’t gloat or brag. You’re too good for that, and soon-enough these kinds of bikes will be a lot more ordinary in urban traffic anyway. This Zero functioned well all winter and with less corrosion damage than anticipated. No matter how ugly and unpleasant the riding condition, everything just worked. After riding this thing for several months now getting back on my Suzuki DRZ 400 commuter feels like I’m getting on an antique. (It’s ok honey…Don’t cry. I still love you. I’ll always love you.) This bike helps me appreciate the condescending smugness and pride new Tesla car owners exude… In terms of ride dynamics, our Zero is fine, but nothing special or extraordinary. It pulls, turns and stops about like a typical 550-750cc bike. But in terms of cut-and-thrust traffic functionality it’s an entirely new world. The magic carpet effect of every bike is magnified here because it’s so vibration and noise free, and every bit of torque is there instantly, right from the bottom. And again, all the crap you can get away with (if you are inclined to get away with stuff) is more safely available. Sketchy moves, whatever they might be…Use your imagination. I just can’t get over that part, or emphasize this enough. Full disclosure: In my own day-to-day commuting I’m enough of a coward that there’s probably only one ‘safe’ opportunity per week to actually do anything questionable which may somehow cause anyone nearby stress. With this bike that number-per-week goes from maybe one to two. And boy-howdy, every time an opportunity comes up it’s priceless, and I’m grinning to myself for the rest of the day. What’s beneath The large Zero labels on this bike are two $4k each (?) handmade-in-California batteries wrapped in a fairly conventional Taiwanese or Chinese (?) chassis which might have cost less to produce than even one of its high-tech batteries. Plus an amazing electric motor and digital controller system. My knit-picks were few: The rearview mirrors are not the best because the stems are too long and they are too high. And the mirror’s ball-socket does not have enough friction to resist even light knocks and taps, either. Maybe that’s adjustable? I didn’t look. There was a little too much free play in the throttle on ours, too. Very slight. Other knits were picked earlier in this blog (fenders, bodywork styling, electric grip circumference, etc). That’s it. Thanks Zero! Thanks Volunteers! Afterword - Part 1 “We wanted flying cars and what we got was 140 characters…” – Famous observation of tech investor (Facebook, others) and Pay Pal founder Peter Theil, in his book ‘What Happened to the Future?’ At one of our Aerostich Pop Up events a rider on a modified Zero came in and bought an R-3 Aerostich suit. One of the many mods on his bike was a half-completed dustbin fairing. Adding a Vetter style scooter body to any Zero or other electric motorcycle would probably mean 50% more range. And a semi-recumbent riding position would be an engineering choice, not a requirement. This Zero’s electric motor makes 44 horsepower (33 kW) and the entire bike only weighs 131 kg (289 lb.) with both batteries installed. Range-to-empty is 40-70 miles, depending on speed. The added wind-resistance of moving at highway speeds makes a significant difference. “It’s looking like the 2020s will be the decade of the electric car. Battery prices fell 35 percent last year and are on a trajectory to make unsubsidized electric vehicles as affordable as their gasoline counterparts in the next six years...That will be the start of a real mass-market liftoff for electric cars…By 2040…Thirty-five percent of new cars worldwide will have a plug.” – Tom Randall, Bloomberg Business, Feb 25, 2015 bloomberg.com/features/2016-ev-oil-crisis I easily remember when electric motors in this bike’s horsepower range were massive, about the size of a thirty to fifty gallon drum. Hmmmm…Right now Apple, Google and others in Northern California and elsewhere are creating flying car prototypes with lightweight electric motors and batteries exactly like what is in this Zero. It’s literally an R&D boom. A uniquely synergistic tech/money/culture alignment of the planets. In some ways it almost resembles a gold rush or fad. Only three months after the above story Bloomberg Business Week made “flying cars” their cover story, in its June 18, 2016 issue, they reported Larry Page of Google had just spent more than $100M on a startup called ZeeAero, plus more at a second separate development lab called Kitty Hawk to create an entirely different type of flying electric machine. “…within the next few years we’ll have a self-flying car that takes off and lands vertically-or at least a small, electric, mostly autonomous commuter plane,” they reported. Larry’s larger development effort is probably a small electric airplane and the other is probably a four or six rotor one or two person camera-drone-style aircraft. The same story also mentioned flying car projects by JoBen Bivirt and Pinterest co-founder Paul Sciarra, and AeroMobil, and Terrafugia, and Airbus (yes, the Airbus) and Lilium Aviation. Separately, a Chinese-developed Ehang 184 “megadrone” was displayed at the Las Vegas CES trade show this summer and was said to be capable of taking one person aloft, remotely piloted like a camera drone. This “world’s first self-driving taxi-car” featured four fold-away-for-storage arms carrying stacked (counter-rotating?) fans. It sure looked like an upsized version of any camera or toy drone, though it’s single passenger capsule somehow didn’t look quite right. The ballistic parachute roof sure did, though. All small electric aircraft are sure to have them. With stars in their eyes and visions of Henry Ford’s revolutionary 1918 leapfrogging of motorcycles via the famously practical Model T automobile, all these teams are heading straight for flying cars. Perhaps they want to skip right over bikes (again)? Well harrumph…Those working on creating this future commute to their development labs by car, just as they got to and from everywhere else for as far back as they can remember. OK, maybe this is a chip on my shoulder, but this brave new electric-flight future would be a lot cooler if it was about flying motorcycles more than flying cars. Skip right over those noir wet-weather Blade Runner levitating cars for now, please. Afterword - Part 2 Just as we were beginning our Zero winter-commuting adventures, and about eight months before that Bloomberg feature one of us (Randy) replied to an email about flying cars with a link to Google images of many existing flying motorcycle-ish machines: “Cool. I would like to try one. The hover bike is supposedly close.” And “Our gear would work great for flying weather-exposed transportation.” I replied: “Sort of, but the overlapping fans shown are not good. A part of two of the fans ‘swipe’ through their 360º circle is through the ‘dirty air’ of the upper and overlapping fan. And thus less effective and potentially destabilizing or vibration-inducing. Each ducted fan needs to be in as clean air as possible for maximum efficiency…I could draw a sketch of how I would do this that would look not a lot like any of these images. The center section would look a bit like a vertical rectangular old-fashioned telephone booth, but without any glass. In the center of the ‘booth’ would be a saddle, motorcycle style with footrests. Beneath the saddle, batteries. Above the saddle a ballistic parachute attached to the ‘roof’. At the bottom, two dolly wheels. At each corner, about at saddle height, sockets to plug in and lock each of the ducted fans. Each fan about 6' diameter. To make the pilots view better, two of the four upright ‘phone booth’ corner beams might end at about waist height and only two of them, diagonally opposite, would continue up to the mounting platform for the ballistic parachute. The pilot would sit on the diagonal, with one overhead beam to each side. A fan directly ahead, one to each side and one directly behind. The fore and aft fans would be about a foot farther out from the booth than the side fans, for greater lift leverage and because slightly more of the motion would be forward, not side to side. The side fans would be directly adjacent to the booth. All four fans would be the same size, though, for cost and fabrication and controller-logic reasons. For simplicity the entire center structure would be fabricated from stock extruded aluminum tube, beam and angle and sheet materials. Each ducted fan structure would be carbon fiber (blades, duct), with an aluminum arm or tube about 4” diameter connecting the motor/hub section of the ducted fan to the socket which would plug into each ‘phone booth’ upright section. One into each corner, projecting horizontally outward from the corner equidistant from each flat side of each extruded vertical beam. In other words, from the edge or corner, not from a flat side. This would be a very cost-effective way to build a safe, controllable, portable and flyable one or perhaps even two person flying machine. "I bet all-in it would cost only about $50K to develop a flying proof-of-concept. Any engineer could easily calculate how long it would stay in flight, based on how much battery, and how much the pilot weighed. A wonderful goal might be 15 minutes of safe flying time, which would be quite a lot at 2000’ while moving laterally at maybe 70mph. And again, the whole rig assembled would be about the same footprint of a small pontoon boat (a bit wider), so I could take off from any residential driveway and land on just about any flat roof. "If I had one of these, I’d take it to work in the rain today. And probably every day thereafter. I have a feeling the FAA would have a problem with it, though. My guess is the all-in development cost would be only $1M with a production and commercialization cost of an added $5-10M. Which is almost nothing in relative terms. The five of us could make this, and none of us are geniuses. I just know we’d do a better job than what’s out there now (Google, November of 2015). "Sure is fun to daydream-write it out…And you know how the early aircraft builders would name their crafts: The Spirit of St Louis. The Lark of Duluth. The whatever. We might name this one the ‘Monty Python’, I think.” A day or two after writing the above I wrote again about another shared Google-linked video businessinsider.com/hover-bike-to-hit-market-in-2017-2014-5: “These have come a long way in a short time. I saw video of an earlier version of this one a year or two ago in tethered flight. Even emailed the developer to see if they wanted to work with us on a riding suit for the test pilot. I see now they’ve added some little ducted side things for yaw and pitch control and turning, and the rear fan is now angled for forward thrust ability. Good progress, but a four-fan or six-fan configuration would be so much easier to fly and control. Much more inherently stable, too. And maybe even flyable to a controlled landing with one engine down if needed. What these folks here seem to be after is a package narrow enough to carry down a highway. Something 8' wide max. For marketing reasons. "As usual, I’d come at this differently. Four ringed fan sections each 8' diameter. And they would not be very heavy. Just electric motor and carbon fiber. They could stack four high for transport on a trailer, then at the launch site attach to the center section with some kind of durable socket and latch design. The center where the rider and batteries are is the heavy part. But it still would probably be liftable by one person. Or maybe drag-able with dolly wheels beneath. Assembled, the five sections would be about 16' wide and maybe 18 or 20' long. Still manageable compared to a regular helicopter, auto gyro or small airplane. And vertical take off is the huge advantage of any of these. Footprint size isn’t the issue. The problem this kind of flying machine solves is eliminating the need for a runway, and (crucially) the skill of ‘balancing’ as a conventional fixed or rotor wing flying machine requires. "Or maybe the fans would only need to be about 5' in diameter? Four 5's = 20. Two 8's = 16. So the whole thing would be only 10' wide x 13-15' long. About the size of a small pontoon boat. The other element that I’d add to my four-rotor version is an aluminum or carbon fiber ‘roll cage’ above the pilot’s saddle. And on top of the cage would be a ballistic parachute. "Still fun to write about it and share. I’m fairly sure I’m correct about the above junk, for whatever it’s worth. I was thinking four rotors were the only way to go the moment I first saw a little camera drone maybe three years ago. It was an ‘ah-ahhaaa!’ for obvious flyability and control reasons, and now that this way has been demonstrated, where are the full size human carrying versions? No wonder all the money is flowing to making these machines now. All the existing technology is out there already. Nothing needs to be invented or pioneered. Lightweight batteries? Check. Lightweight airframes and lightweight super-powerful electric motors? Check. Digital joystick flight controllers (from camera drones)? Check. What has always been Apple’s recipe for success? All the stuff in their Mac computers, iPods, iPhones and pretty much everything else they ever made was already out there. They just adapted and mashed it up a lot better than everyone else. -------------------------- "Actual parts needed for a home-made flying proof-of-concept: Four Zero Electric Motorcycles, single battery model. To be scrapped and parted out. "Motors: Zero "Batteries: Zero "Controller: Zero motorcycle engine controller. "Flight dynamics processor: From any small camera drone. "Airframe: Welded aluminum. Speedrail? "Ballistic parachute: Gov’t surplus plus four 20 gauge shotgun shells. "This whole thing is a mashup of existing components. Nothing new needed to be invented. Welcome to your flying car." ------------------------ Whenever new stuff like this gets perfected enough to become market-viable early adopters begin enjoying whatever-it-is long before regulations catch up. This happened in the 1960s with snowmobiles, in the 1970s with ATVs and today with all the little camera and toy drones, and it’s probably about to happen again with personal flying machines equipped with Zero-type batteries, controllers and electric motors. Which is really cool. Presenting: Your 2018 Apple flying car! Quick, central casting, get me a tall thin guy in a black turtleneck, jeans, round glasses, an impish grin and a twinkle in his eyes! And an Aerostich R-3 Stealth one piece suit…Size 42 Long.

