Buccaneer SRT250 Classic or Cafe Purchase

[1cylinderwonder]

Please be sure to post your thoughts and photos if you purchase one of the new SSR Buccaneer 250cc Bikes, or have first hand knowledge about the good & bad about this bike! We would all like to know if this bike is a good investment, a "keeper" :tup: , or a piece of crap, a "junker" :tdown: !
First hand knowledge is so far just about impossible to obtain. There must be someone making a purchase of this nice looking bike!
:thanks:

[culcune]

Please be sure to post your thoughts and photos if you purchase one of the new SSR Buccaneer 250cc Bikes, or have first hand knowledge about the good & bad about this bike! We would all like to know if this bike is a good investment, a "keeper" :tup: , or a piece of crap, a "junker" :tdown: !
First hand knowledge is so far just about impossible to obtain. There must be someone making a purchase of this nice looking bike!
:thanks:

Have you Google searched Italjet? I know they are branded as such thanks to that really bad movie from Nepal in which the guy dreams of the Italjet and the good looking woman. I am guessing they are sold in Europe. Perhaps there are forums or youtube videos of this bike labled as an Italjet?

[CSCDude]

I saw one of these at a dealer in China (it's the only one I've ever seen), but I did not see any on the road. It is a very good looking bike; almost British in appearance (maybe that was just the classic air-cooled V-twin speaking to me). I don't know anything about its performance, its reliability, or how it sounds. It sure looked good.

[wheelbender6]

I'm afraid I have no first hand experience. The Buccaneer is a great looking bike for the money. However, I believe it is rated at a bit over 17hp.
-The Zongshen RX3 single costs a few hundred bucks more and is rated at 24hp or so.
I don't know if the RX3 can be customized as a cafe racer without considerable expense.
This article may help you decide.
http://www.motorcycle.com/manufacturer/ssr/2017-ssr-buccaneer-cafe-review.html
http://www.ssrmotorsports.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/1-1.jpg

[culcune]

I think these will find homes with the same kind of people buying up CCW's cafe racers, as the quirks with the CCW's don't seem to keep people away from those. These have the advantage of a v-twin, although I have no idea what the advantage is over the thumper in the CCW lineup :) Fuel injection is another advantage. I don't think one would go wrong with one of these, provided one wanted a low-cost, cafe-style bike for 'cheap' ('cheap' being relative). In other words, like the CCW bikes, I doubt that this will fall apart.

[BlackBike]

everyone knows (or should know), that there is always a certain amount of a "project bike" factor built into every china bike.

[dh]

I like the buccaneers a lot, but the 250 air cooled models from SSR are simpler and make more HP. In the UK, the China Bike equivalent to the Buccaneers appear to be more closely related to the XF250 dual sport. I have asked SSR to look into this, and will post more if I get an answer.



https://www.heraldmotorcompany.com/

[culcune]

The Snake Eyes is closely related to your XF250, and in fact, falls under the same EPA/DOT certification. It is manufactured by Pioneer like your XF. The Bucaneer bikes are OEM by Ningbo Longjia.

There is a bike made by Pioneer which looks like the Herald bikes, so my guess it the Heralds are OEM by Pioneer/Qingqi. I believe SSR had those a year or so ago on their site when they were showing their 'coming soon' bikes. Obviously they narrowed down their choices. Too bad as I would have preferred the single ala the Heralds, and it would have made it much easier for SSR to source their parts and whatnot, let alone their EPA/DOT certification, as they did with the Snake Eyes and XF250!

[BlackBike]

The Snake Eyes is closely related to your XF250, and in fact, falls under the same EPA/DOT certification. It is manufactured by Pioneer like your XF. The Bucaneer bikes are OEM by Ningbo Longjia.

There is a bike made by Pioneer which looks like the Herald bikes, so my guess it the Heralds are OEM by Pioneer/Qingqi. I believe SSR had those a year or so ago on their site when they were showing their 'coming soon' bikes. Obviously they narrowed down their choices. Too bad as I would have preferred the single ala the Heralds, and it would have made it much easier for SSR to source their parts and whatnot, let alone their EPA/DOT certification, as they did with the Snake Eyes and XF250!

As always, expert analysis. :tup:

[culcune]

As always, expert analysis. :tup:

I wish I was an expert...my info simply came from the EPA/DOT certification excel sheet that I cannot post because I don't know how, and from memory of the SSR site from some time ago. I remember them posting the Pioneer manufactured bikes that look like the Heralds, as well as the Buccaneer twins. We even discussed them and some asked why have all the 'retro' bikes that look the same. Obviously, SSR narrowed down the choices and went with the twin-cylinder retro bikes, while retaining the bobber with the thumper engine. In hindsight, they should have kept it all thumper for simplicity sake, and certification sake.

But, from what I understand, California's CARB will be requiring all bikes to have EFI in the next few years, so I can see why they would market test the twin twins which are already equipped with EFI, and are already proven in other countries' markets via Italjet.

Edit: Just looked again at the certification--the Herald-like bike was called the Outlaw 250, and since manufacturers or brands submit a list of models that utilize the same engine in case they want to sell them, the Outlaw is certified, but SSR has chosen not to market it for obvious reasons.

[dh]

Thanks for the info Culcune. I do like the snake eyes, but wish it came with a full size seat and the classic styling of the herald bikes. My wife won't allow me to buy a bike without room for her on back. :shrug:

[ChopperCharles]

I love the looks of the SSR Buccaneer, and I may have to go take a test ride on one soon. Turns out there's a dealership local to me that carries them.

Charles.

[culcune]

I love the looks of the SSR Buccaneer, and I may have to go take a test ride on one soon. Turns out there's a dealership local to me that carries them.

Charles.

Please report on it; as you can see we discussed them 2 years ago and no one has reported buying one since!

[preventec47]

I am new to the scene and am drooling over much of the content on this forum and I just want to ask if folks could remember not everyone has the assumed knowledge when you mention models and history etc. ie when you mention a model please mention the manufacturer who made it and the dealer or importer who is selling it. I am trying to make a cheatsheet or quasi catalog listing all the major players and models in the imported asian bike market with web links and locations etc. OH and a billion THANKs to those who post photos and that PIC of the Buccaneer is the best I have ever seen!

[Barnone]

SSR calls it a Benelli. I saw one at a get together in Knoxville TN last fall and it looked very nice. The owner was pleased with it. I just wish it was 500cc instead of 250CC.
http://www.ssrmotorsports.com/store/street/buccaneer_cafe.php

[ChopperCharles]

SSR also sells Benelli bikes, but the Buccaneer is an Italjet everywhere else in the world.

Charles.

[Barnone]

http://www.ssrmotorsports.com/store/street/street-index.php

[Buccaneer]

Here are my impressions of the SSR Buccaneer 250i I bought last summer. I've got about 2400 miles on it. I'm using my other main bike, a 1100cc Moto Guzzi Griso, as a point of comparison. Here is a picture I took of my Buccaneer on the bank of the Mississippi River, in Iowa:

https://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p135/motocomo/Italjet%20at%20the%20Mississippi.jpg (https://s127.photobucket.com/user/motocomo/media/Italjet%20at%20the%20Mississippi.jpg.html)

Design

My Buccaneer gets a lot of favorable comments, probably at ten times the rate my Griso ever got. It was built by Ningbo Longjia, in China, a different company from the one that builds SSR's pit bikes and the Benellis. Longjia sells some scooters under its own name, and also makes bikes for Genuine Scooters. It has granted Buccaneer distribution rights all over the world. Companies sell it under their own brand names in Germany, Poland, Spain, Thailand, the Philippines, and the United States. Only in Cyprus and Malaysia is it sold as an Italjet as far as I can tell. Italjet does not sell this bike in Italy, where it lately has presented itself as a producer of high-end e-bikes. However, a new iteration of the Buccaneer was announced at this fall's EICMA (2018) to be sold as the Italjet Caffeina in Italy (Scopri la nuova moto Italjet Caffeina (https://www.italjet.com/moto/italjet-moto-caffeina/)).*

Ningbo Longjia says on its web site that the Buccaneer was "designed by an Italian in cooperation with Italjet." The Italian they refer to was almost certainly Oberdan Bezzi. Bezzi's website shows a design of his that is almost identical to the version of the Buccaneer that was first displayed at EICMA 2015 by Italjet. He also posts a photo of himself with several smiling persons that look a lot like Chinese technicians or designers. The design shows the basic configuration of the final model, but is very ugly I think:

https://s3images.coroflot.com/user_files/individual_files/64595_eobddwoyn429oebgjvybeuc9e.jpg

This initial design was apparently built by Italjet and/or Longjia as a prototype. A CAD image of it can been seen on the computer screen of Italjet president Massimo Tartarini in a video about a collaboration with another company. Tartarini is the grandson of Leopoldo Tartarini, the founder (in 1959) of Italjet, who had been a successful racer and designer for Ducati.

On the basis of the strong design history of Italjet, and the great beauty of current Italjet e-bikes, I believe it may have been Massimo Tartarini who transformed Bezzi's ugly duckling into the final version that I own. The design obviously took main cues from Moto Guzzi models like the V7 Stornello and Racer, but the result is more beautiful than the Guzzis, I think.

The Buccaneer 250 was named after the 1970's Buccaneer 125, an Italjet that sported a Yamaha two-stroke engine (and had a distinguished racing career in Italy):

https://www.motociclismo.it/files/galleries/8/1/4/814/B_04.jpg

Because SSR had really nothing to do with the origin of the Buccaneer 250, and because Italjet had a lot to do with it, I regard it to be an Italjet in essence. I therefore applied some Italjet stickers I obtained from Hungary to the gas tank, and may remove the SSR ones in time. Voila! The Italjet Buccaneer 250:

http://www.chinariders.net/image.php?u=34418&dateline=1549251905

The U.S. and Wisconsin governments call the Buccaneer a Ningbo Longjia, by the way.

Construction

The Italjet Buccaneer has a tubular steel frame and many metal components that are plastic on other bikes (like my Griso). The gas tank, front fender, and the headlight rim and shell are all steel. The wheel rims, bash plate and side panels are aluminum. Only the rear fender, the seat core, and the tail light and turn signals are plastic. The relays are Japanese, built in Japan. The fuel injection is controlled by a Delphi ECU, the same model, I believe, as used on some Harleys. The drain plug gaskets are solid copper. The chain is a relatively huge 530, as used on much larger bikes. It is not an o-ring chain, probably to conserve scarce horsepower.

Not everything is great. The tank and fender striping is tape, and not applied properly in one spot under the front of the seat. The tachometer needle wobbles as though it needs a bushing. The front suspension squeaks. The front O2 sensor failed for me at 1002 miles, just after the break-in period. It took two weeks to get the new part, but fortunately my dealer, about 50 miles away, arranged things so that I lost no time with the motorcycle in the shop, and was able to continue riding it while waiting for the part to arrive.

One big advantage of the Buccaneer is its engine, which is the long-developed clone of the Yamaha 250 Virago motor, built by Lifan, a different company than Longjia. Lifan has been building it for quite a while, and can be hoped to have overcome initial quality problems. I couldn't really find any substantiated complaints about Lifan's engines on the web, though there were plenty of ominous warnings from those who would never buy one, of course, along with advice to retorque everything upon purchase. A second advantage is that if the engine ever goes south, there are plenty of available genuine Yamaha 250 Virago engines, and brand new Lifans too, that could replace it. Those, however, are mainly carbureted so far.

One other disadvantage is that there is no service manual available, at least "not yet." The service manual for the Virago is of some use, though not for ECU codes, etc. I acquired the ECU codes, however, and was able to diagnose the O2 sensor problem that way. The small owner's manual has some useful information including the valve clearance specs and a circuit diagram.

A final strong point about the engine is the earlier development by Yamaha of the SRV250 cafe racer (not sold in the U.S.) which produced 27 hp, compared to the 18 hp claimed for the Buccaneer. This suggests the basic motor is substantially under-stressed, with room for more performance. There is at least one overbore kit taking it to 320cc.

The brakes are hydraulic disks front and rear, with steel-braided lines. Four pistons front, and one rear. Essentially the same set up as my Griso, except for the addition of the steel braiding, and the omission of a second front disk.

The four-inch diameter dashboard is not an integral part of the electronics. Instead, it is really a cheap item available in generic form on ebay for about $30. Griso owners, eat your hearts out! It has a layout somewhat like the Griso's: a largish analog tachometer above a digital speed readout. There is a gas gauge, odometer, separate turn signal indicators, and a gear selection indicator. No trip meter is mentioned in the owner's manual, but there is one, operated by a button on the back side of the dashboard. No clock or ambient temperature gauge is present.

There is a kit of nine tools in a pouch under the seat and room to store a drawstring backpack, which is great for bringing back a six pack or more from the store. (The Griso has a kit of five tools crammed into a tiny pocket excavated from the seat's padding, and no room for anything else at all.)

Riding Impressions and Performance

Though it weighs only 320 pounds or so, fully gassed, the Buccaneer feels like, and really is, a full-size bike. The seat is about an inch higher than the Griso's, at 31 inches, which is very noticeable. The light weight makes it easier to ride the motorcycle up onto a lift with confidence, and removes any worries about low speed maneuvering fiascos in other situations.

The riding position, with wide handlebars and very slightly rearset pegs, is also like the Griso's, though there is more leg room. The seat is narrow and hard, compared to the Griso, but I am finding it comfortable, and am never sore after rides of a hundred or two miles.

One astute commenter on my bike noted that it seemed like a dirt bike, and he was right. The Buccaneer, despite being called a cafe racer, is really a traditional scrambler, and is sold as such in other countries. I haven't had much opportunity to use it on dirt roads, but it feels right at home on them.

Vibration is very noticeable through the handlebars. I'm not usually sensitive to this problem, but found both hands were getting tingly after an hour or so. To counter this I installed a "heavy bar-end weight kit" from Moto International (since closed), made of the stock weights from the Moto Guzzi Breva 1100. This made a great improvement especially at the left handlebar grip. But there is still a less intense vibration in the right grip.

The suspension is pretty well damped, which is good since the only adjustment is rear preload. The ride feels a little stiff in town (over our decaying streets) but much more compliant at speed. I don't experience dive or wallowing. Steering is easy with the wide bars and light overall weight, though the rake and trail are relaxed. The motorcycle feels very stable right up to its top speed. It feels like it would be stable for higher speeds too.

The braking is fantastic, by my standards. I think it stops faster than the Griso, though of course there is less mass to decelerate. It is hard to say for sure, without measurement or a side-by-side test. There is no fade in my experience, the levers are firm, and the feel is very good.

Cornering is fun. The suspension and frame do their jobs well. There is more cornering clearance than I have been able to use, which is not surprising considering how narrow the bike is, nine inches at the frame rails. The tires will chirp or slide at about the loads I expect, but they are less grippy than I would like.

Speed is attained by continued effort rather than a twist of the wrist. The top speed in still air, on the level, is about an indicated 75 mph. I haven't checked the speedometer's accuracy, but guess it reads a couple of mph high. If you want more speed, you can lean closer to the tank, or head downwind! I rode back home via a 65 mph posted highway last summer, against a forecast 10 to 15 mph headwind. I was able to do 65 or more as a rule, though I did tuck close to the tank sometimes. I'm riding with the throttle wide open for extended periods, and the bike shows no signs of distress.

The exhaust note, by the way, is pretty loud and raspy. Other reviewers commented that they were surprised it passed the EPA standard. Itsa nice!

The rated peak horsepower, about 18, comes at 8000 rpm, per the manual, so that is where I set my redline. The manual says to avoid running over 7500, which I'm taking to mean any prolonged operation up there. 7500 rpm equals 75 indicated mph. I occasionally shift at 9000 rpm, on the basis of a second-hand recommendation that I don't put much faith in. So far, so good.

On the hilly backroads in the Driftless Region of Wisconsin where I ride I find myself with the throttle wide open most of the time. (Have you taken many corners WFO at full lean lately?) If the speed drops to 60 I downshift and ride the torque back up. This is a style of riding I haven't experienced since my first real bike, a Honda CB160.

I'm getting about 75 mpg, with a 3 1/2 gallon tank. So fill-ups are rare experiences.

Overall Evaluation

I love this bike. I remember how much fun I had on that little CB160, and I don't think I really had much more fun on the bikes that followed it. I've gone across the country, and over mountain passes that the Buccaneer would not do well on. But for running around the backroads of Wisconsin it is a great machine. On my Griso I am always holding back, while on the Buccaneer I am constantly giving it more. The speeds are lower, the brakes are as good or better, and the safety is therefore greater. Besides, its beauty is remarked by one and all, or so it seems, and that is pretty nice too.

Sign me,
Buccaneer

* FOOTNOTE ADDED MARCH 3, 2019: I just found a page from 2016 that changes my understanding of the Caffeina model. It was exhibited in 2016 at EICMA, and was to be produced by an Indonesian company, Garansindo Group, called "a part of Italjet," according to the page:

http://naikmotor.com/39900/italjet-caffeina-250-motor-rakitan-lokal-garansindo-meluncur-juni-2017

The design appears to be essentially the same as the one announced in 2018 on Italjet's home page as a new model. So I no longer think it is really a new model, and I also doubt that it will be sold in Italy, since this is not explicitly stated on Italjet's web site. Maybe it is still to be sold in Indonesia.

Now that I see the Caffeina model existed earlier than I had thought, I no longer wonder why such an ugly model came from the Buccaneer line. I now think both the original Bezzi design and the Caffeina predated the Buccaneer, and that Tartarini may have better taste than Bezzi after all.

The presence of the Indonesian manufacturer in the history of the model throws some doubt on Longjia's original participation. It now seems like Bezzi proposed the basic model to Tartarini at Italjet, Italjet hoped to have its Indonesian partner build it, but Longjia built it in the end. (Maybe.) No doubt the Lifan-built engine was always part of the plan.

It is interesting to me, at least, that the right side cover on the engine first appears in Bezzi's design. This is a subtle but key design element moving the bike away from the false-Harley look of the Yamaha original, in which the oil filter had been concealed with a larger than needed cover, centered almost at the intersection of the cylinder vee, rather than over the filter's actual position, which is further forward. Harleys have a similar circular cover at the base of the vee.

[culcune]

Lifan's new cruiser twin just got California CARB certification; not sure on EPA/DOT which might be delayed thanks to the shutdown since the EPA was closed. The reason I write this is because what you mentioned about the Bucaneer using. a Lifan twin meaning more engines might be available even if SSR no longer brings in the Buccaneer.

[ChopperCharles]

I just checked one of these out this weekend at a local dealership. I really, really like the bike. The fit and finish is right up there with Japanese bikes. The paint is nice, the hardware is nice, the metal side covers are exceptionally nice, everything about it says quality, with the exception of the turn signals. I didn't care for the overly small, chromed plastic bits. BUT, it's not a deal killer by any means. I'm probably going to buy this bike...


Charles.

[da4design]

I just checked one of these out this weekend at a local dealership. I really, really like the bike. The fit and finish is right up there with Japanese bikes. The paint is nice, the hardware is nice, the metal side covers are exceptionally nice, everything about it says quality, with the exception of the turn signals. I didn't care for the overly small, chromed plastic bits. BUT, it's not a deal killer by any means. I'm probably going to buy this bike...


Charles.

we all would love to hear more about it if you do buy it, i like the looks of the bike

[david3921]

As I never really liked the cafe look, the Classic does it for me. I'd like to see it with a scrambler pipe on it, though. Weird that the pipe is covering the bash shield and not the other way. Regardless, they both look like they've well made, and with news that you can increase the cc's, it's a bike I might consider in the future.

[Buccaneer]

I just checked one of these out this weekend at a local dealership. I really, really like the bike. The fit and finish is right up there with Japanese bikes. The paint is nice, the hardware is nice, the metal side covers are exceptionally nice, everything about it says quality, with the exception of the turn signals. I didn't care for the overly small, chromed plastic bits. BUT, it's not a deal killer by any means. I'm probably going to buy this bike...

Charles.

I forgot to mention that my right rear turn signal failed and was replaced under warranty. (It's the only other failure besides the 02 sensor.) When that happened I noticed that the signals have a common type of threaded tubular mount, so you could easily replace them.

On the other hand, though small, the signals are LED, and are very bright (as is the small tail/brake light). So changing to a larger incandescent signal would not be a step up in my opinion. (The owner's manual shows an incandescent turn signal, but it is incorrect.)

Plastic doesn't bother me anymore. The gas tank, side covers, both fenders, headlight shell, turn signals and tail light housing all are plastic on my Guzzi Griso, and have given me no trouble. But if you like metal, you'll like the Buccaneer.

