New CSC TT250

[DaveinOC]

It's been at least a dozen years since I have ridden my last street bike, a Honda 250 Nighthawk (wish I'd never sold it!) and longer yet since my Husky was out. I just picked up my CSC TT250 last week and have just ridden a few miles.

I needed to crank up the shock preload and couldn't believe I had to pull the rear wheel to remove the airbox to get at the adjuster. A hat tip to 2LZ for the "trash can mod" idea. The new K&N style air filter doesn't seem to make any additional intake noise and with the side panel off the preload adjustment is now easy to make.

Despite my chagrin at having to half-dismantle the bike to crank up the preload I was impressed with all the fit and finish. All of the fasteners were perfect and the threads all were fine.

One thing that did surprise me was the combination of the rather tall seat height and the wide seat. Both of my Huskys are tall but have a narrow and rounded seat. The tall and wide TT250 seat is a bit more challenging to mount without standing on the pegs, but I'm going to wait a bit more before I decide on either lowering this seat or buying the CSC/Seat Concepts seat. (You don't think my lack of riding for 10 years and my increasing age are relevant do you, LOL)

I had a near mishap yesterday with a failure that I have never heard of before in over 50 years of motorcycle riding. I got on the bike after some shopping and kicked up the sidestand, went to take off and nearly crashed in the parking lot (yeah I know that sounds like a total newby, but wait) when the sidestand had redeployed itself. When I tried to get off the bike the stand collapsed and I nearly went down again.

Extricating myself I looked on the ground and there was the sidestand spring. I had either caught it with my boot or it had never been seated in the groove on one end. I didn't have the tool kit with me (THAT won't happen again) but managed to find a scrap bit of wire in the parking lot and tied the stand in the up position for the short ride home. I have installed a couple of c-clips on the outside of the spring grooves now, and I noticed that one end of the spring seems to have a shorter bent end than the other.

Anyone else ever hear of the sidestand spring falling off? I can't imagine what it would have caught on my boot to cause this...

[Essayons]

Welcome Dave. My TT hasn't had that issue luckily but I will double check it just in case. Glad things didn't turn out worse.

[dpl096]

Welcome and congratulations on the bike. I believe you will find the bike a quality machine and the Seidner team top shelf folks.

[Hawk 229cc]

try taking the hump out of the seat is my plan i have a hawk an i need to sit near the back of the bike with my near 37in inseam leg room is a must

[DaveinOC]

Thanks Essayons i don't want to think too much about what kind of things could have happened on a left turn if that thing was loose! Hawk 229cc you have it exactly - what is that hump for? It seems so unnecessary I don't know what they were thinking but if I do cut down the seat that will definitely be smoothed out a lot.

[DaveinOC]

Well I had an experience that was kind of disappointing yesterday. I needed to go into my office, a little over 20 miles, and no freeways needed, so I thought it would be a chance to put a few miles on the bike. I made it to the office fine, varying the speed in mind of the new motor, and was on my way back when I got a flat front tire. I did not take Megdan's advice to replace the tubes 'cause hey this is CSC/Zongshen TT250, right? Well I would have been better off to take his advice.

The real bummer was waiting nearly 3 hours for the AAA to get there for the trailer ride home, and nowhere to take a leak!

Some other things became apparent:

Always replace the stock tubes
Make sure your cell phone has a good charge - mine was at 30% and I was sweating it out for a bit
Have a USB charging port on the bike for the phone. I had a full battery charge and a functional engine but no way to get the two tied together.


Well lessons learned. The front tube clearly was pinched or folded over from the factory. I have two Tube Tuff Tubes on the way and should back riding by the weekend.

[wheelbender6]

Sorry about the flat. How is the power on the TT250 compared to the old Nighthawk twin?

[DaveinOC]

Using 10 year old impressions are that the power was about the same. Even though the Nighthawk is a twin it is not a very efficient engine. I never tried to take the Nighthawk on the freeway; probably a good plan. I remember commuting on the freeway on an Yamaha DT1 and I cringe now at my lane splitting youth! I am changing the standard rear 50 tooth sprocket with to a 45 when I fit the new rear tube.

[2LZ]

I've changed most tubes on my CB's but oddly enough, I've not changed the TT250 and have yet to have a mishap. I'm hoping they make it till the tires wear out, then I'll put in the Kenda Tuff Tubes that I've had great luck with.

[Megadan]

I often wonder if the stock tubes would last longer if the time was taken to unseat the tire bead and add some talcum powder. It wouldn't stop puncture damage issues or pinch flats, but may extend the life otherwise. My front also blew out on mine and when I pulled the tubes there was no evidence of any kind of powder inside the tire.