Contempt or Wheelies? They say that familiarity breeds contempt. Well I say familiarity breeds wheelies! After I became familiar with the Zero, my desire to do wheelies and other motorcycle antics kept increasing. Keeping the desire to be mischievous at bay was harder and harder. Especially as the weather became warmer and the road conditions improved. The first full throttle accelerations were a blast with no tire spin. The clear roads and wearing studs produced more available traction when not leaned over on dry pavement. It sure was fun to quickly squirt away from stop signs and lights. It amazes me how quickly the Zero accelerates from a dead stop. That is the performance sweet spot. Once up to speed the end of acceleration drops off suddenly. No rev limiter kicking in as the engine says in a Scottish accent “I’m giving you all I got!” It is more like, “Excuse me? Just for your reference, you have reached the maximum acceleration point of the Zero FX with dual battery configuration. Thank you.” Just to be clear, I didn’t do any wheelies. I kept reminding myself that this is a test bike and must be operated in a safe and responsible way at all times while obeying all traffic rules and regulations. I really did well as I can honestly say that I didn’t exceed the speed limit by more than about 7 miles per hour and mostly rode at about 5 over so as not to be going too much slower than other traffic. The studded tires were similar to having a parental control limit on the throttle. Spirited riding with them would have likely bitten me at some point. When I get comfortable with any motorcycle after day in and day out riding, I start to find myself automatically adopting certain riding behaviors subconsciously. I never decide to do these things, they just happen. The most common is coming to a complete stop without putting my feet down. The goal is to reach that short tiny oscillation you get as the bike comes to a stop, springs back briefly and springs forward again. A sort of boing, stop. It is really satisfying at some deep level. The trick then is to balance the bike for a second or two before riding off again. Does this constitute a full stop by traffic law? I ask myself this question often. The motorcycle meets the legal description of having ceased all forward movement. Lateral movement of the motorcycle is continuous even at a stop as it moves slightly while your feet are down. Most officers are looking for one foot on the pavement as then you are generally in a position to assess the intersection for safety before proceeding. I generally try to keep my feet up stops at non stop sign places and away from active traffic scenarios. It sure is fun and my subconscious likes to sneak them in when I am not expecting it. Last of the Snow and Riding to City Hall We had a couple late season snow falls and some freezing rain/snow. A thin layer of snow or ice wasn’t an issue with the studded tires. Just routine commuting on the Zero. One of my last rides on the Zero was to a committee meeting at Duluth City Hall. I walked through the building with my Roadcrafter Classic suit on as people gave me worried stares. As I entered the meeting room, all went quiet as I unsuited. In our small town, transportation riders are still scarce and stand out in any general business type environment. Bicycles are common and don’t stand out as much. Hopefully motorized two wheelers will follow and it looks like they will. One other committee member rides and has been listening to my stories about the Zero each month and was able to see it in person. He was surprised at how small it was in appearance. The narrowness of the lower chassis area makes the Zero FX look very small visually to riders as they expect a wide engine to be there. The dimensions of the bike are actually what is considered full size in the motorcycle world but perceptions are that it is sub size. One Last Look at the Magaco An opportunity finally came up to let my grandkids see grandpa ride off on the Zero magaco. The oldest actually has now learned how to say motorcycle pretty well so magaco may go into hibernation for awhile until the youngest picks it up. They really like to watch out the window and wave as I wave back while riding off. It is like embarking on a grand journey every time! The oldest has told me multiple times over the Winter: “Grandpa! Don’t ride the motorcycle. It's too cold.” I try to explain that my riding suit keeps me warm but I don’t know if he believes me. He even crunches up his forehead as he says it like he is giving me a good talking to about my irresponsible behavior. He may be channeling his parents. Final Thoughts The experience of riding the Zero this Winter has been really great! I am thankful to have had the opportunity. My eyes have been opened to a whole new realm of what I now consider rideable days. My fear of frozen surfaces is almost gone. I had a fall once in a very unusual black ice scenario some years back that made me fearful whenever I was riding around the 32° F mark. It involved a bridge so I still use caution as bridges can and do freeze sooner than roads. Before the Zero Below Zero project I used to always make sure the temp was above 32° F when riding with any kind of moisture in the environment. Now, I take into consideration the amount of thermal energy built up in the road surface and routinely ride home on regular tires with wet streets and air temps in the upper 20s° F. The thermal energy of Lake Superior also comes into play and streets near the lake can be fine while just up the hill there is ice forming. I never used to play the traction game like I do now. My key takeaways are: You can effectively commute about 70% of the Winter in Duluth Minnesota on an electric motorcycle with lightly studded tires. Reasons: Fine and linear throttle control allows the rider to adjust rear wheel power to stay within the available traction range more easily than is generally possible with a gas powered motorcycle. The electric motorcycle does not need to warm up. You just turn it on. No shifting allows you to wear heavy boots and keep your feet warm. The number of accidents per mile will be less with an electric motorcycle. Reasons: The simplicity of operating the Zero reduces the amount of attention needed and that extra attention can be used for more awareness of your circumstances. The Zero’s extreme linear throttle control and lack of need for shifting allows for finer control of the motorcycle. The absence of engine noise allows you to hear other road vehicles so you can be more aware of your surroundings. The Zero is always in the “right” gear ready to get you out of trouble. You don’t need to continuously shift and keep the engine RPMs in the power band so you are ready to accelerate quickly if needed. Less maintenance means more riding. The Zero is the perfect commuter motorcycle. You could literally ride it for years of commutes without needing to do anything but plug it in and check tire pressure. I want one! Wife? Are you reading this?

The Zero Below Zero project is now complete. We put the FX through a tough Duluth winter to see how it performed, but we also tested ourselves. It really comes down to taking the first step out of your comfort zone. Once you figure out your extra layers under your Roadcrafter, it becomes routine. Once you add accessories like Aero Warm Grips, you become more comfortable. Once you put on enough studs, you become confident. Once you remember the bike is quiet and people can hear you singing, you shut up. Yes, that really happened! Once you have enough people tell you you’re crazy, you believe it! Riding the FX through the winter made me a better and more confident rider. I no longer check the weather and plan my rides around the nicest days. I ride when I want to ride no matter what my weather app says. The project created an excitement around the company that staff and customers could all be a part of. It created a great camaraderie and support amongst us test riders. We shared information on how to keep warmer, how to navigate in the snow and they always made sure the bike was moved to level ground so I could get on it. This was a fun and unique project to be a part of and it makes me think, what’s next? Safe travels FX and thanks for the ride!

3/28/16-3/30/16 The end of March brought the end of my riding time on the Zero for this project. Spring weather patterns can change quickly here in Duluth, so the first of my last few days were blessed with temps in the 40’s, dry roads and clear sunny skies. The lack of snow and ice mixed with clear skies and a hint of Spring brought an almost giddy, playful spirit to the ride. The Winter rides were fun, but always seemed a bit overshadowed by the need to be extra alert for snow, ice, sand, traffic... the sunshine and clear roads and skies help lift that veil and make it easier to twist the throttle just a bit faster and lean into the next corner just a little further. Engaging Sport mode on the FX also helped give it a bit more of that teen-like enthusiasm, compared to the more cautious adultish Economy mode. This outstanding early season weather held out for three rides (2 morning and 1 afternoon) before the prevailing winds brought back clouds and rain that parked over the region for the next couple of days. That’s part of the beauty about wearing a Roadcrafter though, riding in liquid sunshine is just as much fun as riding with clear skies. Waking up to rain on the morning of Wednesday, March 30th, didn’t stop me from smiling in my helmet all the way down the hill for the morning commute, listening to the raindrops creating a nice beat as they bounced off my helmet. On the outside, my suit, triple digit glove covers, waterproof boots and lightweight portable bag I was wearing on my back were all wet and covered with a muddy spray from the wet grime on the roads. Arriving at work and taking off my wet and dirty (on the outside) gear, my clothes underneath are warm, dry, comfortable and ready to start the workday. With my plan to turn over the keys to the next rider tonight, I steal one last afternoon ride (in the rain) to run a few errands. After hanging for 4 hours my wet gear is now dry and ready to go back out into the elements. Again I enjoy the feeling of silently maneuvering through traffic, surrounded by the sounds of the vehicles around me and the plinking of the rain on my helmet. I sure am going to miss the ease of use and the quiet A-to-B transport that the Zero offers, but I’m sure I’ll get used to the noise of the engine on my Kawasaki again pretty quickly...remembering to shift gears, use the clutch and look at the gas gauge might take a little re-training though. Good riding! ZERO THOUGHTS Before the Zero Below Zero project, I knew that it was do-able, at least to some extent, to ride a motorcycle year round. Five years ago I had reached a goal of riding at least one day every month of the year, with the crowning achievement being a ride in mid-February with double digit below zero temperatures. At the time, that seemed like a big deal. Riding the Zero FX all Winter long this year now makes me realize just how practical riding a motorcycle can be for year round commuting...in any kind of weather! Plus, riding an electric motorcycle made it even easier to do. No need to worry about warming up an engine, or shifting gears while riding (on sometimes questionable traction surfaces), or lubing a chain, of filling up the gas tank, or... The Zero is a great commuter motorcycle. Just get on and go. As long as where you are going is within the range of the battery, then the efficiency of this bike is extremely hard to beat. And the fun factor is through the roof too! Now that Spring is in full swing and the ZBZ project has come to a close, I am once again adjusted to riding my gas-powered Versys again everyday. One benefit of riding the Zero all Winter was maintaining a sense of fluency in the saddle. Carefully observing slippery and rapidly changing riding conditions all Winter, along with logging fairly regular riding time in those environments, has kept me in ‘riding shape’ this year. Usually every Spring requires a few rides to get my balance and comfort level in the saddle back again, but not this year. The Zero did create another issue though, establishing a learning curve to re-train my muscle memory for using the clutch and shift lever. More than a few times after hopping back on the gas powered bike, I found myself hearing a loud revved-out engine noise..."wow, that’s a loud vehicle in the next lane", I would think until realizing the noise was from me forgetting to shift to the next higher gear. Yes, the silence and automatic throttle on the Zero had spoiled me. For the first two days I kept forgetting to take notice of how much fuel was left in the gas tank too...it seemed so much easier to just plug in an electric cord after every ride. It’s been several weeks now of exclusively riding the Versys, and everyday riding and the nuances accompanying a gas-powered motor have returned completely, but I still find myself missing the quiet, easy electric operation. Now after some saddle time on both the Zero and once again being back on a gas powered motorcycle, there really are more similarities than differences between the two. Each has advantages and disadvantages depending upon how you want to use the bike, but both are excellent forms of transportation to any destination, in all types of weather. The electric is quieter, lighter and more nimble and requires less maintenance and work to ride. The gas powered bike provides much greater range and faster, more convenient re-fueling options. As technology continues to improve and advances are made to both types of motorcycles, the gap between them in how they are used will continue to narrow. The introduction of new technology and continued factory and consumer interest in further expanding the efficiency, function and range of both traditional and electric motorcycles means the future of riding in general looks strong. And will continue to grow and attract more riders who will appreciate the myriad of personal and social benefits that riding a motorcycle, everywhere and in any weather, has to offer. This Winter I was fortunate to be able to take part in the Zero Below Zero project, to personally test the viability of riding everyday, and the functionality of an electric powered bike – even in sub-freezing conditions. It was proven to be plausible, and enjoyable, even during the worst cold, snow and ice conditions Mother Nature could provide. This past weekend, I was also fortunate to see a glimpse into the future of what motorcycling has to offer. My 7 year old son has a Honda CRF50 dirt bike that he rides around (and around, and around...) our house. Recently he found out his friend down the street also has a dirt bike, but his is electric powered. It didn’t take long before they were both riding around the yards together, stopping to switch bikes about every other lap, racing each other to see who was faster...and both of them smiling, laughing and having a great time no matter which bike they were on. Gas or Electric was interchangeable for these two young riders, both motorcycles providing them the experience, fun and function they were seeking. Seems like to these two boys the fun factor of riding, even riding a ‘silent’ motorcycle with the quiet hum of an electric motor, is all that matters. When it was time for them to quit riding and put the bikes away, they could excitedly be heard making plans for getting together for the next ride...Yes, the future of riding looks bright from here. And by the sound of it, ‘Hum’ is the new ‘Braap’!

