One of the perks of writing about new cars, motorcycles, RVs, and other vehicles is that sometimes a manufacturer will toss you the keys to a vehicle for review purposes. Press loaners are a great way for journalists to test out vehicles outside of the controlled conditions of a press event. Will it baby? Will it haul your broken camper to an air show? Can it make it to Detroit and back in comfort? Usually, manufacturers give you just enough time to test these out, but sometimes you get a loaner for longer, much longer.
Most car and truck press loans last for a week. Sometimes, you may want to test the vehicle under specific conditions and a chat with the automaker’s PR arm can set you up with what you need. It’s how, in short order, I got a Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to take to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh last year. I might do the same again this year because that truck was as much of a rockstar at the show as many of the planes that touched down.
Motorcycle press loans tend to be longer, often three weeks or more. The logic seems to be that the manufacturer knows you’ll likely ride for fun, rather than for transportation. So, you need more time to put real miles on the machine. Many people may not ride a press bike for as long as they would drive a car. Of course, those people aren’t me, because I love spending as much time as possible on two wheels.
Deliveries are also different. When you get a press loaner from Mazda or Toyota it’s really weird. A guy will drive up to your door, hand you the key, and disappear. There’s no exchange of paperwork or no official-seeming hand-off. It’s just you get the key and the person hops into another car and goes away. This is thanks to firms like DriveShop, which host press fleets.
Motorcycles are different. In my experience, either a random hotshot driver drops off the bike or it’s delivered to a local dealership by a big truck. Then you have to go and get it.
The great thing about press loaners is that you’re not obligated to say something nice. Sure, you’ll undoubtedly make someone angry if you call their vehicle a pile. Many of you are certainly aware of the now infamous Marques Brownlee Fisker Ocean review. Brownlee also caught flak for his review of a tech device, the Humane Ai Pin. However, remember that it’s our job to call out when something sucks. Otherwise we’d just be walking press releases.
Anyway, a whole 10 months ago, a motorcycle manufacturer sent me a press loaner for review. The loan was supposed to last about two months, but the truck never came to pick it up. The manufacturer then told me that I could ride it into the winter until I got bored or too cold. That was a bold move because snow doesn’t stop me from riding.
So, now it’s warm again and I still have the bike. As of right now, there’s still no defined return date for the motorcycle. It’s become a joke that the license plate will expire before it goes home, or maybe I should just ask for the title. I’m not complaining because it’s a fantastic machine. I’ve gotten to do more with this motorcycle than any other journalist has. RevZilla can’t tell you what I can and neither could the guys at Cycle World.
Can you guess what I’ve had in my possession for 10 months?
Yep! It’s this, the 2023 Zero DSR/X. The hilarious thing is that I’ve put more than 2,000 miles on this electric motorcycle without any real place to take it or without any way to charge it at home. I’ve charged it maybe 17 or so times, averaged about 120 miles per charge, and can say that the front tire has rolled fewer miles than the rear tire. The electric bike has become such a go-to vehicle that, a couple of weeks ago I was shocked to hear the loud pipes of a Harley. Also, this thing has absolutely the best diagnostics system of anything I’ve ever driven or ridden, but that’s for another day.
The thing that’s getting to me is that the Zero has been with me for so long that I keep having to stop myself from giving it a name and considering it a part of my fleet. I’m getting my first motorcycle press loaner of 2024 next week and the Zero is still here. Again, I’m not complaining. It’s just wild to me.
I’ve been told by other motorcycle journalists this situation isn’t that rare. Jalopnik once had an Indian FTR for a whole year and one time Honda left another journalist a bike for a year. The best guess any of us have is that since the motorcycle companies don’t really do the DriveShop thing, they just pick up the bike when it’s convenient. Since these companies can be located across the country like Zero is, that could be a long time.
Car & Driver had that happen with a Saturn Ion once. It failed to impress in testing and Saturn never picked it up after. So they stuck a logbook in it and it became a long-term test car: https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a15133124/2003-saturn-ion-long-term-road-test-maintenance-and-gripes-page-1/
I think they are scoring great PR from you because you love it so much and people respect your views. On the counter side Jalopnik evaluating an Indian motorcycle is just ludicrous because most of their writers hated cars didn’t know how to drive tried to intimidate people with do you know who I am, Elizabeth. Frankly did they have anyone who could even ride a motorcycle?