They are still cheap crappy tubes, but one would expect more life out of them than a few hundred miles.

[JerryHawk250]

I often wonder if the stock tubes would last longer if the time was taken to unseat the tire bead and add some talcum powder. It wouldn't stop puncture damage issues or pinch flats, but may extend the life otherwise. My front also blew out on mine and when I pulled the tubes there was no evidence of any kind of powder inside the tire.

They are still cheap crappy tubes, but one would expect more life out of them than a few hundred miles. The pinched tube on my stock tube is what caused mine to blow. My tire had some kind of oil inside the tire. Stock tube would probably hold up but like you stated, from the get go you would need to unseat the tire bead and add some talcum powder.

[Essayons]

Is it possible to use tubeless tires with tubes. I've seen it done on a YouTube video. The video claimed that tubeless tires are tougher against punctures; and the tube would keep you from switching rims I guess.

[Megadan]

Is it possible to use tubeless tires with tubes. I've seen it done on a YouTube video. The video claimed that tubeless tires are tougher against punctures; and the tube would keep you from switching rims I guess.

Yes, you can run tubeless tires with tubes. The general rule of thumb to go by is to reduce the speed rating of the tire by one grade when doing so. On my Goldwing I ran Shinko 230 Tourmasters which are Tubeless type tires with a V rating (149mph) but with a tube installed you would treat it as an H rated tire (130mph). This has to do with the fact that the inside of tube type tires are full of ridges and other textures that can rub through a tube. So it is always adviseable to use a generous amount of talcum powder inside the tire when installing it. This will reduce the friction between the tube and tire and prevent rub-through. I have run several thousand miles without a problem, so don't over think it too much.

Since these bikes struggle to reach much beyond 70mph on the best of days, it isn't as much of a concern.

[Cravin01]

welcome and sorry about starting thing out a little flat.

[DaveinOC]

Flat Seat Update:

I still feel like the seat is higher than necessary for a bike with 6" travel, but at least I was able to get rid of that maddening hump. Not sure if that is supposed to be for the never-gonna-happen passenger, especially since I removed their footpegs, but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to do. Several things to note:


The "turkey carver" electric knife works great on this seat foam
DO NOT buy the current Harbor Freight "wide crown" stapler. It is being discontinued and they don't seem to be restocking the 7/16" wide staples any longer
I was happy to pay $32 at Home Depot for an Arrow Pneumatic stapler vs. the being discontinued $25 HF one
The Arrow takes regular T50 staples, which I have used forever in an electric one, so they will be available.
The stock seat cover is really thin but stretchable and the seat looks like it is stock, just no more hump!
The 1/4" long staples worked fine for the seat cover but I used 5/16" for the corners and the lacing



The Tuff Tube front tube is great; now to just get the rear (arriving Tuesday) and install the new sprocket. I checked on the prices and it was a better deal to get the CSC 47 rear with the new spacers and bolts so I can choose between that and the other JT 45 tooth I ordered on Amazon. I can use the CSC supplied $27 sprocket, bolts and spacers vs. paying about $15 for just bolts and spacers at the hardware store. I also figured it was cheaper to pay the $8.50 freight vs. about 3 gallons of gas in the truck to go pick it up lol.

[2LZ]

Be REALLY careful pulling the sprocket bolts. They're locktited into aluminum. I heated mine with a propane green bottle torch and worked them out gently.
DO NOT over-tighten. It will hog out the threads in the aluminum hub. I'd drop some blue locktite on them and then a nice snug.

I went with the 47 and love it but we have very little open road here. It made it more relaxed on the pavement but still kept a nice 1st for trails.

[DaveinOC]

Thanks for the suggestions 2LZ. The CSC YouTube has the torque at 35ft. lbs. Does your experience suggest that this is too much? I think I read a post where someone stripped their hub, and suggested more like 20ft.lbs.?

[BlackBike]

Check those bolts. Order parts needed and back on the road. Unless your ready for a lawsuit,/legal settlement shakedown path which is how we got the state high prices in the first place.

[2LZ]

Thanks for the suggestions 2LZ. The CSC YouTube has the torque at 35ft. lbs. Does your experience suggest that this is too much? I think I read a post where someone stripped their hub, and suggested more like 20ft.lbs.?

I set my torque wrench at 35 and made it to "not 35" when I felt one get a tad gummy so I stopped. I hand snugged the rest. It must be good enough with the new locktite because they';ve stayed tight.
Make sure and run a tap down the holes in the hub to clean the old locktite and gunk out.

