Great review from Cycle World...on a 5700 mile machine no less

[Danimal]

Check out the latest road test, this time from Cycle World
http://www.cycleworld.com/2015/12/30...pecifications/

[SpudRider]

That is an interesting, and honest review. Thanks for sharing the link.

[Jay In Milpitas]

Yes Dan, thanks for sharing. Being reviewed by Cycle World is a huge step upwards, and it wasn't negative.

Is Bigus Brainus on the forum here? Raise your hand.

[SpudRider]

Reading some of the negative comments at the review, it never ceases to amaze me how so many people are willing to expose their ignorance in public.

[Danimal]

You have to be registered there to be able to post comments, which sucks.
Hence the same numbnuts posting their drivel on every article.

[DanKearney]

Why do folks think it is somehow a lesser option to provide a bike for review that already has 5,700 miles on it instead of a brand new one?

If you ask me, it is way smarter to put a good number of miles on a bike before you let reviewers loose on it. If anything is going to be maladjusted or break on a new bike its likely to happen in the first few thousand miles.

Its much smarter to provide a sorted bike than a new one in my opinion.

Cheers,

Dan K.

[rtking]

Originally Posted by SpudRider

Reading some of the negative comments at the review, it never ceases to amaze me how so many people are willing to expose their ignorance in public.

Originally Posted by Danimal

You have to be registered there to be able to post comments, which sucks.
Hence the same numbnuts posting their drivel on every article.

Both of you are right... just a never ending stream of both ignorance and conceit on the internet. It's unfortunate that these folks won't educate themselves or approach with an open mind. Instead, it's instantly a comparison of "It isn't a Brand X bike, so it can't be as good."

It's OK though... we don't need to go out of the way to demonstrate anything. I think the riding that both of you and many on the forum are doing, Joe's/CSC's rides, etc. as a matter of daily life are far more demonstrative of the RX3's durability, quality and utility.

[rtking]

Originally Posted by DanKearney

Its much smarter to provide a sorted bike than a new one in my opinion.

I think CycleWorld actually was applauding CSC for sending a bike over with 5,700 miles, as they thought it demonstrated CSC's faith the durability of the bike to undergo magazine testing. (And from the article, they found the 10,500 fuel cutoff, so they weren't easy on it.)

But to your point, I recall in the 1980's that car magazines like Car and Driver would routinely send back cars to manufacturers and demand a "fresh off the line" car for evaluation if they sensed or found any sign that the car had been "optimized" for magazine testing. Manufacturers would disconnect the odometer and fix all manufacturing defects on a road test, cherry pick engines and transmissions that maximized power, etc. to help ensure that a favorable road test and write-up.

[SpudRider]

Originally Posted by rtking

I think CycleWorld actually was applauding CSC for sending a bike over with 5,700 miles, as they thought it demonstrated CSC's faith the durability of the bike to undergo magazine testing. (And from the article, they found the 10,500 fuel cutoff, so they weren't easy on it.)...

I agree.

[DanKearney]

Originally Posted by rtking

I think CycleWorld actually was applauding CSC for sending a bike over with 5,700 miles,

Yes, pretty obvious. My point is why?

It should be obvious that a completely broken-in bike is going to perform better than a zero mile showroom bike.

I'm not implying anything wrong on CSCs end, just that every manufacturer should provide review bikes in such a state. Besides, 5xxx miles is not really a good indicator of long term reliability.

Cheers,

Dan K.

[mckayprod]

I thought the review was more than fair. I subscribe to Cycle World and value their opinions. I think there will come a day when we can all look back on our decisions to buy RX3s and feel a little smug about being ahead of the curve.

[SpudRider]

Originally Posted by mckayprod

I thought the review was more than fair. I subscribe to Cycle World and value their opinions. I think there will come a day when we can all look back on our decisions to buy RX3s and feel a little smug about being ahead of the curve.

I agree. The RX3 is my second Zongshen motorcycle. My first Zong has performed flawlessly for over 69,000 miles. I already feel smug about being ahead of the curve.

[DanKearney]

Originally Posted by mckayprod

I thought the review was more than fair. I subscribe to Cycle World and value their opinions. I think there will come a day when we can all look back on our decisions to buy RX3s and feel a little smug about being ahead of the curve.

I already do.

Cheers,

Dan K.

[CSCDude]

Thanks for all the kind words, folks.

To take some of the mystery off the "5,700-mile bike" issue, we only had two or three bikes available at that time for this sort of thing, and all were bikes that had been on the 5,000-mile Western America Adventure Ride. We were using the bike in question as a demo bike, and that's why it had a few more miles than the 5,000 we accumulated on that ride. We weren't about to take a brand new motorcycle and lend it to a magazine because we sell those to all the good folks like you who are buying them. It was the blue bike that Kyle (one of the Chinese guys) rode on the big trip. Meet Kyle...I shot this photo shortly after we crossed the border from Wyoming going into South Dakota on the day we were headed to Mt. Rushmore...



It's nice that Cycle World thought we were confident. I suppose we were. But it's not like we thought about giving them a new bike versus a bike with a few miles and we then decided to give them a bike with a few miles because of our confidence. Like I said above, we offered the bike because that's what we had available.

The bike I rode in Colombia last month had about 12,500 km on the clock when I picked it up. AKT had used it for some hard core, long distance off road rides in Colombia before I arrived in Medellin. It, too, ran flawlessly.

Like you, I thought the Cycle World review was a good one.

Oh, one more thing...happy new year to all of you and best wishes for a healthy and happy 2016. Ride safe. 2015 was a great year. 2016 will be even better.

[Jay In Milpitas]

Originally Posted by CSCDude

Thanks for all the kind words, folks.

The bike I rode in Colombia last month had about 12,500 km on the clock when I picked it up. ATK had used it for some hard core, long distance off road rides in Colombia before I arrived in Medellin. It, too, ran flawlessly.

Like you, I thought the Cycle World review was a good one.

Oh, one more thing...happy new year to all of you and best wishes for a healthy and happy 2016. Ride safe. 2015 was a great year. 2016 will be even better.

Just out of curiousity, how many miles has your Cyclone racked up, Joe? It's sure been around the map.

Not to slight the RX-3 reviews of the other fine magazines, but having made the pages of Cycle World is a huge step. The other publications are niche' mags. CW crosses all styles (except the nudie-chopper drool inducers) and CSC has now been brought to the attention of a wide spectrum of riders. I'm hoping to see CW do a full road test and report on the 2016 RX3 Cyclone once it hits the shores. Has there been any discussion on that, Joe?

Happy & safe New Year to all.