First Bike... what is it?
 

Hello all,

I have had the recent fortune of acquiring a Zongshen enduro style motorcycle. Aside from the name Zongshen on the VIN plate, I'm really not sure what I have here. The bike was given to me by it's former owner, who walked away from it due to repairs needed. From what I understand, he moved and just didn't want to bring it with him and now it's mine. I am currently trying to legally acquire a valid title for an abandoned vehicle, at which point I would like to repair the bike and ride it. My first step is to try and figure out exactly what model it is. Other than "UM" on the seat, there are no markings or decals whatsoever on it. From pics I've seen online, it appears to be a 250cc engine, but could be a 200. I have not had much luck decoding the VIN, except verifying through vincheck.com that it has not been reported stolen or totaled. I am hoping someone here might be able to point me in the direction of a VIN decoder so I can at least find out what model bike it is.

I would like to mention that this is my first motorcycle. I know how to ride, but I have never taken a rider safety course or gotten a motorcycle endorsement on my DL, two things I will be pursuing in very short order. I am very mechanically inclined, I have had 3 years of automotive education, have competed and placed nationally in automotive competitions, hold NATEF certifications, have rebuilt engines, worked in world class machine shops making parts for F1, CART, and NASCAR engines, and various residential maintenance jobs, and can fix damn near anything. I love working on anything mechanical and enjoy a good challenge, but I've never worked on motorcycles until now.

Thanks in advance for any help you folks can offer, I look forward to being a part of this community and contributing where I can

- J

Welcome! You've certainly got more training than many of us. The one thing you must have when owning a China bike is a sense of humour.

Please show us a pic of your bike, and we'll get started.

It seems you guys really like pictures :-) so here's one of my ZongAttachment 91

Thanks Weldangrind, for the speedy reply. I didn't mean to come off sounding like a braggart, just wanted to offer a little background and assurances that technical comments and info won't go over my head - sometimes I talk too much. Apologies for the sub-par image quality. I will take some pics with a better camera as soon as I can remember what drawer or box it's in. Can you tell the model from this pic? Manufacture date on the VIN plate is 1-18-2004

More pics!

Attachment 92

Attachment 93

Attachment 94

Yes, that's a tropicana orange juice lid in place of the left turn signal lens, and a piece of L-channel aluminum tied on with twine for the clutch lever... the previous owner was apparently VERY fond of zip ties

the front brake lever is broken, the brake pump sight glass is broken out, the clutch cable is broken, the oil drain plug is missing half of its integral washer and thus leaks oil, and the clutch lever is quite obviously broken. The ignition cylinder has been tampered with(no key) and the locking gas cap is stuck halfway on/off. I took a gamble and ordered replacement parts last night, very pleased that "high performance" brake pump with polished aluminum lever, clutch lever, clutch cable, oil drain plug w/filter, fuel filter, and keyed ignition switch only cost me $65, hopefully everything fits...

UM = http://umglobal.com/en/index.php/company
From the picture it's powered by a Honda OHC clone. There maybe a family # (required by chinese law, something like: ZS16?FM? http://chinariders.net/showpost.php?...2&postcount=30) stamped on the engine.

UM was for United Motors. I am sure the bike was built by Zongshen and labelled a UM. It does have the common honda style engine and is a typical GY bike. Most likely a 200cc.

As far a title goes. Look at the Vermont route. The information is in the registration forum.

You don't sound like a braggart to me; in fact, I'm most intrigued by the F1, CART and NASCAR engine experience.

That looks almost identical to a bike I'm building right now. Yours is missing the tank shrouds, and I removed mine. The bike looks much better that way, IMHO. We can certainly help you to make a strong runner out of that bike.

Is there a number stamped in front of the shifter?

Welcome! You came to the right place. :)

The U.S. branch of United Motors went out of business several years ago. I believe FastDoc is correct. The United Motors dirt bikes were built by Zongshen, and had a good reputation. :tup:

There are several threads posted on these forums regarding VIN decoding. However, I always have a hard time finding them. ;) You bike has a reliable clone of a Honda engine. You should see an engine code engraved somewhere on the engine.