[DaveinOC]

Thanks for the tips 2LZ. I wouldn't have believed how much heat it took to get those bolts out if you hadn't mentioned it. I bought both the 47 tooth from CSC and the 45 on Amazon, mostly to get the new bolts and spacers. I should have measured them but the are definitely at least 5mm longer, maybe a bit more. My guess is that they are 10mm longer so with the approx. 5mm for the two spacers it seems like there is another 5mm or so of threads with the new bolts. That's fine with me.

Using a tap to clean up the threads, on mine at least, showed that the threads were not smooth near the bottom. It was definitely more than just dried thread locker, that's for sure as I had to work the tap a bit to get it to the bottom. The tap, some oil, followed by brake cleaner fixed that.

The 45 tooth is great for the street, which is probably about all mine will ever see. The stock chain was okay in length without shortening it, so I will replace it with the Unibear next time I feel like messing with it.

Now to change the fork oil to something better than that fish oil and maybe I can get the suspension under control. I only just passed the 100 mile mark so I want to break it in further before changing the exhaust to something that works and sounds like a motorcycle instead of a lawn mower...

[2LZ]

Thanks for the tips 2LZ. I wouldn't have believed how much heat it took to get those bolts out if you hadn't mentioned it. I bought both the 47 tooth from CSC and the 45 on Amazon, mostly to get the new bolts and spacers. I should have measured them but the are definitely at least 5mm longer, maybe a bit more. My guess is that they are 10mm longer so with the approx. 5mm for the two spacers it seems like there is another 5mm or so of threads with the new bolts. That's fine with me.

Using a tap to clean up the threads, on mine at least, showed that the threads were not smooth near the bottom. It was definitely more than just dried thread locker, that's for sure as I had to work the tap a bit to get it to the bottom. The tap, some oil, followed by brake cleaner fixed that.

The 45 tooth is great for the street, which is probably about all mine will ever see. The stock chain was okay in length without shortening it, so I will replace it with the Unibear next time I feel like messing with it.

Now to change the fork oil to something better than that fish oil and maybe I can get the suspension under control. I only just passed the 100 mile mark so I want to break it in further before changing the exhaust to something that works and sounds like a motorcycle instead of a lawn mower...

Glad all went well for you. We broke ours in bone stock, then at 500, a complete disassembly with pics for the masses here, with upgrades.
I used 10W Bel Ray for the forks. Worked well. Some swear by synthetic ATF. Up to you.

[DaveinOC]

I pulled the forks and drained them yesterday. Each held about 270ml - not the 330 ml the CSC maintenance PDF calls for. I also have a strange and somewhat troubling issue with a difference in the damper click stops. The left fork has over 3-1/4 full turns of travel and about 35 somewhat sorta click stops (some feel like clicks others are hard to discern) while the right has about 1-1/3 turns or about 12 sort of clicks.

I drained the forks and refilled with 330 ml each of Bel Ray 10W fork oil. (Somehow fork oil just is just SUPPOSED to be blue dontchathink?) I am going to try starting out with about 6 clicks from minimum (clockwise) setting on each. However the difference in total adjustment bothers me. Can anyone else with a TT250 tell me how many clicks or approximate turns of total adjustment we are supposed to have? I may call CSC anyway to see what they say. BTW this is not new or related to the fluid change; I noted this the first day I got the bike and wanted to adjust the fork damping.

[2LZ]

I pulled the forks and drained them yesterday. Each held about 270ml - not the 330 ml the CSC maintenance PDF calls for. I also have a strange and somewhat troubling issue with a difference in the damper click stops. The left fork has over 3-1/4 full turns of travel and about 35 somewhat sorta click stops (some feel like clicks others are hard to discern) while the right has about 1-1/3 turns or about 12 sort of clicks.

I drained the forks and refilled with 330 ml each of Bel Ray 10W fork oil. (Somehow fork oil just is just SUPPOSED to be blue dontchathink?) I am going to try starting out with about 6 clicks from minimum (clockwise) setting on each. However the difference in total adjustment bothers me. Can anyone else with a TT250 tell me how many clicks or approximate turns of total adjustment we are supposed to have? I may call CSC anyway to see what they say. BTW this is not new or related to the fluid change; I noted this the first day I got the bike and wanted to adjust the fork damping.

I refilled mine with what came out, plus 10ml. If you completely disassembled the forks, 330 is the complete measured amount but what I was told here when I did mine is that you don't get it all out by a flip and drip.
I adjusted my dampeners all the way in (clockwise) and out a full turn. Seems to be fine.