All Motorcycles Should Have Reverse

Photo: Bradley Brownell

Sometimes it’s the simple little things that get me excited about a motorcycle, and today it’s the ability to engage reverse and back up out of a parking space. It’s just a tiny little change, so easily implemented, that makes a little quality-of-life improvement to the riding experience, and I love it. This morning I rode a 2024 Zero DS (a comprehensive review is comings soon) to the gym and parked nose-in without worry. Once I’d finished my morning treadmill 5K, I jumped on the electric wonder and with a series of button presses, used the electric motor to get extricated from the space. It was wonderful.

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Photo: Bradley Brownell

The DS is not the first motorcycle to feature a reverse gear, as many of the larger touring bikes have incorporated the technology. In a gasoline motorcycle this requires an extra gear in the transmission, but when you’re talking about an electric motorcycle, it just requires reversing the flow of electrons to run the motor backwards. It’s just some lines of code to prevent tippy-toe shoving a 530 pound motorcycle around the parking lot.

With the bike’s key on but the “ignition” switched off, you can press the modes button and pull up this menu. Selecting “Parking Mode” is how you get into reverse.

Photo: Bradley Brownell

Once you’re in “Parking Mode” you can turn on power to the electric motor.

Photo: Bradley Brownell

And boom, just like a shitty aggressive driver that missed his exit on the interstate, you’re backin’ up.

Photo: Bradley Brownell

This reverse mode makes so much sense for a tall dual sport motorcycle like the Zero DS, because it’s already a pretty heavy machine with tall suspension. I’m 6’2″ and it’s difficult for me to go flat-foot on this motorcycle, so I can only imagine what it’s like for shorter riders. Having the option to put it in reverse to get out of some pickle or another is just good practice. Every motorcycle should have reverse, but it’s borderline unforgivable for an electric motorcycle to lack the feature. It’s probably the only thing I hate about my Harley-Davidson LiveWire.