How much chinesium do you actually get for $1650

[ross/xt350]

Thought maybe you guys would enjoy a build/purchase I made on a whim this month. I decided I wanted to try and commute on a bike a lot next summer and I didnt want to put a ton of hwy miles on the tdub so I decided to buy a cheap commuter/dual sport. After much deliberation i decided to roll the dice and try out a chinese crate bike. I have been curious about them for years and the guys over on china riders seem to think they are acceptable so I pulled the trigger on a 2018 bashan brozz 250. The real question I want to answer for myself here is whether or not they are a total waste of money or if with some TLC it can actually be a decent bike. I dont expect it to be a super high quality item and I wont be flogging it to hard off road but I just had to satisfy my curiosity. Plus I need something to tinker with over the long winter. I ordered it from peace sports out of Atlanta last week and got it last night. It comes in a crate mostly assembled with the MSO and a bill of sale. I will give a detailed analysis of what you actually get and in the end whether or not I was an idiot to buy it or not. Either way there should be some entertainment value here. Didnt have time do do anything but uncrate it and inspect the pieces last night. Will update as I go. Here are some pics of what you get in the crate. Its definitely no yamaha but I'll see what I can do with it.

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[Wacked]

Interesting …….  I'll be watching

[Lonesome Dave]

Interesting …….  I'll be watching

Oh yeah!  Very interesting!  This should be a good thread.

My only chinesium I've dealt with is a little green 4 wheeler used by my 1st grandson, then my 2nd grandson, then my granddaughter.  It went through 3 kids plus lots of cousins during that time.  This thing is at least 12 years old and always ran good, but a pain to start.  The choke lever was cheap and would not stay put.  When general repairs were needed, it was never normal.  I mean, take the part off, fix it, clean it, whatever, and then put it back on.  I always had trouble with screws stripping out or something going wrong.  It always just took twice as long to fix.  Just not normal.

Oh by the way, it's for sale also!  All the kids are riding bigger stuff now.

[greatbuffalo]

Everride recently did a review of the GPX 250 and really liked it but he has done, I think a Shunshing, in the past and had little good to say about it. Understand that many of what you ride from most manufacturers is at least partly made in China. It all depends on who is overseeing the production process. They make very cheap crap but they also some better than mediocre middle of the cost scale stuff.

This should be interesting to hear your review.

[Hank]

This will be interesting for sure!    I've been following a chinese cafe racer thread on advrider.      The guy who "owns" the thread seems to adore the bike, despite him constantly fixing and upgrading just about everything on it.   It is a cool looking little bike though.

I like that they added the random "blue eagle" to the seat.   Bashan Brozz (what's a brozz?) 250 blue eagle deluxe #1 hotdog cowboy rocketship.

[ross/xt350]

I like that they added the random "blue eagle" to the seat.   Bashan Brozz (what's a brozz?) 250 blue eagle deluxe #1 hotdog cowboy rocketship.

lol. It does sound like they are just adding thinks that they think will sound good to an american ear. The blue eagle is actually a sub model of the brozz though. it was exclusively available for the 2018 model year and only through peace sports in Atlanta. Basically for an extra $150 you get inverted forks, stainless braided brake lines, a disk instead of drum in the rear, and a rack. the 2019s are all this way except they cost another $100, don't say blue eagle on them, and they changed the exhaust tip to direct the flow away from the right turn signal since I guess they were having melting problems. I know all the brands, models/submodels, most of which are made in the same factory or have the same engine but maybe are slightly different depending on the distributor can make your head spin with these china bikes. I'm still confused by some of them. Anyway glad you guys find it interesting. Ill post an update tonight after I mess around with it a little more.

[ross/xt350]

Well having thoroughly inspected the bike and started the assembly process I have to say this thing is better than I expected so far but a bit of a mixed bag. The engine in this badboy is as far as I can tell the exact same Zonshen 229cc pushrod counterbalanced single as you get in the CSC TT250. Supposedly this is the best of the chinese honda CG engine clones floating around at the moment. The guys over on China Riders swear by them as bullet proof. I was pleased to see an actual Keihin carburetor as opposed to the craptastic tamper proof clones you get on the slightly cheaper china bikes. I'm sure it will need a rejet as they all come stupid lean to pass emissions but that was true of my tdub as well. The plastics look decently high quality. They are actually painted on both sides unlike some of the cheaper bikes. I was a little disappointed in a lot of the electrical connectors. They feel flat out chinsy. Most of them are not weather packed. May require some liberal applications of dielectric grease. The tires look sort of like Heidenau K60 Scouts to me. They are Yuanxing brand. Got the dash and headlight mounted and put the fender on so far. the assembly is a little frustrating at times because you get a big bag of bolts and parts but no directions. Its sort of a big jigsaw puzzle. Its going decently well so far. I do want to give a shout out to peace sports. I thought I was missing some bolts and called them up. They said anything I was missing just email them a list and they will ship it out for free so they do actually stand behind their product. Turns out I was just stupid and I did have them all but its good to know they care. This bike does have some very interesting features I never thought I needed on a bike. It does actually have a key fob with lock, unlock, a bike alarm, a panic button, and get this Auto Start. We'll see how well that works and if I ever actually use it. It also has a cover plate to cover the ignition switch that can only be opened with a special magnetic key. Turns out Bashan is pretty sure everyone will want to steal this thing. It also has a beeper that beeps the whole time the turn signals are on. Not sure if that is staying or not. There is a major list of things to do before this thing gets ridden.
: clean oil off brakes
: locktite every bolt on the bike
: Adjust valves because the factory doesn't know how to
: lube and adjust chain
: figure out jets
: change oil for something decent
: change fork oil for something decent
: check spokes
: lube axles and pivots
: weather pack connectors with grease

