New Zongshen RX3 (ZS250GY-3) Dual Sport

[thillskier]

I was reading the CSC Blog just nowand it occourred to me to look at the tire (wear) after the tires on the last pic got me thinking! hehe
They all look hardly worn, on the test bikes. I thought gatling (or someone) said they had over 8000 miles on it or another of the test bikes. The MUST have replaced the tire(s) at least once, correct?
If not, maybe we want to reconsider the 15" after all..(not really), but maybe the same tire manufacturer except in a 17" size..

Anyone want to speak up re tire life (so far) on the RX-3's? (with knowledge of actual tire life).

How about your TMEC 200's, What tires worked best on them? What size(s)? do you use? Tread pattern most favored?

[SpudRider]

The bike on the EPA/CARB testing device recorded 8,000 easy miles. None of the RX3 bikes have very recorded very many road miles.

I might be wrong, but all things being equal except circumference, I surmise smaller tires wear faster than larger tires. A tire with a smaller circumference must rotate more times per mile than a larger tire. Therefore, the tread of a smaller tire must hit the road faster, and more often, at any given speed.

[thillskier]

Few miles actually driven on tires, is why they still look as new? The EPA testing was for emissions at certain throttle openings, not really accel and de cel loads experienced while riding?
Spud, Those are questions, sorry if unclear.
I agree, 15" should wear (and ride) much worse (especially if a heavy, "big" profile tire (like the 15" ones).IMHO.

Answer I surmise, is we need to evaluate tire wear as bikes rack up real mileage!
(along with all other consumables and maintainance items, of course!

Its the "I need my bike syndrome", folks.. hehe
AND can I/we extrapolate tire wear etc from pics and info disseminated so far by CSC..

Thanks Spud.

[SpudRider]

Originally Posted by thillskier

Few miles actually driven on tires, is why they still look as new? The EPA testing was for emissions at certain throttle openings, not really accel and de cel loads experienced while riding?...

Yes on all points, and the bike was also unloaded during emissions testing.

Originally Posted by thillskier

...Its the "I need my bike syndrome", folks.. hehe ...

I understand; we all feel the same.

[thillskier]

U nailed it, yet again..answered and explained. THX, much!

[CSCDude]

Interesting discussion in the last few posts.

The camo bike is the dyno bike used for the EPA testing and for the Canadian certification effort. It has about 300 road miles on it, and about 8,000 total miles. The bulk of those miles have been on the dyno for the US EPA test program; it has far fewer miles on the front tire.

We have about 1000 miles on each of the other two RX3s; neither is showing appreciable tire wear, although I will tell you when the boys from Motorcycle.com were on the blue one it had no chicken strips whatsoever after they rode it. Those fellows know how to ride.

The 17-inch rear wheel and tire actually has a very slightly smaller diameter than does the 15-inch rear tire. The sidewall on the 15-inch tire is the reason for its larger diameter.

Small wheels and tires do wear appreciably faster than larger tires and wheels. On my CSC-150 (aka the Baja Blaster), I'll go through a rear tire every 2500 to 2800 miles, and I get about twice that on the front (that 2:1 ratio has been the same on every motorcycle I've ever owned). Please note that the CSC-150 has 12-inch wheels and tires. Other scooter riders tell me they get the same mileage on their scooters. Spud is right, the smaller wheels are spinning faster for the same speed on these small-wheeled bikes. With its larger wheels and tires, I am expecting substantially better tire mileage on the RX3.

The Baja Blaster in Panamint Springs, Death Valley, California...


Zongshen reports excellent wear on the RX3's stock CST tires. Time will tell, but based on what I'm seeing on our test bikes, I think we'll see about the same tire life as I do on my KLR (or more). I intend to make every effort to go through lots of tires, and you'll be able to read about it on the CSC blog.

[SpudRider]

Thanks for the input, Joe.

The only compelling reason to switch from the 15-inch rear wheel was the complete lack of knobby tires in that size. Knobby tires are always larger in circumference than street tires, and 17-inch knobby tires are significantly larger in circumference than all the 15-inch street tires I have examined.

[AZRider]

I always get a kick out of seeing photos of Chinese families sitting 8 or 9 on a small bike. It's usually Mom, Dad and assorted children. What I don't understand is why so many kids, aren't the Chinese limiting families to one child? Are these bikers some kind of taxi service for every kid in the neighborhood?

