The Zongshen TT 250 is Coming

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by oddthought

I think for me, the main issue was actually the fluid and some air in the brake line up front. My rear brake was just fine. In fact, the rear locked up extremely easily right off the crate. After I changed the reservoir, replacing the brake fluid out of necessity, the front brake came easily up to standard. I did clean the rotor some, but it didn't make a visual or tactile difference that I could tell. That all together leads me to think that the issue was within the system rather than a spray coating like I thought initially.

Good idea. I think while I have the TT down, I'll flush out the fluid and put in some good DOT 4. The brakes work fine but it can't hurt to dump the stock stuff.

[oddthought]

Originally Posted by 2LZ

Good idea. I think while I have the TT down, I'll flush out the fluid and put in some good DOT 4. The brakes work fine but it can't hurt to dump the stock stuff.

Yeah. I probably won't bother with the rear brake since it works so well, but I read some reports on the facebook group of people encountering milky brake fluid, so some of them were probably contaminated with water when being installed. Like a fool, I didn't pay attention to what came out of mine as I was draining it but the difference was astounding. For one thing, I can actually make the front end dive now and could probably get the rear wheel up if I was so inclined.

[Ariel Red Hunter]

Originally Posted by SeerAtlas

no offense Red, but "DUH!" I have shipped computers,bikes, mc's, machinery, even a 58 foot yacht to the US from China/Asia by sea. I am somewhat familiar with some of the anticorrosive substances generally employed. What i was saying was that it appears that someone may have mis-sprayed the bikes in such a way that the brake pads got contaminated. NOT just by the small veneer that would have rubbed off the rotors when the bikes were rolled out of the crates.

While I never shipped anything from China or the Republic of China, I recieved some articles from there, including sailing yachts that had something like a thin version of cosmoline applied to the metal surfaces. Also ironmongery imported from there with some very hard to remove stuff on it.

[oddthought]

Originally Posted by Ariel Red Hunter

...something like a thin version of cosmoline applied to the metal surfaces...

Ew, I'm having flashbacks to unpacking soviet-era Mosins and other such articles... That stuff's the worst.

I found that there wasn't too much on my bike, thankfully, but there might be something too fine for me to notice. However, that would indicate to me that it's not too big a problem, so I'll probably not worry about it.

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by oddthought

Ew, I'm having flashbacks to unpacking soviet-era Mosins and other such articles... That stuff's the worst.

I found that there wasn't too much on my bike, thankfully, but there might be something too fine for me to notice. However, that would indicate to me that it's not too big a problem, so I'll probably not worry about it.

Back when I was wrenching, I had a younger mechanic put a clutch in a Toyota. He had no idea what that "gooey stuff" was on the flywheel when he unwrapped it. He should have asked. The clutch glued shut just going around the block on the test drive. Fool thought it may just burn off. Back on the rack........

[oddthought]

Originally Posted by 2LZ

Back when I was wrenching, I had a younger mechanic put a clutch in a Toyota. He had no idea what that "gooey stuff" was on the flywheel when he unwrapped it. He should have asked. The clutch glued shut just going around the block on the test drive. Fool thought it may just burn off. Back on the rack........

Hopefully they kept the "gooey stuff" on the outside of our bikes if they put any on at all!

[SeerAtlas]

Originally Posted by oddthought

Ew, I'm having flashbacks to unpacking soviet-era Mosins and other such articles... That stuff's the worst.

I found that there wasn't too much on my bike, thankfully, but there might be something too fine for me to notice. However, that would indicate to me that it's not too big a problem, so I'll probably not worry about it.

I hear you odd, and red too. I acquired a mil rifle or two from the former ussr, spent some hours trying to get em clean. stuff was capital NASTY!!!

[BlackBike]

Anti corrosion... guess this is the smell I always smell when un boxing merchandise these days. Has that harbor freight smell. I couldn't stand one of those China factories, smell goes straight between the eyes and makes a thumper headache.

[oddthought]

Originally Posted by BlackBike

Anti corrosion... guess this is the smell I always smell when un boxing merchandise these days. Has that harbor freight smell. I couldn't stand one of those China factories, smell goes straight between the eyes and makes a thumper headache.

Isn't that what happens when your CSC bike has troubles too? You get a thumper headache?