When all of us test riders were talking about who was going to take the FX which day, I was pretty quick to claim last Friday. It was the nicest day of the week! When I left work for my 13 mile commute home it was a beautiful 54 degrees Fahrenheit. When I arrived home I reflected on what a pleasant ride it was. No buses to slow me down, no frozen fingers, no deer jumping out at me, just a nice spring day. But nothing interesting to blog about! A couple of years ago I made a commitment to push myself out of my comfort zone. To not let fear or discomfort stop me from doing things. The first thing I did when I made this commitment was to get my motorcycle license, a bike and start riding. This was a huge leap for me! So when Andy asked me if I wanted to participate in the Zero below Zero project I jumped at the opportunity before I let fear get to me. Yet here I was picking all of the nice days to take the bike home. Not really pushing myself, am I… So when I woke up on Saturday morning and saw that it was snowing hard, with a few inches already on the ground, I knew this was my chance to push myself. After a strong cup of coffee to get me going, I put on my Roadcrafter and grabbed the FX keys. On my way out the door I grabbed my photographer. Nobody at Aerostich was going to believe me without proof! Off I went out into the snow and slush! Being a part of the Zero Below Zero project has given me the opportunity to become a better and more confident rider. Now I know I can ride in the rain, snow, slush and on icy or sandy roads. I am no longer the fair weather rider! I came home from my ride feeling very proud of myself. OK, it was only three miles but hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day…

It’s 5pm and time to head for home. With the clocks springing forward last week, the sun is noticeably higher in the sky as I walk out to the Zero and unplug the charging cord. Throwing a leg over and turning the key displays that Randy has switched it from Eco mode (that we were riding with all Winter) to Sport mode. Starting the climb uphill and merging from the on-ramp into the traffic flow, it certainly feels like the Sport mode is more responsive as I twist throttle and quickly dart in front of and pull away from the surrounding traffic. I see another Aerostich Roadcrafter clad rider coming toward me in the opposite lane. He is riding a BMW GS, and his Hi-Viz suit looks much cleaner than mine, which has acquired a Winter’s worth of added patina. As we pass in the flow of traffic we exchange the ‘rider wave’, and then with dinner waiting and some errands to run later this evening, I take the most direct route home. The Friday morning weather is sunny, windy and 26ºF for the morning commute. Silently I roll the Zero up to the first stoplight just as it changed to red. I wait, all alone, on my side of the street, as a steady stream of vehicles passes by in front of me and the cars queue up at the light across the street. The signal changes to green for the turn lanes, and then allows the traffic from the other side to go straight, but my light does not change before the cross traffic once again gets the green. I hate it when lights don’t recognize a motorcycle sitting and waiting... Just as I’m contemplating my timing for running through the red light if it once again doesn’t change, a lime-green Dodge Charger pulls up in the lane along side me. As the car comes to a stop, I clearly hear them rev the engine and a second later the light turns green. Already anxious from sitting thru a light cycle, and with a boost of adrenaline brought on by the roar of the muscle-car as it pulled up next to me, I grab throttle and am propelled through the intersection before the V8 Hemi even gets off the line. Yes, there seems to be some extra pep to this Sport mode. Quickly up to speed, the added force of the wind pushing back against me is really noticeable today. It’s amazing how much wind gets blocked by even the small fairing on my gas-powered Versys, compared to the un-faired Zero FX. Looking down at the speedo, I realize that the push-back from the wind is mostly self-induced, so rolling off the throttle a bit makes it much less noticeable... Approaching a few cars ahead of me in the traffic stream, the left lane is moving slower, so I merge to the right lane and begin to pass what looks to a a driver in a brand new car (still has the dealer name where the license plates go and the temporary tags taped in the rear window). As I pull along side, the new car begins to drift into my lane and a quick glare to the right confirms what was immediately suspected...the driver was too busy texting to watch where she was driving. Maybe she thought this was one of those new self driving cars...again the Sport mode was appreciated to apply a burst of speed to create a nearly immediate buffer space between me and this un-guided cruise missile. Not sure if it was more noticeable because the travel speed was a little faster today, or if it was because the weather is slightly warmer and the roads are dry, but pulling into the factory I also make a mental note that the overall ride felt a little soft this morning. We intentionally had been running the tire pressure low all Winter to help provide a little extra traction on the snow and ice conditions. The way it was feeling today has me thinking it is time to add a little air back in for the more Spring-like riding. After a quick ‘debrief’ with fellow test riders Gail and Bruce, we all decide that adding some air back into the tires would probably be a good thing. After working for a few hours, I need to run an errand, and figured this as a perfect opportunity to take a ride to top off the treads. A nearby gas station has a self-help compressor station with a built-in digital pressure gauge, so I swing in to add some air. The sidewalls indicate a recommended 38 PSI and the gauge for the front tire reads 20 PSI as it begins to pump air into the tire. I inflate both front and rear to about 36 PSI for now, and will see how they feel on the ride back. Choosing a few curvy side streets allows leaning pretty deeply around a few corners, something I have avoided for most of the Winter in an attempt to keep the rubber side down (and not be the first person to crash the test bike...). I can hear and feel the outer layer of studs as they click on the pavement leaning into turns, but then the angle goes beyond the stud pattern, and the tire rubber securely and silently grips the pavement. The ‘soft’ feel is gone too, so the added air seems to have done the job to improve the ride. It’s Gail’s turn to take the Zero for the weekend, so it’s time to turn over the keys...

March--In like a lamb, out like a lion. Or is it the other way around? Here in Duluth, it's a big cat that shows up whenever it pleases. There is a winter storm warning, with 12-18" expected. But the severe weather they predicted is not the severe weather we got. Next to the big Lake, all we got was rain, and a lot of it. Part of I-35 was closed due to flooding and the plows were out plowing water! Thursday morning the Zero and everything else was covered with ice and wet, heavy snow. Roads looked to be in decent shape, though. I'm sure they only "looked OK" because I had already ridden through worse this winter. A little hiccup this morning, the Zero wouldn't go. After emailing our contacts at Zero, we narrowed it down to a few possibilities. As a web developer and IT person I have found that 9 times out of 10 the problem can be found between the keyboard and chair, i.e., user error (also known as an EYE-DEE-TEN-TEE) *. That seemed to be the case here. The motorcycle key needs to be turned on before switching on our auxiliary circuit for the warm grips and electrics. I had probably done it backwards. Embarrassed to not be riding today, I went home at lunch and retrieved the bike. With the proper sequence: Key - on Kickstand - up Kill switch - on The Zero was "go" I had been running around a bit so I was feeling pretty warm, especially after getting geared up indoors, so I decided to leave the auxiliary electrics off. At highway speed it definitely made a difference. The ride was chilly, but not intolerable. I had also left my warmbib off. That was probably a mistake...I think that extra layer of Windstopper fabric would have made a big difference, even if I didn't plug it in. While trouble shooting with the folks at Zero, Bill asked me if I had a smartphone and had I downloaded the app? What? There's an app? I told my fellow riders, Kyle and Randy, about the app. "Whoa, there's an app?" Soon all 3 of us had it downloaded and were geeking out over this new shiny thing. The app connects the Zero to your smartphone via bluetooth and includes screens to monitor battery charge status, time to complete charge, trip stats, and more. It also allows you to download the bike and battery data and email them to Zero service. Cool! Ride home and I'm back in the groove. Sometimes the March Lion is just a big pussy cat. The roads are already clear and mostly dry. The trees lining London Rd are gorgeous; limned in white snow against the steel-grey sky. I sure wish I had the video set up that Kyle and Randy have. The Weekend Friday going home, the wind off the lake feels heavy and cold as it hits me hard in the chest. The Lion is back. Saturday is a bright sunny day, another Lamb. The power is out as I roll into downtown and traffic is minimal. The stillness is a little eerie. Stopping for lunch with some friends, I ran into a rather odd problem. The kickstand on the Zero is rather long; and my legs are rather short. Under most circumstances I can manage OK, though I do agree with Andy that a lower seat would be nice--especially on this day. I parked the Zero in a lot where the pavement was falling away to my right. I soon found that I couldn't lean the bike far enough to the right (and still hold it up) to be able to swing the kickstand into place. After a minute or 2 of trying with no success, I tested the limits of my hip flexibility and managed to swing my leg over the seat to get off and put the kickstand down. In retrospect I should have just moved to another spot because I had an even harder time leaving. In the future I will be sure to park on level ground or sloping down to the left. Saturday evening we were going to go 16 miles up the shore to Knife River to house sit for friends. With 4 dogs, 1 child, 1 adult and a couple overnight bags packed into the car, there was no room for me. Time for a ride! Scenic Hwy 61 follows right along the edge of Lake Superior, sometimes coming within mere feet of the shore. It is a fantastic ride; peaceful, quiet and dark. I often ride my bicycle up this route in the Summer. The Zero is just as quiet, but much less effort than pedaling! Sunday morning and the Lion tries to make another appearance. It is bright and clear, but the temperature has dropped back into the teens and a little more snow has dropped. After all the rain turning to ice turning to snow earlier in the week, some water must have gotten into the key cylinder and frozen. Unlike Kyle, I was able to find my little can of de-icer before August. However, all the propellant had leaked out and it might as well have been empty. Scrounging in my friends garage turned up some WD-40, but it didn't seem to help much. After 20 minutes of cupping my hands around the cylinder to warm it up and much heavy breathing (into the cylinder) the key finally went in and turned! I decided to take the expressway home. I wondered what 65 miles per hour in this cold would mean for the batteries. The Zero had no trouble getting up to speed, but after a while I was watching the battery charge indicator ticking down uncomfortably fast. There is a small rise in the road just before coming into Duluth and the batteries were showing 38% charge when I noticed the bike was slowing down. I twisted the throttle, but there was no extra power to give. Then as the speed limit changed to 40mph, then 30, there were no further issues with power. Perhaps the top end is limited when the batteries are low? Monday morning is another Lamb. I found my bottle of Boeshield in the gragage and put a few drops in the key cylinder. Ahhh...no more trouble with the key. After getting on the highway I am in the left lane (because there is an on ramp coming up) and I am starting to overtake a big lifted 4x4 truck. I see his brake lights flash as he comes up on slower traffic and I have a feeling he is going to move. I slow down a bit and sure enough the truck moves left, right in front of me. Again, I have to agree with Andy; a bright, retina-searing headlight may have helped in this situation. Thank goodness I was on top of my game, mainly due to riding through the Winter. Epilogue Last night I gave the keys to Randy and am now back on my bike. Sometime in the wee hours this morning the Lion made another appearance and there is an inch or so of new snow. I tucked my Warmbib under my hooded sweatshirt (it is warmer due to the added pressure and being closer to my body), donned my lightweight Roadcrafter and headed out of the garage. When I got to work, I realized I hadn't plugged in. As I predicted earlier, even unplugged the extra layer of WindStopper fabric made a difference (along with the small fairing on my Yamaha). Riding both bikes back-to-back like this, it is easy to see the contrasts. The need to use clutch and shift levers vs. continuous gearing. The sound and feel of the chain (I should probably get that lubed) and motor roaring vs. the whisper of the electric motor and belt drive. A Lion and a Lamb. Or maybe a Lion in Lamb's clothing. * EYE-DEE-TEN-TEE = ID10T

We finally had a nice sunny day in Duluth. It was my chance to finally ride the FX home. It was 31 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny as I started off on my ride home. As I drove through the streets of Duluth I noticed that nobody was paying any attention to me. Apparently people around here are getting used to crazy people doing strange things in the winter! The bike is so quiet that I had to watch out for pedestrians. A couple of people walked across the street in front of me without looking. When I buzzed by them they didn’t even turn around. I don’t think they knew I was there. As I headed out into the country towards home I increased my speed. That made my ride a little cooler. I had on an Aero Fleece Wind Triangle that I pushed that up further on my face to accommodate the increased wind. I was pretty thrilled that I was cruising at 41 MPH! However, I don’t think the person in the car behind me shared my enthusiasm since the speed limit is 45 MPH. I was concerned about pulling into my driveway because it is still snow packed and icy. With a tip from Kyle I made a wide turn so I could enter the driveway straight on rather than at an angle. It was a 13.9 mile ride home and I was pretty excited to have done it without dropping the bike! I am waiting for Bruce to do that first. The next morning was a bit cooler. Overnight the temperature dropped down to 16 degrees Fahrenheit. I added an Aero Warm Bib under my Roadcrafter for some extra warmth. The suspension was a bit stiffer in the colder temperature so when I got on the bike my toes couldn’t reach the ground. My husband set out wood blocks on the right side of the bike so I could move the bike enough to get the kickstand up. My driveway was an ice skating rink and I was nervous about going from dirt to ice and then to a tar 55 MPH road. I took it slow and the tire studs kept traction on the ice and snow. As I approached the end of my driveway the FX was so quiet that I could hear that there were no cars coming. I slowed down enough to verify that but I didn’t need to try and stop on the ice and then get going again. I shot out into the road and I was off feeling pretty proud. My fist pump and celebrating was short lived when I had to slam on the brakes because a deer ran out in front of me. The FX was stable on the brakes and it stopped quickly and without sliding out. Feeling a little rattled, I kept on motoring to work. I got behind a school bus and was glad to be going slow and it wasn’t my fault! I made it to work feeling exhilarated. A little cold weather and a near miss with a deer gets your blood moving. As I was getting off the bike a couple of customers from our store came over to check out the bike. After chatting with them for a while I was off to work and handed the keys over to Bruce.