[CSCDude]

Originally Posted by AZRider

I always get a kick out of seeing photos of Chinese families sitting 8 or 9 on a small bike. It's usually Mom, Dad and assorted children. What I don't understand is why so many kids, aren't the Chinese limiting families to one child? Are these bikers some kind of taxi service for every kid in the neighborhood?

Most of those photos are in Asian countries other than China.

China has eased their one-child policy significantly. Like many laws, it was having unintended undesirable consequences.

Many Asian countries do in fact use motorcycles and scooters as taxi services (Thailand in particular). You don't see it as often in China, mostly because motorcycles are prohibited in many of China's larger cities. This is a photo of a woman taxi passenger in Bangkok...

[thillskier]

Interesting.
The thing I was considering when I asked about tire wear/lifetime, was that I was trying to decide whether to try and have a tire placed somewhere on the way back from California to install, if I had a reasonable chance of needing one to complete the ride back to Alabama. I would hope to avoid flats, of course, (wouldn't we ALL! hehe, and have learned (the hard way) that when tires get down to 20% of their life/tread left, they seem to attract nails, screws, and roof tacks etc. SO far, I've avoided the roadside tire repair scenario. (knock on wood! Would like to continue this, of course...

Joe, do you have a pic of the tread design the 17" tire we will be getting on the bikes initially yet? Is it a trail, knobby, or street type tread design?

Has anyone considered going to a tubeless setup, or have experience re this set up? Things to consider (plusses and minuses?)
Thanks !

[Weldangrind]

Originally Posted by thillskier

The thing I was considering when I asked about tire wear/lifetime, was that I was trying to decide whether to try and have a tire placed somewhere on the way back from California to install, if I had a reasonable chance of needing one to complete the ride back to Alabama.

I would expect the tire to be well worn, but I would certainly ride the entire 2000 miles on the stock tires if I could.

[SpudRider]

Originally Posted by thillskier

Interesting.
The thing I was considering when I asked about tire wear/lifetime, was that I was trying to decide whether to try and have a tire placed somewhere on the way back from California to install, if I had a reasonable chance of needing one to complete the ride back to Alabama. I would hope to avoid flats, of course, (wouldn't we ALL! hehe, and have learned (the hard way) that when tires get down to 20% of their life/tread left, they seem to attract nails, screws, and roof tacks etc. SO far, I've avoided the roadside tire repair scenario. (knock on wood! Would like to continue this, of course...

Joe, do you have a pic of the tread design the 17" tire we will be getting on the bikes initially yet? Is it a trail, knobby, or street type tread design?

Has anyone considered going to a tubeless setup, or have experience re this set up? Things to consider (plusses and minuses?)
Thanks !

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

I would expect the tire to be well worn, but I would certainly ride the entire 2000 miles on the stock tires if I could.

I agree with Weld.

[rjmorel]

Looks like MinBen is headed back up stream. Any news on the ship that will take Rx3 across Pacific? rj

[thillskier]

I was hoping to ride to Tahoe area, and then to Utah, and Colorado, maybe check out some friends in Aspen area and then cousins in Englewood (Denver) area before stopping for a visit with my son, Ashton. He wants to check out and test ride the bike to make sure he wants one before sending in his deposit, he's decided. Maybe when he gets his someone will have bought mine, and I can still ride with him! on another bike.

I may be closer to or possibly even break the 3000 mile mark with the route Ive planned (and because of local riding when visiting friends and my son, it would be easy to add another 600-800 miles more than that, I'm thinking). As I'm trying to not be on a schedule on this trip, allowing at least 10 days to do it, even longer if needed or something interesting happens on the trip back, could be even more miles. Its close to 2700 miles (total) without any extracarricular riding. Its right at 1000 miles from Ft Riley back to home in Alabama, Thats about 1/3 of total ride distance I've planned. That's why I was concerned I'd be pushing the tire life limits.

Also, I was hoping to see what type tread the tires will have, to see how much or what kinds of off road/unimproved riding I can expect to try in case I see something interesting in some of the areas (Like ROckies and Utah, or Tahoe area.)

[Weldangrind]

You could always buy a rear tire from CSC, and have it shipped to one of your destination points. Wearing out the front tire in that distance seems unlikely.