questions and concerns

[bronevaya]

so here are my questions

1. how is the power going up hills and things? I live in an area where there are a lot of hills, I would hate having drivers honk at me as I bogged up a hill

2. I weigh 160, would getting a smaller bike (weight, not cc) help me go faster? I know these things dont have much power to begin with

3. I always here about mount bolts coming off, are they breaking or just getting unscrewed?

4. the bikes I am looking at have rear drum brakes, good or bad?

I cant think of anymore at the moment. Thanks for your time guys!!

[Jim]

1) It really depends on the hill... I live in BC, lots of hills here... But I rode it from abbotsford to spences bridge on the highway (about 3 hour ride into the mountains from the valley), and I did slow down a bit on the hills, I couldn't pass empty trucks, but I think I was keeping pace with the loaded ones. But this is on the highway, ~100km/h, on normal roads you should be fine. Or off road you should be fine also, you just may have to gear down.

2)Obviously the lighter it would be the faster, but I don't think these bikes are too heavy to begin with, also I weigh quite a bit more then you, and I had my bike loaded up with gear, and rode on the highway (I even passed some cars in the fast lane). It is of course not a racing machine though.

3)Usually they are just getting unscrewed, loctite is your friend. Some do break sometimes, my rear top motor mount has broken 3 times, but I never replaced it properly, I used ready-rod. The original bolt wasnt great. I think the motor mounts on these arent the best. Other things I have heard break is the rear tailight aseembly, but im not sure which bike that was on.

4)I don't really know either way, they should work fine...

[Jollysig]

I live on top of a mountain. It's about 2 1/2 miles at a steady incline up with stop lights along the way. I'm around 160 lbs with a 200cc bike and have no problems getting the bike up in gear and staying with traffic even after coming to a stop on the way up.(the speed limit on my street is 55 mph). I've heard of people breaking bolts but mostly it's the bigger guys and a lot of them are riding off road fairly hard. I've kept mine mainly to the street and dirt roads and haven't had a single problem with broken bolts. Bolts do get loose, so once a week I check all the bolts, loctite as necessary, and perform normal maintenance (check and lube chain, check spark plugs, check wiring, check fluids, ... etc). I haven't heard anything bad about the new drum brakes but can't really comment because my bike has disc brakes. These bikes aren't speed machines but at 160 I'm able to get just under 70 mph on the highway and hold that speed without a problem. Hope this helps

[bronevaya]

I dont plan on racing these things, but I dont want to make people mad/get smushed by a big rig.

[AZ200cc]

If You ride any bike, You stand a good chance of getting smashed by one cage or another..These are good trail bikes and town cruisers IMHO..Mine will pull uphill and get to top speed while doing it..They are not bad bikes for the money. You just need to keep an eye on things..Just like You should do with any vehicle.

*EDIT*
This made me think, Every video of these bikes including mine are done on backroads or with no traffic or in the dirt. Maybe somone can post a vid of them in town/city traffic going to work or something..I can't because mine is not legal to ride on the street..But it might help of these questions come up again.

[TeamCheap]

Me and the wife ride ours around town the most and they are good enough for that with no problem just stay off the expressways.

We have ridden them offroad and while I do fine with mine my wife just can not ride hers in the sand and I must confess they are a handfull in the sand.(but I like it) I did manage to ride hers up a rather large sand hill several times a couple of weekends ago and they will do some decent offroading for what they are.

You will have no problem keeping up, moving with traffic even if it's a bit hilly (they are 5 speeds you know- :lol:)

The engine mounts are a very weak spot but can be taken care of relatively easy so thats not really a problem.

Drum brakes should work fine and in fact may be better than the disc brakes since the disc brakes tend to want to lock up somewhat randomly until adjusted just right.
Drum brakes only fail badly when you go thru deep water and basically they dont work for a little while until some of that water gets out of there.
(I'm talking a deep river crossing with drum brakes submerged then up on the throttle into a quick stop type of thing)

Washing the bike or going thru a puddle wont effect drum brakes at all. :lol:

[Jim]

just stay off the expressways.

That was my policy until I wanted to take a trip, so then I just went on the highway... I had no problem, in town here on the highway (100kmh) was not a problem, I even got a few quick hops into the fast lane to pass slow people. But up in the mountains, up a hill or with strong headwinds, I did slow down, I don't know to what though as my speedo is off and was jumping around, but it wasn't busy up there so if I got in someones way I just pulled off so they could pass then continued along. I rode all the way back on the highway with only a breif stop to do up my jacket, and it held together very nicely. And if you get uncomfortable you can stand up and stretch :D

[TeamCheap]

We cant go on the expressways around here the speed limit is 70mph(minimum is 55mph) so everyone is going 75-90+mph and there are far to many people on the expressways around home.
Plus the bikes top out at around 70mph or so.

They are really fun up north where it is a bit more layed back.

[Jim]

Oh ok, I didn't realize the limit was that high, all our highways around here are 100km/h, there are some at 110km/h on the island, but I don't know where else. That would be pushing it.

[bronevaya]

how about steps, can these bikes go about some steps? (about 6-8 steps)

[katoranger]

I can pull some steep hills at 50plus mph that I usually need to downshift to 3rd on in my car. (its an escort :lol: ) The drum brake is probably just as effective for a lightweight bike as a disc. I am sure it will lock the rear tire on the pavement.

The 200cc has enough power for roads less 60mph safely. I don't ride on the expressways either.