By the way, if any one else is tempted, there is a $300 rebate offered now, just as happened last Spring when I ordered mine. After the offering period the price did go back up to list. The current offer expires at the end of March -- FEBRUARY! THEY'VE MOVED IT UP A MONTH -- Buc.

[Buccaneer]

As I never really liked the cafe look, the Classic does it for me. I'd like to see it with a scrambler pipe on it, though. Weird that the pipe is covering the bash shield and not the other way. Regardless, they both look like they've well made, and with news that you can increase the cc's, it's a bike I might consider in the future.

The big bore kit comes with cylinders, pistons, and rings, here:

https://chinesescooterparts.com/product/v-thunder-334cc-big-bore-kit/

The vendor claims the kit to be 334cc, but also says the pistons are 55mm in diameter, which, together with the stock 66mm stroke works out to a total displacement of (5.5/2)^2*3.1416*6.6*2 = 313.6cc. So something is wrong with either the claimed displacement or the stated diameter. Even 313.6cc is a 26% increase in displacement.

[EDIT: I now think the 334cc claim is a typo for the correct 313.6, rounded to 314. My reason is that the piston diameter that would produce 334cc is 56.76 (=10*2*sqrt(334/(\pi*6.6*2)), and I have never seen a metric OEM piston diameter specified in fractions of a millimeter.]

Of course you'd have to do something about the fuel injection. The stock ECU is a Delphi MT05, which is widely used in other applications. You'd need to reprogram it, or else rip it out and substitute a single carburetor as on the Virago or twin carburetors as on the SRV250.

I'm hoping to find someone on this forum with experience in increasing the capacity of an XV250 clone engine. Anyone know of such a person?

[Buccaneer]

Lifan's new cruiser twin just got California CARB certification; not sure on EPA/DOT which might be delayed thanks to the shutdown since the EPA was closed. The reason I write this is because what you mentioned about the Bucaneer using. a Lifan twin meaning more engines might be available even if SSR no longer brings in the Buccaneer.

That's good to know. I think you mean this one, the Lifan V16 LF250-D:

http://www.lifanmotos.net/product/tzc/2017-03-23/42.html

When I looked into it, it indeed seemed to have fuel injection and the same specs, so it is probably the same engine as the Buccaneer's, except for the side covers and valve covers, etc.

It seems likely that the fuel injection will be part of any new bikes using the Lifan motor.

[ChopperCharles]

I wonder if one of the power commander type products could be made to work for the Delphi EFI. Something like the DobTek EJK (Electronic Jet Kit) is a simple way to add fuel across the board, but without needing a lot of dyno time to do it. It works with Harley and Ural and Hyosung, all of which use Delphi EFI systems, so they should be able to supply something that will fit and work.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

I wonder if one of the power commander type products could be made to work for the Delphi EFI. Something like the DobTek EJK (Electronic Jet Kit) is a simple way to add fuel across the board, but without needing a lot of dyno time to do it. It works with Harley and Ural and Hyosung, all of which use Delphi EFI systems, so they should be able to supply something that will fit and work.

Charles.

So it has been said: http://utv-chat.com/archive/index.php/t-10481.html

I know nothing about Power Commanders, though. Have you had some experience with them, or the DobTek EJK?

[culcune]

That's good to know. I think you mean this one, the Lifan V16 LF250-D:

http://www.lifanmotos.net/product/tzc/2017-03-23/42.html

When I looked into it, it indeed seemed to have fuel injection and the same specs, so it is probably the same engine as the Buccaneer's, except for the side covers and valve covers, etc.

It seems likely that the fuel injection will be part of any new bikes using the Lifan motor.

I believe that is the bike they certified. The CARB certification is the 'Lycan' but I am guessing it is the V16.

[ChopperCharles]

I’ve had experience with the overly complicated power commander that required dyno tuning and special maps and laptop connections and lots of trouble. This EJK is a lot different. You can tune it on the fly as you’re riding. Way easier than even rejetting carbs, once you get the hang of the interface. I was thinking it’s be a great boon for the rx3, which runs fine with the 300cc big bore kit (actually 283cc) but runs out of steam on top, but it would be an absolute necessity for the Buccaneer, because 250cc to 314cc is a much larger jump.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

I’ve had experience with the overly complicated power commander that required dyno tuning and special maps and laptop connections and lots of trouble. This EJK is a lot different. You can tune it on the fly as you’re riding. Way easier than even rejetting carbs, once you get the hang of the interface. I was thinking it’s be a great boon for the rx3, which runs fine with the 300cc big bore kit (actually 283cc) but runs out of steam on top, but it would be an absolute necessity for the Buccaneer, because 250cc to 314cc is a much larger jump.

Charles.

I hope you'll try this and give a full report! I never hesitated to experiment with jets (and I understood the principles too). I think the kind of system you describe could be a lot of fun, and not too dangerous to the engine if used intelligently.

For a 26% increase in displacement the main improvement would be low-rpm torque, I believe, unless head modifications and a larger throttle body were also part of the program. This is really beyond my competence though. Have you reported on your RX3 project somewhere else?

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

I don't have an RX3, I've just read about a lot of people who have installed the kit in their engines on this site and ADVRider. Honestly I was going to get the RX3, but the price on this buck is so good that I'm going to get it instead.

Charles.

[culcune]

That's good to know. I think you mean this one, the Lifan V16 LF250-D:

When I looked into it, it indeed seemed to have fuel injection and the same specs, so it is probably the same engine as the Buccaneer's, except for the side covers and valve covers, etc.

It seems likely that the fuel injection will be part of any new bikes using the Lifan motor.

Ok, just saw the 'Lycan' on the 2019 EPA/DOT on-highway certification list and the engine model is the '2V49FMM-P'


The EPA/DOT list scrolls down to other model years. I scrolled down to the 2018 list. The engine for the 2018 Buccaneer is (as you already knew) manufactured by Lifan, and is listed as the same model. So, you will be able to theoretically obtain replacement parts and/or engines via American Lifan.

[Buccaneer]

Ok, just saw the 'Lycan' on the 2019 EPA/DOT on-highway certification list and the engine model is the '2V49FMM-P'


The EPA/DOT list scrolls down to other model years. I scrolled down to the 2018 list. The engine for the 2018 Buccaneer is (as you already knew) manufactured by Lifan, and is listed as the same model. So, you will be able to theoretically obtain replacement parts and/or engines via American Lifan.

Right you are, Culcune.

I found a lifanmotos.net page referring to a "Lifan Lycan V16," here:

www.lifanmotos.net/News/activity/2018-10-30/76.html

showing that the Lycan and the V16 are the same bike, as you suggested.

Also, confirming your EPA/DOT finding, the same engine model number, 2V49FMM-P, is stamped on the left side of mine. Good news!

It is amazing how different the same engine looks in the Lycan compared with the Buccaneer. I wonder if all that chromed cladding is metal or plastic.

Buc

[Buccaneer]

I don't have an RX3, I've just read about a lot of people who have installed the kit in their engines on this site and ADVRider. Honestly I was going to get the RX3, but the price on this buck is so good that I'm going to get it instead.

Charles.

That's great news. Maybe you will lead the way on a big-bore upgrade. I do worry about more vibration, though.

Speaking of which, if you want to use the same heavier bar end weights I did, from a Guzzi Breva 1100, I'll be happy to send you a pair of longer screws that I had to buy in a lot of 10 when I couldn't find them locally.

Here are the details for the heavier bar end weights:

The weights are Guzzi part number AP8104572, available for $7.80 each from af1racing.com, and in-stock now. They are almost twice as long as the original weights and a little larger diameter. They weigh more than twice as much, as judged by hefting them. They fit the hand grips well, with the rubber lip on the end of each grip expanding a little wider to cup them slightly. (I had to add 2 or 3 common washers between the weights and the mounting points to get the weights properly aligned, as I recall. They are not visible now.)

Since I have four extra pairs of stainless steel 90mm button-head screws I'll never use, I'm offering to send you a pair for free, including US shipping, if you want one. This offer also applies for any other forum member buying a Buccaneer, while my supply lasts. Just send me a PM with a shipping address.

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

Cool. I'm not sure what bar-end config I'm going with. Judging by the look of the parts, the Buccaneer's bars have threaded inserts, right? If so, a bar snake is out of the question.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Cool. I'm not sure what bar-end config I'm going with. Judging by the look of the parts, the Buccaneer's bars have threaded inserts, right? If so, a bar snake is out of the question.

Charles.

As I recall, yes, the threaded inserts are welded in. (Otherwise I wouldn't have needed to get such long screws, since the other possibility is movable plugs, usually rubber.)

I've never used bar snakes. Maybe I should try those sometime.

Buccaneer

[ChopperCharles]

Well, there's apparently liquid bar snake as well. That might work nicely. Fills the entire handlebar with a very dense liquid, that hardens into a dense rubber-like compound. That might be the ticket for the SSR. I hate to add a lot of weight though... I'll see how bad the vibration is next week.... because.... I'M ABOUT TO OWN ONE!

That's right, dealer made me an offer I couldn't refuse... $2888 plus a $94 doc fee and then tax and tags. No other fees. My OTD is $3203. Apparently it had been sitting on his floor for a long time, and the owner was itching to move it. The owner genuinely seemed stoked that I was interested in the bike too. He said he had wanted to hear it run since the day they un-crated it.

To put this price in perspective, the other bike on my immediate radar was the CSC SG250 San Gabriel. The SG250 is $2499 (delivered) + tax and tags. For a ~$500 price difference, the Buccaneer was just a no-brainer over the physically smaller and significantly slower CSC. Plus I don't have to wait in line at the DMV. (A small benefit, but a benefit nonetheless!)

Parts seem very reasonable. Replacement tires are $72 for the front and $99 for the rear (only the OEM Chinese tires have the dual sport pattern), and they're in-stock items in the warehouse. The non-cafe seat (for two-up riding) is $101 and is also sitting in a warehouse in California. That's a steal, especially considering that the replacement seat for the Buccaneer costs less than the aftermarket COVER I bought for my 2017 Yamaha SCR950.

The only things I am concerned about are the non-adjustable brake lever and the 35 watt headlight. I wonder if any of the pitbikes have adjustable levers that will swap over.

Anyhow, I'm quite stoked!

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Charles,

Congratulations! I hope you'll like it as much as I like mine!

You got a great deal at that price (but I think the dealer still made money).

Do you have access to an official price list for parts? I'd be very interested in obtaining that.

Finally, I have a few observations about maintenance that I will post when I get time to collect them.

Enjoy the ride!!

Buccaneer

[Buccaneer]

Well, there's apparently liquid bar snake as well. That might work nicely. Fills the entire handlebar with a very dense liquid, that hardens into a dense rubber-like compound. That might be the ticket for the SSR. I hate to add a lot of weight though...


I pulled off my bar end weight and found I was wrong. It appears it mounts with the usual split rubber plug. The threaded nut was just too far in to be reached with a shorter screw. I used a stack of 2 or 3 one-inch fender washers to space the weights out enough for a good fit to lips of the rubber handgrips.

So you could use a bar snake. If you do, please report how it works. The bar end weights work very well, but not perfectly, since there is residual vibration in the right grip. If a bar snake works well, I might just add that too.

I also weighed the two items. The Buccaneer OEM weights are 6 oz. each, and the Guzzi ones are 14 oz. Quite a difference.

[ChopperCharles]

Well, if you replace the rubber mounts with a slug of steel split at an angle, like these:

https://www.steahlyoffroad.com/pub/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/265x265/beff4985b56e3afdbeabfc89641a4582/t/a/taperlock.jpg

But make them out of steel, and make them as long as possible, you'd also add weight inside the handlebars.

Charles.

[culcune]

Following the gov't shutdown, the EPA just added some bikes to both their 2019 'on-highway' motorcycle EPA/DOT certification list and their off-road list. The Buccaneer is re-certified for 2019. Thought you might like to know, although it is no guarantee they will actually bring in bikes as I have seen some bikes get certified and never arrive, but it is a good sign.

[Buccaneer]

...The Buccaneer is re-certified for 2019. Thought you might like to know, although it is no guarantee they will actually bring in bikes as I have seen some bikes get certified and never arrive, but it is a good sign.

Thanks, Culcune.

SSR also put on a press event for the apparently unchanged "2019" Buccaneer last fall, another good sign that they are back for this year. This has resulted in two or three new reviews, at least so far. It looks like SSR is still trying.

Buccaneer

[culcune]

With you on here posting positive things, a few youtube videos, and people like ChopperCharles getting one, there will be more people jumping on board keeping interest in the bike. I am a little disappointed in them with the XF250 dual sport as it seems like they are no where to be found, in spite of seeing the XF recertified on the EPA/DOT list as well.

[ChopperCharles]

I don't know that me getting one is going to make a lot of difference, but I do intend on reviewing it very thoroughly and posting my opinions. Hopefully I'll have nothing but good experiences.

Charles.

[culcune]

People here on Chinariders tend to wait and see whether or not other people have certain bikes, and their experiences with the bikes. Once a few own them (Guinea pigs), others follow. That is how Chinariders has worked for years and years. Heck, I am now starting to consider this bike!

[Buccaneer]

SSR/Italject Buccaneer 250i
Owner's Manual Corrections and Recommendations

The SSR Buccaneer 250i has a useful owner's manual that can be downloaded here: http://www.ssrmotorsports.com/store/ownersmanual/street/Buccaneer_Owner's_Manual.pdf.

However I have found a number of errors or omissions that I offer corrections for below. None of my recommendations should have any effect on warranty claims, I believe. Explanatory notes follow the recommendations. I may amend this document as needed, in which case I will note the changes.

I have written up these notes to help Charles and any other new purchasers of the Buccaneer. Previously they were mostly hand-written annotations for my own use.


1. Speedometer (p. 4)

Manual: No mention is made of the trip meter, or of changing between mph and kph.

Correction: trip meter and mph/kph settings are made with the single button on the back of the speedometer.

a. To switch between the odometer and the trip meter, give a short press to the button.

b. To reset the trip meter to zero, give a long press to the button when the trip meter is displayed.

c. To toggle the speedometer between miles per hour and kilometers per hour, give a long press to the button when the regular odometer is displayed.

2. Oil Change and Oil Level Check (p. 14)

Manual: Periodic cleaning of the oil strainer is described, calling the strainer a "filter," but the actual oil filter is not mentioned.

Recommendation: Replace the oil filter (not the strainer) at 200 miles, at 600 miles, and thereafter every 2400 miles (or twelve months). Use Yamaha Oil Filter number 5JX-13440-00-00. Torque the three screws to 7Nm. Clean the oil strainer (called the "filter" in the manual) at every oil change, according to the recommendations on p. 12 (namely, at 200, 400, 600, and thereafter every 1200 miles).

3. Spark Plug (p. 15)

Manual: "Do not over torque the spark plugs." No spark plug type given.

Recommendation: Spark plug torque 13Nm. [Edit: Use NGK CR6HSA spark plugs.]

4. Valve Clearance Adjustment (p. 12 for schedule only)

Manual: Adjustment is required at 600 miles, 2600 miles, 5000 miles, and 7600 miles, but no instructions are provided.

Recommendation: Follow the Buccaneer schedule above, using the procedure shown on the Valve Clearance Adjustment page in the Attached Images at the bottom of this post.

5. Tires (p. 18)

Manual: 36 psi front and rear.

Recommendation:

Weights
GVWR: 706 lbs.
Wet weight: 334 lbs.
Maximum load: 372 lbs.

Cold tire pressure Front Rear
Up to 200 lb. Load: 26 28
200 lb. to Max Load: 28 32
High Speed Riding: 28 32

(There is also a nicer-formatted version in the Attached Images section at the bottom of this post.)

Front/Rear Turn Signal Bulb Replacement (p. 24)

Manual: Instructions are given for replacing the incandescent turn signal bulbs.

Correction: The installed turn signals are LED, and the bulbs are not replaceable.

NOTES

1. Speedometer. Instructions were found from ebay listings of the same unit as a generic instrument, and confirmed to work by me.

2. Oil Filter. The Buccaneer's motor has both an oil filter and an oil strainer, just as in the Virago XV250. The oil filter, not mentioned in the owner's manual, is beneath the obvious round cover on the right side of the crankcase. The Buccaneer's filter turns out to be a perforated stainless steel filter of the same configuration as the fiber filter originally fitted to the Virago 250. Apparently the owner is not expected to check or clean this filter at all. Instead, the owner is given instructions for cleaning the strainer at the bottom of the engine, which is called a filter in the manual.

During my break-in period and afterwards I cleaned the strainer at the recommended intervals, and also cleaned the stainless filter. I invariably observed more metallic swarf at the filter, and almost none at the strainer. (The amount of swarf tapered off quickly in succeeding oil changes.) I also investigated the merits of stainless filters, and found that my cleaning method was probably not good enough. (I had wiped the surface off with a solvent.) I found no evidence that stainless filters do a better job of filtering than the fiber kind, so I reverted to the fiber filter specified for the Virago instead.

The strainer cleaning and oil change recommendations I made are those in the Buccaneer manual. My oil filter replacement interval is every other oil change, that is, every 2400 miles after break-in. (The torque recommendation is from the Virago manual.) The original Virago specification is much more lenient: oil changes at roughly 3500 mile intervals, and oil filter replacement at almost 7500 miles. The Virago manual does not seem to specify an interval for cleaning the oil strainer.

I regard the use of the perforated stainless steel strainer with suspicion, and worry that the author of the owner's manual may have recommended cleaning the strainer because he/she confused it with the usual filter. My recommendation completely satisfies the owner's manual requirement, I believe, and adds a replacement schedule for the fiber Yamaha filter.

3. Spark plug torque recommendation from Virago manual. [My motorcycle was delivered with NGK CR6HSA plugs, so I presume this is the correct type. Also, the Virago used the similar NGK C6HSA.]

4. Valve Clearance Adjustment. My page in the Attached Images section is based on pages 3-5 through 3-7 in the Yamaha Virago Service Manual. The recommendation of 0.08mm for intake and exhaust comes from the Buccaneer owner's manual (p. 25), while the intake settings of 0.08 - 0.12 mm and exhaust 0.10 - 0.14 mm come from the Virago manual. The steering stem of the Buccaneer has yet another set of recommendations: 0.07-0.12mm intake and exhaust, which I did not include on my page. Take your pick!

5. Tires. The owner's manual specifies 36 psi front and rear, but those are the maximum allowable pressures for the tires themselves, and are not suitable recommendations for the motorcycle. (For example, the rear tire alone is rated for a load of 661 lbs. at 36 psi, while the motorcycle's rear axle is rated much lower.) I followed 1980's Yamaha formatting to make up a recommended tire pressure table, as follows.

The Buccaneer has a plate at the steering head listing the Gross Axle Weight Ratings (GAWR) as 265 lb. front and 441 lb. rear, giving a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of 706 lbs., which I recorded in my table. I then weighed the motorcycle (front and rear, with bathroom scales), to get 334 lbs. wet weight (i.e., with a full tank, etc.). Subtracting the wet weight from the GVWR gave a maximum load of 372 lbs. Both those figures went into the table.

I then examined the Yamaha Virago XV250 Service Manual and found the relevant specifications are very similar to the Buccaneer. First, the tires: the rear is the same, at 130/90-15, while the front is a slightly smaller cross section on a one-inch larger rim (3.00S-18 vs. 100/80-17). Second, the Virago's wet weight is 324 lbs., and the maximum load is 437 lbs., for an implied GVWR of 761 lbs., which is 55 lbs. more than the Buccaneer's. Top speed and performance are similar. I decided that the Virago 250 tire pressure specs were suitable for the Buccaneer, and copied them into my table, except for the lower-load front tire value, which I increased to 26 from 25 lbs., to be cautious since the tires are not the same. I retained the identical high-load and high-speed ratings from the Virago, noting that high speed is not really an issue with either bike. In short, my table is identical to the Virago one, except for the increase of 1 lb. of pressure just mentioned.

A standard method of determining appropriate tire pressures is to choose a cold setting that produces a 10% increase in pressure when the tire is up to temperature. This would also be appropriate, but I think the Virago recommendations should be good.

[ChopperCharles]

That's great info, thanks. I'm ordering me some oil filters now! Do you have a partnumber for the plug? I want to go ahead and put an NGK plug in there right away. No telling what kind of plug it comes with.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

FYI, that's crosses to a Hi-Flo HF145 filter or K&N KN-145 filter.



Charle.s

[Buccaneer]

That's great info, thanks. I'm ordering me some oil filters now! Do you have a partnumber for the plug? I want to go ahead and put an NGK plug in there right away. No telling what kind of plug it comes with.