Its going to be a long process but I have all winter.

[ross/xt350]

Pics

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[Hank]

The autostart is pretty cool.    Totally unnecessary but cool.

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[ross/xt350]

Finished assembly today. Basically tires and plastics. Plus I checked the valves before start up just to be sure. Tires had 0 psi in them but they seem to be holding now that I aired them up. This is a 2018 that been in the crate the whole time. Valves are recommended at .05mm intake and .07mm exhaust. The intake was perfect but I had to open up the exhaust a little. It's a snap on this motor with the jam nut screw style adjuster. Put .5 miles on it around the yard and got cold. So far it idles like shit. Definitely need to address the jetting. The seat is comfy and it rides decent. Cant speak to power since the motor is brand new and I was babying it. It has a gear indicator on the dash and I have to say I like that. Never had one before.  It is very quiet with the stock exhaust and it shifts smooth. That's about all I could tell before I got cold and went in. Tried the auto start and that works but I could figure out how to shut the bike off after starting it that way. The key does nothing if you use auto start. I wound up pulling the plug wire and now it's fine. I'm sure I'm just missing something. I'll read up on china riders and figure it out. So far so good. I'll update when I have something to report again.

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[Hank]

I had no idea Honda made a pushrod engine any time in the last few decades, or is this an "almost Honda clone"?

Hopefully pulling the plug wire isn't SOP for shutdown after autostart lol!

Have you tested if the autostart is interlocked with the neutral switch?   I have visions of it driving itself off the kickstand and flipping over into the campfire haha.

What does the sticker by the shifter say?

And to be clear, I'm not making fun of the bike.    If it works at all its a good deal at $1650.   

[ross/xt350]

Ok after a bit more messing around I found out you hit unlock with the key in the ignition to disable auto start. Also yes it does have a neutral interlock so no danger there. The engine is a revamped clone of the old honda cg125 from the 1970's. It was never sold here but instead marketed towards developing countries where it was felt it would get less maintenance. That exact motor is still in production in Pakistan today and has spawned a dizzying array of different "clones". This one is made by zongshen who punched it up to a whopping 229cc's and added a counter balancer. Its considered to be the best of the breed. The pushrods are archaic but they work and they do make maintenance easier. Now figuring out jetting is next on the list. I think this is the sticker your referring to. The barely intelligible Chinese-English phrases are all over this thing. Goes with the territory I guess.

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[Baha Rob]

Love this thread, hopefully you bring it to the June ride.  I was the guy that was camping near you on the other side of crazy Joel.

If you do bring it, I vote we see how many dirty dirt bikers you can get on it at once, and ride around Wild Bill's campground (Chinese Style)

Rob

[ross/xt350]

Glad people are interested. I guess I could bring it as a backup to the t-dubs if people are interested in seeing this beast in the flesh. Yeah apparently Chinese bikes can also be busses, trucks, and just about everything in between so they must be good for something lol. I'll post an update when I get back to the bike. Got diverted by other projects.

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[ross/xt350]

Finally got back to this thing. One thing on the list is getting the jetting right. It does come with a keihin carburetor but it is a PZ30 which is not very well known in the states. Very popular in the Asian market. The fun thing with these is that they are "tamper proof" from the factory. Not sure why they think they have to do that but basically one of the float bowl screws is smooth and the mixture screw is a proprietary half moon thing. Fortunately a dremel can quite easily turn both of those in to flat head screws. Looks like the stock jets are #105 main and #34 pilot. Basically from what I can gather on china riders you need to bump up the fuel thought the whole range on this thing so i need some new jets. I did shim the needle and take the mixture screw out another half turn. Found a full carb kit with a bunch of jets to choose from and many other goodies on ebay for about 8 bucks. Should be here in a month or so since it is literally on the slow boat from china. Hopefully with all that stuff I can get the fuel right.

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