Today it’s my ‘turn’ again…rode the Zero home last night. It’s been a few weeks. This little electric winter riding experiment will be ending soon (a month? Six weeks?), and I’ll be sad to see the Zero get crated up and head back to California. The experience of riding an electric bike over the course of this winter has been eye-opening and good. Us trading off has been particularly fine…It’s funny, but if the bike were actually mine I’d have less problem letting others ride it than if it were a gasoline powered machine because it’s so simple. There’s nothing to adjust, manage or break. After using it off-and-on this winter I’d buy one, and I think so would my coworkers. It's so nice just to turn it on and go. No warm up, maintenance, nothing. Just ride. My guess is large numbers of people will switch to electric cars and bikes for their daily transportation applications over the next fifteen or twenty years as more come to realize the hidden advantages…the ‘plug and play’ simplicity mainly, and as the prices of the vehicles continue to drop and the ranges of available vehicle types widens further. Eventually electric vehicles should actually end up being lower-priced than combustion vehicles for reasons inherent to the underlying technologies involved. At that point the electric vehicle market should explode. We mostly just want to get wherever we are going as easily, comfortably and inexpensively as possible. The temp here was in the low forties last night and it’s in the mid-forties and sunny again today. In these warmer temps this bike is just a zippy little monster and its stealthy silence makes you want to ride even more ‘entertainingly’ than you otherwise would aboard your trusty ol’ combustion motorcycle. Every pass of every car is an ambush. Nobody around you understands how nimble and torquey the Zero is. You always want to zip right ahead, around and through whatever is just in front of you, grinning because before others in traffic quite realize what happened, you are already gone. No noise, no harm, no foul. With one of our Lane Share Tools out back, this thing with a young rider aboard would be a social and traffic pariah…but at least it would be a quiet pariah. Motorcycles have always been partly about riding through loopholes in the transportation matrix, and for this benefit (of riding), a Zero like this perhaps is the best tool/weapon yet devised. What would I change? Other than the inherent and huge compromise with tires (not enough gnarly sharp carbide tipped suds for real ice-and-snow mayhem and a much lower rubber-against-dry-road traction limit on clear roads)? Not much. Here’s my shortlist, not in order of priority: Replace the crummy stock headlight. It’s fine during the day, helping drivers see you, but for long winter nights it’s terrible. There are some large aftermarket LED headlights available which don’t draw much power and are very bright. I’d have a nice big 7 or 8” round one, thank you. Diameter of our added electric grips is slightly too big. I’d install the electric grip warmers which go underneath the stock grips for a smaller-diameter grip feel. Too small fenders. Wayyytoooosmall… Solution…Zero? (My personal fender-styling taste for a bike like this would be plastic versions of the curving steel fenders that were on the old '68-70ish Yamaha DT-1 'family' of not very hard-core on-off road bikes. High front fenders for dual-sport bikes are way over-done for how these types of bikes are actually used in the 'real world'. Plus, 'retro' style seems more fly-dope-hip-whatever in custom bike styling circles, for bikes like this, at the moment.) I’d want a double plug setup for recharging, with the Zero’s optional one-handed 220V near-universal electric vehicle plug plus our 110v extension cord socket, both at handlebar level. Slightly lower ride height. Maybe only an inch or an inch and a half. I’m 5’8” and for commuting lower works a bit better. A nice modern updated version of ‘Hippo Hands’ for really cold days. Easily removable. The steering lock changed so it locks the handlebars in the straight ahead position. A personal superstition…I’ve always disliked the way locked bikes looked with their handlebars flopped over. Bikes at rest look their best when the front wheel is lined up with the rear. They express sort of a gazelle-like grace that way. The forward motion potential is obvious. As ‘art’ or sculpture that is how motorcycles are always displayed. Locked the way they must be with their forks flopped to the side they imply going round and round in a circle. Or falling over. Who wants that? We humans want to see the potential of the far horizon displayed.There are historical reasons locked handlebars are always at the side. Until recently the fork lock was separate from the ignition so if the bars were locked straight ahead one could possibly start the bike and accidentally ride off not realizing…and then crash, which would be a product liability nightmare. Now that the fork lock is integrated with the ignition this would be impossible, so why not change the tradition and let me lock my bike’s forks in a straight-ahead position that looks right? The theft deterrent of a non-steerabillty is the same no matter what the locked position is. Those little fake-looking plastic ‘wings’ on either side of the frame up by the steering head need to go away, and I’m sure the Zero’s designer(s) can find some other surface where the company logo would look just as nice. About the only other thing I’d do differently if I’d actually owned this bike when we started back in December would have been to heavily spray-coat the engine and other corrosion-sensitive components with something like Boeshield but we were deliberately trying to slightly abuse it, so that didn’t happen. That’s it. It’s been the most ‘plug and play’ motorcycle I’ve ever enjoyed. And the most winter-friendly, at least in an urban commuting role. I might keep the add-on skull, too.

3/8/16 Today was my turn to take ‘charge’ of the Zero again and I was more than happy to leave the car parked and jump on the FX for the ride home. After a nice warm-up (40ºF) over the last few days, the roads are mostly dry and it is really starting to feel like Spring is nearly here. Conditions certainly fit into what we would define as a ’Rideable Day’, and instead of driving my car to work today, I really should have ridden my Kawasaki Versys…except there are still some maintenance issues and a not-normal clunking sound that I haven’t made time over the Winter (or wanted to deal with in my cold, un-heated garage) to diagnose and repair yet. Until I can get may hands greasy and get the engine running smoothly again, I sure am grateful for the seat time on the Zero! The low/no maintenance aspect of the Zero sure is an appealing factor too. Just unplug, hop on and ride. No oil, no gas, no warming up an engine…no noise. Gearing up and walking out to unplug the Zero this evening, I notice that the warmer air is reacting with the remaining snow-packed ground to create a thick, grey fog, limiting visibility to only about a block or block and a half. The fog continues as I make my way uphill and toward my house. The smooth, nearly silent whir of the zero combined with the swirling fog provides a surreal sensation of flying and a feeling of being alone on the road...until the sound of a passing car brings me back to the reality of the commute. Brake lights up ahead indicate the stoplight must be red, so with a quick check behind me, I change into the right turn lane and continue on the road less-traveled to enjoy a bit more vehicle free sections of road before landing back in my driveway. 3/9/16 The morning weather for the ride to work offers a similar foggy mix as the trip home last night. Twisting throttle down the neighborhood street, I am once again enveloped in the swirling grey and immediately focus on the fact that the only sound I hear is the soothing buzz of the tires rolling on the pavement. All too soon I enter the mix of the morning traffic and remain ultra alert of the traffic around me, unconfident that my Hi-Viz Roadcrafter is enough to make the easily distracted cagers take notice of me sharing the road with them. Every time I am on two-wheels I ride with a heightened sense of alertness and presume that cars do not see me, but the quiet, stealthy movements of the Zero definitely reinforce this spacial awareness. Hearing the traffic around me, instead of the engine beneath me, sure seems to play a role in this additional cognizance. I know that the stealth-like quiet of the Zero has startled a few pedestrians walking on the sidewalk who didn’t hear me rolling past them on the street. With all of the soundproofing, radios, phone calls and other distractions going on inside of most cars and trucks these days, I’m not convinced that either loud pipes or loud suits save lives anymore. For me, the Zero offers something akin to hearing battle-drums or air-raid sirens, providing just enough advance warning of an approaching ‘attack’ of an oncoming minivan or encroaching semi-truck to remain aware, alert and plan a safer route based on a heightened sense of awareness of the surrounding traffic. Thankfully, this morning, there were no calls for alarm, but just another morning ride through the fog to work. The afternoon brings an opportunity for another ride to run some errands before turning over the keys to Randy this evening. It has rained since I first arrived here this morning, making the streets wet and covering the Zero with lingering droplets of water. Buzzing toward downtown Duluth in the mid-dry traffic, again I am aware of the surrounding sounds of traffic, construction equipment, pedestrians calling to each other across the street...and underneath it all, the quiet (and even soothing) buzz and click of the FX’s tires rolling along the pavement. The errands don’t take long to complete, so I begin the ride back toward work, this time taking a little slower, longer and scenic route...because I can. Looking down I notice how the tires are spraying a mist of water and road-grime onto my boots and shins. My Roadcrafter is 7 years old and to date, I have not washed it. Maybe this season it will get it’s first bath. Maybe. More than likely though I’ll just make sure to wear it for a ride in the next heavy rainfall we get. Nothing better than a natural shower of fresh raindrops to rinse off a Winter’s worth of grime. After that, I think it is also time to award my trusty old hi-viz one piece with a Road Grimed Astronaut Patch. With a few scuffs from an unplanned get-off several years ago, and a well-earned patina now permanently ingrained in the fabric, it has earned the designation of such a recognition. Bring on those Spring showers!

Friday going home. It has been snowing light, but steady most of the day. Now, when it is time to go home it is changing from a wintry mix to freezing rain. Fortunately I managed to get home before the freezing part took hold. Even so, I did have to wipe ice off my helmet visor several times and I locked up the back end while braking for the turn into my driveway. The weather gets steadily worse and I reflect on how lucky I was. If I had left 15-20 minutes later, it would have been a very challenging ride. Sunday errands downtown. Everyone has heard the saying, "If you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes." That is very true for Sping time in Duluth. Saturday was an icy wonderland, but Sunday is sunny and 50° and the melt is on. Minnesota is land of 10,000 lakes and a new one seems to be forming in my back yard. And if my yard out back is a lake, the road in front is now a river. I really need to get some dedicated riding boots (CTB or Lites). The boot covers are great in a pinch, but they add an element of hassle in getting ready and they really aren't meant for as much walking as I do in them. Monday morning. There is a layer of frost on the ground and this has me worried a bit as I slipped walking off the back porch. It turns out the roads are just wet; though some of the shady, less traveled spots look like they could be slippery. So far, the roads have looked worse than they actually were. The reality is this is the kind of weather that gets me thinking about starting to motorcycle commute regularly again. That urge is strong in me now considering the elements I have already ridden through this Winter. We are coming into the dirty, messy part of Spring. Any snow that remains along the side of the road is grey/black with a coating of salt and sand. The main hazard to watch out for on the road is no longer ice or snow, but sand; it is at every intersection and in every turn. This is always the case with my first rides in the early Spring, but I feel much better prepared for it because of the riding I have done through the Winter. I will be considering getting my own bike out soon. Trading the electric Zero for my gas-powered Yamaha, silence for the scream of an inline 4, the ease of twist-and-go for rowing up and down the gears. To be honest I have kind of missed the noise and work. On the other hand, I don't know that I would have made it through the Winter without the unplug-and-go ease of the Zero; it would have been just too much hassle.