Charles.

NGK CR6HSA is what it comes with. The C6HSA (non-resistor) is what the Virago had.

My impression is that this bike is NOT filled with poor-quality components. I already noted the Japan-built relays (relays have been a disaster on Moto Guzzis in the past, for comparison) and the solid copper washers. I don't see anything sub-par as a rule.

The perforated stainless steel filter is probably more expensive than the traditional paper kind, and was used, I bet, to save riders who don't bother to change filters. I believe I saw a reference to them being installed in recent Yamaha dirt bikes, but I've lost track of any source for that. I just couldn't find evidence that they were actually better than paper filters, religiously changed. (EDIT: And I found references to specialized cleaning procedures for them that I don't want to pursue.)

I think the SSR owner's manual doesn't do the bike justice in some ways. The bike itself seems good.

By the way, the spark plugs are only recommended for inspection, not replacement, at 600, 2600, 5000, and 7600 miles. Mine are looking fine at 2400.

Buccaneer

[Buccaneer]

FYI, that's crosses to a Hi-Flo HF145 filter or K&N KN-145 filter.

Charle.s

I've read a lot of bad stuff about K&N filters on my Moto Guzzi board. Yamaha OEM filters are supposed be top quality. I've put them into my category of things that are cheap compared with the money they might save down the road, so I prefer and recommend them. I think they are usually seven bucks or so.

Buccaneer

[ChopperCharles]

K&N air filters get a bad rep. If they're not maintained and oiled, you'll get a lot of junk in the motor. Same with any cotton filter, including all pod filters. Their oil filters, as far as I know, are top notch. Different technology there. That said, I usually run Hi-Flo filters in my bikes, mostly because I can buy 5 or 10 at a time for not a lot of money, and then just use them as I need them.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

It's good to know this bike doesn't have any corners cut. I am dying to take possession. It's paid for, I just need to get a ride out to the dealership (45min away) on a day when it's not super cold.

OH, that's another question. What's the stator output? Enough to run a 50 watt heated vest? How is the headlight? I see it's only 35 watts... is it H4? Why so low wattage? Because of low stator output, or plastic headlight reflector that would overheat with a 55/60 bulb? Is the headlight circuit AC from the stator or DC from the battery?

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Well here I think there could be a problem of watts.

I have mounted small Kuryakyn Silver Bullet driving lamps on either side of my headlamp, angled out a bit to look for deer at night and warn drivers at other times. [EDIT: I forgot to mention I am running 35W bulbs in each, making the total load with the headlamp 105W.] This is more than the alternator can support at lower rpm, as I found with a voltmeter. Probably not too surprising. I still make good use of them intermittently or at higher speeds.

The headlamp shell and the headlamp rim are both steel, and the reflector appears to be metal, not plastic. The bulb is an H4, I believe. Though there are a bunch of wires behind the reflector I think the unit could stand a higher watt bulb without trouble. If I hadn't wanted to illuminate the road edge I would have gone that way. But as things are now I don't have extra power to upgrade the headlamp.

The headlight itself seems surprisingly good for its modest 35 watts. The reflector is a complex, multi-parabolic design and throws a good pattern down the road. But it really is lacking in brightness in the final analysis.

As for the alternator, there is no specification of output wattage that I can find. On the other hand, ads for aftermarket alternators and stators say that one model fits both the Virago and the clones. This seems to mean the OEM Yamaha part would fit the Buccaneer. If so -- and my examination of ads and pictures suggests it is -- the situation might be improved by fitting the Yamaha OEM system, which claims 14V and 25A at 5000 rpm, working out to 350W, if taken at face value.

Hard to say whether the latter would improve things, but I suspect the clones are running an inferior stator/rotor combination that fits the OEM mounts but doesn't come up to par.

I have to pick up my wife now, but I recall the headlight is DC from the battery. There is an AC alternator with rectification for charging.

Buccaneer

[ChopperCharles]

Often some bikes will have a separate leg in the stator that just powers the headlight with un-rectified AC voltage. This is very common in older dual sport bikes as a way to have a headlight even when there's no battery installed, but it is common for scooters and some Chinese bikes as well.

My plan for the headlight is an Evitek F2 LED H4 bulb. Uses about 30 watts and has a light pattern and strength similar to an OSRAM Nightbreaker bulb. I have them in several bikes and they're wonderful headlights.

Now one thing that initially worried me about the stator replacement is that the literature on SSR's website indicates ignition is CDI. Usually that means a special stator with special windings. However, looking at the wiring diagram in the manual you posted, I see that the coils are connected to the ECU, and are computer controlled. There's a single hall sensor labeled "trigger". The coils are provided with 12V from Relay 3 on the red/white wire, and the ECU closes the ground to trigger the coil. Standard, everyday, transistor-controlled ignition.

That's good. The stator is completely separate from the ignition system, and thus can be replaced easily. Replacement high-output stators are $110 on eBay. OEM Yamaha stators under $150.

I know that CSC had to ask Zongshen to put high-output stators in all their bikes. Likely SSR did not care about that, to keep costs down, and the reason for the 35 watt bulb is because the stator simply can't support a larger wattage.

At any rate, this is all great info you've given me so far, and I'm going to add as much as I can to this thread.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Also a thought: The stator may be under-sized, but the permanent magnets on the rotor may also be smaller or weaker. I'm not sure how much that would effect it, if at all. And if I'm upsizing the stator, will I also need to upsize the voltage regulator? Lots of questions which can only be answered by experimentation! I'm stoked!

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Also a thought: The stator may be under-sized, but the permanent magnets on the rotor may also be smaller or weaker. I'm not sure how much that would effect it, if at all. And if I'm upsizing the stator, will I also need to upsize the voltage regulator? Lots of questions which can only be answered by experimentation! I'm stoked!

Charles.

I'll be eager to learn your results.

The specs for the A.C. alternator from the XV250 manual are shown in the Attached Image below.

I believe the usual carbon pile tester could be used on the (AC) output terminals of the alternator to compare with the curve shown at different rpms. If you have a carbon pile tester like the $49.95 Harbor Freight or better, you should be able to directly test the Buccaneer's output and any replacement stator/rotor combo. (Right?)

Barring that, you need a good baseline for comparison. I hope you will produce definitive results. Good luck.

Buccaneer

[Buccaneer]

Well, there's apparently liquid bar snake as well. That might work nicely. Fills the entire handlebar with a very dense liquid, that hardens into a dense rubber-like compound. That might be the ticket for the SSR. I hate to add a lot of weight though... I'll see how bad the vibration is next week....

Charles.

I looked around a bit and found two posts on a single page at ADVRider that have empirical information relevant to the choice between bar snakes and bar end weights.

Here are excepts:

1) "I put a set of bar end weights from LoadedAgain on my 640 Adventure and they made a BIG difference. Afterwards, I also installed a Liquid Bar Snake, but I did not notice any appreciable difference. Perhaps if I had not already installed the bar end weights, the Bar Snake alone would have been noticeable."

2) "I've got two other bikes, both handlebars filled with lead shot. It helps a little. Handguards help a good bit. Fasstco handlebar inserts are only a slight improvement. But adding these heavy bar ends in combination with handguards really did the trick.

"I suspected it would be the best approach for two reasons. First, bar end weights are what almost every bike manufacturer uses to reduce vibes (that and rubber mounted handlebars) Second, the theory explained here tells why handlebar inserts are not as effective as traditional bar ends: [dead link here]"

Also in my reading I realized I had forgotten the usual way to install bar weights when I made sure they were tight against the ends of the handlebars. The usual practice is to make the rubber insert the only contact with the handlebars. So I'll have to experiment with that when it warms up here in Wisconsin.

If I find improvement by leaving a gap between the handlebar end and the weight, I'll report it.

Buccaneer

[ChopperCharles]

My plan was to hook up a bunch of devices with known wattage until the dc voltage started to drop. Just 55 watt halogens in parallel until voltage is no longer charging the battery. Will test at idle and at 5000rpm. This will test the difference in watts available for use, and is really what matters. How much more will an upgraded stator give?

I’m also betting the stock stator has a lot fewer turns of wire and probably a smaller core as well. Weighing both the original and replacement prob won’t give much empirical data but I’ll do it anyways.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

My plan was to hook up a bunch of devices with known wattage until the dc voltage started to drop. Just 55 watt halogens in parallel until voltage is no longer charging the battery. Will test at idle and at 5000rpm. This will test the difference in watts available for use, and is really what matters. How much more will an upgraded stator give?

Good idea! You should need around seven bulbs for the Yamaha unit test.

I’m also betting the stock stator has a lot fewer turns of wire and probably a smaller core as well. Weighing both the original and replacement prob won’t give much empirical data but I’ll do it anyways.
Charles.

Ditto.

I'd still like to see that curve plotted as in the Yamaha manual, but maybe I'll have to buy my own carbon pile tester for that.

Buccaneer

[ChopperCharles]

Did you have any problems getting insurance for the SSR? State Farm couldn't find the make in their system, it said "Invalid Manufacturer", and the agent said she'd have to call tech support and then call me back. Getting a little worried.

- Edit, nevermind. She called back and said she just had to override the computer and put everything in the comments section. I have full coverage insurance with state farm. WOOT! $65 for 6 months. Being 41 has its benefits...

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Did you have any problems getting insurance for the SSR? State Farm couldn't find the make in their system, it said "Invalid Manufacturer", and the agent said she'd have to call tech support and then call me back. Getting a little worried.

- Edit, nevermind. She called back and said she just had to override the computer and put everything in the comments section. I have full coverage insurance with state farm. WOOT! $65 for 6 months. Being 41 has its benefits...

Charles.

I have State Farm too, but forget the rate. To others considering this bike, you should remember that the government may call it a Ningbo Longjia Buccaneer 250i, and tell your agent that. I believe that is what my title says.

It's definitely DOT approved, as you can see on the steering stem. It was registered with the State of Wisconsin by my dealer when I bought it.

Buccaneer

[ChopperCharles]

Hey Buck, where did you get those Italjet stickers? I want a pair for mine!

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Hey Buck, where did you get those Italjet stickers? I want a pair for mine!

Charles.

Hey Chuck,

I got them from Hungary: http://onlinedekor.hu/scooter-sticker-italjet/596-italjet-decal.html

I chose the options "Color 1: Unfilled, no color," and "Color 2: Dark grey." The resulting sticker is just the outline text, with nothing covering the gas tank in the blank areas. Really good quality, and matches the SSR stickers well.

Next, you'll need an Italjet key fob to admire as you ride around!

"Eee-tal-jet"

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

Argh you're killing me posting awesome stuff without links where to buy it! :)

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

I got my Buccaneer today!

First off, it ran great. I rode it home 60 some miles all on backroads. I had a blast until I caught the beginnings of rush hour traffic. I had it up to 70 indicated once or twice, but I mostly took it easy on the bike.

First things first, I have two small problems. One is this unfortunateness:

http://chinariders.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=15789&stc=1&d=1550099598

The other side had stress cracks all around the bolt. Looks like both sides were over-tightened, cracking the plastic. The vibration from riding it home broke the cracked area on the left side.

The second is the front brakes pulse. I don't know if it's because the bike is new, the rotor is warped, or the pads are defective. I'm going to put a dial indicator on the rotor and see what's what.

Everything else was fine. Bike ran great and when I stopped for gas the employees came out and commented on how great it looked! So, that's a positive.

One other thing. I cannot live with the brake lever. It's a huge reach. I need an adjustable lever for this bike. I'm going to take it off and take a pic of it so I can compare and see if there are any adjustable pitbike levers that match.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Also both of my bar ends were loose, and the right one almost fell out during the ride.

I don't think this is an SSR problem, I think it's more likely some 16 year old kid set the bike up.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

I had my phone mounted to the handlebars and my GPS app running, and the Buccaneer's speedometer was 4mph off at 65mph. Meaning, when the speedometer shows 65mph, my actual speed was 61mph. This is a 6.15% error. My 2017 Yamaha SCR950's speedometer has a 5% error, which is 4mph at 80mph. (when the speedo reads 80mph I'm actually doing 76mph). So it's relatively in-line with the speedo error from a japanese bike. However, this means if the top speed is 83 indicated, then the real top speed is 78mph.

I wonder... the speedometer is a common unit on eBay. Is there a way to reprogram it for a more accurate speed, I wonder?

Also, I didn't have any problems with a bouncy or weird tachometer needle. It operated smoothly and perfectly, as it should.

I was cruising at 60-65 indicated and the bike felt fine. 6000rpm had a lot of vibration at first, and then the more I rode it the more it smoothed out. I don't find this bike to be a bad vibrator at all. Maybe I'm used to more vibratey vintage bikes, but I found this to be largely smooth and comfortable.

It feels a little choked on the top end, like it cannot breathe enough. That might be due to the fact it had 1 mile on it, but it could also be that the bike needs the catalytic converter removed. I do plan on such a mod in the future, but not until I put some break-in miles on it.

I had the parts department fighting to get me a service manual, but no such thing exists. HOWEVER, she did end up getting me an EFI troubleshooting manual, which was largely what I needed a service manual for. Motor repairs, clutch replacement, and such things can likely be handled via a Virago 250 manual. But the EFI system, trouble codes, and whatnot I would need a real SSR manual for.

I tried to upload the PDF attached to this message, but unfortunately the forum doesn't allow more than 19kb for a PDF file. So if you want it email me privately (my username @ gmail.com) and I'll send it your way.

So far I'm really happy with the bike. I only put 60 some miles on it so far, and I need to really ride it when I'm not bundled in several layers with a backpack and battery pack for my heated vest and fighting rush hour traffic and all. I am quite stoked though. Power seems good, vibrations are very livable, and the handling was great. Seat was also quite comfortable for me.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

...
I wonder... the speedometer is a common unit on eBay. Is there a way to reprogram it for a more accurate speed, I wonder?

Also, I didn't have any problems with a bouncy or weird tachometer needle. It operated smoothly and perfectly, as it should.
...

I had the parts department fighting to get me a service manual, but no such thing exists. HOWEVER, she did end up getting me an EFI troubleshooting manual, which was largely what I needed a service manual for. Motor repairs, clutch replacement, and such things can likely be handled via a Virago 250 manual. But the EFI system, trouble codes, and whatnot I would need a real SSR manual for.

I tried to upload the PDF attached to this message, but unfortunately the forum doesn't allow more than 19kb for a PDF file. So if you want it email me privately (my username @ gmail.com) and I'll send it your way.

So far I'm really happy with the bike. I only put 60 some miles on it so far, and I need to really ride it when I'm not bundled in several layers with a backpack and battery pack for my heated vest and fighting rush hour traffic and all. I am quite stoked though. Power seems good, vibrations are very livable, and the handling was great. Seat was also quite comfortable for me.

Charles.


Charles,

Great first report!

I do have instructions for calibrating the speedometer (that I had to work out from garbled instructions online). I'll look for them and post them here.

I'm glad your tachometer needle doesn't bounce. Mine got worse over time. I have another complaint about mine: if I rev the motor above 8000 rpm as I do sometimes when accelerating, it will begin reading about 1000 rpm too low. I can tell this because the relationship between mph and rpm in top gear changes. To correct the problem I have to shut down the motor. The dealer has been informed.

I would appreciate the pdf ECU manual and will shoot you an email to get it. However, the flashing dash codes for the ECU are given in a posting on this site, by Spudrider, here: http://chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=15675.

I'll also post the source of the Italjet key fob in a moment, when I find it.

By the way, I religiously followed the break in instructions. You're missing a lot of miserable 50 mph (or was it less??) travel by ignoring them. (Good luck.)

Congratulations, Italjet owner!

Buc

[Buccaneer]

I searched for a long time for a key fob, with no luck, even in Europe.

But an etsy vendor, TheKeyChainStore, made me two for $12 or so, from the attached graphic I located on the net.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheKeyChainStore?ref=search_shop_redirect

Very nice quality. (If I did it again I might try to increase the color saturation of the graphic, though in some sense this seems to be the official Italjet palette.)

I recommend the fob with the leather flap, since that avoids scratching anything on the bike when the logo is facing up.

I posted a png version of the logo. I don't recall what the vendor needed. I also have pdf and eps if you need one of those.

Buc

[Buccaneer]

Recalibration and other parameter settings for the Buccaneer speedometer

1. To get into the setup menu, first turn the key off, press and hold the button on the back and then turn the key on. Keep pressing until you see "CCC---" (that is three C's followed by three dashes) on the screen. This is called Interface 1.



2. Change the displayed code "CCC---" to "CCC123", the programming passcode. Use a short press to increase the value of a digit, and a long press to advance to the next digit. These are hex numbers, so "C" is the hex "digit" for decimal 12. After the code is entered, you are at the frequency value setting interface (interface 2).



3. Depending on the initial set up you will see one or another hexidecimal number that expresses the calibration factor. For example F03.4 corresponds to the decimal number 3843.25. (Note that not all online converters are set up to handle fractional hex numbers, since hex is mainly used in an integer context by programmers. One that does do the conversion is
https://www.mathsisfun.com/binary-decimal-hexadecimal-converter.html .)

4. You need to enter the correct hexidecimal value to calibrate the speedometer.The higher the number, the slower the actual readout is on the speedo. You should just adjust up or down by the proportional error you observe. If your speedometer readout were 4 percent high, and you observed a setting of F03.4, you would convert the hex to decimal 3843.25, divide that by 0.96, getting 4003.385, and use the mentioned website to convert that to hex FA3.6, approximately, which you would then enter. You use the same method for incrementing and advancing across digits as described earlier.

5. The hex value is actually a frequency of pulses per kilometer generated by the vehicle speed sensor. So another way to go is to calculate that frequency. If a wheel generates six pulses per rotation (as I think the Buccaneer does), and the circumference is measured as 61 3/8 inches, for example, then the required frequency is F08.D [ ~= 6 x 39370.1/ 61.375 = 3848.808, converted to hex, where 39370.1 is the the number of inches in a kilometer]. You would then enter F08.D.



6. Once you are done programming give a long press on the button to save and exit.



7. There are also other settings revealed on interface 2. "y2" means two cylinders. You can increment this to 3 or 4, but don't do it. There is a warning that you cannot reset the value to one cylinder once you change the setting, and I would worry about getting back to "2." To the right of the "y2" is a setting of "1" or "5", which is said to mean the fuel sensor is either 2 wires or 3 wires. Really. So I would avoid changing any of that hoodoo too.


[EDIT: I'm rethinking a paragraph of explanation that I had here, after measuring my own wheel, and noting the actual calibration value in the Buccaneer's speedometer, which is F05.7. I'm reconsidering the calculation in paragraph 5, and will update later. The paragraph 4 method is fine.]

It would be hard to go wrong with the simple proportional readjustment method, converting between hex and decimal as described.

I suppose I like little optimism in my speedometer, after all.

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

My philosophy with breaking in a motor is to break it in relatively hard. I’ve followed the break in procedure on other bikes and it doesn’t make any noticeable difference. However the physics of a hard break in makes sense to me. You want the rings to seat and wear in. With middling rpms there’s never a huge amount of pressure to force those rings against th cylinder walls. Hard break ins are supposed to make for a motor with better compression.

Now I’m not running it like I would if it were fully broken in. Only about 75%. But I’m not really babying it either. I’ve had very good luck using this method in the past so I’m not going to switch up now. Basically I’m just going to ride it and have fun, but stay off of any kind of interstate until it is past the break in period. No full throttle max rpm until after the first service.

My goal with this bike is to run the miles out of the warranty before the time runs out. So, 12k miles in a year. If something is going to break i want to know... but man this motor is sweet. I don’t think it will. The vibration is FAR less than I expected. Way smoother than most of of my vintage bikes. The motor just feels like a gem.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

I got my Buccaneer today!
...
The other side had stress cracks all around the bolt. Looks like both sides were over-tightened, cracking the plastic. The vibration from riding it home broke the cracked area on the left side.

No cracks on mine, but I'll be careful about tightening those bolts. My bike was also sloppily set up. The relays weren't even mounted on their brackets.

The second is the front brakes pulse. I don't know if it's because the bike is new, the rotor is warped, or the pads are defective. I'm going to put a dial indicator on the rotor and see what's what.

I recall mine pulse too. Let me know what you find.

Everything else was fine. Bike ran great and when I stopped for gas the employees came out and commented on how great it looked! So, that's a positive.

Better get used to that!


One other thing. I cannot live with the brake lever. It's a huge reach. I need an adjustable lever for this bike. I'm going to take it off and take a pic of it so I can compare and see if there are any adjustable pitbike levers that match.