Wes Siler started at Jalopnik, and he was a great motorcycle writer. His subsequent project, hellforleather, was stellar. Also, I think the current editor Bradley Brownell is a motorcycle guy.
After I got my first Zero, I had to remember to start up the other bikes occasionally, and keep track of how old the gas was. They just can’t be beat as commuters and errand-runners, and they’re not that expensive used.
What a terrible problem to have 😛
How long did it take you to get used to free loaners? I know it comes with the territory of the job, but I’ve always felt weird about getting “free” things; I think that partly comes down to working for a government contractor which has very strict federal regulations involved.
But I am! I guess I must be a stupid member.
See if you can beat James May’s record; over at the Old Site Alanis King wrote about how May apparently had a Jaguar press car for three whole years: https://jalopnik.com/james-may-pretty-much-stole-a-jaguar-press-car-for-thre-1833201091
A friend of mine who works for the MIC had some sort of press\industry loaner Honda Grom for what seamed like years. I think she had to forcibly give it back. That Zero is a great bike to be stuck with!
I mean sometimes the firms and manufacturers forgets or gives people a free ride for a year or two. Looking at Honda and As The Magpie Flies. (dont expect an honest review from Amanda since she’s had no bike payment for two years)
With the zero are they letting you keep it for warm weather testing? Do they want the range to go above 120?
Oh, I’ve had it in warm weather, too! Summer rides tend to average 120-130 miles while winter rides averaged about 95-105 miles. Highway-leaning rides are closer to 85 miles.
At what point do squatters right’s apply to the Zero? If they leave it for another year, they should be required to transfer the title to you.
“RevZilla”? Honestly a bit close to “Rezvani”. Although I’d take whatever the former is long before the latter.
It’s a silly name, but a good firm. I’ve bought a ton of stuff from them over the years, including all manner of hard to find replacement parts for my aging bike.
They occasionally even give you free stuff (in the form of a voucher dropped into your account) just because!
I have a love/hate relationship with RevZilla. I love how easy they make it to find parts and accessories, but I hate how much money I keep giving them.
Me too. But I justify it to myself with “well, their videos and exact measurements often save me the trouble of sending it back to get another size, so…”
Absolutely. Their exact measurements have made me irritated with other online retailers who don’t provide that level of information and detail, as RevZilla shows it can be done if the effort is made.
Go, Mercedes, Go!
https://cdn.dealerspike.com/imglib/v1/800×600/imglib/Assets/Blog/c7/d7/c7d76d33-8bcf-40e4-b82d-45844b1e64b4.jpg
Maybe they forgot? “Oops.”
My other guess is it costs an awful lot less to leave a bike on loan for a year than a whole car, and due to bikes not commonly being ridding in all weather like most cars are driven, getting a longer term review means the journo is going be able to give a more wholistic review rather than a “I only I had a week to test this so I rode it constantly and my ass hurts this thing sucks” sort of review
….this actually makes me wonder about the economics of bikes in general, compared to cars. I’m guessing motorcycles sales are tiny (at least in the U.S.) compared to cars, but also I assume they pay back tooling and such sooner since they’re smaller, with fewer raw materials?
But at a very basic level, yeah, I think a manufacturer would cry less over a missing bike than a missing car.
Less, or, well, basically nonexistent, safety regulations, too, which means a design can have a vastly longer production run without fear of a sudden change to IIHS overlap rules creating a panic inducing press release
That’s an interesting thought, too. I guess there’s not as much room to aesthetically play with a motorcycle. Some, but not much.
I mean, Changjiang still sells an updated version of the 1938 BMW R71, the oldest passenger car designs still in production anywhere date to maybe the 1980s? 1986 Kia Pride & 1987 Peugeot 405
WHAT? Goes to Google
Oh my! So, you undersold this thing. It’s the Chinese version of a Soviet version of a 1938 BMW R71. It’s a poor BMW subject to a nearly century-long game of Telephone! Oh I need to ride this probably terrible thing.
Usually, they just do things put new plastic bits on an old bike for as long as they think they can. My Suzuki is a design from the ’80s that has a late ’90s fairing on it, when I bought it in the ’00s. 🙂
I was thinking similar. This bike has had many articles with most of them being glowing reviews.
The only slightly negative article I can recall is the cold-weather battery issue. I was a little surprised the 12v battery totally died but high voltage systems often to have issues with very cold weather. I’d be surprised if Zero hasn’t already looked into some fixes.