Not an exciting title but like Andy, Kyle and Bruce have touched on, the routine is setting in. The initial excitement and fear of the unknown is being replaced by the relaxed routine of Winter commuting. The first time you try something new and unusual, your mind tells you that the activity is overly risky. At least mine did. The first ride seemed as far out as if we were planning a 100 mile trek in the Arctic. Only somewhat unstable minds would consider such a foolish activity as riding a lightly studded electric motorcycle all Winter in Duluth. My initial feelings as I rode was that I was doing something strange, weird or wrong. Maybe all of the above. As I rode past police officers I felt somehow guilty and thought I would get pulled over and get a good talking to by an officer about my foolish and dangerous behavior. If I fell in traffic and caused a scene would I be ticketed? When a car driver goes too fast on a snowy road and ends up in the ditch, police and first responders come to their aid. Usually no lectures about traveling too fast for conditions. Going into the ditch is just a part of what occasionally happens during the Winter driving season. Generally no one thinks of the driver as being irresponsible. My guess is that it is so common that people are just used to it and don’t react anymore. Would it be the same if a Winter motorcycle commuter had a fall in traffic and police and first responders were needed? Some years ago a customer who had ridden hundreds of miles in the Winter from Canada was on his way to visit us in Duluth and had a fall downtown on our bricked streets. He had navigated far more challenging road conditions for hundreds of miles and followed that with an easily avoidable fall. I know how it happens from falls during my road racing years. We get too comfortable at times and let our guard down so we don’t see the continuing risk or don’t recognize the risk. Bricks and studded motorcycle tires are a bad combination. I spun a tire on the Zero once when I thought I was only lightly accelerating. Once the traction breaks the studded tire spins easily on brick. If I had been leaning even a little, I could have gone down like our customer did. Winter riding requires a more careful observation of surface types than warm weather riding does. Fortunately our customer was not hurt. He needed rescue only because of a broken lever and gave us a call. I was the leader of our customer service area at that time and his call was transferred to me. We had an old lift gate cube truck at the time that could retrieve his motorcycle so I headed downtown to lend a hand. He had his motorcycle out of traffic and no scene had developed. We quickly loaded his bike and were off in less than 10 minutes. How is that for customer service! Back at Aerostich we put his bike in our garage and he made calls to get parts shipped to us for repair. It was one or two days before he departed in his Roadcrafter Classic to his next destination in the states. We do our best to take care of our customers as they are the reason we are in business and we appreciate them very much. Our garage has been used by riders many times for motorcycle repairs and was recently converted into a riders’ lounge that doubles as a garage. Motorcycles are legally licensed vehicles that have the same rights and restrictions in traffic and on roads that cars do. It is legal to use motorcycles and cars all year round. The range of conditions a motorcycle can be safely operated in however are not the same as a car. When I rode in a light snowstorm, I wasn’t comfortable in traffic as I couldn’t easily keep up with the cars and I had to concentrate very hard to keep the bike upright. It was a scary and adrenaline producing experience. At my level of riding skill, the risk was too high in my opinion. If we have another heavier snow storm, I will take the cage to work. My best estimate is that in Duluth you can safely commute about 70% of the Winter on a electric motorcycle. That is better than I had originally thought and certainly worth the effort of preparing a motorcycle. You need to be more aware of the weather conditions and forecast as you could get stuck at your destination due to heavy snow. If you have an important appointment, take the car that day. If you take out all the various unrideable days and circumstances where riding isn’t reasonable, you still have a significant majority of the Winter available for safe and fun commuting. Who would have thought! Highway vs Surface Streets Have you ever wondered if you get less wet when you ride in the rain at high speeds vs low speeds? Has anyone done computer modeling to find out the answer to this important question? A quick search shows that many others ponder this same question but mostly from a walking vs running perspective. The answer is complicated with many variables like wind speed, rain direction and raindrop size. Mythbusters says if you minimize the variables, you get wetter the faster you move through the rain. It's not an issue either way for me as my gear takes care of the water almost all the time. How about how cold you get on a commute? How does speed factor into the equation? I have some insight here with years of early and late season commutes in cold weather. A recent commute on the highway at 21°F produced hands that were much colder than a previous -2°F commute at surface street speeds. My time on the motorcycle was 5 minutes less on the highway yet my hands were much colder. Your body is limited in how fast it can create warmth in your extremities through circulating blood. The highway speeds and resulting high wind removes heat from your hands much faster than your body can replace it. At surface street speeds the heat is still being removed faster than your body can replace it but the rate of heat loss is less so your hands end up warmer at the end of your commute even though it took longer. Without hand guards to block the wind, the highway isn’t workable for me on the Zero in very cold weather. I have to stick with surface streets with our current Zero configuration. Glove Types I have tried three types of gloves so far and the best gloves are not the most insulated. Actually they are the least insulated of the three by thickness. The effectiveness of the insulation is likely playing a role here too. Due to the use of heated grips, a glove with a thin palm area allows for more heat to transfer to my hands. The gloves I am using now are older Olympia cold weather motorcycle gloves. They are an all leather version of our Cold Weather Waterproof Glove (#1489 - no longer available). There is so much gear accumulated over decades of time that I thought something I had would work for this project. If I do this again, I will invest in a new set of motorcycle specific winter gloves to avoid most of the frozen finger experiences. I hear from Bruce that a glove liner makes a significant difference. Layering works both for body insulation and hand insulation. Adding a glove liner for the below zero days should do the trick. A Longer Trip It was time to try a trip longer than 7 miles on the Zero to see what was like. A Saturday day-long retreat next to a local frozen lake 15 miles away was the perfect opportunity. The weather was warm at 43°F so I didn’t turn on the hand warmers as I wanted to experience the Zero’s range. With warm temps and clear roads, this was a typical ride in the Spring or Fall around Duluth. The sun was shining and I was grinning in my helmet within blocks of leaving home. The simplicity of riding the Zero makes the whole experience better. The throttle control for me is just so much fun! It is hard to describe why it is fun. The precision and linearity make you feel like you have more control than with a gas powered motorcycle. Sort of what I imagine it is like to fly a fighter jet. Extreme precision and control. It's a feeling of freedom. For the first time I got to see what it feels like at higher speeds as I reached 70 MPH. People have asked me what I think is the equivalent engine CCs of the Zero based on how fast it accelerates. My best guess is about 700 CC. It clearly out accelerates my DR-650 Suzuki and my NT-650 Honda Hawk up to 70 MPH. The effect of speed on power consumption is similar to my gas motorcycles as efficiency quickly drops off at higher speeds. At 70 MPH you can see the battery percentage click down in almost real time. I slowed down some as I approached my destination to make sure I had enough battery charge to make it home. I was at 57% remaining when I arrived so I felt I had 7% to spare on the ride home. The last block of the trip was on a slushy snow covered driveway leading to the edge of the lake. The very first part was quite steep and resulted in excessive rear wheel spin and fishtailing with little forward movement. There was too much potential for a fall so I decided to walk the Zero up the hill using the throttle to assist. I was a little winded by the time I got to the top of the hill but it worked out just fine. Try doing that with a gas powered bike while working the throttle and clutch for about a hundred feet uphill on snow. Slushy snow is the biggest problem for our Zero setup. There really isn’t a good solution available as there is no firmness to the surface that will accept force without moving. Packed snow or fresh snow that packs easily and isn’t too deep are both fine as long as the hill slope is reasonable. On this trip I had to compromise riding for a short distance but it wasn’t a big deal. On the way back to the road there was space in the driveway to build more speed to get up the hill but when I started going down the hill, now I couldn’t stop! I slid the locked up rear wheel down the hill and lightly used the front brake until I hit the pavement of the cross road where I could slow down. There were no cars on the road so things were fine but it was a little scary. If I had it to do over again I would have tried to keep my speed down earlier to see if I could ride down the hill with a controlled speed. Front end wash out would have been more likely so maybe my first instinct was the best choice. Real Roadgrime My Classic Roadcrafter has thousands of commuting days on it yet it looks pretty good. Seven mile short trips don’t build up layers of road grime and bugs like day long trips do. My suit is in “dirt stasis” where the rate of new grime accumulating on the suit is the same as the rate of grime leaving the suit. It happens in part when riding in the rain and part by the suit flexing as it moves and is taken off and put on. The bending of the fabric causes small bug splats to crack and fall off. The suit doesn’t reflect how often it is used and really hurts my street cred. It makes me look like a poser who rides occasionally on warm dry days instead of a rider who keeps detailed spreadsheets of every day of the year with notes on weather conditions and the ridability of each day. I shouldn’t care, right? The satisfaction of doing “the right thing” should be enough. Who cares if anyone notices. All true and yet the cleanness of this suit still tweaks that little bit of pride I haven’t been able to purge from myself. It has gotten worse since I added the Aerostich Road Grimed Astronaut patch to the left sleeve in all its white backgrounded splendor. Now the situation is worse as I have a super new looking patch on the sleeve bringing attention to the obvious fact that I ride so much that my suit look likes a Road Grimed Astronaut’s suit. But it doesn’t, the poser factor just went up. Thankfully a leap day opportunity for real roadgrime presented itself when I rode to work on the Zero shortly after about an inch and a half of snow fell. It was warmer so the snow was mostly melted and the city road maintenance trucks had just dumped fresh salty ice melt on the roads. We refer to days like this as sloppy days in the Winter in Duluth. Everything gets covered in a layer of a mix of salt and sand. It gets so bad some days that it is hard to tell what color cars are. My Zero ride was during a mild sloppy day for Duluth but it still produced pretty good results on my suit. There were spots of salt all over my suit and Aerostich Dispatch Bag from the rear tire of the Zero and from passing cars throwing up road spray. The lower legs of my suit took the brunt of the spray with a great coating of real roadgrime. Finally some street cred! Bruce also let me try his Aerostich Electric Warmbib. I was impressed with how much heat it produced with very little bulk. I could wear it underneath my Darien TLTec Wind Blocker Fleece Liner and still have plenty of room in my Roadcrafter Classic. If my commute was double my current 7 miles I would use the Warmbib on the colder days. I’m seriously thinking of keeping one in my tank bag as insurance against unexpected cold weather any time of the year. The Warmbib packs very small. The Two Seasons: Winter and Road Construction That is the saying in Duluth. We have two seasons, Winter and Road Construction. Work has already begun filling pot holes that form in late Winter and early Spring. I took a new route to Aerostich on 4th street as I was getting bored with Superior St. 4th Street is in bad shape with a major construction project happening this year. It was a very rough ride as I was tossed in the air a few times as I rode over the “road” which looked like it was deserted for decades. The unexpected fun in this ride was seeing the surprised faces of our city road workers filling in the potholes. I was stealthily right in front of them suddenly as they couldn’t hear me coming. They looked up with a surprised look that quickly turned to a little grin like, “Ok, you got me. Nice joke.” The Zero would need suspension work to make it more suitable for cold weather commuting. Roads in Duluth are well known for being in poor condition as our infrastructure base previously supported over 100,000 people. Now at about 89,000 people we don’t have the tax base to support the layout of our city as well as we would like. Duluth is an amazing city on the edge of an inland sea with beauty that is world class. Come move here and help us finance better roads! My primary commuting motorcycle is a DR-650 Suzuki. Its long travel suspension is ideal for soaking up the rough road surfaces. It rides better than any 4 wheel vehicle no matter where I go in Duluth but I haven’t ridden it in temperatures like this ride at 9°F. The standard fluid in the forks and shock of the Zero gets too thick in the cold which results in a ride that feels like there is almost no suspension. They make specialized hydraulic fluid for aircraft that resists changes in viscosity caused by temperature. It is expensive but would be worth a try in the Zero as only a small quantity would be needed.