Do you mean the hand lever? I don't find it a reach (but then I own a Guzzi 850-T3 which is said to require gorilla hands, so I may be desensitized). I hate the way the brake and clutch levers wobble up and down on their pivots, and would like a better set of levers on both sides. So, if you find some....

Buc

[Buccaneer]

... but man this motor is sweet.... The vibration is FAR less than I expected. Way smoother than most of of my vintage bikes. The motor just feels like a gem.
Charles.

I'm really glad you like the bike so much. I was afraid I might be overselling it in my earlier review (though not intending to).

Your break in method is widely used. I am ambivalent about it, and decided to go with the engineer's recommendation this time, in part because I worried that the engine might have looser tolerances than more modern ones. But now I doubt that: it seems more and more like a Yamaha.

It took a longer trip before the vibrations got to my hands. Maybe 200 miles. But it made them quite numb. I don't usually experience this.

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

Interesting you say it's more and more like a yamaha. The right hand mirror is reverse threaded, so Yamaha mirrors will bolt right on. That said, I actually really like the mirrors it comes with. I like that they can be fine-tune adjusted without loosening bolts, and that they don't vibrate. Not crazy about the plastic head, but I'll live with it.

The tools aren't great. The 17mm wrench spread and slipped on the mirror mount. So I'll be replacing all of those with better tools. There is no 8mm, which I found a problem because I needed to adjust the clutch lever angle. Had to suffer with it for 60-some miles until I got home.

My relays are also not mounted to anything. I didn't even realize there were brackets under there for the relays. I'm about to go back out to the garage and check!

The lever bothers me because it's a long reach, and all of the braking power is in the first quarter inch of pull. If the lever was about halfway through its stroke, there would be a lot more control and pressure available, just because of hand positioning. I had this same problem with my 2017 SCR950 though. For that bike, an adjustable lever from an XSR700 bolted right on. This Buccaneer is going to have me searching, though.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

I took the front brake lever off, and it's easy to see why the levers have play up and down. There are no bushings! The aluminum lever pivots directly on the steel bolt. Normally there is a bronze bushing inside a lever, to prevent them from quickly wearing out. These levers have no bushing, and even worse, there was ZERO grease on the pivot. I suggest at the minimum, removing the levers and greasing the pivot.

I've got it out now to try and match it to levers on eBay. Looks similar to a GSXR lever, but it's thinner. The part number on the bottom, 303kk13017, doesn't appear to match to anything on Google.

Charles

[ChopperCharles]

No brackets for the relays under the seat in my bike. Can you post a pic of your relays secured in brackets? Maybe my bike is missing a part?

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

No brackets for the relays under the seat in my bike. Can you post a pic of your relays secured in brackets? Maybe my bike is missing a part?

Charles.

Charles,

The brackets are just hard to perceive. Just aft of the battery tray is a set of four largish tabs sticking up nearly vertically, formed from a single, black-painted steel sheet or stamping. Each of those tabs is the right size to fit into a slot on a relay.

It's sort of weird that they are mounted in that position, but it frees up room to carry a small backpack, as I mentioned earlier. I recommend this one, that has straps instead of the usual strings:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01L6TM5PG/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I got the orange one, a nice bright high-visibility color.

Another thing you can do to increase the available storage room is pull more of the taillight harness back under the fender, securing it there with zip ties. That is, assuming your taillight harness is occupying excessive space like mine was.

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

I'm not seeing any brackets aft of the battery. Maybe I have a part missing? I'd love to see a photo of your under seat area. Here's mine.


Charles.

[1cylinderwonder]

What is the width, length, and thickness of the SSR Buccaneer 250 Classic’s seat?
Is it very comfortable? How about the rider’s comfort? If you’re 6 feet or taller, can you ride very far comfortable?
How do the dimensions of the Buccaneer 250 compare to the CSC San Gabriel?
I’m hoping there is more room for larger riders on the Buccaneer. When I tested the CSC San Gabriel I was rather cramped up. Not much room for my legs and arms. Very crowded feeling.

[ChopperCharles]

The San Gabriel has a 27" seat height, the Buccaneer has a 31" seat height. It's a full-size motorcycle, where the San Gabriel is more of a 3/4 sized bike. I find the seat very comfortable, with the caveat that on the Cafe version, you're plugged into the seat as if you're both made of Lego. No movement fore or aft is possible. I found it very comfortable for a 2 hour ride. That same ride on my SCR950 would have me squirming in pain. On the Buccaneer it was no big deal.

That said, if you have long legs you'll still be a little cramped. Not as bad as the CSC I think, but still cramped. The pegs are pretty high. I'm 5'9" and I fit the bike very well, but I only have a 32 inseam.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

I'm a full-sized guy, and it doesn't look or feel like a small bike to me.

Charles.

[JerryHawk250]

That's a nice size bike. :tup: I thought it would be smaller. Look s good. If the brakes are pulsing I would try cleaning the rotors with brake cleaner. It may still have the shipping rust inhibitor on them.

[Merlin]

Very nice bike. The more I see it the more I like it. Thanks for the pic.

[ChopperCharles]

Rode it today and the pulsing was gone. So that’s nice!

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

I'm not seeing any brackets aft of the battery. Maybe I have a part missing? I'd love to see a photo of your under seat area. Here's mine.
Charles.

I was at work and unable to look at my bike. There are three relays, of course, not four. The tabs are part of the retaining plate that lies over the battery, on my bike, secured by the four stainless round-head Allen screws. In the photo below two of the relays are seated on their tabs, and third has been pulled off.

So, yes, you're missing a part!

Buc

[Buccaneer]

I emphasized in my review that it's a full-size bike, and Charles's photo backs that up!

Back in November, 2016, I started a Buccaneer 250 thread on a Moto Guzzi board (wildguzzi.com). Many were quite enthusiastic!

Anyway, I prepared a series of comparisons of the Buccaneer with various other models, carefully placing them on the same scale by using published information on the wheelbases. (I made little "measuring rods" to resize the various photos to the correct measurements from axle to axle, to the nearest pixel.)

Here is one such comparison that might give a good idea of the Buccaneer's size. The bikes are a Guzzi V7II Racer (750 cc) and an older Moto Morini 250. The Buck really is as big as the Guzzi in profile, as represented! (Of course it also weighs a claimed 136 lbs less, and the components are dissimilar in many ways.) The Buccaneer dwarfs the Morini 250. Later I found the Cyclewerks Misfit, which I had been considering, very disappointing when I saw the two side-by-side. Once I made that comparison, I was hooked.

Buc

[Buccaneer]

What is the width, length, and thickness of the SSR Buccaneer 250 Classic’s seat?
Is it very comfortable? How about the rider’s comfort? If you’re 6 feet or taller, can you ride very far comfortable?


I bought a Classic seat in addition to the one that came on my Cafe. Measured across the top panel, it is about 20 1/2" long and 7 1/2" wide. It's really more a 1 1/2 seater instead of a full two-seater.

I find the narrow Cafe seat is more comfortable for me, and my wife won't go near the Classic one because she thinks it is too short. <sigh>

How do the dimensions of the Buccaneer 250 compare to the CSC San Gabriel?
I’m hoping there is more room for larger riders on the Buccaneer. When I tested the CSC San Gabriel I was rather cramped up. Not much room for my legs and arms. Very crowded feeling.

You can see the weight and some dimensions on that comparison graphic I just posted. That should give you an idea of the San Gabriel comparison.

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

Dealership ordered a battery bracket for me, and I'm getting a new cowl as well. Both under warranty!

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Ya know, I was thinking about the cowl. If one were to cut the foam out under the cowl and then recover the seat, there'd be some extra storage space available.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Ya know, I was thinking about the cowl. If one were to cut the foam out under the cowl and then recover the seat, there'd be some extra storage space available.

Charles.

I thought about carving out a recess just big enough for an espresso cup, so that I can drink in style when I'm at a shop that tries to serve me in a paper cup! But I decided I was getting too eccentric.

I wish that the seat underneath the cowl were flat instead of humped. It's hard to see what the advantage of that hump is. Maybe it's to encourage us to buy the flat seat too (as I did).

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

Well, I do like the hump. When I accelerate it holds my butt in place nicely. But yeah, it would make more sense for the cowl to be a cover over a flat seat.

I'm debating having the flat seat's rear hump shaved off and the seat recovered in a brown vinyl. Then go with brown grips and knee pads on the tank.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

OH, today I verified that the stator does output enough juice to power my Tourmaster Synergy 2.0 heated vest with collar. It's a 52 watt vest. When it's on full blast, the voltage at idle drops from 14.85 volts to 13.98 volts, and then quickly stabilizes at 14.07 volts. Increasing the revs brings voltage back up to 14.3 volts, but it never goes back up to 14.85 volts. So, the stator does have enough power to charge the battery and run the heated vest, and seemingly with some in reserve as well.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Another interesting thing. The rectifier has two 12V outputs. One goes to the battery, the other goes directly to the headlight circuit. So the headlight is only running when the stator is making power. If the regulator or the stator fries, the headlight will die. It's not a bad design, and makes for easy troubleshooting.

Charles.

[Mudflap]

12v regulated ac to the headlight?

[ChopperCharles]

That's a good question. I'll gank the headlight and put a meter on it when I get a chance, to see if it's DC or AC. DC I hope, as I'd like to run a LED headlight without need of an additional rectifier.

Also, I have two different wiring diagrams for the buccaneer so far. One printed in the manual that came with the bike, and another one from SSR's website. The online one is missing two relays... So, either may be less than accurate.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

So, more interesting information!

The headlight is regulated DC voltage. That's GOOD! However, the reason for the 35 watt H4 bulb is painfully clear: The reflector is plastic. That's BAD! A 55 watt bulb will melt the reflector. I know this, because I've used a 5.75" plastic-reflector in a different bike. It melted.

The reflector can easily be replaced with a metal reflector for not a lot of money. It takes a standard 5.75" reflector, used on harleys and choppers and available on eBay for not a lot of dough. So if you want to upgrade to 55 watts of lighting, it's easily and readily doable.

Even BETTER are the 5 3/4" Daymaker LED bulbs, which will fit in the SSR's housing.... technically. The bulb will fit, but there is a literal shit-ton of wiring in the headlight shell. With the big heat sink on the back of the daymaker, I'm not sure it will fit in the housing. I actually have one, and will test it sometime soon. I want to see how good or bad the 35 watt bulb is before I go changing things.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Also Buccaneer, are you sure the bike comes with real NGK plugs? I've heard talk that some Lifan scooters come with fake NGKs. NGK logo on a cheap no-name plug.

I'd love to upgrade to Iridium plugs, but they're all resistor type. CR6HIX would be the proper iridium plug.... but it has a resistor. I might look and see if the plug wires are replaceable when I have the tank off to do the valves at 600 miles. If they are, then I may upgrade to iridium plugs and solid core wires.

EDIT - There's also the possibility that the plug caps have resistors in them as well. I'll check that before I go replacing wires.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Yeahhh... the headlight is too dim for me. I kinda figured it would be. So now I get to play with new lighting options. Either daymaker or a metal housing with an LED bulb.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

110 miles and now my tachometer needle is doing the vibrating thing. It's actually bouncing up and hitting the inside of the glass, and then bouncing back down. Something has come loose internally. It still reads accurately enough, but it makes an annoying sound and is obviously not right. I may buy a spare one on eBay and take it apart to see how feasible it is to fix. (I'd rather not experiment on mine and replacements are $25 on eBay)

Charles.

[culcune]

Congratulations on the bike! :tup: Most members here buy enduros, and with enduros, most come shipped to the home and put together in a garage, carport, or driveway. Yours came assembled, but even then, you had an issue with cracked plastic.

[Buccaneer]

Also Buccaneer, are you sure the bike comes with real NGK plugs? I've heard talk that some Lifan scooters come with fake NGKs. NGK logo on a cheap no-name plug.

Gee, Chuck, I don't know. It has NGK stamped in the metal base and on the insulator. Maybe you should look into this.

Works fine, looks very good so far. I see no need for iridium in a motor like this one. But whatever floats your boat. Are you an engine design professional?

Passing on "talk" without sourcing it, and perhaps talk that had no source when you heard it, is of no help, at least no help to me.

Buc

[Buccaneer]

So, more interesting information!

The reflector is plastic.

Charles.

Yes, I now believe it is plastic. I had been fooled by the metallic paint on the back, but I just pulled it and scraped a projection with a knife, revealing a black compound.

[Buccaneer]

I may buy a spare one on eBay and take it apart to see how feasible it is to fix. (I'd rather not experiment on mine and replacements are $25 on eBay)
Charles.

That would be great, if you post what you find. The only difference in the ebay item, I believe, is the lack of a plug. But there is a wiring key on at least one of the sites offering it.

[ChopperCharles]

I'm not going to run the new gauge, I'm just going to see if it's possible to easily disassemble and reassemble without destroying. If it can't be disassembled without destroying it... I'm going to cut it open to see what part of the design causes the needle to vibrate. Mine didn't start until right at 100 miles. Before that it was smooth and had no problems.

My guess is the needle is held in place with some kind of friction-fit plastic part that couldn't retain the needle through the vibration, and that perhaps glue might remedy the problem. I ordered one from California so hopefully it will arrive in a timely fashion, so I can find out!

Charles.

[1cylinderwonder]

Are any of you owners & riders of the Buccaneer, 6 feet tall, or taller? I’m concerned about my leg room on the Buccaneer Classic. And I’ve never been able to see or sit on a Buccaneer bike. :doh: I was able to try the SG250 for size and found it too cramped and restricted for my riding comfort.
I’d appreciate receiving opinions about the comfort of riding the Buccaneer from riders 6 feet and taller.
Thanks :hi:
1CW

[Azhule]

Gee, Chuck, I don't know. It has NGK stamped in the metal base and on the insulator. Maybe you should look into this.

Works fine, looks very good so far. I see no need for iridium in a motor like this one. But whatever floats your boat. Are you an engine design professional?

Passing on "talk" without sourcing it, and perhaps talk that had no source when you heard it, is of no help, at least no help to me.

Buck

Charles was most likely passing on what I have stated several times on this site... "Watch out for fake spark plugs, wheel bearings, etc."

I had a fake NGK plug slapped in my Bashan with a Lifan engine... had the "NGK Stamps in the metal", but the Blue colors they used and the weak spark was an easy give away that it was a FAKE :tup:

Source - Over 25 years in the auto repair trade (ASE certified to repair gasoline engines), I have only recommended using NGK and or Denso spark plugs to family/friends/customers so I have seen thousands of both brands over the years... it was fairly easy to "spot the fake NGK" when I did a "color comparison and spark test" with a real NGK copper core I picked up from the auto parts store

PS... Iridium plugs are the way to go... it's only a few $$ more for a lifetime plug, you can easily get 50 to 100 thousand miles or 10 years (average life) out of an Iridium plug in a Motorcycle engine... go ahead, try taking a step forward into the modern age... PCV's and Iridium Spark plugs for a gasoline fueled engine is the way of the future :hehe:

On a serious note... Denso Iridium spark plugs are proven to lower emissions while slightly increasing horse power/torque, acceleration, and miles per gallon/fuel consumption (even at idle) when compared to copper spark plugs.

https://www.denso.com/global/en/products-and-services/automotive-service-parts-and-accessories/plug/iridiumpower/

https://www.denso.com/global/en/products-and-services/automotive-service-parts-and-accessories/plug/iridiumtt/

[ChopperCharles]

Are any of you owners & riders of the Buccaneer, 6 feet tall, or taller? I’m concerned about my leg room on the Buccaneer Classic. And I’ve never been able to see or sit on a Buccaneer bike. :doh: I was able to try the SG250 for size and found it too cramped and restricted for my riding comfort.
I’d appreciate receiving opinions about the comfort of riding the Buccaneer from riders 6 feet and taller.
Thanks :hi:
1CW


Sit on an SR400. The Buccaneer feels a little bit bigger than the SR400, and the buck has a slightly more aggressive seating position (feet further backwards and a slight forward lean), but it's a pretty close comparison IMO.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Aight, so some new info, changes, and whatnot.

I thought my steering lock was broken, or super stiff. The label says to push and turn to engage the steering lock. Yeah.... no. Just turn it to engage the steering lock.

The bike is super easy to pivot on the side stand. Just lift behind the seat with a hand on the left handlebar pushing down and the bike comes right up, and can easily pivot 180 degrees to get out of a parking spot. It takes just a moment or two to practice in your driveway, and then it's easy to do whenever you need to. And looks cool too.

I replaced the headlight today. I put in another 5 3/4 housing I had, and a 55/60 watt bulb. With this bulb the bike still makes 14.86 volts at idle... but with the high beam on and my heated gear, the voltage drops to 12.65 volts at idle. It goes back up above 14v by 3500 rpm, but at idle there's not really enough juice to run the heated gear. Anything below 13 volts at the battery is discharging.

There is NOT enough room to fit one of the daymaker bulbs in the housing. The ring is a little too small to fit the daymaker, but even if it did fit, the heat sink is too large to fit in the housing with all the wiring back there.

Likewise, an ADVMonster H4 R2 bulb does not fit either. The ballast is too large and the braided heat sink is too bulky to fit in the housing. It simply won't go together.

I'm going to try an Evitek F2 bulb next. I'm thinking if I cut the H4 connector off of the ballast and solder on the 3-prong connector for the headlight cable, I might be able to route the ballast outside the shell and still fit the fan and heat sink in the bucket. It will be extremely tight, if it's even possible.

The stock plastic housing is abymally bad, by the way. It doesn't even keep the H4 bulb centered in the housing. I was noticing my headlight was pointed off to the left when I rode it last night, and today I confirmed that the bulb can move about 3mm left, right, up, or down in the stock reflector. H4 filament location is critical for aim and focus - We're talking down to fractions of a millimeter ideally. The stock reflector is just junk. It can't precisely locate the bulb, and it's made of melt-prone plastic.

I fortunately had a spare 5.75 reflector laying around from a project bike, and it went in with only a little cursing.

Hrm, what next. Oh... the bike seems to run better on warmer days. It seemed to struggle to maintain 65mph indicated, where the other day it was handling it no problem. The only real difference is the temperature.... it's cold and rainy today. When it was almost 70 outside it seemed to have a little more oomph.

I like the stock tires. I purposefully went out in the rain today and I couldn't get the front to lock up, even when dropping anchor on wet roads. The bike stopped on a dime with no drama. I could make the rear lock up if I tried, but not the front. When the rear did lock up, the slide was predictable and easy to recover from. No sideways drama, even when trying to lock it when crossed-up on purpose. Accelerating hard on wet painted crosswalks and the white lines at stop lights never broke the rear wheel loose. The only time it did break loose was on a wet manhole cover, and even then it was only for an instant. I could carry speed in turns on a wet road just as easily as on a bone dry road, and I felt quite confident. There was no sliding, no squirrely handling, the bike performed flawlessly. I think the stock tires are quite good, and I will likely replace them with the same tires from SSR when they wear out.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

One last thing. The headlight was my first mod. My second mod is the rear brake pedal. I removed the 12mm nut on the shaft and adjusted the 10mm nut all the way down to seat on the little clevis that is attached to the back of the brake pedal. I had to take a bastard file and remove just a little bit of material from the brake pedal so the shaft didn't contact it. This puts the brake pedal at the perfect location for me -- below my foot. I didn't like having to reach my toes up and slide them over to engage the rear brake. I like to hover on top of or right next to the brake pedal without having to lift my foot up to put it on the brake. I find it gives me more control, and I'm less likely to STOMP the brake by accident. The only way to adjust it down enough was to remove the nut.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Charles was most likely passing on what I have stated several times on this site...

OK. Thanks for stepping up!

I followed the links you gave and wasn't particularly persuaded. For example, this graph from the first Denso link:

https://www.denso.com/global/en/products-and-services/automotive-service-parts-and-accessories/plug/iridiumpower/images/iridiumpower_top_05.png

First, the "0.7 seconds faster!" caption is laughable. It reminded me of an old ad for a Morris Minor (a car I once owned) claiming "Zero to sixty in under 30 seconds!"

But more seriously, look at the graph on the left. It claims to compare acceleration with and without the miracle from 50kph to 150kph, yet if we take its labeling at face value, comparing that distance labeled 0.7 seconds to the whole x axis implies the 250cc test vehicle took about 2.5 seconds to accelerate from 50 to 150kph! I don't think so! This graph is clearly distorted to misrepresent the tiny claimed gain in performance. An accurate graph would show almost indistinguishable lines.

This is marketing, not scientific reporting. Whether or not 0.7 seconds is gained, the difference is too small to matter in practice I believe.

