The Devil bike

[trevort]

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t43/rnew10598/1171426725202.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t43/rnew10598/1171426785754.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t43/rnew10598/100_1316.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t43/rnew10598/100_1319.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t43/rnew10598/100_1318.jpg



:evil: Have you ever owned a bike that has tried to seriously hurt you from it's own poor design or serious lack of quality control? The Xkeleton Beast 200cc/Honda clone is one of those bikes and it looks very much like the Roketa enduro pictured. I have raced vintage mx, enduros, and hare scrambles for over 15 years now and decided to take my new little enduro on a dual sport "fun run", old jeep trails a "granny run" nothing serious, at the end of the run there was a drop off of about one foot. I heard a loud "clunk" I couldn't bottom out the suspension on that, did I? On the ride home the bike got really loud "giving the harley guys a run for their money loud" I nursed it home for a look. The exhaust didn't just come loose to torn a chunk of the head off with it and later that day I found out what the "clunk" sound was it's was the swingarm bolt head breaking off. I fixed these items: turned down a Yamaha axle on the lathe and re-threaded it and also had to order a new cylinder head. Finally got the bike together again and did a nut and bolt over the whole bike, then was stupid enough to try another "fun run" with it. This time a small palmetto stump took out the bike at about 15 mph, a loud crack and then I lost control of the bike. A handle bar mount broke in two places, we rigged the bike up and got it back home. Only to be covered by the fountain of fork oil the bike shot out on every little bump in the road :evil: . Needless to say that the on/ off again relationship with this bike turned in to me replacing most on the parts on in with Yamaha items, until an exhaust valve decided to just break off for no reason. Did I run the valves too tight or losse? No! every parts of this bike was made with the cheapest parts that they could find or sand cast themselves. I'm curious to hear if anyone else has had any similar expriences with their china bike.

[katoranger]

There actually has been very few engine failures.

I have another head for you and probably a piston.

[FastDoc]

Sad to say your experiance is worse than average but not unheard of :cry: . This is a good example of why the Chinese need to improve if they are going to be asking $3,000 for a bike. A 30 year old XR would never have done those things, any one of which could have put ypou in the hospital. :(

IMHO for $1,500 or less a CB is worth it. As I say you need mechanical skills, online support from here, and a sense of humor to make it work though.

[SpudRider]

I very glad you didn't get injured. :)

Spud :)

[Weldangrind]

Man, that sucks. :x

Major props for turning a Yamaha swingarm bolt to fit; good call! How did you fix the handlebar mount? Did you find Japanese stuff that fit?

That valve really bounced around in there. As it happens, I have what's left of an XR200R that did the same thing. What a mess.

[2LZ]

IMHO for $1,500 or less a CB is worth it. As I say you need mechanical skills, online support from here, and a sense of humor to make it work though.
That sucks Trevort :cry: ....but yes Doc, for a nice day out riding trails and taking pics....you can't beat a CB for the price. If I was to do anything even remotely competitive? No.....though I have to say, I've pushed all my CB's more than what "I thought they would take". To me.....the dice rolled properly on those occassions.
Keep us posted Trevort. Much like the early Vic years....this whole CB thing is new and has a learning curve to be shared.