Allen

[Jim]

I assume it could do it... (steps), we have step on the patio, just one, and ive gone up and down it

[IronFist]

This made me think, Every video of these bikes including mine are done on backroads or with no traffic or in the dirt. Maybe somone can post a vid of them in town/city traffic going to work or something..I can't because mine is not legal to ride on the street..But it might help of these questions come up again.


I only have a 150cc but I was on 2- 400 series highways today. Not far 10k or so. I have an older camara that takes good mpgs. Also, I have 2 - 128 meg drives that I don't need anymore since I bought the 1gig. I've been thinking about mounting the camara and taking a movie with sound. I'll do it. But I have no where to up load it to and it would take for ever. Dial up. I'd save a copy for myself, but I'd mail it to anyone who wanted to see it, or post it for me somehow. N2r. :idea: Around town or highway or both?

[AZ200cc]

Tough with dial up, I use my Myspace page....I have a You tube account but have never posted on it. I searched You tube again tonight and cannot find one street video...Kick azz of ya to step up to the plate N2R. 8)
Not sure on how to get it posted though. One thing I was going to do on my camera was glue a fuzzy off of an old headphone set I have to block the wind from the Mic hole on the cam...Thought it would help clear up the noise issues.

[knothead]

how about steps, can these bikes go about some steps? (about 6-8 steps)

Heck yeah they'll go up steps, as long as you're going fast enough when you hit 'em!

[Jim]

youtube is good for uploading, just use windows media encoder or something before hand to make the movie smaller (or windows movie maker). then it shouldnt take TOOO long to upload, dialup still would be slow, but you could get the video pretty small.

[AZ200cc]

I wait until I am about to hit the sack, I leave the upload running while I sleep...even with DSL my vids take a little while to upload.

[IronFist]

I'm thinking more about the vibrations than wind. I'm gonna clamp a camara mount to the handlebars. Can't do it tomorrow, but sun, or monday. I need a member with high speed access to post it, somehow. I figure burning a cd would ship better than sending a card through the mail. Plus you don't need to have the correct reader, everyone has a cd rom. If only a couple of people are intrested in seeing it, I'll ship ya a cd.

[IronFist]

Talked to the wife last night about doing the movie. I promised to start the cam and forget about it. I'm not going to show boat and do anything I wouldn't do on a normal ride. No stupid manuvers for the sake of the camera. I'm looking forward to doing it tomorrow, weather permitting. As for the mic, it's on top of the cam so I intend to put a band-aid over it. :D Not to hijack this thread, but I think bronevaya's questions were answered a while ago. Buy your bike, prep your bike, ride your bike, enjoy your bike. :D

[AZ200cc]

Your vid will answer questions...Seeing is believing for some.

Here is my camera mount :lol:

http://aycu21.webshots.com/image/21140/2000701466022392581_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000701466022392581)

[Jim]

looks like a good camera mount :)

new2riding, you forgot a step, pick up the pieces that rattled off and re-attach to bike ;)

[TeamCheap]

Now see JIM I got those steps right in my sig.

[Jim]

I think thats where I got it from ;)

[IronFist]

Your vid will answer questions...Seeing is believing for some.

Is that because they don't know a 150cc can go 105kph, or because they don't think my 150cc can go 105kph? :x No one has PM'ed for a copy. I'm doing it for myself not for Utube. I'd like to send a copy to family and such, but my motivation is selfish. If there are dirters from this site who are curious Pm me, I'll pay postage if there is only a few people who want a copy. I'm going to clamp the cam and add a zip tie. New.

[AZ200cc]

I don't doubt Your bike 8) ..But the main question was how these bikes do on the road..Good way to show people is video.

[Jim]

they do great on the road, just dont lock up the rear brake in the rain

[IronFist]

I locked up my rear wheel the first time I rode my bike. Since then I've learned to tickle it softer. I went out and practiced. Thankfully I can clamp the front brake hard, safely, but not in a turn. 8O

I'm new, so I really can't compare my bike to other brands. At the end of my street it's 40KPH. I rode it for about 3km before I was bored and ready for 50kph. I'd quote everything jim said on the first page. I swore up and down I'd never get on a 400 series highway. The first time I used the main highway, I had just changed sprockets. I had to test the top speed. I didn't want to ride a secondary highway, speed and get a ticket. I can't afford a single speeding ticket with our licencing system. I stick to the right, and use collector lanes where I can. It's about 8 lanes wide each way, so it's easy to go around me. Riding downtown, bumper to fender, stop and go takes much more concentration. :twisted:

Rain all day here, I have the camara mounted, bit worried about wind pushing on camara and tilting the angle, especially on the highway. Used a tri-pod mount and zipties. Yes and a lot of electrical tape. I'm set for the next time I ride. It's a centreos camara (chinese product.)

[AZ200cc]

May the force be with you 8)

[Jim]

1 more tip, when checking over for loose bolts, atleast once in a while remove the seat, and side covers to check for bolts you can't easily see.

[AZ200cc]

I took off all the plastics..And found that most of the rubber on the bike was rotted and cracking...Lots of stuff to replace in a few months.

[IronFist]

Well I did it sort of. Took 10 little movies, drove home and checked vibes/bumps shut the cam off. Check and make sure all is ok, re-tape and go out for an hour. Come back, I got 1, 30sec. movie going perfectly straight on a flat road. Hours of taping and checking for nada. Next time I'll get someone to shoot it from the car, and use my good camara. Very frustrating for something supposed to be fun. At least you can hear my bike instead of the silent photos.