As for fake NGK spark plugs, I tried to educate myself on that too, and went out to my freezing garage to take another look. I didn't see any of the stigmata that NGK warns about on its "how to identify fake NGK spark plugs" page:

http://www.ngk-sparkplugs.jp/english/techinfo/fake/index.html

The one thing that seemed suspicious at first was the absence of "JAPAN" stamped into the metal base. But it turns out that NGK makes spark plugs other places, too. Thinking about it a bit more, I decided that the absence of "JAPAN" probably means that it is an NGK, since a counterfeiter would be stamping "JAPAN" on the base alongside the other markings.

I really don't want to get involved this kind of discussion. So, though it was somewhat interesting to look over my plugs (twice), I think I should abstain from this topic. I do appreciate Azhule's presentation of his thoughts and evidence. Reasonable people may differ on what's worth worrying about.

I do agree that inferior bearings are a major problem, not just in Chinese bikes.

Buc

[Buccaneer]

Charles,

One great accessory to consider is a paddock stand. You will see a red one in a photo on the SSR website. Though it was listed in Poland as a Buccaneer part, the parts person at my dealer couldn't find an entry for it.

The swing arm is drilled and threaded to take paddock stand spools. I wound up getting a pretty cheap, very light stand called the "Club," from an Italian maker, Lightech:

https://content.motosport.com/images/items/large/LTC/LTC002A/X001.jpg

It is available from motosport.com for $59. I got it after returning one of the cheapo, bolt-together Amazon/ebay stands in disgust. (Interestingly, Lightech mostly sells really expensive gear that is apparently very popular among professional racers including MotoGP.)

Buc

[Buccaneer]

... The stock plastic housing is abymally bad, by the way. It doesn't even keep the H4 bulb centered in the housing. I was noticing my headlight was pointed off to the left when I rode it last night, and today I confirmed that the bulb can move about 3mm left, right, up, or down in the stock reflector. H4 filament location is critical for aim and focus - We're talking down to fractions of a millimeter ideally. The stock reflector is just junk. It can't precisely locate the bulb, and it's made of melt-prone plastic. ...

Well, maybe. Mine is perfectly centered and tightly focussed on the road ahead, so much so that I marvel at it. Compared to the old, simple parabolic H4 reflectors of my youth, it is astonishingly good, I find. Its lack of wattage is a problem, but what is has, it uses very well.

Buc

[Buccaneer]

... the bike seems to run better on warmer days. It seemed to struggle to maintain 65mph indicated, where the other day it was handling it no problem. The only real difference is the temperature.... it's cold and rainy today. When it was almost 70 outside it seemed to have a little more oomph.



Mine was a bit reluctant on cold days until I replaced the defective rear O2 sensor. I hope lightning isn't striking twice here.

[Buccaneer]

I replaced the headlight today. I put in another 5 3/4 housing I had, and a 55/60 watt bulb. With this bulb the bike still makes 14.86 volts at idle... but with the high beam on and my heated gear, the voltage drops to 12.65 volts at idle. It goes back up above 14v by 3500 rpm, but at idle there's not really enough juice to run the heated gear. Anything below 13 volts at the battery is discharging.
Charles.

That's consistent with my experience running 70 additional watts of auxiliary lighting. It makes me think the alternator is inferior to the Nippon Denso unit Yamaha fitted. I hope you follow through with your bulb experiments!

Buc

[Buccaneer]

Sit on an SR400. The Buccaneer feels a little bit bigger than the SR400, and the buck has a slightly more aggressive seating position (feet further backwards and a slight forward lean), but it's a pretty close comparison IMO.

Charles.

That's a good comparison. But one thing to remember is that the claimed weights differ by 101 lbs! And the MSRP's by $2400!

Below is another of those comparos I made up to the same scale, using published wheelbase measurements. You can see the unusual-size wheels of the SSR make it look a good deal different from the SR400 in profile.

Also, take note of that full-sized seat on the SR400. The "dual" seat for the Buccaneer is about 1/2" shorter than the cafe seat, if the cowling on the latter is included.

EDIT: I added an ergonomic triangle in orange dotted lines to help compare the seat-handlebar-footpeg relationships. You can more clearly see that the Buccaneer is midway between the SR400 and the Royal Enfield cafe racer in that respect.

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

Have you ridden your Buccaneer until it's completely out of gas? If so, what was the total range?

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Have you ridden your Buccaneer until it's completely out of gas?.

No.

[ChopperCharles]

Do you check and adjust the valves every 2600 miles as per the maintenance schedule? Change the oil every 1200? This seems awfully frequent.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Yes. It's little trouble or expense, and keeps the warranty in force. After the warranty expires I'll evaluate how stable the tappets seem to be.

[culcune]

Do you check and adjust the valves every 2600 miles as per the maintenance schedule? Change the oil every 1200? This seems awfully frequent.

Charles.
Not as frequent as scooters or dual sports, but I do imagine dealers, knowing it has to do with keeping the warranty intact, might charge dearly for such maintenance items.

[ChopperCharles]

Yeah dealer quoted $165 for the first 300 mile service, which doesn’t even involve a valve check - just oil and filter.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Yeah dealer quoted $165 for the first 300 mile service, which doesn’t even involve a valve check - just oil and filter.
Charles.

You should do it yourself, if you like to save money. My understanding is that, in the U.S. but not necessarily elsewhere, a law specifies that owners can perform routine maintenance without jeopardizing the warranty, so long as they maintain appropriate, contemporary records.

I've successfully enforced warranty claims in the past, using my records of the maintenance I performed. For me, those records have been a small notebook recording mileages and service performed. For valve tappet adjustments, record the readings and the changes you made. For oil, record the brand and type, weight, and cost. Same for the filter. Keep the receipts in the back of the notebook while your warranty is in force.

This topic has been discussed a lot by graybeards over on my Guzzi forum, who must have a thousand years of collective experience, and some of whom are lawyers. Do it yourself without fear.

Probably other forum members near you could give you a hands-on lesson for a beer or two. Of course Youtube would have instructions too.

There is a special tool that makes it easier to adjust the valves, which I decided was worth the money for the Buccaneer:

https://www.amazon.com/Motion-Pro-Tappet-Adjuster-Square/dp/B00T6JO4EY/ref=asc_df_B00T6JO4EY/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=319850198764&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17378460710679304960&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9018943&hvtargid=pla-624585311229&psc=1

Simple maintenance is actually a good way to enjoy your motorcycle.

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

Oh I fully intend to do the service myself. I rebuild old bikes for fun, and I’m no stranger to a valve adjustment. I’ve been feeling like I’d rather be riding than wrenching, which is why I’ve bought two new bikes in the last two years. Now I have two bikes I can ride while I’m taking my time getting around to fixing the old stuff. And I’m feeling more and more like getting rid of project bikes and riding more.

After doing many Honda V4 valve adjustments this little Lifan motor is going to be cake.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Oh I fully intend to do the service myself. I rebuild old bikes for fun, and I’m no stranger to a valve adjustment. I’ve been feeling like I’d rather be riding than wrenching, which is why I’ve bought two new bikes in the last two years. Now I have two bikes I can ride while I’m taking my time getting around to fixing the old stuff. And I’m feeling more and more like getting rid of project bikes and riding more.

After doing many Honda V4 valve adjustments this little Lifan motor is going to be cake.

Charles.

Good. I should have expected as much. I'm kind of the same way. It's nice to have a new bike that has some old-bike characteristics, plus a warranty.

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

So, my gas gauge is flashing at 140 miles on this tank. I was expecting to get a lot more than that before my first fill-up! Now I'm reading in the manual that the Buccaneer doesn't actually have a 4.5 gallon tank, but actually a 3.43 gallon tank. This is a huge disappointment! I was hoping for around 240-250 miles before empty. (Was calculating 1 gallon in reserve, so 70mpg * 3.5 gallons). As it turns out, *IF* the bike actually gets 70mpg and if there is only a gallon of reserve, I still shouldn't be flashing empty until 170 miles.

At 140 miles there still is a lot of gas I can hear sloshing in the tank, so there's still quite a bit more range left... but how much? Buccaneer, what's you're fuel mileage? When do you generally fill up? At 140 miles I still get on or two bars briefly when I gun it form a stop, but on level ground that goes back to no bars pretty quickly.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

So, my gas gauge is flashing at 140 miles on this tank. I was expecting to get a lot more than that before my first fill-up! Now I'm reading in the manual that the Buccaneer doesn't actually have a 4.5 gallon tank, but actually a 3.43 gallon tank. This is a huge disappointment! I was hoping for around 240-250 miles before empty. (Was calculating 1 gallon in reserve, so 70mpg * 3.5 gallons). As it turns out, *IF* the bike actually gets 70mpg and if there is only a gallon of reserve, I still shouldn't be flashing empty until 170 miles.

At 140 miles there still is a lot of gas I can hear sloshing in the tank, so there's still quite a bit more range left... but how much? Buccaneer, what's you're fuel mileage? When do you generally fill up? At 140 miles I still get on or two bars briefly when I gun it form a stop, but on level ground that goes back to no bars pretty quickly.

Charles.

I previously said in my long review on page two of this thread that the tank is "a 3 1/2 gallon tank." If that is so important to you, you should have noted it. You could also have downloaded and read the owner's manual from the SSR site and found the information there. I did, long before I bought mine. So I don't see why you are surprised.

Your mileage will depend on how you operate the throttle. Most bikes have very pessimistic empty-warning lights. I think there is about a gallon left when this one's comes on. You'll need to figure out your own range.

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

I'm not really upset upset, it's just disappointing. I somehow missed that part of your post. All the other literature said 4.5, even the reviews all said 4.5. While not a huge big deal, not having to fill up as often was a big draw to tell the truth. I don't get more than 110 miles to reserve on any of my other motorcycles, and that's really limiting for touring and exploring. I love getting totally lost, and then finding my way back to somewhere interesting. I don't love sweating my range or deciding to break out the GPS to find fuel. It breaks up an otherwise pleasurable exploration with stress or an artificial detour to civilization.

It's not a deal breaker, and it doesn't change my love for the bike (which is growing as I get more seat time on it), but it is a little bit of a downer when so far everything about the bike has been exceeding my expectations. This is the first thing that really didn't.

In the grand scheme of things, I guess it's a pretty minor thing though.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

I'm not really upset upset, it's just disappointing....
Charles.

70 mpg is about right. Three times that is 210 miles. The way I handle it is to ride until the light comes on, and then remind myself I have at least 50 more miles of gas. Your bike has a very good range, probably around 250 miles. You just need to stop thinking that the low fuel warning light means you need to fill up right away. But you also need to pay attention to how much fuel it takes after the light comes on. You can figure all this out in a few tankfulls.

[ChopperCharles]

Well, I went and got a fill-up today. I did 150.8 miles and put 2.691 gallons of premium in it. That's... 56 mpg. Not so good... but I think perhaps I'm a bit heavy with the throttle hand. I almost never get the kind of mileage that the manufacturer says a vehicle should get. I'm having an absolute blast though!

One thing I noticed today. I started it up, rode out of my driveway, and was sitting at a stoplight. The idle randomly jumped up to 2100rpm, and then started to settle back down to 1500 or so. I think the EFI was correcting for the temperature. I say this because my previous experience with a lack of power on a cold day was not my experience this time. My bike had noticeably more power today, with the temps in the low 40s.

As I understand if, unless you have an expensive wideband O2 sensor and a vehicle designed for it, EFI O2 sensors only really work at idle speeds. As the revs rise, the motor switches into a closed-loop map. That map may be adjusted by temperature or other conditions that were experienced when the O2 sensor was operating within the open-loop mode. Dunno if that's what really happened, but it ran really nice today.

One other thing that leads me to believe this is the fact that the CSC RX3 can re-learn settings after a 300cc big bore kit is installed. It initially runs terrible, both at idle and at speed, and eventually it learns and the bike runs like a stock bike again - but with more torque.

Anyhow, I'm at 190 miles now, so I'll be changing my oil and installing a Yamaha paper filter before I take it out again.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Did the first oil change today, with 190 miles on the clock. This looks like a lot of crap, but it's WAAAAAY less than the shavings you get when breaking in a new TW200. No big chunks, it all looks good. I couldn't tell you if there was crud in the oil pump screen, as I accidentally dropped it into the oil pan as I was removing it, so anything that was in there was lost.

The O-rings for the oil pump intake screen plug, oil filter cover, and oil filler cap are made of a very nice, very firm and shape-holding material. Slightly translucent brown in color. It seems like a better material than the black o-rings in all my vintage bikes, which compress and stay compressed. They almost always need to be replaced. (And when you don't think they need to be replaced... they still need to be replaced).

As with any new machine, the drain plug was super tight and the oil pump intake screen cover was installed without oil, so it took a breaker bar to get it free. This is problematic because it's very easy to strip the 19mm hex nut on the cover, as it's a shallow nut that doesn't offer positive engagement with a socket.

Fortunately, after the break-in period it is unlikely the oil pump pickup screen will need to be cleaned very frequently. I mean, it's impossible to clean as a regular service item in most motorcycles. My V65 requires exhaust system and oil pan removal to access the intake screen. My GL500 requires radiator, front engine hanger, clutch, and front engine cover removal to access the oil pump intake screen. Not even sure about my EX500 Ninja or SCR950.

So yeah, moving to oil filter changes only after the break-in period seems like a good idea to me. Maybe I'll check the pickup screen every 10 or 20k after the break-in period.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Oh one thing to note, when you replace the oil filter put some anti-seize on the three bolts that hold the cover on -- ESPECIALLY the long one. The 250 Viragos are known for the long bolt corroding in place and breaking off deep inside the motor when you try to unscrew it. Then you have to remove the right engine cover and a bunch of parts to get access to the hole, and hope to hell there's enough of the bolt left to get a pair of vice grips on. If not, it's a trip to the machine shop to have it extracted. So put anti-seize on those three bolts when you change the oil filter!

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Did the first oil change today, with 190 miles on the clock. This looks like a lot of crap, but it's WAAAAAY less than the shavings you get when breaking in a new TW200. No big chunks, it all looks good....
Charles.

My filter had much less swarf than yours at the same mileage (side-by-side photos, below). Then that declined quickly and exponentially at succeeding oil changes.

At that point my bike had never exceeded 50 mph, and I had also been following all the other break-in recommendations in the manual (as I continued to do for the first 1000 miles). I think that your cavalier approach to break-in may be responsible for all that extra crud.

My philosophy with breaking in a motor is to break it in relatively hard.... Charles.

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

You might very well be right. The extra swarf in my oil may very well be from my harder break in procedure. It could also easily be sample variation. I would be very curious to compare compression readings after each of our break in procedures. If I run a compression check on mine and then mail you my gauge and my exact procedure, would you be willing to replicate it on your bike, to see if there is actually any benefit to the harder break in?

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

You might very well be right. The extra swarf in my oil may very well be from my harder break in procedure. It could also easily be sample variation. I would be very curious to compare compression readings after each of our break in procedures. If I run a compression check on mine and then mail you my gauge and my exact procedure, would you be willing to replicate it on your bike, to see if there is actually any benefit to the harder break in?

Charles.

Sure! Sounds like a good comparison to make, but of course any difference in compression could also be sample variation. (And don't forget we may need to factor in our elevation difference; I'm at 800 feet above sea level.)

However, though I grant that better compression might result from a hard break-in (since many say it does), I believe there is more to worry about than bedding in the rings, and that this must be why engineers recommend a gentle break-in. The source of that crud is not likely the rings, but other moving parts. I'd much rather replace the rings than most of those other parts.

What would be best would be a randomized trial. We have performed a so-called natural experiment, without planning to. But we don't have enough replications (yet).

So here's a request for anyone who buys a Buccaneer: Please decide which of two procedures you will follow for the first 200 miles, take a picture of your oil filter at that mileage, and post it here, saying which procedure you followed! (Maybe Charles will send you his by-then-standard compression gauge for a followup measurement.)

This would be a good experiment if we had enough takers, because no one can tell whether they have a bike that perhaps is loaded with more crud from the factory (as yours could have been). In effect, that fact randomizes the treatment across the different possible conditions of bikes from the factory, so that an analysis could be performed to assess the evidence. (It would have to rely on qualitative assessments of the photos, though, since I don't think we'll be weighing the swarf.)

Here are the two procedures that new owners could pick from, as they like:

I. The Owner's Manual Break-In Procedure
• Top Speed

During the first 1,000 miles of operation, do not run the engine at high speed or accelerate too quickly. RPM’s should not exceed 80% of the maximum RPM.

• Engine Speed Change

Speed should always be variable, it should change frequently, it helps the engine parts to break-in smoothly.

• Avoid Long Distances at Low Speeds

To help prevent damage and to assist the engine break-in period long distance travel at low speeds should be avoided until the engine is past the first 1,000 miles of use.

The chart below shows the recommended maximum RPM’s during the break-in period:

First 500 miles: Under 5,000 RPM
First 1,000 miles: Under 6,000 RPM
Over 1,000 miles: Under 7,500 RPM

II. ChopperCharles's Break-In Procedure

My philosophy with breaking in a motor is to break it in relatively hard. I’ve followed the break in procedure on other bikes and it doesn’t make any noticeable difference. However the physics of a hard break in makes sense to me. You want the rings to seat and wear in. With middling rpms there’s never a huge amount of pressure to force those rings against th cylinder walls. Hard break ins are supposed to make for a motor with better compression.

Now I’m not running it like I would if it were fully broken in. Only about 75%. But I’m not really babying it either. I’ve had very good luck using this method in the past so I’m not going to switch up now. Basically I’m just going to ride it and have fun, but stay off of any kind of interstate until it is past the break in period. No full throttle max rpm until after the first service.


I don't regard Charles is any kind of outlier. There are lots of people around who advise us to "ride it like you stole it," which is more extreme than his position.

But if we could compare the by-the-book results with a more liberal regime -- Charles's or worse -- it would actually provide some respectable empirical data to help resolve a long-standing difference of opinion among owners, if not among engineers.

All we need are more participating new Buccaneer owners.

C'mon, Chinariders! Buy some more Buccaneers!*

Buc

*Hurry! Sale ends in EIGHT DAYS, on Feb. 28th! $300 rebate.

[ChopperCharles]

Cool. Yeah, I'm not saying doinga compression check will "prove" anything one way or another, becuase the sample size is just too small. It was for curiosity's sake. That said, your idea to get more samples in the experiment is great! More people buying Buccaneers is a great idea, this bike absolutely rocks my socks and more people should try it!

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

*Hurry! Sale ends in EIGHT DAYS, on Feb. 28th! $300 rebate.

Here's an interesting observation: When I first mentioned it three and a half weeks ago (on page 2 of this thread), that sale was scheduled to end on the last day of March, as I said then. Now it's been moved up to end one month earlier.

Maybe they're selling like hotcakes now! Maybe Culcune's prediction is coming true:

With you on here posting positive things, a few youtube videos, and people like ChopperCharles getting one, there will be more people jumping on board keeping interest in the bike.

Buc

Hurry! Sale ends in EIGHT DAYS, on Feb. 28th! $300 rebate.
Hurry! Sale ends in EIGHT DAYS, on Feb. 28th! $300 rebate.
Hurry! Sale ends in EIGHT DAYS, on Feb. 28th! $300 rebate.

[ChopperCharles]

So I misread some previous posts of yours Buccaneer. The bike comes with a CR6HSA plug. Which means a CR6HIX iridium plug is a direct replacement.

I pulled a plug cap off and have verified that the spark plug wires are stranded copper core, not suppression core. There is no resistor in the spark plug cap. I just read my new Virago service manual and confirmed that the Virago had resistors in the spark plug caps.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Hrm. After my oil change, I'm realizing there's no oil light on the gauge, just a check engine light tied to the computer. Inspecting the motor, I don't see an oil pressure sensor either. Is there no low oil pressure warning for this motor?

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Hrm. After my oil change, I'm realizing there's no oil light on the gauge, just a check engine light tied to the computer. Inspecting the motor, I don't see an oil pressure sensor either. Is there no low oil pressure warning for this motor?

Charles.

! Seems not, judging from the circuit diagram and your inspection.

Maybe the Yamaha XV250 has one, and perhaps there is a disused port for a gauge. Wait! It's coming back to me that I identified just such a plug on the right side of the motor, very close to the junction of the two cylinders. I briefly considered putting an oil pressure sensor there, but decided it would be unsightly, and so forgot about this.

I think this is all a correct memory, but I'm not near my garage and can't try to verify it. Perhaps it was just a dream.

