2009 Zero MX Electric Motorcycle - The Silent Treatment

Zero Motorcycles has just released their new 2009 Zero MX electric motocross bike.

This motorcycle was made for heavy dirt track riding but only weighs 150 pounds (wow) and sports a lithium-ion battery with a life of 40 miles (roughly 2 hours of continuous riding). The drivetrain is so silent you could probably ride this thing through a library and nobody would know, except the naughty librarian's assistant, who would quickly notice and extort a steamy session of, uh, a game of scrabble out of you before letting you on your way (okay enough of our fantasies). The bottom-line is, MX uses the same 23-horsepower, 8-inch brushed permanent magnet motor as the X enduru bike, which founder Neal Saiki says produces as much power as a 250-cc gas engine, and with 50 foot-pounds of torque it’ll smoke the tire.

The Zero MX electric motorbike is available for about $8300, and thanks to its near-silent operation, can be ridden in a lot more places than regular bikes where the ensuing gasoline-fueled braaaap-brap-braaaaaap racket usually draws the attention of local residents.

Details at Wired.com