S.C. Brozz 250 First Bike First Post

[Megadan]

Welcome and congrats on the new bike.

My only suggestion would be to keep an eye on the fasteners during break in (especially critical ones like the brake caliper bolts, engine mount bolts, etc. ), and after 300-500 or so miles, make sure to check and adjust the spokes as they will have loosened some.

[BaronVon]

Originally Posted by Megadan

Welcome and congrats on the new bike.

My only suggestion would be to keep an eye on the fasteners during break in (especially critical ones like the brake caliper bolts, engine mount bolts, etc. ), and after 300-500 or so miles, make sure to check and adjust the spokes as they will have loosened some.

Thanks, man. Will do. Since you brought up the spokes, how are spoked motorcycle wheels? Rode some nice bicycles and to be honest never really got great at trueing wheels. I can keep them relatively true once set, but building those... things got irksome. One of the reasons I went with a dual sport is, I can kinda be rough on my things, maybe this will take it better than others. Knocked a lot of bicycle wheels off true by stressing the tolerances of light road bike wheels. Is trueing the wheel gonna need to be done on the reg? Spoke count seems great for the weight here, does one or two loose spokes ever point to problems? I know spokes that regular come loose should be replaced and if replacements have issues then check the wheel. Any new info helps.
One of the nice things about pedaling everywhere for 10+ years, I respect the fact that small problems with speed and weight added make for big problems.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by BaronVon

Thanks, man. Will do. Since you brought up the spokes, how are spoked motorcycle wheels? Rode some nice bicycles and to be honest never really got great at trueing wheels. I can keep them relatively true once set, but building those... things got irksome. One of the reasons I went with a dual sport is, I can kinda be rough on my things, maybe this will take it better than others. Knocked a lot of bicycle wheels off true by stressing the tolerances of light road bike wheels. Is trueing the wheel gonna need to be done on the reg? Spoke count seems great for the weight here, does one or two loose spokes ever point to problems? I know spokes that regular come loose should be replaced and if replacements have issues then check the wheel. Any new info helps.
One of the nice things about pedaling everywhere for 10+ years, I respect the fact that small problems with speed and weight added make for big problems.

With a low speed dual sport you can get away with the rims being a little out of true. Plus, for the most part the Bashan bikes seem to come with a bit more quality control as I have yet to see or hear about anybody having to true their wheel out of the crate, or folded a front rim like the 21 inch taco on the Hawks (not forgiving to loose spokes).

I would say do a quick on bike check with a spin on the axle and eyeball it. If it doesn't seem obviously out of whack, just do a regular ol' spoke check and tightening. Not too hard to do and there are plenty of tutorials out there.

I just know, having worked with many spoked wheels, that when you start with a fresh wheel and spokes that they tend to need a little checking during the first few hundred miles. After a while it is more rare to have to tighten them, but it is always a good idea to check the spokes with a good old fashioned tap test.

This guy has a decent basic walk through of what I mean by checking, and if needed tightening.

This is also a great tutorial on the tightening process. Take note of how little he is turning those spoke nipples. If you tap your spokes and they generally sound a bit flat, this is where this method will come in handy. You want to hit close to a C (note) when you tap the spokes as a general rule of thumb.