It Was Easy to Build Zero Motorcycle's New XE Dirt Bike In My Garage

I even swapped the suspension to the new Sirris stuff, too.

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Photo by: Jonathon Klein

Jonathon Klein

By: Jonathon Klein

Aug 8, at 10:00am ET

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Despite my penchant for swearing like a drunk sailor on a historically out-there bender, and my proclivity for injuring myself during, I actually like building things with my own two hands. It's fun. Well, type 2 fun, but fun nonetheless. I also really dig EV dirt bikes, as they make a whole lot of sense in my neck of the woods, and for the type of fun I get up to, i.e., running single track, hunting, fishing, and generally being a terror to my backyard.

So when I heard that Zero Motorcycles' new XE dirt bike could either be purchased completely built from the factory and ready to rock from your local dealership or sent to your house in a large crate, I asked the company if I could have the latter to show just how easy it was to build, and get some more time with Zero's most important motorcycle to date. The company agreed and not only sent me an XE, but also the upgraded suspension setup it worked on in conjunction with Sirris.

A win/win, then. Honestly, yeah.

I filmed the whole thing, well, most of it, in the comfort of my home garage. A few files have seemingly gone missing or I forgot to hit record, but the vast majority of me building the Zero Motorcycles XE is in the video above. I tried my hand at timelapse, but there were a few hiccups using my Insta360 Ace Pro 2. That, however, was more down to the user than the camera.

What do you think?

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The whole thing, however, went far easier than I would've imagined, as putting everything together didn't really require any instructions. And had I not received the new Sirris upgraded parts, it would've taken a few fewer hours to really get together and get riding. But even so, the vast majority of the bike required only a few bolts here and there, the right torque specs, and some light cursing.

I did call Zero once, but that was because when I finally did use the directions, they weren't perfectly clear what needed to occur in regard to the front end and its axle and spacer. I believe they're updating the directions due to me not understanding everything right from the jump. That said, if you want to get a Zero Motorcycles' XE and build it yourself and have a bit of fun doing it, it's absolutely simple, and you get some more wrenching time. If you're into that sort of thing.