Thanks everyone, I will go check for any engine stamps after work today and report back. I'm headed to the dmv on my lunch break to see about applying for a lost title. From what I understand, this is the preferred method n NC. Hopefully they play nice :)

Weldangrind, I used to work at CV(Clyde Vickers - Bryan Vickers' daddy) products, and Xceldyne Technologies, makers of arguably the worlds finest titanium racing valves. It was a great job and I miss it, just didn't pay enough

If NC turns you down or the cost is too much check out the Vermont route.

Should be less than $100 to get registered.

http://chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=12368

Thanks Kato, i did look into that route and I think that's probably what I'm going to do. The DMV was a bust yesterday, line was out the door... i did put in a call to the local DMV inspector who has yet to get back in touch with me. Since then I have "learned" through hearsay that if you have had possession of a vehicle for more than 90 days (i have) you can file for a lost title. One of my co-workers apparently did this with an SUV that was left on his property, but since Vermont doesn't require a title, I'm not sure that it's even necessary. I just want to have it titled in my name to avoid any future potential issues. I was off for half a day today and was able to play with the bike a little more today, study it, and learned quite a bit about it.

I realize that this is the new members intro page and don't want to clog it up with more questions that would be better posted in a tech section of the site. With that said, I want to ask one more question. Does this help anyone ID the engine?

Attachment 95

I realize that the oil drain plug is broken and leaking, a new one will be here tomorrow, along with the clutch lever, clutch lever, brake pump, and keyed ignition switch.

It's 69.0 x 53.0. http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=19585044175
Can be found in trike http://jessiestar.en.busytrade.com/p...otorcycle.html

That's quite a big bore and short stroke for a 200! I bet it'll rev like mad.

Spud, you said that the bike has a reliable clone of a honda engine, yet it appears to be almost the same bike as your sierra 200, which is a yamaha clone... i'm a bit confused here. Besides being air cooled, and apparently a little torque-ier (as evidenced above by larger bore and shorter stroke) are there many differences between mine and the 167 engines?

I welcomed a new baby girl, and a new high stress job on the same day 5 months ago, so there has been little opportunity for me to do anything other than dream about riding the bike. It is being stored in my buddy's garage so I have barely even seen it since I got it a few months ago. I had the afternoon off today and had a few hours to go over and fondle the bike.

I took my time looking over it, trying to take in all aspects of it's construction. I removed the left plastic side cover, and I removed the battery and put it on charge. I noted the location of various parts and components, and visually traced wiring - as best I could, and I took a lot of pctures. Regretably, I forgot to bring my multi-meter. After having looked it over extensively, I am quite impressed by some things, not so much with other things. I don't like that the oil filler cap is chrome plated plastic, I think I'm going to try to locate a metal one. I LOVE that there is a sight glass on the crankcase instead of a dipstick! No idea if this is common on motorcycles since this is my first one, but it's brilliant! The ignition switch had been tampered with, and there was no key so I ordered a replacement the other day, but all I could find was a generic one that is designed to be mounted in a through hole, it has plastic spring clips to hold it in place. This is it. The factory ignition switch on my bike is substantially more robust than the plastic replacement I ordered, it has a metal housing and mounts to a flange that employs a spring loaded steering lock deadbolt. The one I ordered will work for now, but I want to replace it with a stock or similar unit for obvious reasons - any idea where to purchase one? Since I didn't have a key, I removed the switch and cut the wires. I hooked up jumper cables from my truck and no matter which combination of the 4 ignition switch wires I connected, I couldn't even get the horn or lights to work, much less the electric starter. I did verify that the fuse on the pos battery wire is intact. I traced the wires back and found that the red wire goes to the CDI, the green wire is ground, the solid black wire appears to go to the ignition coil, and not sure where the black wire with white stripe terminates, thought it may have been for the clutch or brake switch so I shorted both of those - still nothing. I guess when the new switch comes I will plug it in and maybe at least get power to the accessories, I'll also bring my meter and check for continuity at the switch and report back, hopefully it comes tomorrow

I'm also VERY concerned about this
Attachment 96
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6 wires in, 1 wire out usually = no worky worky

no idea what these wires are, but the green side with 6 wires goes into the engine cover, so I'm thinking maybe magneto??

