Zongshen 250 engine - what do people know?

[Kawazacky]

The Giovanni dealer tells me he can sell me a 250cc engine for $500.

Now, to the best of my knowledge, this is a Zongshen engine. What do people know about these? Are they Suzuki or Honda clones? I'm curious as to whether these engines will bolt/plug in to the Lifan.....

This would be a semi-affordable upgrade to 250 ccs, theoretically. I believe their "performance" exhausts are far cheaper than other Chinese systems, too.

[TeamCheap]

At $500 you might as well just get the whole bike.

If you could get the needed parts like a 250-300cc cylinder and piston and the other needed parts then that might only cost $200 or so.

[AZ200cc]

Does he have a photo of the Motor to compare with a photo of a Lifan motor so You can kinda check the mounting points?

[Kawazacky]

Our Canadian prices on all this stuff are higher, so $500 is not tooooo bad.

The bikes cost $1550 locally, assembled.

Anyway, I will look into the ins and outs of this. I don't know what might come of it, but if it will plug into the electrical connectors, and bolt into the frame, this could be a decent upgrade to have.

[Dragon]

You ought to stick with your 200cc engine. Although on paper the peak HP gain of a 250 is significant, that extra 50cc in that engine by bore or stroke change from a 200cc is not going to be very noticeable for the rider in the real world. $500 for small real world performance gain is not a good investment, in my opinion.

[Trebek]

The ride I took today made me wish for that extra 4 horses. At one point the trail so so steep that wide open in the lowest gear was barely enough. I either need a 250, some major mods on the 200, or I need to lose about 75 pounds.

Where can I get a 250 enduro in the US? Someone's got to be selling NEW ones.

[VinceDrake]

I dunno if it helps, but I have 1 ATV with a Loncin 250 and 1 with a Zongshen (sp?) 200 and the 2 are indentical in every way as far as I can see... And as far as I can tell, identical to the Lifan 200cc. As far as Gio goes, I have bought a bunch of stuff from them on Flea-Bay and have no compaints with them Seem alright to get along with all in all.

--Vince

[Kawazacky]

An extra 10kph top speed, or extra bottom end torque would be noticed.

If the 250s make 20 claimed hp, and the 200s make 16, that's a 25 per cent increase, and that WILL be noticeable, somewhere.

[Kawazacky]

Update:

I found a local kid with a Giovanni 250 with no spark. He'll sell it for parts for $250.

Now, that's still no good to me.....but I am going to wait a while, and if the price goes down to $150, I might bite. Providing, of course, it looks like it will slide into the frame.

[katoranger]

You could part the rest of the bike out or put your 200cc into that frame and sell it.

Most likely the no spark is a simple problem.

Allen

[Kawazacky]

Yeah, thought about parting it out, but I have no fleabay skills.

I think it has the same forks as the Lifan, too, so I'd have a spare front end. It has no gauges, and the tyres sound pretty worn, but the wheels might be decent. The Giovannis usually have sharp-looking rims, and their exhaust looks a lot better than the Lifans as well. If all those parts fit onto the Lifan, I'd be laughing.

Like I said, I'll give the kid three or four weeks to stew about it. If it's still there, cool, if not, well, there'll be others around. I would really like to go see if the bolts and electrical plugs match up. It looks like a pushrod top end, but I'm not 100% sure. It's not a project I have time or room for anytime soon, but I could see it keeping me busy in the winter!

[Kawazacky]

More update:

I can't say for 100% sure, but it sure looks as if the Zongshen engine is actually a 229cc big bore.

IF THIS IS TRUE, it confirms my suspicion that the 229 "Stage 1" kits that Bataycan sold were simply top ends off a Hi-Bird or similar"250," NOT an aftermarket part.

If it really is a 229cc engine, the theoretical power gains are now 10%less, at 15%. :(