Zongshen Dakar bike and RX4

[BlackBike]

Originally Posted by jbfla

It's not only the American buyer.

Another article in China Motorcycle News mentioned that the Zongshen motorcycle factory in Thailand stopped building motorcycles, and converted to ATV manufacture due to the Thai attitude that buying a used Japanese bike is better than a new Chinese bike.

I 've received a lot of kidding from my riding buddies about my Chinese motorcycle.

But when they see it in person are pleasantly surprised.....but not enough to buy one.

jb

And that little hiccup you had with the rx3 will give your riding buddies all the ammo they will ever need to downplay the Chinese motorcycle. But of course forgetting the good faith policy by csc that covered the repair.

[BlackBike]

The nameless badge will still be an issue. In our society, and I suspect in most cultures, the brand determines who you are (identify). We have to be able to know who and what you are. (And what you ride). In riding circles, I can predict the question, "What is THAT" (as though speaking of some area 51 creation), because of the absence of the Cyclone name on the machine.

The cyclone moniker may be a good move from Zongshen. The name Honda was easily pronounced by Americans back in the 60's, and thus accepted by the 70's (of course quality played a huge part in it). Even today the name "Zongshen", may not be easily accepted due to the mysteries in chinese language pronunciation by Americans. This is, I believe, the reason zongs have so many identies worldwide (csc, honley, etc.etc.).

Imo, as they say... it's worth what you paid.

[Juanro]

About the dragon Cyclone logo... look what I saw in the last issue of Rider magazine:

[Inroads]

^^^That's a new one...someone ripping off the Chinese

[BlackBike]

Yep, that dragon definitely won't fly here in the states. Someone will be getting the phone call.

Nice catch Juanro

Inroads...

[madsocial]

I was just catching up on posts. Wow the RX4 looks beautiful! The dual front brakes is a better way to go. However, that's double the parts for a brake job! I don't even have dual rotors on my Harley Dyna! Thank God I don't, cause that would turn a brake job that costs under 70 bucks to one over hundred.

Anyways, this would probably be a better option for my husband. The RX3 goes really slow with him on it uphill. With me, it does a bit better of a job.

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by madsocial

I was just catching up on posts. Wow the RX4 looks beautiful! The dual front brakes is a better way to go. However, that's double the parts for a brake job! I don't even have dual rotors on my Harley Dyna! Thank God I don't, cause that would turn a brake job that costs under 70 bucks to one over hundred.

Anyways, this would probably be a better option for my husband. The RX3 goes really slow with him on it uphill. With me, it does a bit better of a job.

Not only that but you can only disperse as much inertia as the friction patch on the ground will link up and allow. I had a buddy who built a custom HD and he wanted a dual disk on a 21" skinny front tire with a SPRINGER! I told him he'd regret it but no.... He ended up skittering the front end out in an intersection. That skinny tire had a little over a dime size friction patch attaching it to the pavement. WAY too much braking power with the duals. That's why you usually only see them on the big fat FLH's and like my old Vic TC.

[mrider]

From Dakar web site



And Zongshen FB

[AdventureDad]

Did they mention a "range of off road bikes" coming soon? Interesting.

[mrider]

Wouldn't it be interesting if Cyclone made a KTM 390 adventure alternative? I'd buy one...

[Lee R]

Originally Posted by madsocial

I was just catching up on posts. Wow the RX4 looks beautiful! The dual front brakes is a better way to go. However, that's double the parts for a brake job! I don't even have dual rotors on my Harley Dyna! Thank God I don't, cause that would turn a brake job that costs under 70 bucks to one over hundred.

Anyways, this would probably be a better option for my husband. The RX3 goes really slow with him on it uphill. With me, it does a bit better of a job.