3/2/16 Gearing up with extra layers under the Roadcrafter for the ride home has become pretty routine now, Warmbib, balaclava, silk scarf, insulated gloves or mittens, etc. The extra time it takes to add a few layers usually makes for a much more comfortable ride home. After walking out to the Zero, unplugging the charging cord and stashing it in the mouse-hole opening in the garage door, I eagerly threw a leg over and twisted throttle to begin my trip up the hill. With ‘warm’ 25ºF afternoon temps, I didn’t even feel the need for plugging in the heated gear. The roads were dry and I was looking forward to a nice ride home. Increasing speed (and wind-chill) to merge onto the two-lane road that leads up the hill toward my house, it suddenly hit me. I had been so anxious to zip into my riding gear and get on the road that I neglected to use the restroom before leaving…and the large bottle of Gatorade I drank this afternoon, combined with some bumpy patches in the road, wasn’t helping matters. New plan – find the shortest, fastest route home. The normal route is about 5.5 miles, often stretched out to add an extra 3-5 miles to change the scenery. Today…4.5miles, and very thankful that the Roadcrafter zipper design is so fast and easy to use. Ten, maybe 12 seconds to zip out of my hi-viz one piece. Yes, today it was good to get home quickly.  3/3/16 After riding the Zero for the last few days it will be time to turn over the keys to the next test-rider today. Other than the remaining build up of hard-pack snow and ice in my driveway, after a recent warm-up last weekend, the roads are clear and dry. Pulling onto the dry road today, the temptation to twist the throttle for a little more speed was too hard to resist. Not having to stop riding this ‘season’ has meant none of the typical learning curves to reacquaint myself with riding fluency for Spring. This might create a slightly false feeling of confidence, but doesn’t prevent me from rolling a little harder on the throttle to pull into, and in front of, the rest of the traffic stream, creating a car-free buffer-space around me...at least until reaching the first of 3 stoplights along the way. As I approach, the light turns yellow, so I roll off the throttle and apply the brakes to come to stop as it switches to red. A jacked-up 4x4 pickup truck pulls along side me in the left lane. The light turns green and I silently accelerate forward, pulling away smoothly as the other vehicles get smaller in my rear-view mirrors...until the next light changes and I find myself waiting next to the same pickup truck again. The light changes and again I swiftly roll through the intersection and begin heading down the hill, this time noticing the truck is accelerating to stay about a vehicle length behind me in his lane. The third light stops us both again and this time as soon as it changes I hear him rev his engine and begin to accelerate more quickly. I never had any intention to race (or speed...), but something about the ride today did have me enjoying the feeling of the smooth, quick and easy acceleration offered by twisting the Zero’s throttle. Also, I’m not sure what was going through the mind of the pickup driver, maybe he was feeling a need to compensate for his big truck being out-run by a silent little motorcycle, I don’t know. Either way, as we both accelerate through the intersection, the competitive side of my personality shows itself just enough to quickly pull ahead of the truck, switch lanes to pass a slower moving car in front of me and then pull off on my exit to head to work. Nothing quite like fresh cool air streaming through my slightly open visor and a touch of extra acceleration to start the morning off feeling energized and ready for the day. I wonder if the pickup driver waved to me when he passed by as I leaned the bike onto the exit ramp? I know I was wearing a big smile under my helmet as I plugged in the bike and prepared to turn over the keys to Gail. Sure do like the smooth and zippy throttle response of the Zero FX. It’s going to be quite a shift (literally) when I start riding my own combustion powered moto again...though I’m sure I’ll adapt quickly to rowing through the gears and the noise of the engine. It’s a pretty zippy bike too, so I’ll still be wearing the same, big smile inside my helmet... How can a smile not be part of my ATGATT set up on every ride?! Good riding!

Sometimes after arriving home after my daily commute, I’ll take a look at my phone and find a text message from my wife asking “Where are you?” or “Are you on your way?” or maybe even “Are you lost?”. Often these little prodding messages are well intended, meaning dinner is about ready (or the kids are bickering about something and getting on her nerves...) and she’s just trying to gauge if I’ve left yet or when I’ll arrive. Most times the delay from getting home at the same time every night is due to finishing up work tasks or a late meeting. But, also, there are times when I try to squeeze just a bit more riding time out of the standard daily ride. That was the case yesterday and today on the Zero. The ride home last night was my first time back on the FX since Feb 15th, and it felt great to be back on two wheels. With the sun staying in sky a little longer as we near Spring, the bright skies and dry roads beckoned for at least a little bit of deviation from the standard route today. Nothing too outlandish, as I knew dinner really was almost ready and I had to get ready for my son’s Cub Scout meeting this evening...but a change of scenery and a few backroads through other neighborhoods created a fun diversion and the opportunity to stay in the saddle for at least a few more minutes than usual. Noticed more drivers and pedestrians taking a longer look at me as I quietly rolled by or silently sat next to them in traffic this afternoon too. Several offering nods, waves and smiles of approval. Like a Spring flower emerging from the cold ground where only a short time ago there was snow, maybe seeing a motorcyclist is also a sign to them that warmer weather really is on the way. It is indeed...but it sure has been a great experience to be able to ride all winter long, testing the limits of both bike, gear and rider in all the cold, snow and ice that Mother Nature could muster. The morning commute today created the same siren call to seek a longer, alternate route. Who was I to not heed that call? With the heated grips turned on and my WarmBib plugged in, I was toasty warm despite the 15ºF outdoor temp, as the Zero buzzed south towards 40th Ave West. This stretch of road has been redeveloped within the last few years by blasting away rocks to create a wider corridor and a fun, twisty series of switchback like turns as the route makes its way downhill toward the lake. The exposed rock walls along the way are covered with impressive ice waterfalls this time of year, begging for a quick photo stop. This morning detour doubled my normal 5.5 mile direct route and provided some nice scenic vistas to enjoy before arrive at work to start the day. With a smile on my face and filled with energy and excitement from the ride, I plug in the Zero to the charging cord near the garage door and walk into the Aerostich factory to begin the workday...but already, thoughts are brewing about what the route home tonight might have in store. It might take a little longer to get there, but I won't be lost.

Monday afternoon, 2/15 After a week in Florida, it was a rude "welcome home" to sub-zero temperatures. Still, it has been a week before I was back on the Zero. While I was gone, I had a Road Grimed Astronaut patch installed on the front pocket. Ironically, my suit appears to have been washed during this process. Road grimed astronaut with no road grime! I can fix that. The roads were wet on my first ride home and my suit regains a little of the patina it had lost. Tuesday morning, 2/16 25°F this morning so I decide to take the long (scenic) route to work. Traveling the winding back roads is rather treacherous this morning. There was a light dusting of snow last night and where there is no snow, there appears to be frost coating the road. s-m-o-o-t-h is the keyword. Traction is better than it appears and I complete my journey without incident. 45 minutes and 20 miles later it is time for a hot cup of tea. A chill has certainly settled in my bones, but I didn't experience any of the painful fingertips that Randy and Kyle did on their sub-zero rides. After experiencing the sub-zero temperatures last week and getting thoroughly chilled, a body gets acclimated pretty quickly. It is important to have a routine, and especially so for winter riding. This morning, I was a little off my game. Did I buckle my helmet strap? Where are my glasses? What else did I forget? It is so much easier to get my courier bag on before I put my helmet on, but more than half the time I have my helmet on before I remember my bag. How many times have I forgotten to stand my collar up? Riding on the highway with an open collar feels like an ice dagger in the throat. Maybe with more practice I will get it. Friday morning, 2/19 I have long wanted a bike like this to try winter commuting. So far this experiment has been bearing out my hopes. I notice very little difference between my ride in this morning and my rides in mid November. The cold might be a little more intense, it bites just a little more. But in the end I give no more thought to the question, "Should I ride today?" than I do any other time. Last night I rode home in a little rain and sleet. Nothing was sticking to the roads and it was an uneventful ride home. But I did find myself wondering what the morning would bring--would it all freeze into an ice rink? At this point I think only the ice or heavy snow would cause me to trade 2 wheels for 4. It warmed up overnight; the roads are wet, but not slick at all. Another wonderful day for a ride! I think the people of Duluth have been taking notice, too. I am seeing more waves, thumbs-up, and friendly honks on my rides of late. The guy pulling out of the Whole Foods does a double take when he sees me and gives me thumbs-up. A van turning on Lake Ave. gives me a wave as he goes by. Just another normal day in Duluth.

It was a sunny 32 degrees day in Duluth. The roads were dry so I thought it was a great day for me to ride the Zero bike for the first time. The bike is a little tall for me so I was concerned about my feet reaching the ground and if I could hold the bike up. When Bruce dropped the keys on my desk I became very excited and nervous. It was time… I was shaking as I put on my Roadcrafter Classic and went out the door. When I got on the bike I didn’t have enough weight and strength to move it off of its kickstand. The sidewalk had enough of an angle to it that I needed more power to lean it to the other side. I was really upset at the prospect that I wasn’t going to be able to participate in test riding the Zero. Bruce graciously moved the bike to the street where it was a flat surface. That made all the difference for me! I was off and running! I rode 2.4 miles around the neighborhood of Aerostich to get comfortable on the bike before I attempt to ride my 12 miles home. Even though the roads were clear from snow, there was a lot of sand left behind. As I turned a corner my back wheel slipped. The back tire grabbed pavement quickly and kept me upright. While waiting at a stop sign to take a left hand turn a gentleman got out of his car. When he noticed me he stopped in his tracks and looked at me. He then walked around to the back of his car and stood there watching me. After about a minute, traffic cleared and I was off. As I passed him I gave him a little wave. Riding in 32 degree weather was pretty easy to dress for. I had a lightweight jacket under my Roadcrafter Classic which kept me very warm. I had on insulated ski gloves and had turned on the heated grips. I had on my Aerostich Trekking Socks with insulated hiking boots. That was enough to keep my feet warm. I was wearing my Aerostich Fleece Wind Triangle to help keep my face warm. I might have had a little fear and adrenaline going to keep me warm as well. As Randy has stated in a past post, one of the challenges of riding in cold weather is keeping your face shield clear. I have an open face helmet with a face shield. I had plenty of air flowing through my helmet however, every time I took a breath my face shield fogged up for a few seconds. I came back happy and more confident and handed the keys back to Bruce. I am ready to tackle my 12 mile commute home. On a nice day…

2/12/16 For the 7 years I have worked at Aerostich, winter conversations among riders around the factory always seem to weave their way to talking about motorcycles. From how late you rode into the Fall, to hoping for an early Spring and often concluding with dreams of riding in the Winter. The Zero Below Zero project has made that dream a reality this season for many of us. It’s notable how this went from an idea and dream to an everyday (and practical) reality. The first Winter ride on the Zero for me was filled with excitement, enthusiasm and more than a little nervous anticipation. The more I get to ride it, the easier it gets. Riding a Zero Electric motorcycle in the Winter in Duluth seemed like such an exotic, mysterious and dangerous concept only a few short months ago...but today it feels routine. Temps hovering above zero for the ride home today (6ºF) meant layering up and plugging in electrics, but with mostly dry roads, buzzing along in traffic felt pretty much like any other ride home, any other time of the year. With the right gear, mindset and motorcycle set-up, everyday riding – even in Winter - has become the new normal. I could get used to this. Just the Eggs - 2/14/16 This was my first weekend to have the Zero and due to personal commitments, Saturday was spent shuttling my kids to soccer and volleyball practices. When my wife mentioned on Sunday morning that we needed to get eggs, I wasted no time to gear up and be out the door and hop on the Zero to run that errand. The local gas station is about a mile away and has the best price on eggs in town, so I stroll up to the counter with eggs in hand, still fully geared up. The clerk looks at me and asks, “Did you have any fuel out there today?”. I smile and tell him “No, I’m riding an electric motorcycle today”, to which he replies “Cool, I guess you don’t need a carwash today then either”. Nope, no carwash today, but this spur of the moment opportunity to ride is not to be squandered. It’s a comfortable 13ºF out, I am wearing my WarmBib and chopper style mittens, combined with the heated grips I’m comfortable and warm. Yes, I think I’ll take the ‘long’ way home. The eggs are placed into the Aerostich LP Bag I keep in my Roadcrafter cargo pocket, I put on the backpack straps and after a quick photo stop next to the Electric Vehicle Charging area it was time to ride. Light fluffy snowflakes had just started to fall as I pointed the Zero down the hill and toward Lake Superior and Canal Park. Time for a few quick photos in front of Duluth’s iconic lift bridge and then back to the ride. The snow is coming down heavier now and beginning to accumulate in a slushy mix on the roadway, but the bike charges through without incident. The whole trip lasted about an hour start to finish, and the 19.9 miles covered was my furthest personal ride on the Zero to date. The battery indicator had run down to 58%. The cold doesn’t seem to be having too much effect on the overall distances, since the Zero brochure lists the combine range for this FX at 49 miles (82 miles City/35 miles Highway). If the snow hadn’t been coming down heavier and accumulating, I would have tried to squeeze every last mile out of it. Sounds like another challenge for another ride day. Fresh Snow and Back to Work - 2/15/16 Looking out the window for the Monday morning commute and there is several inches of fresh, fluffy snow that fell overnight. Before gearing up in the Roadcrafter and riding down the hill, it was time to fire up the snowblower and clear the driveway. The snow plow had already made a pass though the neighborhood, so the roadway was mostly clear for the ride to work, with a navigable mix of hardpack, clear and slushy spots. After clearing the snow off the Zero, it was time to navigate the side streets down the hill to the factory. There were a few slushy spots along the way, but the further I rode down the hill, the more the roads just became wet instead of a snow mix. I savored the quiet ride through the back streets, realizing this would be my last ride on the Zero for more than a week. I pull up in front of the building and snap a few photos quick. After parking the bike this morning and turn over the keys to Bruce, it is time for me to pack up my bag and take off for the Aerostich Las Vegas Pop-Up event. At least the weather forecast looks nice for Vegas this coming week, but I’ll miss being able to ride. Looking forward to meeting and greeting lots of riders at the pop-up. I’m sure I’ll swap a few stories about winter riding on the Zero too. Stop on by and visit us in Vegas!

