I Got My Hands on One Of The New RXB250L's

[zero_dgz]

I haven't seen much scuttlebutt about these, and I suspect that's because they've been hard to come by what with one thing and another... mostly COVID related delays, I'm sure. Orion ('s Chinese OEM) made a bunch of changes to the RXB for 2021 and I have to say, since I never laid hands on one of the old ones, I'm not entirely sure what all of them are. Except the engine is now upsized to 249 (?) cc and is counterbalanced, with a six speed transmission, apparently the kick start capability has been removed, and it comes with a little rear luggage rack now.


Anyway, mine turned up after roughly a three month wait just the day before yesterday and I put it together tonight. Here's as good a place as any to jabber about it, I suppose.


- I went for the "no assembly" option. I don't hear a lot of great things about the workmanship of these importers, and Orion has the gall to charge $139 to do by all accounts what is a lousy job of it. (Actually $189 since they give you a $50 'discount' for not getting assembly.)


- The outcome of this thing is that the bike comes with no instructions or documentation whatsoever. Not even the usual cursory generic owner's manual we're used to. You get not one, not two, but three assortments of Mystery Bolts, plus various other sundry parts.


- Since there are no instructions, there are a few gotchas I'll document here: The plastic fork covers must be installed before mounting the fork tubes as they are not split and they cannot be placed over the tubes once they're mounted. The non-flanged front axle spacer goes on the right side, and the flanged top hat one goes on the left side. (This appears different from the old model from what I've seen.) The seat mount is also totally different, and there are two bolts that come in from the sides rather than from below. Kind of like a 'real' motorcycle! The upshot of this is that there's no groveling around under the muddy rear fender to pull the seat.


- The plasticwork is incredibly thick, but as we're probably used to doesn't actually fit very well. I can see one instance in mine where the factory (or somebody) drilled a new hole for one of the mounting bolts, otherwise the plastic wouldn't have lined up!


- The graphics do not come pre-attached. If you like floating and lining up stickers, this is the bike for you.


- The headstock bearings and steering stem did come greased from the factory. All of the other bearings were bone dry, including the swingarm pivot and all three bearings in the rear shock linkage, and wheel bearings in both wheels. Get out your grease packin' gloves!


- Related, there is no traditional steering stem nut. Nor is there a provision for one. The entire steering head seems to be held together with naught but a 27mm cap bolt (the stem is internally threaded) and a pinch bolt at the top of the upper triple tree casting. When these two are removed the entire steering stem assembly falls apart.


- The triple trees, rims, handlebar mount risers, and handlebars themselves are aluminum. Everything else is steel.


- The skid plate is very, extremely plastic. Prepare to fabricate your own very soon.


- The location of the choke is absolutely diabolical. The bike comes with a Nibbi (clone?) carb with the choke/enricher plunger on the top left which places it almost exactly dead center on the bike. Reaching it under the plasticwork is extremely difficult. I found I prefer to get it from the left side, which is the "hard" way, only so it's less likely that you'll burn yourself on the exhaust. Forget about doing it with gloves on. This is not a bike where you'll fool with the choke while on the move.


- The kick stand sucks. Mine is too long, so the bike stands almost vertical even when totally unloaded. The foot on it is absolutely tiny, and when folded it bashes into one of the bolts on the passenger footpeg bracket. I will likely chop about an inch off of mine and weld a wider foot onto it, and add some kind of bumper (some rubber hose, perhaps?) where it hits the bracket bolt. It's also a PITA to install, threading through the mount for the chain roller which means you have to get a wrench in behind there and run the nuts on from the back. You have like 1/8" of clearance between there and the chain.



- The LCD dash is nice but extremely bright which is kind of annoying in the dark. It includes a digital speedo, bar graph tach, voltmeter, gear position indicator, and odometer. It also has a position for a check engine light which will obviously go totally unused. Edit: Previously I had indicated that there is no gear position readout. That was incorrect. The plug for this had gotten lost down behind the headstock and ungrouped from all the others, somehow. So yes: There is a gear indicator and it shows all six gears with a separate neutral light.