The VIN plate says "manufactured by Zongshen Group China, Imported by United Motors of America" When searching for bike specific parts, should I be looking up Zongshen parts, or UM? I have found several websites with generic china bike parts for 125-250cc dirt bikes, but as I am still not sure of what exactly to call this bike(still don't know the model name), I don't really know where to start looking. Several of the links posted in this forum for parts and manuals are from a few years ago and are now dead links. I did DL the Zongshen engine manual, and it will no doubt be invaluable as I dig deeper into this project

Thanks so much for your patience and support - how the hell did anything get accomplished by the DIYer before internet forums?

Humanbeing & weldangrind, do you guys think this is the original engine for this bike? or perhaps someone replaced/upgraded to a trike motor? Or is this one of those "impossible to say" scenarios. Just curious

My Zong has been modified quite a bit, so looks can be deceiving, JP. My ZS167FML engine is quite different from your ZS169FML engine. ;)
I would look for Chinese, dirt bike parts, or Zongshen parts. Most of the Honda clone bikes use the same parts. ;)

I believe that to be the original engine, and it is definitely Honda "inspired". ;)

The ignition you bought is the type normally found on a quad, but it'll work for your purposes until you find what you need. I have a new ignition switch with steering lock that might work for you, but that will depend upon the bolt spacing on your upper triple. Measure the c to c distance of the ignition mounting screws on the underside of the triple and LMK. The ignition switch I have might not have the same connector as yours, but that's no big deal.

The ignition switch works in the reverse of what seems logical. When you turn the switch on, you're actually switching the ground off (in addition to connecting the positive wire to everything). During testing, make sure the ground is removed, but be prepared to pull the plug cap to kill the engine, in case it starts. When the ignition switch is turned off, one wire to the CDI is connected to ground (not sure of the colour, off the top of my head). Some testing with your multimeter will confirm the layout of the ignition switch you bought, and you'll be able to transfer that knowledge to your wiring harness. BTW, ground is almost always green, red is positive.

If that needs more clarification, LMK.

Don't worry about the harness from the stator at this point. My guess is that you have two harnesses coming from the stator, and the other one connects to the CDI, etc. The harness that changes to one wire is likely to be a shift indicator, which is not stock equipment on many bikes, and it's just fluff.

Be very careful installing the new plug as the metal is very thin. This the same type that the Japanese manufacturers use on shaft drive pumpkins...I've broken a few.

And, of course, don't try to start it without replacing the plug. The gas looks pretty old in the filter so that should be drained before an attempt, also.

Ok thanks for the tips about wiring and switch, been out of town for a few days hence the delay. Update: I received a shipment from the parts supplier containing the oil drain plug/filter, fuel filter, clutch lever assembly, and ignition switch, however they separated the order for some reason, and I did not receive the brake pump or clutch cable yet. I did have a few minutes to install (connect) the ignition switch and confirm that the wiring clip is compatible, but did not bring the battery with me to test anything as it was still on the charger - good news; battery is holding 13vdc, so that is one less thing I will have to buy for now :) I hope to have some time tomorrow to go over and install the clutch lever assembly, and maybe the clutch cable and brake pump will show up tomorrow and I'll be able to install those as well. I'm also going to drain the oil and replace the drain plug, reinstall the battery and see if I can at least get it to turn over with the electric starter and get the lights and horn working, now that I have a working switch. I will measure the center to center distance on the stock ign sw bracket and take some detailed pics as well. I start my week of on-call tomorrow, so if work gets crazy, I might not make it back over for a few days. Thanks again guys, for all the help.

You are making good progress! :tup: