Zongshen Storm 250 V Twin Street Bike

[TheRealWorld]

Several years ago, I helped a friend buy a Zonshen 250 Storm, after having several conversations with "Phil"

I remember saying to Phil, it seemed like a great deal, and great bike, he said yes but they are hard to sell. I put up the money and help assemble it. Well now we are over three years later and I registered the bike in my name today. My friend has had many problems and issues, and I never got paid. He did put plates on it, but it has not moved for a couple of years. I spent yesterday cleaning it, and all the things you might imagine, charged the battery, drained fuel and added new fuel, oil looked good so I started it up, let it run for a few min, and then had to add air to the tires, and went for a ride.

This is a nice bike, any of you got any experience with one of these? I got it up to 60 and it was able to go beyond that, it is smooth and nice. It had 400 miles on it, and my friend had it stored inside, and was gentle on it, so it is just broke in. The up front cost was $2100. The battery was not dead!, but needed a charge as I said.

[katoranger]

I can see that the engine is a yamaha virago 250 clone. No other experience. Were the problems little things? PO not really into working on it?

[TheRealWorld]

Thanks for the input. My friends biggest problem was his wife, but it did not help that he kept this bike a secret from her! He kept it in a storage unit all the time her had it.

[Weldangrind]

Whoa, that's dangerous. Secrets are bad for your health.

I don't know much about the bike, but I'd love to see a pic. If it's a Virago clone, I bet it's a reliable performer. Any plans for it?

[TheRealWorld]

I will see if I can come up with a pic, but I have never been able to do that. I have a Hensim 250, a Rebel clone, and I might sell it, and keep this one for street riding. I did find a utube video on it, one that was for sale on Craigslist. It was a great piece, but I don't know how to link it.

[TheRealWorld]

I took this bike for a 50 mile ride, and it is a nice ride. I am impressed. What is happening with Zongshen lately?

[TheRealWorld]

Well, I was just loving this bike, with not much time to ride. I decided I would take it for a ride and then put it away for Winter. It started up OK, but had low power, I thought it was cold, and headed down the road. One quarter mile later, I turned around and barely made it home.

This the the Yamaha two cylinder V twin clone.

I have some fuel, but not in both cylinders. One of the two exhaust pipes was not warm, so I changed plugs. The old one in the non firing cylinder was 100 percent dry. I have not checked compression, but i figure I must not have my intake valve opening as I seem to have no fuel in that cylinder. The other will start and run, but not both. I get spark at the plug on the non firing cylinder when I have it out of the head and near the head. It seemed to run fine last time I rode it a week ago.

Any ideas?

[Weldangrind]

I'd start with the adjusting the valves, since you've eliminated spark and fuel. I bet the exhaust valve is too tight and not creating a vacuum. If that's the case, it'll have a noticeable improvment in power over what you're used to.

[TheRealWorld]

Hey that is a good idea, I will give it a try. I have a million things going on, so I am not sure when I will get to it. I promise to let you know. Thanks a bunch!

[TheRealWorld]

Where do I begin? It is a cold rainy day, so I decided to go to work on my bike. This is a 250 clone of a Yamaha virago, made by Zongshen. First I need to tell you that last week I said I only had one cylinder firing. I new I had a problem, but I thought I did not have any heat in the exhaust pipe on one cylinder. I was wrong, that was a decorative pipe, the real pipe takes a hard to see path to the main tailpipe. It was firing, but I most likely was not getting enough fuel.

I intended to check the valves, but in removing the fuel tank, I found mouse stored seeds in the air cleaner! No big deal except I found some on the carb side of the filter. This has two filters, so I took apart the one the seeds were in, and found the assembly worker did not put the filter in the housing. So I have cleaned out a huge amount of mouse food, dust, bugs and who knows what else.

I can deal with that, I also need to deal with the low quality rubber used in the fuel and air hoses, as they are split and were also a bit kinked.

Here is my question:

I have the carb off, but still have the cables connected, and I notice when I move the throttle, the main slide in the carb does not move like I think it does in my hi bird. This is the same slide that has to be removed to do the C clip adjustment on the Hi Bird 200 dual purpose. It moves easily when I use my finger to slide it. Is that normal?

[Weldangrind]

It sounds like you might be describing a CV carb, in which case I think it needs vacuum to operate (ie a running engine). Got pics?

[FastDoc]

Many bikes, older Japanese or even new CB's need the hoses replaced. I sort of expect thagt. :wink:

I'm glad you found the assembly mistake. 8O

I'm not sure I understand the throttle question...

If the carb is out of the bike the cable may not operate smoothly due to kinks or incorrect routing.

[FastDoc]

BTW I really like the Virago clones :D . I wouldn't mind having one to commute on, except I think I'd look comically large on one! :lol:

[TheRealWorld]

Thanks for the reply, I will get back to you when I learn more!