I had two defective parts out of the crate: One footpeg spring was broken, and my front fender was noticeably corkscrewed. I made a warranty claim on both with Orion and fully expect they will invent a laundry list of creative excuses as to why they will not replace them, which seems to be the gist of all I have read online about their customer support. I cooked the front fender with a heat gun for a little while and it kind of straightened out, but it's still not right. I'll park it in the sun tomorrow and see if that does anything for me, too.



The waiting game begins for my MCO, then we'll see what my state's DMV thinks about it. They assured me over the phone that they will plate it as long as the MCO says "motorcycle" which Orion insists it does.


Image links:


https://imgur.com/qk8GGrd


https://imgur.com/TwZALLS

[Megadan]

This is the kind of initial impression review I love to read. Not some sponsored soft language cover up of the flaws, just simple and honest truths. Sounds like most typical bargain Chanda, needs some tweaking.

[tknj99]

Very nice! I came oh so close to putting my name in the hat for one of those but steered away for 2 factors.. didnt want to wait until December and found the Titan DLX which is the RXB230L without adjustable suspension for $800 less.. otherwise if it had been available at the time i probably would have went that way..
Curious to hear about your MSO.. mine said Dirt Bike but luckily one was already in the system and my title/registration went without a hitch.

[zero_dgz]

Originally Posted by Megadan

This is the kind of initial impression review I love to read. Not some sponsored soft language cover up of the flaws, just simple and honest truths. Sounds like most typical bargain Chanda, needs some tweaking.

Let the record state that I bought this with my own money, and it's not my first rodeo with assembling a crated Chinese bike! Right behind it in my first picture is my Bashan Enforcer...


Speaking of tweaking. I rode the RXB to work today (dirty). As you can see, I have no shortage of license plates around here while I wait for my paperwork to show up. I never get hassled by the cops when I'm on a bike anyway. (Obligatory: I can't recommend this life of drugs, booze, and insanity to anyone but it's sure worked for me, etc.)



How fast does it go? Don't know. My speedometer doesn't work. It's definitely plugged in, so I'll fool around with the spacing adjustment and see if I can make it cooperate. It's the type with a Hall effect sensor and two little magnets that get installed in the brake rotor with circlips. I can tell you just with seat of the pants measurements that the sumbitch wants to move. It is a revelation compared to my CG engine Bashan. I'll clock it with my GPS watch later. I have no doubt that you could wheelie the hell out of this thing in first, second, and maybe even third but I haven't tried it yet because it's brand new and I'm chicken.



On my test fire last night -- after replacing the donkey spit in the crankcase with actual oil -- I found that it was really tough to get the engine to idle. It's gotten less recalcitrant after ~30 minutes of run time. I found the idle mixture screw was over seven turns from seated right from the factory which probably contributed to that. I have it set to 2.75 turns out at the moment and that seems pretty okay. No matter what I do it doesn't seem to want to stay running consistently with the idle below 2000 RPM. So 2000 it is, for now.


I'm sure in the future I will take the carb off and have a poke around in there. I'll have to figure out what kind of jets it uses. Are the Nibbi jets any different from the usual clone Mikuni jets? Obviously I haven't measured anything, but the pictures online sure look the same to me. If so, I have oodles of Mikuni jets lying around (two Chinese bikes currently, a KLR, plus a Shadow 600 lying around the garage at the moment, so I have homes and jobs for them for sure).


Seems like this version of the RXB uses a cylindrical (or perhaps cone, I did not take it out) pleated paper filter rather than the usual oiled-foam-on-a-frame thing. The airbox seems like it will be singularly difficult to access: It's right below the battery and is boxed in by the frame on the left and right sides. You might be able to drop it out the bottom if you remove the rear subframe plate thingy and the entirety of the plasticwork lining the rear fender area. Since it's not washable I will eventually have to source a replacement (possibly a washable replacement!) from... uh, god knows where.


Random observation: The tires arrived with 12.5 PSI in the front and 40.1 in the rear. Chinese knockoff factory must've used a Chinese knockoff tire gauge...



