samedi 30 septembre 2017

Traded for a crap chinese motorcycle review

I wanted a SHTF bike:

found a RPS Hawk 250 (there are a ton of cheapo china bikes on the market)

1. Would not be effected by EMP or CME. (nothing digital on this thing)

2. On and off road capability. (Not great at either but fair on both. Street legal I pay $3.60 a month for insurance. I doubt the knobby tires are DOT approved but so far they are OK on road)

3. 55 mph or higher top speed (I can hit 55 and eventually with sprocket change maybe 60+)

4. 300 # max capacity (I only weigh 160 and it specs at 330# max and is a full size bike, not a wee pit bike)

5. Durable and reliable (so far so good but has yet to be proved, I have beat it up off road (the welds held) and run the heck out of it on road)

6. 70 MPG + (roughly in 1 tank 80-90mpg on road mostly 3.2 gallon tank on it)

7. Light, under 300# So I could put it on a hitch carrier. (277 #)

8. Battery is fine but must kick start too (got em both)

9. Cheap....(I am on a tight budget) (Under $360 in it including parts)

I was looking on craigslist for older honda, suzuki ect. dual sport motorcycles. They are expensive, I saw this RPS hawk 250 for $1300 brand new but was never going to fork out that for a crap chinese bike. The I saw a used one an hour away a few weeks ago. I contacted the guy and he wanted $750 for it. We went back and forth and I ended up trading a chiappa .22 1911 1,000 round carton of .22lr and $100 for the bike which ran, but not well. It had sat a long time and the carb was tuned poorly so It was way lean and missing badly. I figured I could fix it (I used to be a mechanic)

I got on the interwebs and found all sorts of info on the bike. I changed the spark plug modded the air box and cleaned and re-jetted the carb. It purrs like a kitten (although very cold natured) Changed the oil too, will need a change every 700-1,000 miles or so but only 1 quart and super easy to do.

Bike has 320 miles on it now, I put 270 on it so far. I am happy with it. Will it last easily 50K miles like a DRZ 400? No, but if I get 10-15K miles out of it I am good with that.

My wife hates my feeble attempts at prepping as they cost $$$ for supplies/items that she feels are idle. But this has a multi purpose.
Transportation, recreation and is a prep. (It is a hoot to ride and my teen son likes hanging with dad again if I let him ride it. Hey I am not above bribes to spend time with my son between him working 2 jobs, school and his girlfriend and pals)

Thought I would share my experience with this "crap" bike for my first thread creation. When I get a few thousand miles on it I will check back in. So far I liken it to a chinese knock off knife as it is a honda dirtbike clone. It is way better to have a piece of crap knife than no knife at all. (I do not skimp on knives though....)

Here is a pic of my little boy riding (Well not so little he is 6'3" but darn skinny!)

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Traded for a crap chinese motorcycle review

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