Scooter Escapes?

[PolygonFla]

Hi,
I noticed a growing number of Florida riders on this forum. I live in St. Petersburg and I was just wondering if anyone has done business with Scooter Escapes? (http://www.scooterescapes.com/)

I have stopped by their shop and sat on the Sierra 200 and GS-250. I do like the fact that they have a service area, have bikes in stock and are in my town. I also went by another store that claims to carry Chinese bikes but didn’t have any inventory or service department. I don’t see any point in naming them but I am willing to travel a bit for a dealer that will stand behind their product.

I have been contemplating getting another bike for about a year now. (I rode a Kawasaki 750 twenty years ago) During most of that time I figured it would be a dualsport. The reality is that I will be using it 99% of the time to commute and run errands. So a road bike is probably the better choice for me at this time, I am pretty sure that I will be buying the Zongshen GS 250 later this week. If the bike holds up well I can easily see myself getting the Sierra 200 for weekend fun.

The deciding factor for me was that Zongshen claims the GS-250 will get more than 100 miles to the gallon. And while my commute is only 5 miles each way on surface streets, I do travel one section that is a posted 55 mph and the cars are routinely traveling 65. I will report real world mileage once I have figures, unless someone here has reason to dissuade me from the purchase.

Thanks in advance for any info. I will introduce myself and post pics as soon as I get a bike. I will be retaking the MSF course in two weeks too.

Rich

[culcune]

Let us know how the GS treats you. It looks like a higher quality machine than the 200 Lifan sport bike, but then again, it's about or more than twice the price, so it should be!

Scooterescapes is the guy who started the "Zongshen" Group on Yahoo! Groups, which can be accessed via the home page here.

If you actually sat on the bikes, and saw the service dept., then this guy is probably on the up and up. I think that Zongshen is one of the higher quality brands, but as they are so busy manufacturing for others, their own brand hasn't made as big of an impact in the US. I think that with the new EPA rules coming out that Bruce of EJ Cycles mentioned where the US will only allow one brand of engine with one brand of manufacturer, the rebadged bikes will fade away, and Zongshen will become a player like Lifan is. Time will tell...

[bfe71730]

My Kazuma is made by zongshen, I have the 200cc enduro. I've owned it for almost 3 years and 2900 miles, so far no major problems, well satisfied. Is the 250 your looking at a 2 cylinder?

[PolygonFla]

Thanks for the info.
It’s a thumper, a single 230cc cylinder. I have never liked manufacturers rounding the displacement figures up, but they all do it. 1 or 2 cc’s isn’t a big deal but implying an additional 20 in the model designation borders on deceptive.

Like I mentioned before, I did sit on the bike. My first impressions are, the suspension is firm and only compresses slightly with my 200+ pounds on it. The finish is flat grey over black, I here it is also available in a lighter silver over black. The return spring in the throttle is weaker than my old Kawasaki and my buddy’s Suzuki but I don’t think it will be a problem. I think the seat padding is too firm and I am not used to sitting in a forward position, coming from a cruiser. It is not the crouch of a true sport bike but more like a Ninja 250. One of the things that kept bringing me back to this bike is the styling; it is not quite like anything else I’ve looked at.

Originally I was looking at dual-sports and scooters, like the Honda Elite and Suzuki Burgman. My first bike was a 49cc AMF moped form The Home Shopping Channel store. I was 15 and had $300.00 from working short order. I put 12,000 miles on it before I turned 16.

[gyjoe]

Originally Posted by PolygonFla

I have never liked manufacturers rounding the displacement figures up, but they all do it.

And that's not all--they round the mpg figures up too. Many of these bikes, my GY-5 included, come with mpg claims of over 100 mpg, but actual figures reported by our members are from the 70s on downward, based on riding habits. Still nothing to scoff at, however.

[PolygonFla]

Yea, I seriously doubt the factory claim of 130 mpg. If I get 95 I will be ecstatic, real happy with 80+ and I am expecting 70’s. How ever if the fuel economy figure is Kilometers per gallon, not miles like all of their claims then it will be high 50’s and I won’t be happy. The Dual-sport would have served me better. We shall see. I will report real world results on this forum.

[culcune]

According to member 'beerslayer' (who has mysteriously disappeared into the S. American areas at the same time that Castro is supposedly on his last legs--coincidence? I think NOT!! LOL) his Qlink X-Ranger was a high quality machine (and he was the proud owner of a Lifan GY-5, so he had the 2 bikes to compare; check out his bikes in the gallery). However, if you research his thread titled something like "the good, bad, and ugly" he mentions that he feels his Qlink is underpowered, and in need of some power builders. The Zongshen Sierra is also harder to find aftermarket parts for as it is not Honda based (i.e. sprockets don't correspond to Honda models, but I think Yamaha models)--check out his thread for the details!