Buc

EDIT: I think that's it there, standing proud from the base of the rear cylinder, toward the right in the attached image.

[ChopperCharles]

The XV250, from my research, doesn't appear to have one either. Other models in the Virago line have an oil LEVEL sensor in the bottom of the crankcase, but it doesn't appear the 250 Virago has even that.

The point you indicated is a place where an oil pressure sensor can be added, but the threads are too small (6mm) for any pressure fittings I know of....

But hmm... they do make M6-sized banjo bolts. It'd be possible to rig a remote mechanical oil pressure sensor with a small banjo bolt and stainless line attached there.

After an oil change, I'm used to spinning the engine on the starter motor until the oil pressure builds up and the light goes off. Then I flip the kill switch on (or reattach the plugs, depending on the bike) and start it once there's oil in the system. I had to just guess this time.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

The XV250, from my research, doesn't appear to have one either. Other models in the Virago line have an oil LEVEL sensor in the bottom of the crankcase, but it doesn't appear the 250 Virago has even that.

The point you indicated is a place where an oil pressure sensor can be added, but the threads are too small (6mm) for any pressure fittings I know of....

But hmm... they do make M6-sized banjo bolts. It'd be possible to rig a remote mechanical oil pressure sensor with a small banjo bolt and stainless line attached there.
Charles.

Yes, that's what I thought I might do. I had a similar mechanical gauge (VDO) setup on my old Vision 550. But I decided against it this time.

I've had more bad experiences than good with adding oil pressure gauges.

[Buccaneer]

But hmm... they do make M6-sized banjo bolts. It'd be possible to rig a remote mechanical oil pressure sensor with a small banjo bolt and stainless line attached there.
Charles.

I wonder why that threaded port is there. It could be a diagnostic feature for periodic oil pressure tests, in which case there should have been a description of the test in the shop manual. It isn't in a good position for a regular oil pressure sensor or sender, but is in a good position for a test instrument.

I think I had found an M6 right-angle fitting, but a banjo bolt fitting would be nicer. The only one of those I found was for a rubber or plastic tube, but that would work fine for a test instrument.

Plain-main-bearing engines are monitored for oil pressure over time as a sign of bearing wear. I don't know what kind of bearings the XV250 has.

But the only faults I remember diagnosing with oil pressure gauges have been faults in the oil pressure gauge circuits.

[ChopperCharles]

The xv250 motor has big honking roller bearings for the crankshaft, no plain bearings.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Hey Buccaneer, do the threads of your front axle stick out of the right fork? I'm thinking that maybe my front wheel was not installed correctly. Maybe I'm missing a spacer or something. Can you post photos of your front axle?

Here's mine.

http://chinariders.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=15899&stc=1&d=1550781717

http://chinariders.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=15900&stc=1&d=1550781717

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Hey Buccaneer, do the threads of your front axle stick out of the right fork? I'm thinking that maybe my front wheel was not installed correctly. Maybe I'm missing a spacer or something. Can you post photos of your front axle?

Charles.

You're pretty obviously missing something in there.

One of my biggest disappointments is that there is no parts manual available to non-dealers. I mean to write the company about that.

Buc

P.S. OEM Yamaha filter! :tup:

[ChopperCharles]

The parts person at my dealership sent me this. There are two spacers marked #2. One of them is installed on the right side of the axle, and that part is there. It appears the other should be installed inside of the speedometer drive. I’ll bet that one is missing. I won’t have time to take it apart until the weekend though.

And yep that was an OEM Yamaha filter for an XV250 Virago!


Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

So, it took me longer to modify the scissor jack I bought at Harbor Freight than it did to actually inspect the front end. (I cut off the two ears and welded on a nut so I could use my electric impact on the jack to lift it and lower it quickly, then attached a piece of wood to the top to protect the frame tubes).

Anyhow, I loaded the bike backwards into the lift so the rear wheel was in the chock, then used the scissor jack to lift the front end. Much like your setup. After getting the axle out, my suspicions were confirmed. Part number 2 missing on the left side. This prevents the axle from ever getting tight - the threads bottom out in the right fork leg before the axle bolt can firmly sandwich everything together. This is likely why I was having a little brake pulsing. The wheel is allowed to flex slightly in the forks. Not a lot, because the beefy pinch bolt keeps things from moving too much, but enough. Whether this warped the rotor or just caused some (extremely mild) pulsing that will go away when the spacer is installed remains to be seen.

I have to load it in a truck and drive it 45 minutes to the dealership tomorrow to have them tell me what I already know: It needs a new spacer and possibly a brake rotor.

I'm almost tempted to say screw it, buy the part myself (It can't be much), and ride it until it gets here. I mean... brand new bike in the shop for weeks while they wait for parts... that hurts.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Here's a video so you can see what causes this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01UCGZyWnHk

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

So, it took me longer to modify the scissor jack I bought at Harbor Freight than it did to actually inspect the front end....

I have to load it in a truck and drive it 45 minutes to the dealership tomorrow to have them tell me what I already know: It needs a new spacer and possibly a brake rotor.

I'm almost tempted to say screw it, buy the part myself (It can't be much), and ride it until it gets here. I mean... brand new bike in the shop for weeks while they wait for parts... that hurts.

Charles.

It's taken two weeks and maybe two and a half weeks for the two parts I've needed on warranty. If I were in your shoes I'd be sourcing that spacer elsewhere (McMaster-Carr, probably). Once you get that in you could re-evaluate the brake issue and decide whether it needs attention.

Nice work on the scissors jack. I spent weeks thinking over just how I'd modify mine, and ordered a 6-inch aluminum bar from mcmaster.com to fulfill my vision. It's nice, but way more than needed. :ohno:

EDIT: From your video I see the spacer might not be so easy to source. I expect you plan to have the dealer watch your video and then get hin to order your part w/o making the trip. Good idea.

[ChopperCharles]

Your solution is more elegant than mine for the top of the jack. I needed to get the bike up fast, so I used a paddle bit and a chisel to make a rectangle in the wood, and then hammered it on the top of the jack. I plan to weld a bracket onto it later, as well as a wider, more robust base plate.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

So yeah, just got back from the dealership. They're going to order the spacer and replace it under warranty. Well, technically I don't even think they're going to claim a warranty on it, it's a $3 part. Probably less for their cost.

I don't know how accurate this is, but the dealership says the bikes arrive fully assembled, and that the missing battery bracket and axle spacer aren't something they did. They insist they just rolled it out of the crate and onto the sales floor.

Running tally of warranty items or things wrong with the bike:

Warranty: Spacer missing from axle
Warranty: Battery hold-down bracket missing
Warranty: Rear cowling cracked at mounting bosses, and failed on the ride home. (appears to have been over-tightened)
Wrong: Bar ends loose, almost lost one on the ride home
Annoying: I had to adjust the throttle cable and mirrors myself, dealership should have but didn't.

Nothing mission critical was loose, just the bar ends. I can understand overlooking them. Seems cables and mirrors should be done by a good dealership, but again it's not a big deal to do it myself. The three major issues I've had appear to all be SSR's fault.

Also, the replacement cowling that came in was unfortunately flawed - the sticker was put on badly and was coming up at the bottom edge. Dealership sending it back and getting me a good one.


Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Okay, more interesting news. I bought one of the aftermarket speedometers that exactly match the speedo on the Buccaneer. I had to hacksaw it apart. Sorry, there is no easy way to get into the thing to repair it.

So looking at the aftermarket unit, the needle is pressed and possibly glued onto a thin steel shaft, which goes to a servo motor that controls the speedometer. However, that needle is really, REALLY on there. I don't see a failure mode here. Nothing is obvious. If the needle separated from the shaft, it wouldn't rotate. It's a round shaft, not keyed in any way. If the servo motor was busted, it just wouldn't work. If any of the gears in there had play, they'd stop meshing with each other.

I'm wondering if the internal construction might be different. If so, simply replacing the speedometer with a $25 aftermarket speedo would work. I haven't taken the stock speedo off of my bike yet, but I'm guessing it has a single plug? It should be an easy matter to buy the same type of connector and wire the aftermarket gauge up like a stock gauge. Probably all you'd need to do is pop pins out of the existing connectors, and pop them into the new connector. I'll investigate the gauge wiring next time I'm in the headlight bucket.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Okey-dokey, today is the Day Of The First Modification. I like to customize my bikes... sometimes to ridiculous levels. I'm not planning on anything crazy for the Buccaneer, but I did find the lack of a helmet lock rather annoying. So... a quick trip to eBay found a bunch of knock-off Yamaha locks. I actually have one of these on my Yamaha, and it's pretty okay. If I wanted to have two keys, I'd get one and be done with it. The chinese knockoff locks on eBay all have right keys, and my SSR has a left key. (If you hold the key so it's pointing away from you, a left key will have the groove on the left). Since the blanks look just like Yamaha blanks, I wanted to at least try and re-key a lock to the ignition key. So I scoured eBay for a used helmet lock with a left key.

As luck would have it, the Yamaha Virago 250 has a helmet lock and a left key. $19 shipped to my door for a used lock that looked nearly new.

Now, unfortunately the SSR key blank is slightly bigger than a Yamaha key. The SSR key would not physically fit in the Yamaha lock. However, I modified one my jewlers' files with an angle grinder to make it even smaller, and carefully filed away material inside the lock to make the SSR key fit. (this is with the lock disassembled and the pins removed). I also had some spare pins from my Yamaha re-key, so I was actually able to re-key the lock without having to do much filing of the pins themselves. I didn't actually take photos of this part, because it's likely a lot more complicated than most people are willing to do. Most people I think will just want to attach a helmet lock, and don't mind having an extra key. I do mind, and I'm a tinkerer, so I went the extra mile.

BUT for most people, what they want to see is where and how to mount the lock. So here are some pics.

First, I figured out about where I wanted the lock. I chose the right side of the bike, more or less where the seat lock is located but on the other side.

http://chinariders.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=15946&stc=1&d=1550967297

Here's a lock with a transfer punch. A set of these punches are cheap from Harbor Freight, and they make precisely marking where to drill holes an absolute breeze. Choose a punch that just fits in the hole and put it through like so:

http://chinariders.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=15947&stc=1&d=1550967297

Then place the part where you want it, and hit the punch with a hammer.

http://chinariders.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=15948&stc=1&d=1550967297

It makes a little divot:

http://chinariders.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=15949&stc=1&d=1550967297

Which I then used to drill a pilot hole:

http://chinariders.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=15950&stc=1&d=1550967297



More to come in the next post!

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Be careful when drilling your holes. The taillight wiring is right behind this area, so make sure to pull the wiring up and hold it out of the way.

Once the big hole is drilled the proper size, put the transfer punch through (or a bolt) and then slide the lock in a small arc to mark the plastic where the pin is. Then slide it side to side to mark again, and then drill another small hole. You can see the smaller hole in this pic, along with the marks on the plastic from sliding the lock. This is a quick, dirty, and yet quite precise way to position the hole!

http://chinariders.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=15951&stc=1&d=1550967891

Once the holes are drilled, bolt it up! I used a stainless flat-topped allen head bolt with an M6 thread, a small washer, and a locknut.

http://chinariders.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=15952&stc=1&d=1550967891

It looks like the bike came with the lock. Very slick, IMO.

http://chinariders.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=15953&stc=1&d=1550967891


Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Okay, more interesting news. I bought one of the aftermarket speedometers that exactly match the speedo on the Buccaneer. I had to hacksaw it apart. Sorry, there is no easy way to get into the thing to repair it.

So looking at the aftermarket unit, the needle is pressed and possibly glued onto a thin steel shaft, which goes to a servo motor that controls the speedometer. However, that needle is really, REALLY on there. I don't see a failure mode here. Nothing is obvious. If the needle separated from the shaft, it wouldn't rotate. It's a round shaft, not keyed in any way. If the servo motor was busted, it just wouldn't work. If any of the gears in there had play, they'd stop meshing with each other.

I'm wondering if the internal construction might be different. If so, simply replacing the speedometer with a $25 aftermarket speedo would work.

It certainly sounds like what you found is inconsistent with the theory that a mechanical flaw causes the needle to wander. And electronic flaws shouldn't be developing after a few hundred miles. So I'm thinking you could be right, and the model you bought on ebay is an improved version, maybe with better glue.

I haven't taken the stock speedo off of my bike yet, but I'm guessing it has a single plug? It should be an easy matter to buy the same type of connector and wire the aftermarket gauge up like a stock gauge. Probably all you'd need to do is pop pins out of the existing connectors, and pop them into the new connector. I'll investigate the gauge wiring next time I'm in the headlight bucket.
Charles.

I took a quick look. There are four connectors attached to wires going to the dash/speedometer: one bullet connector; two "Hitachi-type" rectangular flat blade connectors; and one watertight tri-connector with somewhat different flat blades.

Good places for the parts are cycleterminal.com and vintageconnections.com. The latter has a $40 crimper that I've had good luck with for these kinds of terminals.

The tri-connector looks similar to a "3 pin MT .090 - 2.3mm Male and Female locking connector" that cycleterminal lists on this page: http://www.cycleterminal.com/mt-series-090.html

It seems like a lot of work. Good luck. It would be great if you figure out the problem.

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

Actually I ripped the gauge apart even more, and I do think the flaw is the mechanical bond between the needle and the metal shaft. It was on there tight... but it’s a smooth metal shaft pushed into a smooth plastic needle and held in only with friction. Not even adhesive, just friction. I’m going to contact SSR and see if they know about the problem and have a fix.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

I put the flat seat on the Buck and took it for a 145 mile ride today. I find the stock cafe seat MUCH more comfortable. The flat seat has a slightly more pronounced rise right at the front where it meets the tank, and it feels wider at the front as well. I feel like the seat is trying to get me to lean backwards, like it wants me to recline. The cafe seat wants me to lean forward, which is much more comfortable.

I think I'm going to have the flat seat modified to take out the rise at the front as well as the upturn at the back, and add a half inch to three quarters of an inch more foam to the top. I'm also debating cutting out the rear foam entirely and replacing it with a luggage rack, much like the Triumph Scrambler accessory seat with built in luggage rack. I attached a pic of the Triumph seat below, so you get what I'm talking about.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

I put the flat seat on the Buck and took it for a 145 mile ride today. I find the stock cafe seat MUCH more comfortable.
Charles.

Me, too. I may have said that in my review. I thought about getting the flat one lengthened, but there is no frame support.

That Triumph seat is, um, unappealing. I wonder if there is enough length on the Buccaneer seat to make that approach worthwhile.

[ChopperCharles]

Well for touring I need some way to mount luggage. There is nowhere to put support bars to keep saddlebags out of the wheel. There aren’t any luggage racks for the bike. That leaves a tank bag and something strapped to the seat. If there was a luggage rack on the passenger portion I could mount a trunk of some type there. Not really sure what I’m going to do yet, but going to keep thinking about it.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

I sent SSR an email a week or so ago about the specs being incorrect on the website. Well today I checked again and the specs were updated. 3.43 gal tank and ECU ignition.

Also, have you run the bike on 87 octane? I accidentally filled up with 87 yesterday. Was just on autopilot and wasn't thinking. I'm thinking with the cold it should be alright to run the tank out. I'll be interested to see if the bike performs differently or has any change in mpg.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

I sent SSR an email a week or so ago about the specs being incorrect on the website. Well today I checked again and the specs were updated. 3.43 gal tank and ECU ignition.

Super! That's a good sign!

Also, have you run the bike on 87 octane?

Nope. No-alcohol high-test only.

I'd be careful to lay off the gas. Remember they alter the formula in the winter, so it's not necessarily as knock resistant as you might hope..

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

Well I did still have 3/4 gallon of 93 in the tank so it’s provably fine. I’ll have to try the non ethanol stuff. Got to find a place near me that has it.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Check this out, a website where you can order some Buccaneer parts: https://www.motor-x.com/czesci,c.html?vModelSlug=buccaneer-4


There are Italjet-specific parts as well, such as the headlight guard with the crossbars, which we don't have in the US. (although, with those bars in place replacing he headlight will be a lot more work). All the prices are in Euros. A replacement fuel tank in black is about $133. Not bad. They have the paddock stand for 54 Euros. The most expensive part is the stainless exhaust at 257 euros. Which is still pretty good for a full stainless exhaust system. They even have the euro-spec speedometer with the dummy lights on the bracket, where the four rubber plugs are on the US-spec bike.

Unfortunately they don't seem to ship to the USA. I've emailed them to see if they might add the US to their ship-to countries, because there are a few parts I'd definitely like to snag.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Check this out, a website where you can order some Buccaneer parts: https://www.motor-x.com/czesci,c.html?vModelSlug=buccaneer-4


There are Italjet-specific parts as well, such as the headlight guard with the crossbars, which we don't have in the US. (although, with those bars in place replacing he headlight will be a lot more work). All the prices are in Euros. A replacement fuel tank in black is about $133. Not bad. They have the paddock stand for 54 Euros. The most expensive part is the stainless exhaust at 257 euros. Which is still pretty good for a full stainless exhaust system. They even have the euro-spec speedometer with the dummy lights on the bracket, where the four rubber plugs are on the US-spec bike.

Unfortunately they don't seem to ship to the USA. I've emailed them to see if they might add the US to their ship-to countries, because there are a few parts I'd definitely like to snag.

Charles.

This seems like the site I found, I thought in Poland. It's nice to be able to scroll through all the parts and see the prices.

That other speedometer is being dropped in favor of ours on the new Caffeina. To use it, you'd have to get the appropriate front-wheel mechanical speedometer drive and cable, too. At first I thought I wanted one, but after looking at enough photos I decided it was just another cheap fitting, in this case non-electronic. When it works, the one we have is pretty neat.

[ChopperCharles]

Well, I was thinking more along the lines of getting it for the dummy lights, and then fitting a different speedometer to it.

If the stock speedo worked without the vibrating tach needle, I'd be happy. But as it stands... it's not going to survive terribly long, and I hate to lose my mileage sometime in the future. High mileage is a badge of honor on a chinabike! Not sure what I'm going to do yet. Have you contacted SSR (and Cameron Hunter in particular) about the speedometer problems?

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Check this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdHrqQy6IuA

At 32 seconds in, it shows the tail of the bike. This bike has some sort of grab bar bolted to the fender bolt, which wraps around under the fender and attaches somewhere beneath. This could be the basis for a luggage rack that mounts the same way. I'd love to get my hands on one.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

400 mile oil change today, and no more swarf! Only one tiny piece of metaling the filter. Otherwise it looked perfect. Buccaneer didn’t it take several oil changes before the swarf disappeared from your bike? Maybe running it harder just got it all out sooner? Who knows.

I rode it on the highway for the first time, and I had no trouble keeping up with traffic in the right two lanes. Even got it up to 80 indicated briefly. When a car is in front of me, even two or three lengths away, it breaks the wind enough that I hardly have to use any throttle to maintain that speed. On an open road with zero traffic the bike might struggle to go fast, but with medium-light traffic there was just no problem. I wasn’t passing people in the fast lane, but I never felt like I was struggling to keep up either.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

400 mile oil change today, and no more swarf! Only one tiny piece of metaling the filter. Otherwise it looked perfect. Buccaneer didn’t it take several oil changes before the swarf disappeared from your bike? Maybe running it harder just got it all out sooner? Who knows.

No. In my logbook for my 411-mile oil change I wrote, "Swarf essentially gone. A few tiny flakes on side filter." After that, nothing is recorded about swarf. I think you damaged your bike.

My belief is that the engineers know what they're talking about when they recommend break-in procedures, and that owners who decide for themselves they know better and act on this supposition are making a mistake.

Good luck with your bike.

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

I don't see it that way. Bike is running great, no problems whatsoever, and no more metal in the filter. I think I just had more swarf than you. I plan to put 10k miles on it this year, so we'll see how it holds up.

Charles.

[Azhule]

My belief is that the engineers know what they're talking about when they recommend break-in procedures


Cough cough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr60QK0Hsvs

KTM, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Beta, etc... all do a "Hard Break-In" on the engine before it even gets installed into your future bike...

Hard Break-In is the only way to go :tup:

We can all thank Jake TheGardenSnake for doing some research for us

[Buccaneer]

Cough cough

[link to Jake the Garden Snake]

KTM, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Beta, etc... all do a "Hard Break-In" on the engine before it even gets installed into your future bike...

Hard Break-In is the only way to go :tup:

We can all thank Jake TheGardenSnake for doing some research for us

Yes, I've seen this kind of thing, including a different, very thorough comparison involving two specially-assembled and measured motors, one broken in by the book and the other not. No differences in the rings or pistons were found after 1000 miles. But the issue is not only seating the rings and pistons.