It is getting warmer by the minute... Never did I expect there would be a time in Duluth, Minnesota when I would be rushing to get out and ride before it got any warmer. My wife was wondering why I had an urgency about getting ready this cold morning. I told her, “I have to get this ride on the Zero done while it is at least a couple degrees below zero. It is getting warmer by the minute so I need get going soon.” She laughed and rightfully so. What the heck was going on? What kind of thinking leads a rider to hurry up and ride when it is below zero? The Zero Below Zero project kind of thinking. After all, that is the name, Zero Below Zero. Riding a Zero motorcycle in below zero temps. And to date all my rides have been well above 0°F. How can I say that I had the full Zero Below Zero experience without a below zero ride. Sure, we have had many rides below 0°C but in Duluth, Minnesota that doesn’t count. We know the difference between below freezing and below zero well. Commuting in below freezing temps is common among the riders at Aerostich. No big deal. Happens every Fall and Spring. It makes me think of the words Paul Pelland said when he visited us. “I should have said kilometers!” If he had it would have saved him about 378,000 miles of riding on his quest for one million miles of chasing the cure for MS. But when Paul reaches a million miles he will have the satisfaction of an amazing accomplishment that will inspire others with MS into the distant future. Hitting the “real” below zero mark was like that for me on the authenticity side, although at a MUCH lower level of difficulty. Keep it up Paul! The real challenges of cold weather commuting have been visibility and hand warmth. My previous commute home was at 10°F at night. Roads were clear with no traction issues. I tried an Anti­Fog/Anti­Frost Gel by Sven Can See on my face shield before the ride home. At 10°F it worked well and I was able to keep my shield closed for almost all of the trip while also being able to breath normally. You learn many techniques for controlling the flow of your breath when trying to keep your shield from fogging up while riding in the cold. So far I have been able to make it work mostly by opening my shield at each stop. The Anti­Fog allowed me to skip opening my shield for most stops which did help keep my face warmer. I was using mid­weight Winter leather gloves for the 10°F ride home but they were not enough. Even with the heated grips, my finger tips were fully numb by the time I got home. A quick dismount of the Zero and trip to my kitchen sink with warm water produced weird sensations of cold that turned to pain as the feeling came back. My fingertips hurt the rest of the night so I experienced mild frostbite. My toes were a little cold too as I was wearing an older pair of thin leather street boots. Tomorrow morning was going to be much colder so I dug into my gear shelves and pulled out my Aerostich Combat Lite boots, my Aerostich Triple Digit Raincovers and a pair of heavy Winter leather gloves. I tried different combinations of gloves with the Triple Digit Raincovers pulled over them but I couldn’t really move my hands well enough. I would need larger raincovers to make it work. I decided to just use the heavy Winter gloves and hoped they would be enough. My forehead was also cold on the ride home so I planned to wear a fleece headband in the morning. So far I still haven’t used any electric gear inside my Roadcrafter Classic. I tried to use my Aerostich Kanetsu AirVantage electric vest under my Darien TLTec Wind Blocker fleece liner but my suit ended up too tight and restricting so I stayed with just the liner. At 7 miles, my commute isn’t long enough to lose too much internal body heat even in below zero temps. Just 3 more miles could change the equation. If I kept up this foolishness for an extended period of time and wanted to try some longer Winter rides, I would use the Aerostich Kanetsu AIRVANTAGE Electric Liner by itself or add an Extended Gusset to my Roadcrafter. As I left home to commute to Aerostich the outside temperature on my garage thermometer with external sensor was at -2.4°F. I tried another video with the prototype smartphone sleeve velcroed above the left logo pocket on my Roadcrafter with the expectation that my iPhone would get too cold and shut down during the ride. The roads were clear and traction was good for the uneventful but windy ride through Duluth’s downtown. I also learned the limit of traction for the studded rear tire as at one point I spun it while accelerating on the downtown brick road surface. Face shield visibility was an issue almost right from the start. I was determined to keep my shield closed during the trip but breath freezes instantly on the shield in below zero temps. Breath control and sunlight allowed me to keep the shield closed for the whole trip. The sun was bright and hitting my left side. Amazingly it was just enough to keep the frost at bay. For 80% of the trip I could see only out of the left side of my face shield which made a merge to the right tricky towards the end as I listened for cars and tried to make out the street by looking through the frost. As I arrived at Aerostich my fingers were just getting too cold at my fingertips. Much better than yesterdays ride home even with the temperature being 12°F colder. My feet were fine as the heavier construction of the Combat Lites provided sufficient insulation. The fleece headband kept my forehead warm. The iPhone surprisingly was still on. As soon as I stopped the video it immediately shut down. I had to warm it up inside to get it to turn on again so I could take a picture of the temp and dash gauges on the Zero for the record. The key to cold weather use of smartphones for taking video is to start with a full charge and warm phone and let the current draw of shooting the video help keep the batteries warm enough. The neoprene sleeve for the prototype smartphone holder also helps keep in some heat. To make commuting in below zero temps work long term some changes would need to be made. Add hand guards to the Zero or use electric gloves. My DR­650 has guards and I can commute with regular Summer gloves down to about 32°F just by blocking the wind. A heated face shield or goggles and a neoprene balaclava with no face shield. The local fat tire bicycle riders all seem to use goggles and covered faces in the Winter but they are not traveling very fast. I haven’t tried a two layer face shield yet but expect breath to still freeze in below zero temps. Snowmobile riders have this all figured out already.

Ride Back Up and Thirteen Below - 02/10/2016 - 02/11/2016 I was happy to get the keys back for another ride on the Zero tonight after nearly a week hiatus from being in the saddle. Having stayed a little later to get some work done this was my first time riding after sunset. The Zero headlights throw an adequate beam to see the road ahead of me, but like many bikes (my Kawasaki Versys included), stock lighting could always be enhanced or improved to be brighter. But, overall my route home is pretty well lit with streetlights and the lights of surrounding traffic, so nighttime visibility is not an issue. Outdoor temp was 7ºF for the ride home on mostly dry roads, making the heat from the grips and my WarmBib appreciated. The road into my neighborhood was mostly snow covered and there were a few instances where either the front or rear started to lose traction and slide out a bit, but balance was quickly re-gained. Parked the Zero outside the garage door and plugged in the extension cord to charge it up for the night. The next morning was the start of another cold spell here, with the outdoor thermometer at my house reading -13ºF as I was gearing up in my heated gear, Roadcrafter, balaclava and insulated ski gloves. The temperature gauge on the Zero read -3ºF, but we’ve noticed that it tends to read a little higher than the ambient temp because of ‘heat pollution’ from the custom battery warming blanket installed on the bike. This is the coldest temperature I have ridden in, so I was glad to be bundled up as I twisted the throttle. Noticed immediately that helmet visor fogging was going to be an issue. Opening the visor a crack to let some air flow helped clear up the fogging from my breath condensing inside my helmet, but also resulted in wind hitting my exposed nose and cheeks with what felt like razor-like slashes, even at low speed. I decided to stick to the side streets today, to minimize the wind-chill factor. Dealing with the visor fogging consisted of switching back and forth between a slightly cracked open shield with stinging-cold air, and closed for a warmer reprieve, but rapidly dissipating clarity of sight. I might have been able to do this dance for the entire commute down the hill to work, except after about 3 miles my fingers were cold to the point of being painful. The insulation of my ski gloves and the heat from the electric grips was not enough to combat the cold air leaking thru the seams. Ok, time for plan ‘B’. Since this route happened to bring me right past my in-laws' house, I figured this was a good opportunity to have a quick visit and show them the Zero. Not to mention, I knew my mother-in-law would have the coffee on and I could warm my frozen fingers! After a hot cup of joe and a few cookies my fingers had warmed up and I was ready to finish the commute to work. Gearing back up I remembered that I had my Triple Digit Glove Covers in the right thigh pocket of my Roadcrafer, so I slipped them on over the top of my ski gloves. The remaining 3-mile ride to Aerostich was uneventfully quiet. One thing I did notice after traversing a few rough, pot-hole laden sections of street (a not uncommon occurrence in Duluth), was how stiff the suspension was at this temp. Riding last week it seemed a little stiff, but this morning was like sitting astride a rock when hitting the bumps. I wonder if a different type of oil in the forks would make a difference? Another noticeable difference was how much warmer my finger were with the added layer of wind-proof protection from the Triple Digits. I guess they were just the trick to keep the sub-zero wind from getting through the seams on the gloves, allowing me to arrive at work with chilled fingers, but with enough feeling and dexterity to plug in the charger, take a photo with my phone to document mileage and temperatures and remove the keys from the ignition. Time to go in and share ride stories with my co-workers and write a blog post. Thirteen below zero. Cool...