I also discovered that the bolts provided to mount the rear rack (you can rock it with, or without) are too long and bottom out on the inside of the rear frame tubes. So that's a thing. They need to be about 5mm shorter. I'll source some later, or maybe just cut down the ones it came with and chase the threads with a die. While we're on the topic of bolts, I was surprised to find that most of the Allen head cap screws that act as pinch bolts in various places including the fork tubes, axle pinch bolts, and handlebar clamp bolts are actually stainless. How did I find out? By dropping one down into the frame, of course, and discovering that a magnet will not pick them up. (The washers provided are still zinc plated steel, though.)


After assembly I have one (1) Mystery Oblong Bushing, and one (1) Small Bracket of Dubious Purpose left over. And some other random bits. Couple of bolts that appear not to go anywhere, although I was also short a few washers for my liking. I'm not worried about bolts and washers. I have bolts and washers lying around, believe me. When I'm back in the shop later today maybe I'll post a picture of them and I can see if you lot have any bright ideas as to what they're for.


I haven't applied the graphics yet. I'm kind of digging the white look for now. I'm sure I'll get around to it.

[zero_dgz]

Random update: I did some poking around online and on cursory examination the dash cluster included appears to be identical to this one:


https://www.amazon.com/Shkalacar-Mot...dp/B09C7VFR6B/


So as predicted, this is just a Yum-Cha generic module. I was not able to find any instructions for this thing anyplace, but given that it has no identifying nomenclature whatsoever (as is tradition for this type of thing) I don't really know what to look for anyway. Perhaps somebody around here has experience with these and might know how to switch it between KPH and MPH, and how to calibrate the speedometer. If I figure it out I'll be sure to post it for future reference as well.

[ExMxer]

I almost bought one of these, but after "chatting" online with one of their smartass sales reps, was all the proof I needed to stay away. I really hope you have the best luck possible with this bike, and it gives you years of service. They appear to be an improvement over the previous generation bikes, but I just couldn't agree with their customer service at all. Not listing a phone number to speak to someone says something right off the bat.....

[Ursa_Adv]

Originally Posted by zero_dgz

- The outcome of this thing is that the bike comes with no instructions or documentation whatsoever.

I had really hoped with the new batch that Orion would update the "Owner's Manual" they have on the website for the RXB250.

It's just an English copy of the X-Moto XB-39 manual which doesn't even include to the engine that Orion puts in the bike.

[ExMxer]

Originally Posted by Ursa_Adv

I had really hoped with the new batch that Orion would update the "Owner's Manual" they have on the website for the RXB250 on their website.

It's just an English copy of the X-Moto XB-39 manual which doesn't even include to the engine that Orion puts in the bike.

Orion is a joke. I like their "Factory Riders" posts from time to time.....
I thought in order to be a factory rider, there had to be a "factory" behind them....one of which they owned?? At least that was the way of thinking in my Team Green days as a kid...Kawasaki produced, and gave, us our bikes to compete with. Suzuki done the same after them....that is a factory rider. Orion doesn't produce shit. They are a piss ant freight dock in TX, with a few small rooms full of misc parts. Factory my ass....... And let's not count the ways where they excel in customer service.... Google Nicot Motorcycles and take a look, whole lot of things look like a new RXB 250 aside from some colors.....

[zero_dgz]

So, additional fooling around.


I got the speedo working. The issue was while I was messing around with the front brake caliper most recently I must have backed the sensor out too far and the lock nut was loose. Easy enough to fix right there in the parking lot. I have no idea how accurate it is. Will have to check it vs. GPS at some point.


For anyone wondering, or who winds up with the same gauge cluster: Holding the singular (1) button on the entire thing down when powering it on allows you to select your wheel size. You can chose from P-21, P-17, and P-15 (presumably rim sizes) by pressing the button again once this prompt appears. Be quick about it -- if you don't press for more than a couple of seconds it takes that as accepting your selection and continues booting up.



To switch between Metric and Freedom Units, press the button until you are in odometer (not trip counter) mode, and long press it. It will cycle back and forth between KPH and MPH about once per second, just let go when it's showing the one you want. Easier than I thought.