It's what happens to all the bearing surfaces. The difference between Charles's and my own bike's swarf deposits suggests a hard break-in is not good for them, though it doesn't prove anything, being only a single comparison.

My real position has nothing to do with what Jake the Snake finds out, or my own experience (or yours). I believe that engineers, with years of training, and years of practical experience, testing and analysis behind that, know what they are doing when they recommend a slow break-in.

If Jake the Snake's findings were persuasive to them, the first chapter of your owner's manual would begin, "Jake the Garden Snake has proved that hard break-ins are the bee's knees! So we here at Honda/SSR/Yamaha recommend you ride your bike as hard as you can right away!" But it doesn't.

I'm not an engineer, and I bet you and Jake the Snake and Charles aren't either. So I think it completely pointless to argue. If you were a mechanical engineer, I would politely ask your opinion, and then perhaps ask you for a recommendation on some reading I might do to increase my understanding, as a non-engineer.

But you're not, are you? If not, I regard this kind of conversation as a waste of everyone's time. And I continue to regard dismissing actual engineers' recommendations as foolish, for the reasons just given.

Good luck with your choice.

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

Actually, I am an engineer. NCSU class of 2001. I'm not a materials or mechanical engineer, but I am an engineer nonetheless.

FWIW, the reason I chose to do a hard break in was based in large part on the recommendations of my late uncle, who drag raced semi professionally for more than 20 years. As a machinist, he built a great many of his own race motors, and he was a proponent of a hard break-in. Why or how or the details are lost to time and the grave. I wish I could pick his brain now... but he'd likely give me hell for buying a Chinese bike :)

I'm not telling you you're wrong, btw. I decided to do it my way, you decided to do it yours. I am not at ALL interested in changing your mind, only in sharing my experiences with this bike as I'm enjoying it. However you want to break it in is completely up to you!

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Actually, I am an engineer. NCSU class of 2001. I'm not a materials or mechanical engineer, but I am an engineer nonetheless.

FWIW, the reason I chose to do a hard break in was based in large part on the recommendations of my late uncle, who drag raced semi professionally for more than 20 years. As a machinist, he built a great many of his own race motors, and he was a proponent of a hard break-in. Why or how or the details are lost to time and the grave. I wish I could pick his brain now... but he'd likely give me hell for buying a Chinese bike :)

I'm not telling you you're wrong, btw. I decided to do it my way, you decided to do it yours. I am not at ALL interested in changing your mind, only in sharing my experiences with this bike as I'm enjoying it. However you want to break it in is completely up to you!

Charles.

Good deal! The wish is certainly returned.

I'm, shall I say, from an engineering family (all mechanical, FWIW), but am myself a black sheep, a non-engineering professor.

I can see how short-lived engines like drag racers primarily need their rings and pistons to seat, and don't warrant much concern about long-term bearing life. I'm also aware that brand-new engines are revved to redline at the factory (at least, they often are). But that doesn't change my respect for the break-in recommendations in the manual. They must there for a reason, or the companies would happily change them, since their products would be that much more enjoyable right off the showroom floor. The fact that they don't change those recommendations says quite a lot, to me.

By the way, I salute your intention to put 10,000 miles on your Buccaneer this year, including touring! I have found this bike completely engrossing, as I think you have too, and was considering (really, dreaming about) riding it out to Wyoming or Idaho this summer, from Wisconsin, to meet up with my brother. But I've finally decided to ride my Moto Guzzi Griso 1100 instead, since I have many memories of transiting Wyoming at 7000+ feet against the inevitable 40 mph westerly headwinds. (And since I've equipped my Griso well for such trips, including adding a real cruise control.) The Buccaneer would be hard pressed out there. For now, I think it will stay east of the Missouri River. I am thinking of riding to St. Joseph, Missouri, to enjoy the Lewis and Clark vibe, but not any farther.

Buc

P.S. I've about decided that all the oil-immersed parts of the Buccaneer drive train are identical with its Yamaha forebear's. As such, they are probably immune to possible break-in abuse for at least 10,000 miles!

[Azhule]

I first learned of doing the "hard break-in" on new engines years ago from my father (I was 4 years old and got a Yamaha PW50*), uncle, and also my aunt brought the subject up a few times over the years when they heard I was buying new things with engines...

All of them would easily meet those basic qualifications of needing to be an engineer, the three of them have an insane amounts of degrees under their belts... my aunt is probably the most "qualified" of the three, as she builds aircraft jet engines for GE, and likes to do repairs on old single propeller planes/engines on her spare time... she has also been known to take old junkyard engines from cars and build reliable, flyable ultralights that have hundreds of thousands of hours of air time with no rebuilds, only a few complete inspections were she takes the entire engine apart, and writes a book load of numbers down... if she trusts a "hard break-in" for something that is thousands of feet in the air and needs to be reliable at all times or it comes crashing down to earth... its good enough for this ASE certified auto tech

The reason every single owners manual states those things are basically because,

1) It is already done for the new owner on all the major brands (car, truck, and motorcycle)... key word here... "major brands" as, most everyone but chinese built powersports/motorcycles (Harley/Honda/etc. excluded)

2) They don't want every yahoo who just bought the vehicle to go driving/riding around in traffic, acting like a jackhole randomly accelerating up past speed limits and engine braking back down to idle... not everyone lives near an "off road coarse" to properly do the "hard break-in" after all...

3) It will quickly show you the problems from any of those cheap, inferior, and sometimes fake parts... those failures would have happened several hundred, or maybe even a few thousand of miles from now...

The dealerships don't want a few dozens (out of several thousand of units sold) of customers returning angry because their expensive new toy just broke down a few minutes/miles up the road...

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm one that wants to know what I need to replace/fix/beef up the first few hours of ownership... not when I smiling, having a good day trying to make to, or from the mountains/work/etc.

If done right the hard break-in will do no extra wear to any "higher" quality parts, be it a bearing, a valve, a piston, a spark plug, a transmission, etc... all when using a proper "break in oil" :lol:

But to each their own :)

* PW50 is still running strong and is still on it's first engine I broke in at 4 years old, countless hours of riding and abuse from me growing up, and is currently being abused by it's third family of kids, this will be 7 kids worth of abuse since I gave it away... and I used to race that pink sucker every weekend it was "nice" when I was growing up (if we could open the garage and get the bike into the truck, I was either racing or riding that weekend)... I had a lot of first place races and crashes going full throttle and top speeds for 4 to 10 laps a race, it was a blast :hehe:

[Buccaneer]

Think as you like.

I suggest we go back to Charles's intent, "sharing my experiences with this bike as I'm enjoying it," and leave this other topic behind.

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

Indeed!

So new info. A guy on ADVRider bought the Buccaneer classic, and it is also missing the axle spacer. Apparently this is not an isolated issue with just my bike, and it's obviously not limited to just the cafe version.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

... A guy on ADVRider bought the Buccaneer classic, and it is also missing the axle spacer. Apparently this is not an isolated issue with just my bike, and it's obviously not limited to just the cafe version.


<sigh>

It reminds me of Moto Guzzis. The usual refrain is to blame assembly errors on "Luigi," drinking on the job, right there in the Italian factory.

The manufacturer must have had an insufficient supply of spacers and decided that one per axle was enough!

As far I know, my bike was delivered with all its parts.

Buc

[ChopperCharles]

Interestingly enough I got 59 MPG using the 87 octane, and I was only getting 56 MPG with the premium. Need to run more than one tank and get more data though. I also achieved 84mph (indicated) on my brief stint on the highway earlier today.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

From my ride yesterday!

Charles

[culcune]

From my ride yesterday!

Charles
How far did you ride in total?
You guys have me really thinking about this bike, or the upcoming Lifan cruiser, since the engines are the same. But knowing myself, I will probably end up with a thumper in an enduro, lol.

[ChopperCharles]

Saturday was a 246 mile ride all told. Except for a stop for lunch, I was in the saddle from 1230 to 545

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Good news and bad news!

Good: I've found an LED headlight bulb that fits the SSR.
Bad: The bulb itself needs modification to fit
Good: Once modified, it works GREAT
Bad: You need to make a new wiring subharness or hack apart your existing harness.
Good: LED has an excellent pattern in the OEM reflector, and only uses 20 watts!
Bad: LED bulb is so good it shows that the OEM reflector is made for right-hand drive countries, and will dazzle oncoming drivers in the USA. (USA is left-hand drive, on the right side of the road)

So there's that.

The bulb is the Evitek E1. It's often re-branded and re-labeled and sold on Amazon, but there are a LOT of copies of middling quality, using poorer LED emitters that are not precisely located.

Here's where I found some:

https://evitekhid.en.alibaba.com/product/60757342138-806254662/Fanless_E1_Led_Headlight_Bulbs_48W_Car_Headlight_L ed_H4_Led_Headlight.html?spm=a2700.icbuShop.41413. 10.1a4d1ee6RxNRFO

They're also available from Amazon, but for a lot more money:

https://www.amazon.com/Headlight-ALT-LIGHTING-Waterproof-Customized/dp/B07F11TYDZ

They're rated 24 watts each, and they've been measured at 20 watts under normal motorcycle voltages. That's 15 watts less than the stock Buccaneer headlight bulb, for orders of magnitude more light.

This bulb has no fan and no ballast, just a heat sink. However... the heat sink takes up all the space where the H4 connector normally goes. There is a cable out the back of the bulb with an H4 male connector on it. This, plus the H4 connector on the existing harness, is just too much to fit into the headlight shell. To get this bulb to work, you're going to have to cut the H4 connectors off, and then crimp and solder bullet connectors onto the harness. OR just solder the sub-harness directly to the bulb wires. Since the sub-harness can be unplugged easily, this is the cleanest route and makes for the most space inside the headlight shell.

That said... there's no going back once you cut the sub-harness. That part is not available separately, you have to buy an entire headlight assembly to get it. So if you want this to be reversible... then you'll have to source a bunch of connectors and a #195 socket, and build yourself a new subharness.

I went that route because I didn't know if it was going to fit, or if the beam pattern would be acceptable (LED bulb patterns are greatly affected by the reflector design. Far moreso than a halogen bulb is). If I knew it was going to be a blazing success, I'd have just cut and modified my harness. There's no need to ever go back, IMO.

So yeah, the price of admission on this is knowing how to solder (and heat shrink! Don't forget the heat shrink!) and modifying your headlight subharness.

Now onto the reflector... These are the patterns for a good headlight reflector.

https://www.retrofitlab.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/dot-ece-cutoff.jpg

The top DOT pattern is what most motorcycles have, and it sucks.

The middle one is what I wish all my motorcycles have. That's the same pattern as a Volvo's lights. Very sharp horizontal cutoff, and then an angled cutoff to the right, to illuminate the right side of the road.

Unfortunately, with a good LED bulb in the reflector, the Buccaneer is shown to have the bottom pattern. Instead of lighting up the right side of the road, the left side is lit up, and this can dazzle oncoming drivers. In practice it's not nearly as much of an angle as in the drawing, but it's still enough to see. There's really nothing we can do about it except contact SSR and complain. Or keep to the stock dim bulb.

In practice I rode it for a half hour or so in the dark and nobody flashed their lights at me, so perhaps it's not that bad.


I also replaced the parking light bulb with an amber LED #195 bulb. I got the 0.5 watt version from the auto parts store. They also make a much brighter 1.0 watt bulb in the same #195 form factor. You can get it white, blue, amber, or even red, but I suggest either white or amber for a forward-facing bulb. Forward facing red and especially blue can get you in trouble with the po-lice.

The amber stands out with this bulb, and looks good. I kinda wish I had gone with the 1.0 watt brighter bulb, and may return these and go with that. Or I might keep with the existing bulb.

So, 35 watts halogen + 5 watt parking bulb is 40 watts of power... and the current setup is 20.5 watts. That's a savings of 14.5 watts!


Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Just got info back from SSR. The stator is rated 140 watts "nominal". Which likely means at 5000rpm. So a bone stock XV250 stator, at 350 watts, should be a huge improvement.

Question is, can that little voltage regulator handle it? I'm thinking probably not. Unfortunately, looking for universal voltage regulators is troublesome because our regulator has 2 14V DC outputs.

Also found out the headlight circuit out of the regulator is not fuse protected. Not a big deal for running halogen bulbs, but for an LED bulb I'd feel a lot better if it were protected with a fuse.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Today I added a pair of NGK Iridium plugs. Started it up and the idle was slightly higher, and after a few moments the EFI corrected it. I can't say it's not just wishful thinking, but the bike does feel like it has slightly more power. It's not a lot. The behavior is subtly changed when closing the throttle and then immediately re-opening it slightly. Before it was a small lurch. Now it seems to be a small lurch with a tiny surge of power. It's subtle, but I definitely feel this has improved the power across the board by a tiny amount.

Charles.

[2LZ]

This is cool keeping up with your chronicles. Thanks.
I run iridium plugs but more for longevity reasons. Not sure if they make any difference in performance. It's more mental just knowing i have a good plug. Old habit from my 2 stroke days, i guess.

[ChopperCharles]

The way I see it, is if a plug can offer a performance boost, it's going to be in the form of fractions of a horsepower. If you've got a 50 or 60 horses you're not going to notice it... the fewer ponies the engine puts out, the more you notice even small changes in power output.

The iridium plugs do offer a more complete burn, especially if you're running a little rich (which the Buccaneer is most definitely NOT). This is what I attribute the subtle difference in the bike after the plug change.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Charles,

It would be a help if you would measure your voltage under different loads with your stock stator and any new stator. I measured mine with four different loads today: low beam, high beam, driving lamps (70w total), and high beam plus driving lamps. The driving lamps approximate the load of your vest, as I recall. The attached graph shows the results.

One big surprise for me was that the "35/35W" H4 Philips HS1 12636 bulb draws more current on high beam than on low beam, even though the designation is 35 watts each. I pulled it and indeed measured different resistances (cold bulb) between the two circuits.

I was surprised by my measurements overall: the system does an excellent job with the stock loads, all the way down to idling speed. Although I have tried to come up with a prediction about how the XV250's Nippon Denso 25 amp stator would do, I've given up.

By the way, I came up with a method of making these measurements that you might consider. I propped up a digital voltmeter below the speedometer and then used my phone's camera to take videos while I revved the engine to different rpm's under the different loads. I did this while the bike was on its paddock stand. Later I started and stopped the video to record rpm and voltage values at different points.

Also by the way, and it probably goes without saying for you, the difference in performance of your vest on your two bikes would be due to different supplied voltages under the load. You could easily measure this too.

Buc

P.S. Based on past measurements, including the resting voltage of the battery today, I think the voltmeter I used is pretty accurate. If so, the whole set of measurements shows that my driving lamps are not a big enough load to drain the battery, even at idle. However they would be brighter with more juice, just as your vest would be warmer.

P.P.S. As I recall, the relationship between voltage and lumens is strongly nonlinear, so that an increase of 1.25 volts would be very noticeable for my lights. If you get the volts up near 14 with a new stator, under load, I'll be following your lead.

B.

[Buccaneer]

Here's an update on that "35/35W" H4 bulb, the Philips model I just mentioned above.

I started the bike, hooked the bulb up to my battery through an ammeter and measured the battery's voltage at the same time. The results:

low beam: 14.17 volts * 1.93 amps = 27.35 watts

high beam: 14.04 volts * 2.68 amps = 37.63 watts

!!

So, it's about 35 watts on high beam, but only about 25 watts on low, even though I can clearly read "35/35W" on the base of the bulb (photo below).

Some possible explanations: 1) it's a one-off manufacturing error on this example; 2) it's one of those Chinese knock-offs everyone worries about; 3) it's a legit Philips bulb, and they're all like this.

Votes?

I vote (3), but I'll be interested in more data.

Buc

By the way, I don't want to cause topic drift here. I am much more interested in Charles's experiment with a new stator than I am in how Philips labels its bulbs.

[ChopperCharles]

Just FYI, I got 165.5 miles on a tank today. At that point there was still fuel left in the bike, but when I stopped it would uncover the fuel pump and the motor would cough, and once right before I got to the gas station it even died as I came to a stop. There was still fuel in the tank, and I think if I had run on level ground with no stopping I could probably have gotten another 15 miles... at most.

Spec says 3.43 gallons. I filled up and it took 2.96 gallons. There should have been .47 gallons left in the tank. In practice, it felt like there was maybe half that left. One of these days I'll strap a gallon fuel can to the bike and see how far I get get before I'm completely out of fuel.

I'm getting about 56 miles to the gallon with premium.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Hey Buccaneer, what is the sequence number of your vin? Last 6 digits... mine is 000086, which implies it's the 86th bike off of the assembly line.

Also the 11th digit on my VIN is 6, which is the plant code for Cixi Ningbo China. So mine was made there. I'm guessing all of them are, but I'd be curious to know if any are made in another plant.

Mine had missing parts, and I'm wondering if it's because it's early in the production run or what later, or just not relevant.

What's your sequence number and plant code?

Charles.

[Azhule]

Those are "EFI" with a fuel pump right?

Maybe add some kind of fuel system and upper cylinder lube/cleaner to the fuel if you plan on running it to the point it kills the engine from running out of fuel... will help keep the all the tiny fuel pump parts lubricated if the fuel can no longer do so :hehe:


Or rid until you get the first "cough/hesitation"... should be close to "running on fumes" by then :lol:

[ChopperCharles]

Yup, EFI with a fuel pump. Not wanting to hurt the pump, so I don't intend to run it out as a matter of course. But I want to know what my worst-case, "oh shit I'm in the middle of nowhere and this gas station is closed can I make it to the next one" situation is... BEFORE I'm up shit creek!

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Is there a cross-reference for the rear sprocket yet? I'd like to go up a tooth or two for a little more acceleration.

charles.

[ChopperCharles]

So I ran it again and ran out of fuel completely. This time it took 2.92 gallons. I was definitely out of gas. I had to slosh the fuel remaining in the tank to get it to start, and then I ran out of gas on the way to the gas station, and had to slosh it around on the side of the road. I'm guessing when I got 2.96 before it is because i was in minor traffic with stop lights and lots of accel/decel, and the act of speeding up and slowing down did the sloshing for me. Or because it was colder outside (50s instead of 70s). Who knows. But 2.9 and some change is run out completely. Depending on your fuel mileage, that can be anywhere from 145 miles to 174 miles.

That brings up another thought; riding WFO on the highway for long distance, with a headwind and no traffic to draft behind, I got just over 50 mpg. That's the lowest I've gotten. Highest is 59mpg so far.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

wow... has anyone seen the Caffeina on Italjet's page? It looks like a far, far uglier version of the Buccaneer. FAR uglier.

Far.

https://www.italjet.com/moto/en/caffeina/

https://www.italjet.com/moto/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ITALJET-Caffeina-2018-View-plus-2-729x500.jpg

https://www.italjet.com/moto/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ITALJET-Caffeina-2018-View-plus-729x500.jpg

The yellow one appears to have a 17" rear wheel instead of the 15". The black shows the 15" rim. Specs say both wheels are 17" now, but the black bike definitely has the 15" rim on there. Or maybe a 16 considering the tires its running.

USD forks are a nice touch and I love the headers... but god damn the rest of that bike is hard to look at. Especially the black one.

Charles.

[1cylinderwonder]

Nice looking bike. I like it better than the Buccaneer.
Wish it was available in the USA.
Thanks for sharing.

[ChopperCharles]

I made a friend with a Buccaneer and she is breaking her bike in very gently. The attached photos show the swarf af her first 200 mile oil change.

The mechanic argued with her about replacing the stainless filter with a paper filter... until the stainless filter literally came apart in his hands as he attempted to clean it.

Charles.

[Blaze]

wow... has anyone seen the Caffeina on Italjet's page? It looks like a far, far uglier version of the Buccaneer. FAR uglier.

Far.

https://www.italjet.com/moto/en/caffeina/

https://www.italjet.com/moto/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ITALJET-Caffeina-2018-View-plus-2-729x500.jpg

https://www.italjet.com/moto/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ITALJET-Caffeina-2018-View-plus-729x500.jpg

The yellow one appears to have a 17" rear wheel instead of the 15". The black shows the 15" rim. Specs say both wheels are 17" now, but the black bike definitely has the 15" rim on there. Or maybe a 16 considering the tires its running.

USD forks are a nice touch and I love the headers... but god damn the rest of that bike is hard to look at. Especially the black one.

Charles.


I don't know.. I think I might like it better. Then again, maybe I just personally relate too much to the ugly/simple nature of the bike?