Executive summary: Two items. #1 – Riding in lower temperatures has become routine. In the beginning it seemed unusual to be out on a motorcycle at fourteen above, or three below. I was self-conscious in traffic, looking paranoidly at drivers sitting inside their warm cars, and at others all bundled up on the sidewalks. Now it feels almost normal. Before we started this Zero ‘experiment’ riding anywhere was a big deal anytime it got near or a bit below freezing. Now it’s not…you just put on your gear and go. Part of this is due to some unique and unanticipated aspects of the electric Zero (see item #2) and part involves how my Aerostich gear works. Having my gear logistics now fully worked out and being fluent with the required dressing and undressing rituals makes a huge difference. No hunting around for what to wear or awkwardly combining things that don’t quite work together. For me this partly involved having a second wardrobe: My boots are old insulated felt pacs from Sorel, and my Aerostich riding suit has been custom-alt modified (#203 $75-$190) to be a roomier version of the R-3 Light I normally wear, with just enough additional space for some medium-weight goose down and fleece layers inside. The rest of my gear is the same as usual. #2 – For this kind of urban winter use our borrowed Zero is a huge improvement over my internal combustion motorcycle. And every other gasoline burner. There’s no starter to crank and nothing to warm up. It’s always ready to go -- No fiddling around. Just unplug and ride off. It’s as simple to use as a refrigerator. (You want cold food? Open the door and the light goes on. Select your food. Close the door.) You just get on this bike, switch it on and go. All you have to remember is to unplug it before taking off. It is by far the easiest-to-use motorcycle I’ve ever experienced. Apparently the most maintenance-free, too. No tune-ups. No oil changes (EVER!) No warm-ups. No vibrations. No smells. Less pollution. It just goes wwwhhrrrrrrr…down the road, and you listen to the tire tread blocks softly thrumming against the road surface and hear the wind curling around the bottom of your helmet. Wheeeee! Fairly soon it seems like drivers will want to have at their disposal two quite different vehicles. One 100% electric, to use for around town mobility, and another with some internal combustion component for longer distances, only because of the shorter refueling time. Two minutes for combustion vs. several hours for electric. Cost-and-environmental-differences-be-damned, this is mainly a refueling-time issue. If (when…) electric cars come to prevail in cities, and you happen live on any busy street, much of the ambient noise you’ve become accustomed to will probably go away. If you happen to be young and are employed in the auto-parts or car repair field, things are likely to get a little tougher, employment-wise. Not so many refrigerator service technicians are needed out there. Imagine the reassuring vibratory thrums of combustion vehicles standing out starkly in silent electric traffic streams as a nostalgic exception. Combustion vehicles universally provide a symphony of audio accompaniment to our motion and most will miss that, but not enough to put up with the rest of the BS that goes with it…Not anymore than people today miss having huge blocks of ice delivered weekly to provide food refrigeration. “Loud pipes” will become far more ostracizing and uncool. A few notes about this Zero: It continues to ride really well, except for it’s too-stiff-at-low-low temp suspension…anything below about 25ºf. It’s amazingly peppy right off the line,…Last week on the way home one night it was fun to torque smartly away from some sleepy kid in a raspy Subaru WRX…who had no idea. From 0-30 mph the Zero jumps right out and then runs up to about 70 fairly quickly. There’s a lot less snap the rest of the way (to a top speed for this model somewhere north of 80), but it does get there. When I was a Boy Scout with a Ray-o-Vac ‘Sportsman’, all flashlights were crappy. Even the very best of them. And it seems like only yesterday…My first camp out flashlight consisted of a corrugated chromed metal tube with a little sliding off/on thumb switch and a ‘flash’ button. Both ends unscrewed and inside were two carbon-zinc C (or D, if you had the bigger model) cells. Up front a dim tungsten filament projected a yellowish white beam for a little while. You used it sparingly. Sometimes this device would suddenly dim or even go out and you needed to bang it smartly against your palm to encourage a better electrical contact inside because those heavy batteries were free to move about a little bit. (Of course at the same time we also did our school lessons on the backside of a coal shovel by the light of a fireplace and walked ten miles though deep snow to school, uphill, both ways.) This Zero electric motorcycle takes me to and from work, or wherever else I want to go, at five above…No problem. Humpf. Friday January 29, 2016 Out the door at 7:10 AM to a spectacular sunrise. The sun’s just coming over the lake-sky horizon. From the side of the hill where I live which is a few hundred feet above lake-level, the edge of the world is maybe twenty miles out. Now the eastern third of the sky is on fire, the air is crystal clear, windless and it's 17ºF. A perfect, gorgeous day for a ride. When I rode the Zero home last night it was actually raining because of a ‘January thaw’. While the rain rinsed all the main streets and roads clean it was also left every driveway and sidewalk treacherously coated with slick sheets of window-clear hockey rink quality ice. Residual road salt had kept everything liquid on streets, but it was contact-freezing to all sub-zero frozen sidewalk and driveway surfaces. Not good if you live on a hillside. In these conditions people choose to walk the clear traffic lanes and risk being hit by a passing car rather than taking their chances on the icy-slick sidewalks. Everyone does this. Yesterday we added another 25 studs to the rear tire and about 30 more to the font, bringing the total for each wheel up to 125 (rear) and 135 (front). These added carbide tips were positioned slightly off-center, so we now have two rings of continuous studs on either side of a mostly rubber center tread with only a single stud about every three inches, thus when you ride in a straight line you hear one kind of soft wwwwwwrrrr-clicking sound, and when you slightly lean to turn either way that pitch changes as the more closely-spaced side studs come into contact with the road. On my now ice covered slanted driveway the bike walked right into it’s parking spot without a slip or spin, so maybe this setup is closer to an optimal compromise for our situation. But overall traction limits are still far below those of an ‘all rubber’ summer tire or an off-road knobby-with-500-studs–per-wheel. I have yet to learn if this bike is flat-track slidable with this tire/stud setup but it sure feels like the answer will be ‘not very’. Before winter ends I’d like to find out (…hopefully without breaking my neck or the bike) on a frozen lake or parking lot. My destination this early morning was the once-a-month 7:30AM meeting of Duluth’s parking commission. I’m one of eight commissioners. If you want to try something that can be good for motorcycling in your town, see if you can get appointed to your local parking commission…if there is one. Then see if you can do anything as a commissioner which might benefit your fellow bicycle and motorcycle riders. (Find information about motorcycles and parking at www.ridetowork.org) The streets were already full of early commuters, and last night’s rain had left everything clean and dry, so riding was delightful. I’m getting used to the Zero’s bumpy-stiff frozen suspension and just relaxed and enjoyed the sunrise. Half of my fellow commissioners were already in city council chambers as I walked in wearing my gear and carrying my helmet. Most turned and looked at me and one said “Did you ride your motorcycle?” (…as if that wasn't obvious). “Yes, I did.” I replied, while placing my helmet on the shelf above the coat rack and unzipping the R 3. The fellow just said “Wow”. Here’s where I parked. Someone unknown actually took this photo and it was posted to the Duluth Police Department’s Facebook page. And yes, I did plug that meter. An hour and a half later I was back in the saddle enjoying the freshly rinsed roads under a bright sunny sky with temps already a couple of degrees warmer. Then back at home I made a nice hot bowl of oatmeal (adding blueberries, maple syrup and some butter). There’s no substitute for hot oatmeal after a morning ride like this. Then it was time to ride the little Zero to Aerostich. By evening it had started to rain/snow again, this time a little heavier. My fiancee Shirah was out driving slip-sliding around in her Jeep and had called to see if maybe I'd need a ride home (?). “Heck no.” I replied “With these studs I’ve got more control and traction than you do.” “Well, I’m about five minutes away and if you are ready to go now, I could stop by and you could follow me home, just in case.” "Ok, let me shut things down here and I'll be outside in five minutes.”, which I was. The Zero was encased in a glaze of frozen rain which was pretty neat looking, but it was dark and I was in a hurry so I just jammed the key thru the ice-covered slot, flipped the power on and unplugged the cord. I also flipped the heated grips on, knowing they’d remove the ice skin there in a moment. No point in brushing anything off the saddle…I just threw a leg over and sat down on the glaze, which audibly went ‘crunch’ beneath me. Then moving forward toward the nearby idling Jeep I briefly stood on the pegs so whatever was left there could fall away. Those ice-glazed fenders sure looked neat. The ride homeward through the falling snow and sleet was uneventful. My helmet face shield was warm enough so the moisture hitting it stayed liquid. The streets were all sloppy and icy, but not difficult to handle. At one stoplight some teenage kids were crossing on the sidewalk and I overheard one say to his companions: “Brave.”, which I assumed referred to me. Conditions looked that bad, risk-wise. Everyone in cars was just creeping along to avoid an unintentional slide, and those teens had to be walking pretty carefully, too. After I got home I could see reflected in the door storm window a cool-looking glaze of frozen raindrops all over the surface of my R 3 suit and realized I’d just ridden home in conditions that would have been highly dangerous and extremely uncomfortable just a few years ago. Yet here I was dry, warm and comfortable. One thing that stands out as a pain-in-the-ass: gear storage. Over the years I’d developed equipment storage procedures to support my riding which centered around a garage space. Things set up like some kind of personal Bat-cave: Helmet on a shelf here. Motorcycle leaned against a wall there. Riding suit hanging there. Gloves there. Garage door opener remote here, here…and another one here (one button on the wall, one button on a keychain remote hanging from the shelf where my helmet rests and another button on another keychain remote carabinered to the shoulder strap of my daily (…‘EDC’, hipsters) backpack. With the Zero sleeping out in the driveway every night and the plan being to come and go only through the kitchen, where do I keep my gear? The bulky R3 drapes over one of the dining room chairs and my helmet and gloves are on the sideboard looking out-of-place next to a potted plant and candle holder. With my heavy boots are on the floor right beneath them. Nothing is where it belongs. It all looks wrong. Everyone I know who uses their bike transportation has developed some sort of handy gear storage system. Our experimental keeping-the-Zero-outside-all-winter throws a wrench into my garage-based organizing but on the other hand now the garage space is cleaner, warmer and drier for other winter projects. We are learning unexpected things about everyday A to B riding, which was the whole point. Other Saturday, Wednesday and Thursday random notes. - Some stranger took my photo today in traffic. I was waiting at the stoplight on Third and 12th Ave E, and in my rearview mirror I watched a car pull to a stop a few feet behind me. The driver seemed to be holding their smartphone directly in front of them and against the steering wheel. For a moment I wondered if they were texting or reading or what (?) and then there was a flash and I knew I’d been photographed. A day or two later a coworker came up to me and said one of their friends had taken my photo riding the Zero a couple of days ago. Gotta love this small town life. Later that same day when I was out on the freeway for the first time since we started riding the Zero everything was fine bike-wise, but the 70 mph wind-chill hitting my chin was a lot sharper than I’d been experiencing on the surface streets which are my normal route. If I was commuting via a high-speed I’d be wrapping a bandana, Wind Triangle (#511 $22) or Silk Scarf (#1549 $27) around my neck every day. - Saturday was super warm and sunny here. Near-record warm. High in the lower thirties. Instead of motorcycle fun riding Shirah and I drove over to an annual dog sled race about forty miles away (http://www.beargrease.com). Several thousand people, lots of outdoor excitement, food vendors, excitedly yapping dogs, busy mushers and helpers, and even someone with a camera drone making aerial video (about five minutes). I made my own 15 second roadside iPhone video here.   - Before this year my previous experiences with winter-studded motorcycle tires date from about twenty years ago, first with a set of home-made tires using the sharp-edged heads of sheet metal screws for bite, then a few years later with some factory-studded knobbies made in Sweden by the Trellborg tire company. Both sets of tires were intended for off-road snow and ice use only. My dry pavement riding on those tires was very limited, probably less than ten paved-road-miles altogether spread over several years, because they were so completely unacceptable for that. The carbide tipped studs and the mild-steel sheet metal screw head stud-to-road contact points both provided nearly zero grip. Pavement riding on those tires was scary. It always felt like tiptoeing or balancing on a slack line. Against pavement mild-steel sheet metal screw heads wore away very quickly, too. But off-road both setups worked phenomenally well. The sheet-metal screw tires had 3 or 4 screw heads across each knob, and the Trellborg’s had a half-inch long carbide tipped spike projecting from each knob. There was tremendous bite…enough so it was easy to ride with a great deal of control and confidence on frozen lakes and snow packed trails. With the sheet metal screw headed tires there was a footprint of about ten sharp edges cutting into the ice almost simultaneously. The Trellborg’s fewer carbide-tipped spikes penetrated deeply into both hard ice and packed snow so flat track-style slides were luridly long and fast enough to be called 'epic'. These generated charismatic rooster tails of shredded ice thrown high into the air and it was all tremendous fun long before it became easy to video-record such antics. You have my solemn word. The Zero’s stubby little street-compatible studs are far less effective. In fact, they work like crap compared to those off-road studded tires. It’s difficult and scary to ride the Zero across ice and thru snowpack. You’ve got to be tender with control inputs. Each Zero tire only has about 125-130 studs (versus about 500 for the sheet metal screw tires), and the maximum penetration is roughly an eighth of an inch (compared to about half an inch with the Trellbogs) so in both number and depth-of-penetration our half-half-dry-road/half-snow-and-ice compromise tires provide lot less grip in EVERY situation. The Zero just doesn’t feel fantastically secure across any surface compared to normal summer or spiked off-road winter-prepared bikes. Not that it is in any way unrideable. It’s fine. None of us has fallen yet and the tires are manageable on both dry and wet pavements as long as you are mindful of the lower frictional limits of the ice-cold rubber and the reduced tread contact area where each low-profile stud forces the surrounding rubber slightly upward and away from the pavement. You worry that if the bike goes over very far you'll lose the whole thing. Flat-tracking riding heroics seem impossible, or at least beyond my ability, and this situation is further complicated since the icy surface you are putting your ‘inside’ foot down on to help gauge your lean angle is so slippery your boot sole finds no resistance. Which feels a like you have a miniature flying saucer strapped to the sole of your boot. On the plus side, we've been discovering that winter roads here are clear and dry much more often than I realized (this year anyway), so year-around riding for transportation is doable, except on days when there is a lot of fresh ice and snow. Then, traction is nearly nonexistent and riding is riskier and lots of hard work. Despite all our climactic abuse, this Zero has been working perfectly amid ever present winter road filth. My extra dressing rigamarole feels absolutely normal and routine now. Fancy word(s), not used in this blog post: Cryophilic (Adjective) def: Preferring or thriving at low temperatures.Cryotolerant, def: Species that can tolerate low temperatures.