Aprilia Falco? – Nope, already got one of those.
OK I’ll put you out of your misery. It’s this:-
Brembo’s
Sachs shock (OK, so there’s two of them).
You’re just going to have to trust me on the forks and frame, but it says so on their website, which might be a bit slow and the gay bloke isn’t me OK!
Why? Did I hear you ask? Well I’m getting old and turning a bit green (insert corny joke here).
I’ve never ridden a scooter or an electric bike before so I’ve nothing to compare it to. I was keen but sceptical, you might be surprised by what you read if you have the will to carry on.
I was expecting to find the Vectrix pretty horrible. I mean, just look at it. It’s longer than a 747 and probably about the same weight. It’s got little wheels, a big fat seat and an electric motor instead of an engine. Fortunately I was wearing a full face helmet to hide my blushes; thankfully I wasn’t wearing full leathers so I didn’t look like a complete knob.
All the controls are as you’d expect apart from the rear brake being where the clutch should be. This might be normal for scooters. It certainly didn’t cause me any problems.
Here’s the dash:-
Speedo in the middle, info on the left, battery condition on the right, idiot lights across the top.
The info pod to the left appears to have at least two trip meters (it was on “trip B” for me), the clock and an estimated range figure, which isn’t as useful as you might think.
Here’s the engine. Mmmmm shiny:-
Here’s the under seat storage. I tried my Arai full face too and it fits no problem.
How clever is this?
It’s just a spring, but when it’s all lined up it’s pretty strong. Give it a little push and it folds up. Impressive.
Normal three pin plug (don’t use an extension lead) 80% charge in 2 hours ( 2.5 hours to fully charge), bargain.
Another couple of photo’s in the office car park:-
Dom from Vetrix Australia gave me a rundown on how to make it go, stop, the regenerative braking system and how to go backwards! Yup, how cool is that? Turn the throttle the wrong way and the bike reverses. Now that I’m writing this I can’t believe I never thought to see how far/fast I could reverse (feet up of course) before falling over. Dom explained that there was a large top box available that was big enough to carry a case of beer. Top man Dom, a true Aussie and a damn fine visualisation aid.
So turn the key to on and the dash goes mental, all the LCD displays light up and the speedo runs right round to the stop. Once it’s all calmed down a bit you need to put the stand up, pull both brakes before the info dash lets you know you’re good to go. Twist and go; it does exactly what it says on the tin, but very smoothly, almost silently and surprisingly powerfully.
I wasn’t being gentle with the throttle because I thought that it would take a lot of juice to move such an overweight carcass and the bike is quite heavy too, but it goes pretty well. I ventured onto a highway to see how it would fare and it was fast enough to get me a speeding ticket on the fastest of Melbourne’s roads. Elsewhere it was quick enough to be first off from the lights and still be leading the cages at the 80km/h speed limit. Even at 80km/h a twist of the throttle was all that was needed to deliver a smooth pass.
All the weight is carried low (apart from the fat bloke riding) and as soon as the wheels start to turn the weight disappears. Try warming up the tyres WSB stylee and the Vectrix tips back and forth nicely, doesn’t complain or get wobbly. There isn’t much in the way of twisties in urban Melbourne, but I managed to find a couple of small roundabouts and some suburban streets with bendy bits. I was able to lean it over pretty hard without any trouble and with a bit of effort on the wide bars it flip flopped easily and reasonably quickly.
The suspension was a bit odd. It seemed quite bouncy when I sat on it initially, but I soon found myself avoiding drain covers and pot holes as it jarred me through the seat. Now that couldn’t possibly be due to the rider weight, surely. The rear shocks have visible preload adjustment, but I doubt anything else.
The seating position is upright, feet forward. I found myself slouching and my old back problem started to ache. I sat up a bit, back straight and put my feet directly below my knees and that fixed it. The bars felt too close to my body and as the mirrors are fixed to the bars they felt too close to me too. Good view from them, but it seemed like I had to move my head a lot to see in them. It rained lightly at one point and I stayed dry from my chest down thanks to the screen and body work.
I liked the way the indicators beeped at you if you left them on too long, but only if you were moving. But most of all I loved the regenerative braking. When the lights ahead turn red I closed the throttle and the bike starts to coast. Turn the throttle the wrong way and the regen braking really slows you down quickly. I normally ride with one finger on the front brake all the time, but I noticed that I wasn’t on the Vectrix. This was possibly due to the lever position, but more likely because I didn’t use the brakes. In fact I had to make a quick visit to a car park just before handing the bike back to see how well (or in fact, if) they worked. The back brake will lock the wheel no problem and causes the rear to squat down quite noticeably (suspension?) without any other drama’s. The front seemed a bit vague, but still stopped quick smart and could be persuaded to lock up too.
I covered 45km and although the battery indicator was still showing about a quarter to a third full, on a steep hill the Vectrtix went into “safe mode”. It knows when the battery is getting low and limits the amount of go to extend it’s range. I was a caught out a bit by this and found myself stuck in the outside lane doing 20km/h less than the limit and unable to get into the inside lane. Fortunately there were no irate drivers and once over the crest all was well again. The final hill before the return very nearly did for the poor Vectrix. It limped up at about 30km/h even although the range meter was showing 12km’s, which then jumped to 15 when I regened all the way down the other side. Did I mention how much I love the regen?
So if I’d maxed out the battery I should have made 60km. Pretty poor really, but as I mentioned I wasn’t taking it easy and my intention was to be hard on the battery to get a worst case scenario of the range out of it.
Given that power is at a premium I’d like to have seen more LED’s and fewer bulbs. Possibly some solar panels (apparently you can get stick on flexible ones). Every little bit helps.
I’d like to know if the brake lights are activated when on regen, they should be. I kid you not that I didn’t use the brakes, even coming down to a standstill from 80km/h.
At $14k I’m not buying one, even at $12.5k OTR I’m not buying one, sorry Dom. Pretty much ‘coz I can’t afford one and my wife doesn’t like me commuting by bike any more, but also because the government isn’t offering any incentive. Not even in a reduced OTR cost or toll exemption as far as I know. It’s appalling.
However, if I was in the situation where I was considering dusting of my bike license to combat the rise in fuel price and I could afford it and the government were playing ball I’d have one tomorrow. It was great fun to ride, perfect for the job it had to do and as green as a Johnny Rottens teeth. I didn’t feel like a knob, quite conversely, I was feeling very self righteous and thought that all the other fossil fuel burners were the knobs.
At about $1 per day to run it would take up to 10 years to pay for itself. At which point the batteries need to be refurbished at an unknown cost. This, of course means that it hasn’t paid for itself until that cost has been amortised. Still I’d never need to buy a set of brake pads ever again, damn that regen braking is good.
Some interesting thoughts.
