Are the China Bikes For Me?

[Boatguy]

Hi,

I’m looking at dual sport bikes that border a little bit more on dirt bikes with blinkers, but in looking at the depreciation of dual sports I stumbled upon the hawk 250.

About me:

Grew up riding from age 13. 3 wheelers, 4 wheelers, then street bikes in my 20s and 30s.

Ninja zx-7, Cbr 900rr.

Never actually owned a dirt bike but used to trade off with friends. They’d ride my 3 and 4 wheelers and I’d ride their YZ125 and stuff in high school.

Fast forward to now.

I’m on a long, very involved project that’s taking a lot out of me mentally and physically. I’m trapped in a boring area. There’s Covid restricting things and I just feel like getting out and doing some easy trail riding to unwind and cool off. I’m stuck in Florida for the summer.

Still have my motorcycle license.

Wants:

A bike I can just get on and go for rides to vacuous trails around here. Solo. The heat here borders on deadly. I don’t want to spend a lot of time working on the bike or to break down and die of exposure out here alone on a trail.

Not looking to ride around the streets and in traffic much.

What do you think?

Is a Hawk dual sport a good idea or do they take lots of maintenance. I already have too many things to maintain. I am trying to ride to take a break from all that.

Is there any bike in particular I should look at that’s really reliable to get me home and to minimize time turning wrenches in the hot sun?

I’m getting a bike as a diversion to play around on and take a break from figuring out things and doing physical labor. Hope to find the best one to fit these needs.

Thanks!

[Wild Dog]

They are meant to be abuse and neglected, but KEY FACTOR.... If they are assembled like crap at the resellers they will reflect on that.

The engine can last a long long time as long you keep with the maintenance schedule which is minimal next to other more advanced motorcycles.

Don't expect them to behave like a YZ 125 because they won't.

[Boatguy]

Originally Posted by Wild Dog

They are meant to be abuse and neglected, but KEY FACTOR.... If they are assembled like crap at the resellers they will reflect on that.

The engine can last a long long time as long you keep with the maintenance schedule which is minimal next to other more advanced motorcycles.

Don't expect them to behave like a YZ 125 because they won't.

Maybe the benefit here is I have to assemble it myself in the States.

They seem to come disassembled in a crate.

And it’s ok. I’m old now. Ha ha. You can tell because I grew up riding 3 wheel ATVs. I’m looking for something more leisurely anyway. Just wish it was more lightweight like the yz 125. But it’ll do. Just want to putt around and relax.

But definitely don’t want to be stressing out over another thing to be constantly fixing. I’m off grid so generators, building things, etc is taking up a lot of my time.

[XLsior]

other than 2 strokes. the push rod CG overhead 2 valve single cylinder is about as rudimentary as it gets.

Where it's installed is what takes more consideration.

Basic tools and maintenance should be fine and prevent any 'fixing'

Being what they are out of the box they don't really depreciate either and being so mass produced parts are relatively cheap to replace.

[Boatguy]

Awesome!

Thanks for the input. I was off reading a lot of threads and the Lifan and Brozz sounded pretty good. The EFI would go a long way toward reliability. As a boat guy, EFI was everything when it started coming out on small engines. Solved all the reliability issues.

And yes, from reading I understand I’ll be stuck with the so so power of a stock bike if I go EFI.

I was looking at Peace in Georgia from reading the forum.

What’s anyone think of this Lifan too?

https://www.amazon.com/X-Pro-Motorcy...EK0303H0DQ6XZ0


Or this one?

https://www.amazon.com/X-Pro-Hawk-Mo...93NHDWZ6BES8EE




Finally, this Brozz dealer is a lot closer to me than Georgia. Anyone worked with them?

https://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/mcd...281925783.html

But I will definitely “Give Peace a Chance”.

[Wild Dog]

If you are looking for simple and reliable i would stick with a carb version, stick with the oem carb but check the jets. I said check the jets because it seems the carb that are shipped to the US seems to be lean, the one we get here are just right in the spot, that healthy 1" brown and the right timing marks on the spark plug.

[RussellTA]

I would probably suggest a CSC or Brozz for more off road oriented. That said, I would go with fuel injected for less maintenance. I just got a Lifan X-Pect and am very impressed with the build and parts quality. It came fully assembled in a crate, all I had to do was handlebar assembly so I thought I would spend hours going over all assembly points but found no need to at all, very well assembled.
So since I was going to be out in the boonies I went with the XPect for it’s efi and am now Super happy with the quality, even though it is not full on dirt oriented it will be fine for fire-roads and single-track, meaning if you like to jump the big jumps this bike is probably not the beet choice.

[Bruces]

The Brozz has 19” and 17” wheels ,not a great selection for dirt bike tires unfortunately .Stick with a 21” 18”or 19” combo if you wish to play in the dirt .