[ChopperCharles]

Well, I'm thinking the numberplate is crooked and looks weird in that location. The italjet logo on the tank is not attractive in either color. The voltage regulator is also crooked. The lack of any kind of sidecovrers shows off ugly stuff inside the frame behind the motor. Not a fan of the taillight, and please can I have a seat big enough for two actual humans? Also the tank-mounted speedo... why? Just to make it impossible to see? It works on the triple, leave it there!

I do like the exhaust, USD forks, and wheel selection. If these go into production, I'll be looking for a place to order the wheels at the very least.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Update on my bike:

I've got 1600 miles on it so far, and my rear tire is looking like it's about halfway through its life. That's not good! I love these tires, but I'm on target to get 3000 miles out of a rear, I'm thinking.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Hrm, somehow those images I posted are tiny. I guess becuase I did it from my phone. So here's the full sized photos of my friend's filter swarf at 200 miles. VERY gentle break-in, by the book.

http://chinariders.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=16496&stc=1&d=1554818987


It looks like a little bit more swarf than I had, and I did a harder break-in.

It's still a small sample size though, so no conclusions can be drawn yet.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Wierd, the forum kept resizing the photo down really small. I had to re-save it with a .jpg extension instead of the .jpeg she sent me, and then it worked.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Hrm, somehow those images I posted are tiny. I guess becuase I did it from my phone. So here's the full sized photos of my friend's filter swarf at 200 miles. VERY gentle break-in, by the book.
...
It looks like a little bit more swarf than I had, and I did a harder break-in.

It's still a small sample size though, so no conclusions can be drawn yet.

Charles.

Yep, that's very interesting indeed. Much more swarf than mine, and a good reason not to use samples of n = 2 for inference.

I would still maintain that manufacturers have good reasons for their recommendations, or else they wouldn't burden their customers with them. But since I encounter so much pushback for what seems to me to be a reasonable position, I no longer want to upset any sensitive types by pressing the issue. Carry on, optimists, say I!

(And by sensitive types, I don't mean you, Charles.)

Buccaneer

[Buccaneer]

Don't overlook the ABS being introduced on the Caffeina. I'd like to have that.

As I believe I mentioned before, this cosmetic design is older than the Buccaneer, and was to be produced and sold by an Indonesian manufacturer, apparently before Italjet gave up and went with Ningbo Longia.

I think it is extraordinarily ugly, and could scarcely believe it is to be marketed in Europe but for the inclusion of the ABS that European standards now mandate. But tastes differ, and mine aren't universal.

Buccaneer

[ChopperCharles]

I did ask SSR if they'd ask Longjia if they can get the exhaust header off that bike, and they said it's unlikely but they'd ask.

Charles.

[Viperbmw69]

Hey everyone. I am picking up an ssr buccaneer in a couple weeks. I live in the mountains and plan to use it on curvy roads up here only and stay away from cars and main roads. I am curious has anyone tried to reduce vibs with rubber engine mounts?

[Buccaneer]

Hey everyone. I am picking up an ssr buccaneer in a couple weeks. I live in the mountains and plan to use it on curvy roads up here only and stay away from cars and main roads. I am curious has anyone tried to reduce vibs with rubber engine mounts?

Great news! Which mountains, if you don't mind saying?

I don't know of anyone using rubber engine mounts. Are they made for the Virago 250, perhaps?

I found using really heavy bar-end weights helped reduce vibrations a lot, though not completely. They are the stock weights for a Moto Guzzi 1100 Breva, and are not expensive.

Welcome to a very select club, I think.

Buccaneer

[Viperbmw69]

Great news! Which mountains, if you don't mind saying?

I don't know of anyone using rubber engine mounts. Are they made for the Virago 250, perhaps?

I found using really heavy bar-end weights helped reduce vibrations a lot, though not completely. They are the stock weights for a Moto Guzzi 1100 Breva, and are not expensive.

Welcome to a very select club, I think.

Buccaneer

Sure I live in north Georgia very close to North Carolina border. I will look at those bar ends. I plan to put grip cushions on as well.

[ChopperCharles]

Very cool, that's right near Suches and Two Wheels Only motorcycle resort! I've been there a lot in the past, but not since they've re-opened.

The vibes on this bike really aren't bad. Most of it is in the seat, not the bars. Rubber mounting is not an option, there is no provision for that on the motor or on any Virago 250 motor.

Charles.

[2LZ]

I also found filling the bars with bar snake or spray foam, helps a lot.

[Barnone]

Sure I live in north Georgia very close to North Carolina border. I will look at those bar ends. I plan to put grip cushions on as well.
Hope to see you in the Robbinsville/Dragon area this summer. I will be on one of these

[ChopperCharles]

Buccaneer, how many miles do you have on your bike, and how is your rear tire looking? I'm at 1751 miles now, and the rear tire is looking like it may only last to 2500 miles or so. Center tread is down pretty low. Not to wear bars yet, but getting there. Granted, I ride it pretty hard, and am flooring it from stops and downshifting (matching engine speed by blipping throttle), and just generally being a bit of a hooligan (or at least as much as one can be with only 18hp on tap). Curious what kind of rear tire life you're getting.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Sure. 2630 miles. 0.16" depth in center.

B.

[ChopperCharles]

Got the new tire on, but haven't had a chance to go for a ride yet.

Last ride was two days ago... and my right rear turn signal stopped working. Looking at it, the LED board is loose inside the housing, and if I shake the signal it rattles. The inside of the turn signal glass is covered in plastic dust.

The front left turn signal board is also slightly loose, but hasn't failed yet. Sooooo, I'll be going to the dealership this weekend to complain and get them both fixed under warranty.

The failures have me thinking that perhaps I should consider aftermarket turn signals. That's easy enough for the front, but the rear not so much.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

The failures have me thinking that perhaps I should consider aftermarket turn signals. That's easy enough for the front, but the rear not so much.

Charles.

That's what I thought about the rear signal, when mine failed. But in the process of replacing it with the warranty item I found there is a typical threaded stalk in there, so the OEM could easily be replaced by an aftermarket signal. I've forgotten the trick to disassembly, but you'll see it. (You don't need to buy a special wrench, either.)

[ChopperCharles]

I did open it up and take a look. Threaded stalks yes, but long ones. A few special special tools does make things a lot easier. I have a small ratchet that fits 1/4" bits, and this makes getting the screws to the taillight out very easy. To fit a normal screwdriver in there I'd have to remove the entire taillight assembly from the fender. Likewise, to remove or reattach the signals, a very short 14mm wrench is a lifesaver. Otherwise I'd have to remove the reflector, and that's not that big of a deal... but getting that 10mm bolt back ON without taking the entire taillight assembly off the fender is quite difficult. The 14mm wrench I used came with an air cutoff tool, and it's now permanently in my toolkit.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

I'm liking the new tire so far. The tire is 0.76" smaller in diameter, which is the equivalent to a 1.5 tooth larger rear sprocket. This lower gearing makes it easier to maintain speed on the highway, and the tire makes the bike turn-in a little more quickly, giving it a more nimble feeling. It's not a drastic change. 8000rpm is now 81mph indicated. It's a lot easier to GET to 8000rpm in 5th gear now. That's about 300 more rpm at any speed, I think.

I'm going to stick with this K66 tire until it's worn out, and then consider lacing a 17" rim to the rear hub.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Pics!

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

SSR now offers an OEM rack for the Buccaneer, for right around $100. And they’re in stock. Installation video and parts list here: https://youtu.be/1MHa43RklP0

Charles.

[Merlin]

Nice rack.

[ChopperCharles]

No drama with the warranty for the turn signals. Parts are on order.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Note, the rack itself is $75. The collar is $2.50. The four M6 bolts are $2.50 each. Total was $93 and some change with tax.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

FYi, new top speed with the Heidenau K66 rear tire is 88mph indicated, or about 82.5 actual. The lower gearing helps dramatically with holding speed on the interstate, even up hills.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

SSR is running a $400 rebate on the Buccaneer right now. $3099 for the classic, $3199 for the cafe.

Charles.

[JerryHawk250]

Not a bad price. :tup: I've thought hard about getting the Classic. Then the Lifan Lycan 250 came up. :doh: Man they're messing with my head. lol

[ChopperCharles]

So... the passenger portion of the Buccaneer seat does not have any support underneath it. It's just a hoop. The driver's seat is supported by braces underneath, which the sidecovers fit inbetween. This works fine for a solo rider and acceptably for a light passenger.... however, it doesn't work great with a rack. Adding a heavy weight to the luggage rack essentially creates a giant lever, and the whole frame flexes aft of the support braces. So the luggage rack is only good for a small, light load. No top cases. Just a small bag that can maybe fit a 6-pack.

Even with an unloaded large topcase, the wind resistance at 70+ mph causes bad shaking of the box and frame.

Looking at the frame, some additional braces could be welded on behind the numberplates, following the contour of the under-seat storage area. That would beef up the rear end, and would be a modification the factory really should do for all bikes.

Charles.

[Sport Rider]

at what point do you plan to chop off the rear end?

[ChopperCharles]

I have no plans to chop off the rear end. I don't like that look. I may add braces similar to these, however. This is an Italjet Buccaneer. Some of them have these braces, but the majority do not. This is the best pic I could find. I'm guessing it's a later-model change, becuase the bikes I'm seeing with these braces also have the digital speedometer, and not the old analog speedometer.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

From what I'm seeing, the 2019 Italjets all have this brace. I'm unsure about the 2018s, but I don't think so. I also don't know if SSR 2019 models have this brace. But it's visible in the 2019 models shown on these sites and videos:

https://imotorbike.my/en/ad/2019-new-cmc-italjet-buccaneer-250i-special-now-200114
https://www.mudah.my/Cmc+italjet+buccaneer+250i+italjet+250+Termurah-60553361.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EiksqRdvA4

https://cdn.imotorbike.my/images/cmc-italjet-2019-new-cmc-italjet-buccaneer-250i-special-now-91a943b8-9b09-496b-a077-6e316bf9a35f.jpg

https://img.rnudah.com/images/13/135809103665530.jpg

I'm thinking about building my own brace for this. Since it will hide behind the numberplate, I could weld to the frame in that location, and paint it with a color that doesn't quite match. If I design the top part to bolt where the luggage rack bolts to, I could avoid welding to the frame in a readily visible area.

The other option is to make the entire brace bolt-on, with a three-piece clamp to hold it to the frame under the numberplate. Weld to the clamp, not to the frame. That actually might be the best way to go. the only problem I see is the aluminum side cover may not clear the clamp. And that's a much more doable mod for most people....

so yeah, I'm going to try building some bolt-on braces and if it works out, I'll build some extras and sell them basically at cost for anyone who wants them.


Charles.

[JerryHawk250]

Personally I would add the support.

[ChopperCharles]

Yeah, I plan to. Going to go with the bolt-on/clamp-on support so as not to mess with my beautiful frame powdercoat. While I'm building my braces I'm also going to add mounting tabs for some custom saddlebag brackets I'm bending up.

Charles.

[JerryHawk250]

Yeah, I plan to. Going to go with the bolt-on/clamp-on support so as not to mess with my beautiful frame powdercoat. While I'm building my braces I'm also going to add mounting tabs for some custom saddlebag brackets I'm bending up.

Charles.

Good thinking there. :tup:

[ChopperCharles]

Yeah, I'm so bright my father called me "Sun"! :D

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

FYI, I just found out that the bike is indeed assembled by the dealer. The front wheel is not installed, nor are the handlebars or battery box. So, my missing spacer and battery box was not an SSR fault, it *was* totally a dealer assembly problem, as I originally suspected. Maybe those parts were missing in the crate, but I was told the bike arrived fully assembled, and that's just not the case.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Posted some more service videos to my youtube:

Air Filter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzYiO15yUFk

Valve Adjustment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw42TLWNH_8

[JerryHawk250]

Good Videos :tup:

[ChopperCharles]

Also I’m at 2800 miles and some change, and the valves were spot on to where I had set them at 600 miles. My guess is that my hard break in sore the valve seats down quickly, instead of it taking thousands of miles for them to bed in.

Note that it took 22 minutes to check the valves on this bike. And that’s with me talking a bunch and taking it slow. Reassembly added a bit of time, but not that much. Actually adjusting all the valves would take a bit more maybe. But still, 22 min is awesome. My V65 Magna takes 3 hours minimum. There’s just so much in the way that needs to be disassembled, and then the procedure requires a special cam holder tool and two feeler gauges at a time, times 8 cam lobes. Add in reassembly and half a day is gone.

This bike? Under 30 min start to finish. And Next time I’ll do a speed run and see how little time I can do it in.

Charles.

[2LZ]

It must be the good machining and parts. My Q 's valves (made by the same company) were dead-on out of box. I broke it in according to factory specs and have only checked them since. I adjusted them once to try a different setting (specs conflict between Qlink and Konker) and set them back to Q specs. They just don't move. Weird.

The more I look at your bike, the more I like it. It's just odd they mated a pair of 125 cylinders. A pair of 200's would be very cool.

[ChopperCharles]

They just used a copy of the xv250 virago motor. Nothing new or radical at all. That motor has been around since the 80s.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Here’s the bike with the factory luggage rack and a Burly brand Voyager tail bag!

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

MWA-HAHAHAHAHA!!

I got the EJK fuel controller working with the Buccaneer!

I set everything at +2 across the board and took it for a spin. Top speed doesn't appear to be affected whatsoever, BUT the motor spins up faster into the upper rev range. 3rd and 4th gear hit the limiter while pulling hard, before I'd feel the power taper off and the vibration increase, which was my signal to shift. That vibration is gone now, and the motor spins up to the rev limiter (at 9000 rpm) without a sag in power.

The vibration that I've always felt between 5000 and 6000rpm has also greatly diminished, and I had noticed in the past when starting the bike cold, I'd have to wait for a minute or two before taking off, or it would cough a bit. Now I can take off immediately.

It's definitely not a night-and-day difference, it's subtle, but the overall smoothness of the bike and the willingness to rev is definitely improved.

For a stock bike, it's probably not worth the cost. Especially since you need to mod it to work at the moment. But if you want an aftermarket exhaust it's going to be necessary I think, as stock the buck runs very lean.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

+2 was the wrong setting. Torque for going up hills was reduced and fuel consumption increased. I'm not sure the EJK can make much of a difference on a stock bike, but I need to find a dyno to be sure. BUT for future modification, such as aftermarket exhaust or the 314cc big bore kit, this will be essential.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Nearly 4000 miles on the bike and .... well, I've run into some reliability issues. Two turn signals have failed, and I've been waiting on parts to arrive from China. Apparently turn signals are failing pretty consistently, because SSR was out of stock on them. Long-term, that's not a big deal. If signals fail out of warranty I'll put aftermarket signals on.

However... the other day the LED lighting on the left-half of my tachometer face failed. This is a huge bummer. If I get the speedometer replaced all my hard-earned mileage will disappear. I do not like that idea.

Otherwise, I'm running lower gearing and spinning the engine to 8500rpm pretty regularly, and nothing mechanical has broken. The bike is very smooth and vibration has slowly lessened as it has broken in, and the engine revs far more freely in the upper rpm range now. Mechanically the bike is solid, but the speedo and signals are unreliable unfortunately.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Last post was a bit of a downer but I am still enjoying riding this bike every single day. I love it, I love the way it runs and I especially love the way it handles.

Today I finished my custom seat. It’s based off of a seat from a classic, but the foam is cut down and reshaped to have a more forward lean, and then built up with more seat foam. It’s taller than stock, but also narrower st the front, so my legs can easily hug the tank. The stock seat splayed my legs apart and made it uncomfortable to hug the tank with my knees.

I also love the brown cover with the lighter grab strap accent. The bike looks more like a scrambler than a cafe with this flat seat and luggage rack, and I like that.

[jthewood]

"Yeah, I plan to. Going to go with the bolt-on/clamp-on support so as not to mess with my beautiful frame powdercoat. While I'm building my braces I'm also going to add mounting tabs for some custom saddlebag brackets I'm bending up."

Hi Charles,

I've read this entire thread and have had a lot of interest in your build. More importantly, I'm interested in your current feelings about the Buccaneer. You mentioned that you are making braces for the rear frame? Have you completed that yet? Care to post a pic or two? I too, would put a rack and would want to put a little weight on it, but am concerned about upsetting the geometry and steering on such a light bike.

Your thoughts?

Jason

[ChopperCharles]

I haven't built it yet, but I did just buy the clamps and have them delivered.

My thoughts are... well, I'm glad I bought the bike. I have 5300 miles on it, and other than dealer assembly issues at the beginning, my only problems have been the turn signals. And those were replaced under warranty. It's a very easy bike to work on, and a very easy bike to ride. I ride it almost every day, I frequently take it on the highway, my tach needle is often at 8000rpm and the engine seems to love it there. I get 57-58mpg no matter how I ride, even with highway thrown into the mix.

I do wish it had another 50cc... but then, I'm 250 lbs. I'd probably get more performance out of losing 50 lbs than 50cc would provide.

BUT do remember I'm pretty close to sea level with reasonably flat roads between Raleigh and Durham (which is where most of my Freeway riding takes place). Elevation robs horsepower like nothing else, and a 250cc bike isn't going to perform as well in the mountains. Just keep that in mind, your location may effect how happy you are with the bike's performance.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Buccaneer, I talked with SSR last week, and they have new updated speedometers in stock. These speedometers fix the loose, vibrating tach needle problem permanently.

Charles.

[jthewood]

I haven't built it yet, but I did just buy the clamps and have them delivered.

My thoughts are... well, I'm glad I bought the bike. I have 5300 miles on it, and other than dealer assembly issues at the beginning, my only problems have been the turn signals. And those were replaced under warranty. It's a very easy bike to work on, and a very easy bike to ride. I ride it almost every day, I frequently take it on the highway, my tach needle is often at 8000rpm and the engine seems to love it there. I get 57-58mpg no matter how I ride, even with highway thrown into the mix.

I do wish it had another 50cc... but then, I'm 250 lbs. I'd probably get more performance out of losing 50 lbs than 50cc would provide.

BUT do remember I'm pretty close to sea level with reasonably flat roads between Raleigh and Durham (which is where most of my Freeway riding takes place). Elevation robs horsepower like nothing else, and a 250cc bike isn't going to perform as well in the mountains. Just keep that in mind, your location may effect how happy you are with the bike's performance.

Charles.

Thanks Charles, I appreciate the feedback. I agree, my elevation is an issue, but I'm not looking for a world tourer, just a fun bike for riding around. I would like to be able to hit the highway and thats an issue where I live. We have lots of long steep uphills that can suck if you don't have enough power to keep up with traffic. I also have a long commute that I wouldn't want to do on a bike thats wrung out for the entire trip. If I can cruise at 75, that would work, but I have some concerns that I could keep that up.

[ChopperCharles]

In the mountains, going uphill, you'll be at 65mph going uphill. Even geared down a bit.

This bike is happiest between 7000rpm and 8000rpm. That's where it makes the most power, and that's where it feels the most responsive and comfortable. It vibrates more at 6000rpm, and smooths out by 7000rpm. 8500rpm is what I'd consider redline - it's 500rpm before the 9000rpm ignition cutoff. But, after 8000rpm power drops off, so that's when I shift.

This bike will do all day at 8000rpm. I know, I've done it for 5300 miles. I've done long days on the highway with the throttle pinned, and depending on hills and headwinds, was going anywhere from 65mph to 80mph. But mostly right around 73-75.

If you have cars to break the wind, you can do 80 easy. The bike does highway better when the traffic is heavier. Empty highways you're at the mercy of aerodynamics... and the bike has none.

This is all at sea level though. And 75mph is not an easy "cruising" speed unless you're behind traffic. It's a "throttle pinned" speed. And you'll still slow down going uphill, even behind traffic. (But not as much)

It's a fun bike, but anything this small is going to struggle to do high speeds in the mountains.

You're basically buying an XV250 Virago with better styling, better suspension, better cornering clearance, full sized ergonomics, and half the price. But the engine is still a 250 virago. There's only so much power you can get out of a 249cc air-cooled twin designed in the mid 80s.

If you want a fast 250, your only option is a ex250 ninja. If you want a fast small bike there are a myriad of options in the 300cc range right now. If you want Chinese/Italian... the TNT300 is an amazing little bike, and will cruise at 80 without drama.

Charles.

Charles

[ChopperCharles]

Sunpie daymaker clone and a new headlight bucket for it. 30 watts low beam 45 high, and the lighting is absolutely stunning. It’s better than any of the lighting on any other motorcycle I’ve ever owned. It’s comparable to a new Volvo. Hard cutoff beam and no extraneous light leakage above the beam. Much, much better than an h4 LED bulb in the stock reflector.

Charles.