[tikitarik]

So I'm cross posting this review from advrider, but I'll also add some more info at the end just for this forum.

Old Review:
So I've been following this bike for a bit now, and have a deposit on a orange RX3 (the fastest color) and was able to fly down to CA for the holidays. While I was there I managed to drive down to LA and take a look at the bike.

I've currently got a 2014 CRF250l, and I've had an NC700x and KLR250 in the past, so I'm fairly comfortable with adventure and dual sport bikes, but wanted to take a look at the RX in person before making a decision. Sadly I forgot my helmet cam, and didn't think to take any photos until after I had left.

First impression in person are very good. The bike is a nice size, but definitely smaller than a full sized adventure, the plastics are much nicer in person (as noted by many of the reviews). It absolutely looks like something one of the large manufacturers would make. Sitting on it the ergonomics are quite good, as is the seat (I don't know about the long term comfort, but that's fairly easy to correct), one thing I noted was that the grips are substantially thicker and softer than most of my other bikes stock, which can be a plus or minus depending on your hands; it worked well for me.

Talking to Steve (an employee of CSC) about the bike I was able to take it for a quick ride around the parking lot. It fired up no problem and settled into idle nice and easily, sound wise the stock muffler isn't too bad, it's about in-between the quietness of my CRF250L and that of a KLR250. It definitely sounds like a thumper, which I like. Playing around with the clutch the pull was smooth and the engagement was defined, although as noted in the other reviews, engagement was more towards the very edge of the pull. The gears shifted quite solidly and with a good feel.

One think that I immediately noticed is that it doesn't make as much power down low compared to a CRF250L, which was a little surprising. Mind you this is only in the 2-3.5k RPM range, as soon as you get past that it really starts to come alive. In that RPM band it's still perfectly driveable, but on a bit of a hill or low-speed riding you might need to rev it more. I never had it above 4500 RPM so I'm not to sure how it will run at street speeds, having never gone above 15 mph or so. Now I will say that I only made 2 laps on it, and am in no way a qualified Tester of motorcycles, or even a particularly great rider, these are just my observations.

Coming to a stop and getting into neutral was not too bad, it was a little bit hard to gauge neutral; but as the bike only had about a thousand miles on it I hope that as they age it'll become a bit easier. The brakes didn't have a very defined of feel, but seemed adequate for the weight of the bike. All of the controls were very nice, with a solid click when pressed on par with the Honda. Steve informed me that on the production bikes the headlights will be hard-wired to turn on with the key (DOT required), and that the switch used for turning the lights on and off will be re-purposed into a hot switch for if you want to add auxiliary lights or any thing other accessories (A cracking idea if there ever was one).

He also had some great news regarding the rear wheel, air filter, and a couple of other parts, but I'll let the CSC blog take care of those bits of info. Of note, he said that at the moment there are no performance upgrades from the factory in the form of exhaust or big bore kits, but CSC will be developing an in house header and exhaust kit.

All said and done I really liked it. Looks, feel, and performance are spot on the money and definitely seem able to compete with something like a CRF250L, and perhaps even a WR250r, with a better freeway capability.
I've probably forgotten something, but this is the first time I've ever left a review like this.

Thanks for sticking around for the whole read.

New Bits:
Now that They've confirmed it, yes it is coming with a cush hub 17" wheel stock, which is great news, and definetely saves some money for us (along with a much better tire selection). According to steve the M1nsk 17" wheel is solid, no cush hub. He also said that they've updated the air filter design, someone posted earlier in the thread about the revised design on Taobao, and that comes stock on the bike. He was also able to confirm about the USB listed as coming with the bike. The bad news is that it doesn't come stock. The good news is that the dash has cutouts for installing a power outlet and USB socket next to the tach, so it should be nicely integrated. The last thing I can think of is that CSC is working on an in-house permanently mounted center stand as an accessory, compared to the odd splt design from zongshen.

Hope this helps, and isn't too intrusive.