[culcune]

This guy has a channel about his Lifan X-Pect. On paper, the X-Pect is considered 'less' dirt-worthy than the Hawk thanks to its standard fork and rear drum brake, but he has several videos riding around in Florida on dirt roads and trails. The point is, I think the Hawk will be fine for your intended purposes. I attached a random video of his, but he has many more, so look through his channel.

[Boatguy]

Originally Posted by culcune

This guy has a channel about his Lifan X-Pect. On paper, the X-Pect is considered 'less' dirt-worthy than the Hawk thanks to its standard fork and rear drum brake, but he has several videos riding around in Florida on dirt roads and trails. The point is, I think the Hawk will be fine for your intended purposes. I attached a random video of his, but he has many more, so look through his channel.

So wow!

His videos are exactly the kind of riding we have around here. Flat trails and fire roads and stuff. Just like the videos.

Seems like a good bike to ride to these types of trails.

He’s on the Lifan x-Pect

I know I posted about real dirt stuff in the first post, but I think I was reminiscing more about growing up in a different state with hills and sand pits and some challenging terrain.

The stuff in those videos is actually all there is around here. A whole lot of flat nothing. Ha ha.

[Boatguy]

I was just mentioning to my girlfriend I’ll miss ripping through the gears with the rear tire in constant spin, shooting a rooster tail up like the old yz125 dirt bike and 250R 3 wheelers from my younger days. Both lightweight 2-stroke beasts.

But this sounds like it’ll be fun and not all that expensive.

It’s a temporary thing while I’m here on this project. Then I have to say good bye to it since I’m leaving by boat and can’t take anything with me.

Thanks for the help and guidance on my intro thread. Since I’ll be buying one of these, I’m looking forward to participating in the forum as an owner.

[Wild Dog]

Originally Posted by culcune

This guy has a channel about his Lifan X-Pect. On paper, the X-Pect is considered 'less' dirt-worthy than the Hawk thanks to its standard fork and rear drum brake,

Current production Honda XR250 for the latam market, has rear drum brake and standard forks, quite capable off road.

To be honest when we talk about the hawk, brozz, the difference between the standard forks and inverted one is quite marginal, the rear suspension is still quite basic and without a link.

[culcune]

Originally Posted by Wild Dog

Current production Honda XR250 for the latam market, has rear drum brake and standard forks, quite capable off road.

To be honest when we talk about the hawk, brozz, the difference between the standard forks and inverted one is quite marginal, the rear suspension is still quite basic and without a link.

I completely agree with you, but most people around here want their Chinese dual-sport to have USD forks and rear disc brake. The distributor for the Brozz used to be with Peace, and then one or two others, and a couple years ago, back to Peace. When they showed off their bike here on Chinariders, the long-standing tried and true bike (I recall rear drum, and possible standard forks like the Honda bike the Brozz was based on) members here ripped Jeff (manager at Peace) a new one, until they released the current rendition with the USD forks, rear disc, braided brake lines, etc. The 'old' Brozz became quite the bargain compared to the 'new, improved' Brozz.

My top choice right now for a Chinese dual-sport is the X-Pect 200, but by the time I can buy one, Lifan will have the 'new, improved' X-Pect 250 they show on their Chinese home site with a 250 engine, USD forks and rear disc brake http://lifanmotos.net/product/yyc/2020-11-24/129.html

[TheChairman]

Chinese bikes hold their value WAY better than any other motorcycle on the market. Prove me wrong. Dare ya!

The CSC TT250 is the easiest "out of the crate" Chonda on the market. They even come with enough gas to ride to the gas station to fill up.

As far as maintenance goes. Oil changes, valve and chain adjustments. They don't even have an oil filter and hold about 1 quart. You can do a complete oil change in about 10 minutes. Valve adjustment in 20.

[Megadan]

For what it's worth, if you have the money the CSC TT250 is, in my eyes at least, still the best of the budget bikes. The Brozz comes in a close second, only losing out because of the lack of 21/18 wheels and CSC just has a better warranty and dealer support from CSC. These bikes have better QC going for them, which is why they tend to be a bit more trouble free from the start. The CSC also has a few upgrades, such as a larger and way more powerful stator, accessory plugs, and so on.

That all being said, there is nothing at all wrong with the Hawks, but they do require a lot more attention during assembly, literally being torn apart to be put back together again with proper lubrication, some minor tweaks, and even a few upgrades here and there. If you take the time to do this, and follow the advice given on what to do, and what parts to expect to upgrade, then the Hawk can be every bit as reliable as anything else out there, and for less. The only real unknown tends to be the quality of some of the cheap hard parts, but they are cheap and easy to replace and I keep spares on hand (coils, cdi box, etc).

Just to clarify one thing, I have nothing against the smaller wheel options like the Brozz and TBR7, but the sizes run on those bikes are odd and lack a lot of good tire choices. It is for that reason alone I will always prefer the 21/18 setups.