Electric dirt bike ready to ride

Not surprisingly, the Zero X drew a lot of attention.

Two-stroke? Four-stroke? That wasn't the question riders were asking after watching the electric dirt bike roll around the track a few times and do everything a traditional, gas-powered motocrosser could do, minus the noise and pollution. No. The biggest questions were: "What is it?" and "Where can I get one?"

The Zero X is a big deal for a lot of reasons, the biggest being that it's actually in production. Unlike so many other electric vehicles that are bandied about in the media, it isn't a prototype. It's been on the market since April.

Nor is it an electric retrofit of a gutted, formerly gas-powered machine. Its 300-plus component parts were engineered from the ground up, sourced from manufacturers around the globe and assembled into fully functioning motorcycles in a facility in Northern California.

The $7,450 motorcycle was designed by aeronautical engineer Neal Saiki, whose mountain bikes have won design awards.

Saiki came up with the idea for his electric motorcycle in 2003, after participating in a NASA think tank project analyzing transportation solutions for the U.S.

"It was really obvious that electric was the right choice for the United States. It makes so much more sense than hydrogen and other technologies," he said. "The military's had extremely high-powered electric vehicles for quite a long time, and it was just a matter of time before they came down to the [private] sector."

He set to work on the X, then incorporated Zero Motorcycles Inc. in 2006. To get the company off the ground, Saiki and his wife sold both of their homes and brought in investors such as Gene Banman, a former top manager at computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. and now Zero's chief executive.

The company, based in the Santa Cruz area, has 31 employees, has shipped 40 bikes since April and has back orders for an additional 60.

Among his customers is Google Inc. founder Larry Page, who bought three Zero X bikes.

Zero is setting up a second production line to meet demand. Saiki anticipates selling 500 motorcycles next year, both for the dirt and the street. He figures to be doing $100 million in business by 2011.