joeg
12-18-2007, 10:57 AM
Long Post, but I hope this helps those deciding to buy one of these bikes. - Ok, first real ride was yesterday after work. I live in the far west side on Lancaster (Antelope Acres), backyard is the open desert; elevation is 2525 at my ranch. I'm 43 years old, 5-8, 220 lbs – (Beer!) I’ve been riding and racing MX and AMA District 37 for 25 years or so, Owned many bikes. Dropped major cash over the years in suspension upgrades, steering dampers and all the aftermarket goodies. Maintained all of my bikes in top race condition. Stopped riding a few years ago to take care of my ailing father who recently passed. :cry: Did not want to drop 7K for a new scoot, so I took a chance on a China bike. We bought two last weekend. Bike is bone stock, brand new. Motor runs real good, crisp throttle, jetting is close for 2500 ft elevation. Rear spring was way too tight, complete stinkbug status! Spun the nut one turn on the rear spring and it started feeling a bit better. Still need both springs broke-in before I can set sag correctly. So away we go - a mile from the house I lost one front caliper bolt, this is my fault, I think I overlooked tightening it! DOH! Completely my fault.
Back to the shop, scrounge up a new bolt, locktite it and away we go. Bike runs great on the straights, I do feel slight vibration on my feet transmitted thought the pegs, not a big deal, my KLX300 used to do the same. The bike feels good but I notice something strange with the bars - more on that later. We head to our little MX track and rail a few berms, take some small jumps, just trying to build up confidence in this Chinese bike, having never ridden one before I’m fearful of the bike breaking under me! The frame seems real stiff, which is nice, the rear tracks good and straight, forks are soft, rear is still a bit stiff. Engine just completely purrs, very nice, not real fast, but good usable power. I hit the whoop trail and give it the suspension a break-in test, it does surprisingly well, except the bars seems weird. I pull off and wait for my step-son; I start looking at the bars and realize the fake Renthal type clamps for the crossbar seem to be loose. I can literally pull the bars back and forth, watching them flex! Not good in my book, A bit of bar flex is ok but you should not be able to see it so clearly with you own eyes. Back to the shop, and realize the crossbar clamps are tight! They are too big for the bars and move. I put the kickstand down and it collapses, another missing bolt, which was tight before I left. Everything else looks fine, it was a short ride but that’s what you first ride should be, just to weed out all the bugs, and loose parts!
So - to sum it up, very happy for the $1150 price. I will toss the bars and buy a set of Renthal’s, and I will replace the 4 hex-head handlebar mounting bolts with grade-8 hardware. I don’t trust the 4 inch long Chinese bolts holding the bars on. Also, LIKE ALL MY NEW JAPANESE BIKES through the years, I will disassemble this bike and locktite everything and grease the swing arm, wheels, shock links, and headset. I'll put a rear bead-lock on too, all bikes should have one - especially in the desert. I’ll also replace some of the critical hardware, like the foot-peg bolts, the rear sprocket bolts, and anything else I see as questionable. Probably replace the air filter with a Uni-filter, and change the front fork oil and add a ½ inch PVC pipe spacer to stiffen the forks up a bit. The rear shock is the mystery for now; I need to play with the sag and shock settings to get it working better. Overall, the bike is ok; I’ll spend this Saturday sorting it out, replacing the parts I mentioned above, and ride more over Christmas week with my son’s and some buddies out in Cal City, that will be the real test. Hope this helps someone, more to come….
8)
joeg
[/img]http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/jgates2000/PicturessOct07057.jpg
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/jgates2000/PicturessOct07056.jpg
Back to the shop, scrounge up a new bolt, locktite it and away we go. Bike runs great on the straights, I do feel slight vibration on my feet transmitted thought the pegs, not a big deal, my KLX300 used to do the same. The bike feels good but I notice something strange with the bars - more on that later. We head to our little MX track and rail a few berms, take some small jumps, just trying to build up confidence in this Chinese bike, having never ridden one before I’m fearful of the bike breaking under me! The frame seems real stiff, which is nice, the rear tracks good and straight, forks are soft, rear is still a bit stiff. Engine just completely purrs, very nice, not real fast, but good usable power. I hit the whoop trail and give it the suspension a break-in test, it does surprisingly well, except the bars seems weird. I pull off and wait for my step-son; I start looking at the bars and realize the fake Renthal type clamps for the crossbar seem to be loose. I can literally pull the bars back and forth, watching them flex! Not good in my book, A bit of bar flex is ok but you should not be able to see it so clearly with you own eyes. Back to the shop, and realize the crossbar clamps are tight! They are too big for the bars and move. I put the kickstand down and it collapses, another missing bolt, which was tight before I left. Everything else looks fine, it was a short ride but that’s what you first ride should be, just to weed out all the bugs, and loose parts!
So - to sum it up, very happy for the $1150 price. I will toss the bars and buy a set of Renthal’s, and I will replace the 4 hex-head handlebar mounting bolts with grade-8 hardware. I don’t trust the 4 inch long Chinese bolts holding the bars on. Also, LIKE ALL MY NEW JAPANESE BIKES through the years, I will disassemble this bike and locktite everything and grease the swing arm, wheels, shock links, and headset. I'll put a rear bead-lock on too, all bikes should have one - especially in the desert. I’ll also replace some of the critical hardware, like the foot-peg bolts, the rear sprocket bolts, and anything else I see as questionable. Probably replace the air filter with a Uni-filter, and change the front fork oil and add a ½ inch PVC pipe spacer to stiffen the forks up a bit. The rear shock is the mystery for now; I need to play with the sag and shock settings to get it working better. Overall, the bike is ok; I’ll spend this Saturday sorting it out, replacing the parts I mentioned above, and ride more over Christmas week with my son’s and some buddies out in Cal City, that will be the real test. Hope this helps someone, more to come….
8)
joeg
[/img]http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/jgates2000/PicturessOct07057.jpg
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n293/jgates2000/PicturessOct07056.jpg