The Zaeta 530 SE Is A Street-Legal Tracker For The Tough Ones

Let’s get something out of the way: If you’re looking for a fun, lightweight, street-legal flat-tracker, the Zaeta 530 SE is not the bike for you. It’s two of those things and, to the right person, may be all three. But you’re probably not that person.

You might curse me for saying that. Like me, you want so badly to believe that the Zaeta is for you. “It’s a street-legal flat-tracker for god’s sake. It’s everything my garage has needed and more,” you reckon.

I can't blame you for thinking that. The bike oozes cool, from the billet aluminum frame penned by MotoGP engineers to the 528cc, single-cylinder TM engine. Want more? It weighs just 266 pounds (plus or minus a few ounces when you take into account the drool we dribbled onto this bike's DT tank) and produces 40.5 hp and 30.7 pound-feet of torque on the CW dyno.

Behind the bike’s beautiful shell is a devilish soul though—one that promises to hurt you, if not wreak havoc on certain reproductive organs with utterly shocking amounts of vibrations. It’s street-legal, yes, but to turn the 530 SE into a daily commuter would be to turn the devil himself into a friend. I wish you luck with that.

Having had enough fun (vibration) on the street, I opted to take (drive) the Zaeta to a local lakebed and slide it left the way company founder Paolo Chiaia intended for it to be. There, I learned to love the bar position and how you can slide off to the side of the seat—true tracker ergos. But then there was wheel chatter on corner entry, oil spray, and still enough vibration for bolts to start removing themselves from the bike.

Zaeta is aware of the 530’s primitive nature. To them, that’s part of the allure. Part of the abundant character. There are probably people with $24,900 to spare who feel the same. To them: Buy one.

But know, I’m not one of those people. I don’t know that you are either.