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Old 12-18-2007, 10:57 AM   #1
joeg   joeg is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Lancaster, CA
Posts: 5
Viva VX250 first ride review

Long Post, but I hope this helps those deciding to buy one of these bikes. - Ok, first real ride was yesterday after work. I live in the far west side on Lancaster (Antelope Acres), backyard is the open desert; elevation is 2525 at my ranch. I'm 43 years old, 5-8, 220 lbs – (Beer!) I’ve been riding and racing MX and AMA District 37 for 25 years or so, Owned many bikes. Dropped major cash over the years in suspension upgrades, steering dampers and all the aftermarket goodies. Maintained all of my bikes in top race condition. Stopped riding a few years ago to take care of my ailing father who recently passed. Did not want to drop 7K for a new scoot, so I took a chance on a China bike. We bought two last weekend. Bike is bone stock, brand new. Motor runs real good, crisp throttle, jetting is close for 2500 ft elevation. Rear spring was way too tight, complete stinkbug status! Spun the nut one turn on the rear spring and it started feeling a bit better. Still need both springs broke-in before I can set sag correctly. So away we go - a mile from the house I lost one front caliper bolt, this is my fault, I think I overlooked tightening it! DOH! Completely my fault.
Back to the shop, scrounge up a new bolt, locktite it and away we go. Bike runs great on the straights, I do feel slight vibration on my feet transmitted thought the pegs, not a big deal, my KLX300 used to do the same. The bike feels good but I notice something strange with the bars - more on that later. We head to our little MX track and rail a few berms, take some small jumps, just trying to build up confidence in this Chinese bike, having never ridden one before I’m fearful of the bike breaking under me! The frame seems real stiff, which is nice, the rear tracks good and straight, forks are soft, rear is still a bit stiff. Engine just completely purrs, very nice, not real fast, but good usable power. I hit the whoop trail and give it the suspension a break-in test, it does surprisingly well, except the bars seems weird. I pull off and wait for my step-son; I start looking at the bars and realize the fake Renthal type clamps for the crossbar seem to be loose. I can literally pull the bars back and forth, watching them flex! Not good in my book, A bit of bar flex is ok but you should not be able to see it so clearly with you own eyes. Back to the shop, and realize the crossbar clamps are tight! They are too big for the bars and move. I put the kickstand down and it collapses, another missing bolt, which was tight before I left. Everything else looks fine, it was a short ride but that’s what you first ride should be, just to weed out all the bugs, and loose parts!
So - to sum it up, very happy for the $1150 price. I will toss the bars and buy a set of Renthal’s, and I will replace the 4 hex-head handlebar mounting bolts with grade-8 hardware. I don’t trust the 4 inch long Chinese bolts holding the bars on. Also, LIKE ALL MY NEW JAPANESE BIKES through the years, I will disassemble this bike and locktite everything and grease the swing arm, wheels, shock links, and headset. I'll put a rear bead-lock on too, all bikes should have one - especially in the desert. I’ll also replace some of the critical hardware, like the foot-peg bolts, the rear sprocket bolts, and anything else I see as questionable. Probably replace the air filter with a Uni-filter, and change the front fork oil and add a ½ inch PVC pipe spacer to stiffen the forks up a bit. The rear shock is the mystery for now; I need to play with the sag and shock settings to get it working better. Overall, the bike is ok; I’ll spend this Saturday sorting it out, replacing the parts I mentioned above, and ride more over Christmas week with my son’s and some buddies out in Cal City, that will be the real test. Hope this helps someone, more to come….
8)

joeg
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Previous bikes - <br />1980 XR250,1979 CR250,1981 XR200,1984 XR350,1989 CR250,1992 KX250,1997 KLX300, 2003 KTM 300ECX,2005 TTR125L(2 for the ranch),kids - XR 80,100,KTM50,TTR125LE


 
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Old 12-18-2007, 11:38 AM   #2
culcune   culcune is offline
 
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It sounds like you will get some use out of the bike, and we will get some good, real-world reports. Contact member 'Liverchip' who lives out your way. He has a pure-dirt Shineray 200cc that he got for cheap, and was very impressed with the bike, taking the price (around $800) into consideration. He picked his up at the distributor, too, in Pomona earlier this year.
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Old 12-18-2007, 11:53 AM   #3
joeg   joeg is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Lancaster, CA
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Yes, it will get used, and today its RAINING in So Cal!!!! I'm bailing from work at 1pm today and hopfully its nice and wet behind my house. Need to get this this scoot dirty!
:twisted:
Joeg
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Previous bikes - <br />1980 XR250,1979 CR250,1981 XR200,1984 XR350,1989 CR250,1992 KX250,1997 KLX300, 2003 KTM 300ECX,2005 TTR125L(2 for the ranch),kids - XR 80,100,KTM50,TTR125LE


 
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Old 12-18-2007, 12:17 PM   #4
HardlyDangerous   HardlyDangerous is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
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sounds much like the problems we had
I replaced the cheap aluminum bars with a set of MSR steel bars.
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Old 12-18-2007, 06:06 PM   #5
tokarev   tokarev is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Safety Harbor Florida USA
Posts: 214
look familiar

Nice to see the bikes minus the stickers - just like we did on ours. Good review on your first ride. We are in the process of Uni-filter ugrade. Will also be adding grease fittings on all of the suspension joints. We didnt lose any bolts on our first ride.


 
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Old 12-18-2007, 08:28 PM   #6
oncedead   oncedead is offline
 
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Location: Lemoyne, Pennsylvania
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Wish mine was still that clean . Looks good


 
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Old 12-19-2007, 12:49 PM   #7
liverchip   liverchip is offline
 
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Glad you had a good ride! All fasteners on these bikes (or any for that matter) need to be lok-tited. As for the upgrades. Some I've already done....Well worth it.
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Old 03-18-2008, 06:50 PM   #8
Protus   Protus is offline
 
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It's been awhile since your initial post and I was wondering how the bike has been doing. I've been considering a VX250PR and your's was the best review that I have found. I was just curious to see if you're still happy with it and if you've made any mods to it.


 
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Old 04-06-2008, 12:12 PM   #9
joeg   joeg is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Lancaster, CA
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The bikes have held up great, I actualy have sold to my stepson who lives at my ranch, so if I want to jump on one and take for a ride I can :-) he has both now and is riding with his cousin almost every weekend on the bikes. No major problems at all, crashed them a few times, one has a slighly bent front wheel lip, no big deal. Registration has been a pain, as the dealer did not do the paper work correctly. Its in process now, and we ride these on or behind our ranch so its not been an issue. the motors pull strong and run great. Weve had no dead battery issues like others. the air filters are a joke, and the boys are working on mods to that soon. the suspension can use some work, but for the cost (we paid 1200 a bike from the importer) its ok. All things said, if you want a brand new cheap playbike, you cant go wrong. we bought two, thinking one would die first, and both are holding there own fine.
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Previous bikes - <br />1980 XR250,1979 CR250,1981 XR200,1984 XR350,1989 CR250,1992 KX250,1997 KLX300, 2003 KTM 300ECX,2005 TTR125L(2 for the ranch),kids - XR 80,100,KTM50,TTR125LE


 
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Old 04-06-2008, 02:53 PM   #10
coleary15   coleary15 is offline
 
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did u take off the front fender or did it not come with 1....i took mine off and it looks sweet haha


 
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