[oddthought]

Here's a bit of an update on my bike: it turns out that when I dropped it on some rocks last week, snapping the brake lever mount, I also dinged the right side engine case. It wasn't enough to cause immediate problems, but one of the assorted scratches was weeping a little oil. I could replace the case for something like 40 bucks, but I think the hole is sufficiently tiny to not need it. I drained the oil Saturday night and JB Welded the crack, letting it sit until Sunday evening to cure before I filled it back up with oil. That went just fine. I like having a bike with a sight glass for oil again. My KZ550 had one but neither Shadow nor NC700 did, and I missed it. Definitely not crucial, but it's nice to have. Anyway, I replaced the original greenish oil with some Rotella 15-W40 on Sunday and put in an hour and a half tooling around last night, putting me over 200 km. Looking at 2LZ's thread on Mrs. 2LZ's bike, I'll probably check the valves to make sure I'm not running them too tight.

I called CSC and they were happy to ship me a 17T sprocket (priority mail) without charge. They didn't hassle me at all about it. I love working with this company! It's so nice compared to the Honda dealerships in my area. They always had trouble getting parts in a reasonable amount of time and for a reasonable price, so it's a relief to have such a responsive business to deal with.

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by oddthought

Here's a bit of an update on my bike: it turns out that when I dropped it on some rocks last week, snapping the brake lever mount, I also dinged the right side engine case. It wasn't enough to cause immediate problems, but one of the assorted scratches was weeping a little oil. I could replace the case for something like 40 bucks, but I think the hole is sufficiently tiny to not need it. I drained the oil Saturday night and JB Welded the crack, letting it sit until Sunday evening to cure before I filled it back up with oil. That went just fine. I like having a bike with a sight glass for oil again. My KZ550 had one but neither Shadow nor NC700 did, and I missed it. Definitely not crucial, but it's nice to have. Anyway, I replaced the original greenish oil with some Rotella 15-W40 on Sunday and put in an hour and a half tooling around last night, putting me over 200 km. Looking at 2LZ's thread on Mrs. 2LZ's bike, I'll probably check the valves to make sure I'm not running them too tight.

I called CSC and they were happy to ship me a 17T sprocket (priority mail) without charge. They didn't hassle me at all about it. I love working with this company! It's so nice compared to the Honda dealerships in my area. They always had trouble getting parts in a reasonable amount of time and for a reasonable price, so it's a relief to have such a responsive business to deal with.

Glad to hear it's all going well!...and bummer about the case. Hope the JB Weld holds. I've seen it seal up a dime sized hole on an old Sachs motor (DKW) I used to race against when I was a teenager. He raced it like that for 2 seasons!

You're going to like the 17T sprocket. Gives it some legs.

[oddthought]

Originally Posted by 2LZ

Glad to hear it's all going well!...and bummer about the case. Hope the JB Weld holds. I've seen it seal up a dime sized hole on an old Sachs motor (DKW) I used to race against when I was a teenager. He raced it like that for 2 seasons!

You're going to like the 17T sprocket. Gives it some legs.

That's my hope with the JB Weld. It was a pretty tiny crack, maybe 1/8" long and 1/16" or less pushed back into the case. After running it last night for about 40 km and 1.5 hours, I couldn't find any leakage around the weld. Love that stuff!

As for the sprocket... well, I'm just super excited about it. I can already get to 50 without trouble and 55 is the top (both indicated) so I'm hoping to get another 10 or so out of it with the extra couple of teeth on the front. If that doesn't quite do it, I've got my eye on the Mrs. 2LZ thread and the sprocket thread so I'll be able to get the performance up to where it needs to be. I know I'm pushing the top end of the bike some, but frankly, I'm okay with that.

[PNWDualRider]

So I know the speedo is mph but the odo is mph as well right? And the trip is km? Am I getting that right?

[oddthought]

Originally Posted by PNWDualRider

So I know the speedo is mph but the odo is mph as well right? And the trip is km? Am I getting that right?

On mine, speedometer is in mph and is pretty accurate. Odometer and trip odometer are in km.

[mtiberio]

doh, forgot about odometer being in KM. I guess I'll to revise down my gas mileage calculation... will have to double check odometer units against my cell phone gps speedometer.