The last set of pads for my RX3 cost something like 9 dollars for sintered. I'm a heavyweight so dual rotors would be excellent. Right now the RX3 kinda takes its time stopping. My Stelvio NTX runs a 110/80 19 front and even with dual brembos similar to sportbikes doesn't overwhelm the front tires traction under heavy braking. Its 136 dollars in pads to replace the front on that though lol. Wee bit less on the RX3!

I hope the RX4 makes it for 2018!

[BlackBike]

From csc dude blog

That brings me to the next topic: The RX4. We’ve had mixed emotions about publicizing the RX4 for a number of reasons, the most dominant of which is product cannibalization. Any time a new product is introduced, it will cannibalize sales of the existing product (in our case, the RX3). We think that hasn’t happened to us. RX3 sales were great last year. But pushing the RX4 at you well before it is available is still a concern.


The RX4…don’t look for it any sooner than 2018, and don’t hold off pulling the trigger on an RX3 waiting for this bike.

The earliest we’ll see the RX4 here in the US is no sooner than January 2018, and I personally doubt it will happen that soon. For starters, the RX4 design has not been finalized by Zongshen (the RX4 is not yet available anywhere in the world), nor have we defined our North American configuration with Zongshen. Zongshen tells us the RX4 design will be finalized in the second quarter of 2017, but I’ve spent my entire professional life around engineering development efforts in a variety of industries and I can tell you that the word most frequently coupled with “schedule” is “slip” (as in “schedule slip”). After the RX4 design is finalized, we have to send a product description to the EPA and request permission to bring sample RX4s in for testing (there goes another month to get the request approved). After we get permission from the EPA to bring the samples in, we have to get 3 or 4 bikes shipped to us so we can begin the testing process. You can figure on 6 weeks of transit time, and anywhere from 3 days to 3 months for the bikes to sit in Customs. That’s another 2 to 4 months. Then we get to shell out something north of $60K for the emissions testing and DOT evaluations (figure another 1 to 2 months), and then there’s the delay as EPA, CARB, and the DOT ponder the test results (and that can take another 1 to 3 months). Once we order the bikes, it’s another month to produce them, and then another 6 weeks for them to make the trip down the Yangzte and across the Pacific, and then once again there’s the time to get though Customs. And, to compound the challenge, the times I’m sketching out here assume everything goes smoothly and there are no problems or required design changes. You get the idea. This isn’t something that happens quickly.

The above RX4 concerns notwithstanding, we’ve been blessed. The RX3 continues to sell well, and our TT250 has done extremely well. It really is amazing. In a down year for the motorcycle industry (an industry that has been obsessed for more than five decades with ever-larger and increasingly-expensive bikes), we’ve done well with 250cc singles priced appropriately. A big part of our shared success has been the stellar nature of both the RX3 and the TT250, the extreme value both products bring to the market, our unique path to market (no dealers, free maintenance tutorials, free service manuals, our adventure rides, and our customer support), and the enlightened nature of our customers. Yep, our customers….folks like you. Folks who aren’t afraid to pick up a wrench, folks who make their own decisions, and folks who spend more time on the road then they do on Internet forums. We’re on to something here. You can see it in our results, and you can see it in the fact that no fewer than four other manufacturers are now copying us by planning to bring small ADV bikes to the US market. Like I said earlier, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Ain't skeerd..I knew it was going to be awhile. Hopefully this will be a case of underpromice and overdeliver when the time arrives.

[Juanro]

All five members of the Cyclone Dakar Team completed the first stage, at positions 78, 113, 131, 133, 135.
2nd stage today, about 800 km from Resistencia (Chaco) to San Miguel de Tucumán.

[BlackBike]

Found info for my dish network dakar coverage

Check yours here

https://areyouwatchingthis.com/tv/st...csnhd-nbcsn-hd

Nbcsn network, Looks like there doing 30 min a day segments. I got the recorder locked on now.

[Juanro]

Only the more experienced french, Thierry Bethys, is still on the road. The other four members of the Zongshen Cyclone team didn't complete stage 2 yesterday, but I can't find the details or causes.