I was chatting to my old boy about changing the forks and he threw up a couple of things I hadn’t thought too much about. Rake & trail, affected by the fork length, steering head angle, dropout offset and fork crown offset. I’ve seen enough pictures of CPIs with different forks to know they can fitted but there’s no way to know how the handling has been affected without riding. It could be the same, it could be better, it could be worse.
That’s the thing that’s still making me think about the Taiwanese forks more than the cost. Imagine the ball ache caused by buying forks overseas, having them altered, sent here, then trying to find someone who knows what they are doing to fit them, all the time trying to keep your wife from killing you for giving her all the translation duties. I’d drop an extra 10k to get Showa or WP or whatever no worries if I knew they’d go straight on.
I got the bonus I’ve been waiting for, so I’ll be getting my CPI next payday as long as the shiela doesn’t find something we “need” to spend it on before then.
Telling you, you’ll be well happy, if my experience is anything to go by. Mine’s still bog-standard, and will remain so until the warranty runs out. After that, I’ll be “doing a few modifications” let’s just say, but until then, its a fantastic little bike. I kid you not.
It amazes me that big bike dealers still bad-mouth the CPI. You’d think it was a basket of parts if you listened to them. “bad tranny, bad carbs, headshake…” I asked one Kwak dealer if he had ever ridden one… he wouldn’t answer, told me to wait for a Ninja 250.
The bad-mouthing is proof that the CPI 250 has changed the 'wan landscape in 250s. My guess is the big bike dealers have seen their 250cc sales tank.
Yeah, there’s a bit of headshake once you get up past 120, but since I seldom do, its not an issue. Bad tranny? Bad carb? Haven’t noticed, but then I’ve only put 8k on the clock.
Have a look at this brand new blue CPI. I wonder if it’s coming from the factory like that now - the plastics all look to be blue, not painted. It’s clearly a new bike, but it has no stickers on it.
I have 2000 km on mine now. Runs fine. Gearbox isn’t as smooth as a Japanese bike but I can live with that. Front fork is indeed a bit wiggely but with a driving style you won’t see the average biker going around.
I had the engine stumble a bit up in the mountains (Taroko) while going down. Up till today I still have no clue if it was dirt in the tank or not enough oxygen in the air. With dirt it should have that problem going uphill too when more gas goes through the carburator but than I never had the problem. Later down at Hualien the problem was gone and I could drive back to TP with no sweat, except my ass hurt so much I drove half the time standing lol. Thank god nobody saw that at 23 pm.
To delay the onset of monkey butt when riding an enduro style saddle, wear padded cyclist shorts. Fit them a size too large, so the elastic at the waist and thigh doesn’t bother you. If you need more, there are strap-on gel pads that go on top of the saddle. Very helpful if you’re prone to hemorrhoids.
Ooh man, I am gay already.
And now you want me to look like one too!? :no-no:
No pants is gonna help me there, I left at 7 am, drove almost non stop till 23 pm, I had 6 short breaks all day.
Even if I had a Honda Goldwing with all features (that is their car on 2 wheels right?), I would have felt wrecked.
I was going to buy some of those shorts but I haven’t got round to it yet, usually I ride for less than an hour at a time. On longer rides I find those tight boxers are the best bet, also moving around on the saddle makes the onset of a painful arse much sower. I think that’s why they do that in SM, not because it’s faster or looks cool, but because it stops them getting sore arses!
My biggest problem is that muscle between my thumb and index finger getting so painful I can’t pull the clutch. I cut it down so it only needs one finger but after a couple of hours it hurts like hell. I usually end up riding all the way back from Fushing in 4th because I can’t change gear.
I have 4500km now with no problems. The CPI is unreal!
FIT, nobody sees the lycra shorts… they are under your riding pants, but you will have that eye-catching “fat Mama” look if you wear two pairs, preferably yellow and red (for safety), with just a little of each rear band showing above the butt crack, homey style.
Seriously, you won’t believe what a difference they can make on plank seats. Search on them at black hole of lost hours. Gear | Equipment
I for got to ask before Frans, if you rode from Taipei to Hualien through through the mountains, how did you go for fuel? My bike does 180km on a tank if I ride sedately, but I’ve never seen a petrol station between Daxi and Luodong at either end of the number 7 road. I worry that if I go south on 7 from Chilan I’ll run out of petrol in the middle of nowhere on the way to Taroko.
Anyone know of a website that has an accurate list of Taiwanese fuel stations?
Two questions: How are the seats with passengers (being thin and looking a little short)? And I heard that the bikes don’t have a fuel gauge (or something along those lines), anyone able to explain this?
I’ll be heading into a dealer in Taoyuan on Thursday to have a look see. In making sure they have the latest model, I’ll check for those rubber covers for the wheel bearings. Anyone able to post / link a pic of what I should expect?
Mine’ll be up for sale in a week or two. One year old, just over 7k, good condition. Ridden only as a commuter on city streets and once to Pinglin and back.
