Zero Discovers Sexy With The All-New SR/F Sport Naked

The electric brand reveals its sportiest model yet, offering contemporary naked styling, and some impressive specs and pricing that should be making Harley-Davidson very, very nervous.

This morning Zero Motorcycles pulled the cover off its latest model, the all-new SR/F. Despite the Bay Area-based brand teasing us with a few dark silhouettes of its first-ever naked sport model for the last few weeks, we’re still pretty surprised by the grand reveal, as unlike Zero’s previous offerings — which are in our opinion; aesthetically pretty meh — the SR/F is legitimately a really attractive motorcycle. And not only is the new naked easy on the eyes, but it also happens to boast some wildly impressive specs for an ebike with a 200-mile range, 140ft-lbs of torque, 124mph top-speed, and as little as a one-hour charge-time.

An All-New Motorcycle

Unlike previous Zero machines that have built upon the last generation offering, the sporty new ebike is a completely new model designed from the ground up — excluding the battery. The SR/F is the culmination of a multi-year project with the goal of securing the position of class/market leader of the electric motorcycle world. As you can see in the image below, Zero’s designers tinkered with dozens of different concept renderings before eventually landing on the final production model.

Hair (and Eye-Brow) Raising Performance and Specs

While Zero’s designers were hammering away at the SR/F’s faux-tank, tail-section, front-end, etc, the outfit’s engineers were hard at work improving the company’s already impressive powertrain. When all was said and done, Zero had created the new ZForce 75-10 — a marked improvement over Zero’s outgoing 75-7 unit (the new motor uses a 10cm rotor instead of its predecessor’s 7cm unit). The 75-10 is now Zero’s largest motor and is paired with the firm’s 14.4kwH battery pack — both of which are regulated via Zero’s new Cypher III software.

The new power-plant allows for an impressive 110hp and 140ft-lbs of torque. As a point of reference, Yamaha’s FZ-10 (aka MT-10) and Ducati’s Panigale V4 S both make a bit over 80ft-lbs of torque. On top of a noticeable increase in power over Zero’s previous highest-spec model, the SR/F also offers an increased range and top-speed at 200-miles per charge and just shy of 125mph.

Rider Aides, Connectivity, And Other Electronic Bells & Whistles

As you’d expect from a modern high-end two-wheeled offering, the SR/F features the full bevy of electronic adjustability and rider aids such as traction control and ABS, multiple ride modes, and cruise-control. The new model’s 5” TFT display shows multi-mode navigation, speed, and other instrumentation you’d expect, though it isn’t a touch-screen TFT.

This choice is almost certainly due to the fact the SR/F is linked to a Smartphone app that enables owners to see the bike’s location, battery level, ride modes, diagnostics, and the bike’s setting can be changed remotely on-the-fly via the app. Even cooler is the fact that the SR/F is connected directly to a cellular network so software updates allowing for increased ranges, more power, or whatever new features arise in the future, can automatically be applied to the bike wirelessly without the user having to do anything. The app will even tell you if the bike gets knocked over or moved. Below is a video Zero posted that further delves into the SR/F's tech features.

Chargers & Charging Times

The base model SR/F comes with a standard 3kW charger that can charge a dead battery to 95% in eight-hours (when using a 110V outlet, it takes half that time when using a 220V socket). Buyers can also opt for the premium-spec SR/F variant that comes with a 6kW charger and can offer 0-95% charges in as little as one-hour. When equipped with Zero’s add-on charging goodies, the SR/F can offer a charge rate of approximately 150-miles for every hour plugged in.

The Premium SR/F-Spec

Though the base SR/F model is undeniably a premium offering in its own right, Zero is nonetheless offering customers a second, higher-spec version of the company’s inaugural sport model. On top of the improved charge-time, the more elite-spec features a supplementary windscreen, heated grips, and aluminum bar-ends, though it does weigh in at 13lbs more than the base model — which tips the scales at 485lbs — and cost $2,000 more.

Zero Taps Into Sexy

Like we stated when discussing a recent Zero-based custom build, the electric marque has never been known for its bike’s designs, as until now, everything the California-based outfit has offered has been fairly bland and uninspiring form a visual standpoint. What these bikes lack in good looks they more than make up for in performance — torque in particular — though the SR/F no longer requires riders to make superficial sacrifices in order to ride a class-leading electric motorcycle.