[zero_dgz]

I was never great at doing stickers. When I was a kid, all of my model kits were always meticulously painted but completely stickerless. I probably went through about a quart of isopropyl alcohol doing it, but I got the graphics put on anyway:


https://imgur.com/6hb1srQ


Of particular note is that the sticker wraps that go around the fork covers are a real pain in the ass. It probably would have been smarter to do those before mounting the covers on the forks. I didn't do the big sticker that goes on the front fender because I'm still holding out the 0.0001% hope that Orion will ship me a replacement for my twisted one. I didn't do the center stripe on the rear fender, either, and if anyone asks it does not have a hole punched in it for the luggage rack mount. Nobody will be looking under the rack anyway.


There are also a bunch of extra black and white Orion logo stickers included with the graphics set which don't appear on the bike anyplace even in Orion's product pictures. I guess they really expect you to be excited about their brand. (They should prepare to be disappointed.)



Mounting the rack was more hassle than it had to be because the welded nut in the frame the left side mounting bolt is supposed to go into is screwed up. It appears to be full of welding spatter or something. I tried chasing it with a tap and broke the tap in the hole. Which was just great. I managed to extract the tap it but it's not pretty, and it wasn't pretty to begin with, so I expect that mount to fail at some point in the future. There's a lot of strain on the cheesy soft steel there, and there's only like three threads in there even at the best of times. The rack is a tad wider than the tail so the whole thing is under considerable spring tension when it's installed. Add in the weight of any luggage, etc., and you see what I'm getting at. I think my plan when the inevitable happens will be to drill entirely through both sides of both frame tubes in that location and run a really long bolt or a piece of all-thread with two nuts completely through from one side to the other. There's nothing in between those two spots on that area of the tail so it ought to work. Getting the rack, its spacer, the outer plastic panel, seat mount tab, inner plastic panel, and the hole in the frame all lined up may as well require both a blessing from the Pope and an act of Congress anyhow. And you get to fight with it every time you need to remove and reinstall the seat, which is going to be any time you do any maintenance at all. I think removing any threaded stuff from the equation and making all the holes just a tad bigger will alleviate that hassle.



I took a spin to work again today and very easily got the speedometer to read 70, which according to my watch's GPS is actually about 64. So the speedo's a little optimistic which I'm pretty sure we all expected. It definitely had more to give, though, and I haven't done a single performance mod to the thing at all and it's already way faster than my Bashan ever was when it was stock. (And probably still is!)


The stock tires are uh... yeah, I'll be replacing those real soon. I don't think they'll pass muster for inspection here anyway. They don't even have so much as a perfunctory fake DOT stamp. The rubber is hard as hell and they don't grip worth a damn on pavement. The rear locks up and skids on pavement with barely the slightest touch to the pedal. You'd better swing out a leg in the bends, too, because if you enter a corner faster than about 30 you're going through it sideways...


Now that I have all of the bits and bobs mounted -- rack, skid plate, all the accessories, I have three pieces left over.


https://imgur.com/TGzJGi9


Pictured: One (1) mysterious eccentric bushing, one (1) thing that looks like a sling mount for an AR-15 buffer tube but clearly isn't, and one (1) bracket of dubious function. If you guys have any theories about those I'm all ears.


(The Bracket of Dubious Function lines up perfectly with the two engine mount mounts above the left footpeg. Why on earth you'd want to put it there is anyone's guess, not to mention what you'd want attach to it. I couldn't find anywhere else on the bike with two bolts or two bolt holes with the same spacing as the bracket.)

[TominMO]

Clearly Orion intends you to carry an AR-15, given that they gave you the sling mount and the BDF to attach it to.

Good reporting BTW!

[Aufgeblassen]

That seat looks quite uncomfortable!

[ExMxer]

The bike is sounding like it was designed by a group of engineers that never met, much less spoke to one another.....

[zero_dgz]

Originally Posted by Aufgeblassen

That seat looks quite uncomfortable!

It is decidedly planklike. All evidence indicates that there is some foam in it... somewhere... but you wouldn't know it to sit on it.


It's way too narrow for the usual Wal Mart ATV seat cover favored by cheap bastards everywhere. I'll find something to do about it eventually but it's not a priority right now. (Or maybe just buy padded underpants...)

[tknj99]

The Titan DLX is the same.. feels like a 2x4 after 30 minutes or so.. i plan to buy some gel padding and insert under the seat cover and re-staple.. should help