Anyone seen one of these yet?
goods.ruten.com.tw/item/show?21547143796896
223 cc, 18 horsepower. Seems like a pretty good deal but I wonder about the quality. For any Hartford owners, would you recommend the brand?
[quote=“BruceBannister”]Anyone seen one of these yet?
goods.ruten.com.tw/item/show?21547143796896
223 cc, 18 horsepower. Seems like a pretty good deal but I wonder about the quality. For any Hartford owners, would you recommend the brand?[/quote]ity o
I think sometimes Hartford gets a bad rap. Actually the quality of Hartford motorcycles really isn’t that bad especially compared to the price. Their engines will last a long time too if they are taken care of properly. Recently, I am extremely impressed with Hartford. At least they are trying new things and making motorcycles of all different shapes and sizes. SYM has done a bit with the T2, T3, and the 300cc cafe racer. Kymco hasn’t done anything except for the 250cc Venox cruiser. So in my opinion Hartford is on the right path especially with the expressways now allow 251cc or higher. Hartford has a few new bikes besides the one you’re interested in. There is also the Nighthawk 320 and the Fire X 320 both 300cc and about 180k which is way cheaper than the Yamaha R3 and Honda CBR 300 both around 240k.
Also, Hartford is stepping it up and has created the Falkon 400cc which is only about 168k (cheaper than the 300cc…not sure why). They also have the Diablo 650 which is about 230k (cheaper than the Yamaha R3 and Honda CBR 300). I think their prices are fair. Yes the quality is obviously not going to be as good as Yamaha or Honda, but for the cc size I think they are doing it right.
If I were you, I would save up more and buy something over a 251cc so you can jump on the expressways. 
If not, sure the price is decent for that Sirius 223cc. Don’t have too many expectations for it though. It is only a 223cc and it’s a Hartford (aka turd). Could be a fun bike though.
Also, all the Taiwanese companies should be making an entry level 251-300cc motorcycle that is cheap. There demographic should be the younger generation and getting them interested in a little bit bigger of a motorcycle. Hartford is going about it the right way. The other companies aren’t as much in my opinion. Most of the local companies price their 251cc and above motorcycles way too much.
I’m interested because its so light weight, it’s lighter than the SYM wolf, but still has more hp. I don’t want a larger bike at the moment, I’d probably get into too much trouble I’m just worried that after a few years and long rides it’ll fall apart. Some of their bigger bikes are pretty nice looking though, especially the Fire X
Nah, I doubt it will fall apart. Like I said the Hartford engines are actually not that bad. I have seen so many abused Hartfords that are still trucking along. If you buy it, remember it is a cheap motorcycle so it will most likely have some small problems. Make sure you fix them immediately. Also, keep up with the required maintenance. I think you should be fine. Go for it. No many people have them either. So you will get more looks on it for sure.
And that, sadly, is what its all about.
Meanwhile, in, like, Un-Cool City, anyone know what engine its got?
The old Hartford models were Honda CG125 clones, a bullet proof pushrod design. If its only 223 cc they might just have bored/stroked it out to that, though that’d be pretty close to the limits of the design, and MIGHT generate reliability issues, plus y’all won’t like it, because push-rods are sooo unfashionable.
The CB125 engine was the original OHC design, and I suppose Hartford might have based this engine on that. The pushrod version was produced by Honda to give more durability, so I think it preferable, but I’m not at all fashionable. (I’m not a real biker).
I think 223 cc is/was the actual capacity of the Honda CRF230F, which may not be a coincidence.
I’ve seen one or two of them here, but I don’t think they can be street-legal.
Not sure what type of engine. I think it’s an overhead cam design but can’t be sure.
Just to spell-out the above a bit more.
The Honda CRF230F is as big as Honda took the base CB125 engine design, which suggests its probably as big as it can be taken.
I’d bet money that the engine you’re talking about is a Hartford copy of this engine.
This is a very good thing, since I’d have a lot more confidence in their ability to copy a Honda engine that is a variant of one they already make, than I would if they were designing one from scratch.
However, its unlikely they have any support from Honda, so they are probably relying on reverse engineering the design, giving them some scope for screwing up.
A bit of poking about on the Internyet didn’t reveal any issues with this engine, but IIRC motorcycle expert Redwagon, who used to post on here, said the CRF230F was “pushing it a bit”.
A marginal Honda design, re-engineered by a not-Honda company, MIGHT have issues, say in metallurgy, which you can’t simply measure with a micrometer and copy.
The downside of “getting more looks” ( 
) is that you’ll be an early adopter. See the CPI thread on gearbox failures for what can happen to early adopters of Taiwanese motorcycle designs.
OK, Hartford aren’t CPI (who on that showing are taking the piss) so it’ll probably be fine, but the prudent thing would be to wait and see.
@Ducked I’m calling OHC on this one, valve cover looks too tall, but the 150 version of same bike has a carbon copy of a Honda CG125 OHV. As do most other Hartfords I’ve seen. Terrible engine, but as you said, bombproof.
Why terrible? Bombproof is good. Especially here.
If my speculation that its a CRF230F copy is correct, it’d be OHC, because the CRF230F is.
It’d thus be a development of the CB125 (OHC), as is the CG125 (pushrod).
Did anyone grab or ride a Sirius 223?
I am looking for a new bike and trying to decide if I want to stay with a white license plate, in which case this seems like a nice bike, or go up to Yellow license plate.
Saw that Hartford took rk1951’s advice and now have three motorcycles at a low entry level price point (less than NT$300,000) in this category.
Falcon 400
http://www.hartford-motors.com.tw/product_detail.php?id=14
Night Hawk 320
http://www.hartford-motors.com.tw/product_detail.php?id=13
Fire x320
http://www.hartford-motors.com.tw/product_detail.php?id=15
Curious if anyone has any experience with any of these bikes.
It seems like the least expensive way to get a new yellow plated motorcycle with some style in Taiwan.
Any other options?
Also, how would one arrange a test drive for Hartford bikes?
I agree with you that I would say these bikes are a cheap way to be able to ride on the expressways here. Those 3 bikes you listed are actually pretty rare and I doubt many people have experience with them. I would imagine if you don’t ride them like a bat out of hell and keep up with all the maintenance they should be fine. I have seen 2 Falcons on the expressways too, but the other bikes I haven’t. I give Hartford mad props for trying different things (even though some of these bikes are just copies other other bikes).
If you are on FB, you might to add yourself to my Taiwan motorcycle group. It has a lot of great information and more people will probably have a lot of opinions on these bikes. There might even be better options out there too. The FB group is called Taiwan motorcycle and scooters buy sell trade parts and information.