The SR/F’s looks leave little doubt as to how it rides. The thing has an aggressive stance, short sporty tail, angular headlight, an inverted front-end and monoshocked rear, and even a modern, knee-dented faux-tank and radiator-shroud-esque panels — all of which come together to make an attractive, cohesive, naked, electric sport bike. Personally, we think the SR/F looks like what would happen if KTM’s current Duke range had too much wine with Honda’s Neo-Sports-Café range — a likeness helped along by a similar dark-red livery seen on the Hondas.

One Seriously Hot Air-Cooled Engine

Where the SR/F’s design really shines, in our opinion, is the lower half of the bike. More-than-a-decade-ago major manufacturers demonstrated that attractive tank and tail-sections can be crafted up for naked sport bikes, however this task is a markedly taller order when said naked is designed around an electric power train, as it doesn’t have the advantage of a sexy internal combustion engine on full display.

The SR/F’s trellis frame provides a neat package for the motor and battery, and the “tank” and belly-pan sandwiching the battery cell round out the shape of the bike in a manner that highlights the SR/F’s electric nature without looking too unconventional. Plus, with such a minimalistic, suspended tail-section, the SR/F is practically begging custom builders to tackle the new electric offering.

Pricing And Delivery

So, when can you get your hands on Zero’s sporty new offering and what’s it going to cost you? The short answer is the base model starts at $18,995 while the higher-spec model has an MSRP of $20,995, though both models include a standard five-year, unlimited-mile warranty. Zero announced shipping for the SR/F will commence in April of 2019.

Why Harley Should Be Scared

It’s hard to talk about the 2019 SR/F without thinking of Harley’s upcoming electric sport naked. Though Harley announced pricing and a release date for the Livewire a few months ago, Zero has since snuck up, announced the SR/F, and now unveiled it, and have announced it will hit showrooms this Spring, beating Harley to market by several months with what now appears to be a superior machine, at least on paper.

Harley has been somewhat tightlipped about the Livewire’s full specs, though we imagine if the Bars and Shield brand knew it had a class-leading model on its hands it would probably advertise that fact. So far what we do know is the electric Harley will offer a 0-60mph time of 3.5-seconds, a 110-mile range (of “urban riding), and an 80-percent charge in as little as 40-minutes (using DC fast-charging). The Livewire also boasts Smartphone connectivity, a 4.3” touch-screen TFT display with built-in navigation, adjustable Showa suspension, Brembo brakes, and of course the thing says “Harley-Davidson” on the tank — a feature riders have historically been willing to shell out a premium for. Finally, the Livewire has been priced at a whopping $29,799.

With a 200-mile range, 124mph top-speed, optional hour-hour charge-time, and roughly $20K price-tag — around $10K less than the MoCo’s ebike — the SR/F is clearly the more attractive offering when compared to the Livewire. Aside from Energica’s naked bikes, Harley’s Livewire was poised to be the only other naked electric sport bike on the market before Zero threw a wrench in that. As far as styling goes, both the Harley and the Zero are somewhat similar, (plus both are from American companies) making it abundantly clear that the Livewire and SR/F will be direct competitors.

Changing The Electric Motorcycling Landscape

As we’ve seen over the last decade or so, riders have been extremely apprehensive to make the switch from gas-powered bikes to electric. Until very recently, electric powertrains lacked range and power, and long charging times previously meant long-distance riding was out of the question. Add to all this the fact that ebikes are relatively exorbitant — at least when contrasted with regular gas-powered bikes.

Why the SR/F is more important to motorcycling than any of Zero’s prior offerings, is because as a whole, it’s a major step in the right direction for electric motorcycles. It’s good-looking, its performance is more than satisfactory, and ultimately it merges the divide between electric and ICE-driven bikes. The SR/F is one motorcycle we’re chomping at the bit to ride as, it doesn’t just look like a promising electric motorcycle, it looks like a promising motorcycle, period.

To checkout a 360-degree view of the SR/F, or to see more photos or details you can visit the naked’s page on the Zero website. Zero also put together a promo video for the SR/F that can be viewed below…