Test report page 3 edited to include speed and night time visibity and well as mirror visibility.
Is there a list of dealers anywhere yet?
Sales start May 20th, I have no dealer list, but dealers are starting to appear on Yahoo. Tell me the city you are looking to buy in and I’ll try find the nearest dealer for you.
Taichung, if I can get a decent credit deal (I have a Taiwanese signer). Otherwise, Taipei later in the year.
That SM250 thats been winning races…
I met the rider the mechanic and rode the bike on the track…and…oh my god! That thing is freakin fast!!!
Its all down to the NT30k Carburettor he put on the thing, he also removed the airbox and put on a European spec pipe, but his power comes from the carb (which he says is a bitch to keep correctly tuned), so no doubt his bike is thirsty as hell and warranty invalidated, but the potential in that motor is clear, helluva fast!!
So when you think you have mastered the stock bike (which is no slouch) you still got a long way to go to unleash the monster beneath. He reccomends for general use to put a different carb from the one he has that costs only around 5k and is less tempermental.
Cpi review
After 830km’s track and road riding
Tracks:
GAMFA/TIS
TSR
RKS
Long term test bike supplied by dealer.
Acceleration:
Great, low-rev torque, the power comes right on through delivering immediately with the sweetest power between 6000 and 8000RPM
Speed:
Good, enough to get you in trouble quickly In busy city traffic and certainly brisk enough for longer distances. I have been up to 156km/h when the front starts to get light because the bike only weighs 107kg and has no fairing to manage the wind.
Uphill climb:
Don’t even feel the hills the bikes power is great.
Roll-on:
Excellent, even high gear roll-ons at low speed produce instant power, making quick overtaking maneuvers a breeze.
Emergency Braking:
When I made it slide it felt perfectly poised. Stoppie/Endo difficult to do with the two piston front calipers, did it on a converted bike with 6 piston calipers though and it handles very well. Had a situation when the car in front of me went for a turn then changed his mind and stopped right in front of me, I hit the back brake and geared down twice, the bike slid into the evasive turn and then I powered around the car, it was very easy to do with this light and nimble bike.
Corner Braking:
Absolutely great even with the standard equipment I was setting good times on the track trail breaking toward the apex.
Low speed balance:
Very good, the bike is well balanced and the riding position makes control very easy. Nice and narrow to fit through traffic.
Lean Angle:
Leans all the way comfortably till the footpegs are scraping the track, I have in fact worn out my left footpeg completely recommend footpeg sliders for the track
Low speed turn (balance):
Very good, easy to handle through its lightweight and upright riding position
High speed turn (stability):
Good, but not terrific, you have to work to keep control on the standard suspension if you hit a bump because this is not a race bike it will bounce and flex a bit but otherwise it is very forgiving if you get the line wrong and need to correct.
Comfort suspension:
Excellent, when you get on the bike you will notice the suspension compresses easily both front and rear which gave me cause for concern however while riding I could feel the road beneath me which gave me a feeling of confidence while at the same time the bumps and holes in the road caused no discomfort, which is very important for me as I suffer from back injuries sustained over many years of racing and riding.
Comfort seat:
Good for about 150km’s then after that asspain begins, but that is true of every bike I have ridden from superbikes to scooters, you want a great long ride seat, get a Corbin.
Comfort riding position:
The riding position is upright and as such some people may feel discomfort over longer distances from spine compression, however as stated before the suspension is very forgiving so that will be a mitigating factor. I have ridden up to 200km’s on one day and still had no discomfort in my back.
Comfort space:
Very spacious and comfortable, I am nearly 6ft, and am not comfortable on small bikes, full steering lock on scooters bruises my knees and the smallest bike I feel moderately ok on is a 400cc superports. This bike while smaller and less intimidating than the DRZ400 is still large enough to be comfortable. The ride height gives great visibility.
Buttons positioning:
Convenient and well positioned with easy access while riding.
Storage:
None at all except a very small compartment under the seat that has a small tool kit that comes with the bike.
Visibility mirrors:
The standard position of the mirrors is nonsense you cant see a thing and your hand touches the mirror very easily, this is easily resolved by simply rotating the two pieces of the mirror mount round and reconfiguring the way it stands on the mounts and suddenly you have higher mirrors that can see more and don’t touch your hands.
Visibility night:
Very good lights.
Sound:
Great noisy thumper, not super loud but loud enough that scooters and cars knew I was there and moved out of my way, a great safety factor.
Gauges:
A digital job with bar and number tacho, speed and total distance readout with Lap timer, average speed, Trip distance and clock all accessed by a button near the right thumb, lights along the edges for the standard information include neutral, lights, high beam oil pressure/service and temperature. Backlit in Blue when the lights are on is a nice touch. However no fuel gauge.
Clutch:
Easy to pull clutch releasing immediately from initial position at the grip which made it difficult to handle the clutch two-fingered, but this has been remedied with an adjustment. Gave it some power and slipped the clutch and up it went for a wheelie.
Gears:
Small motions get the gears selected with the solid click of a new gearbox giving you the feeling of a quality gearbox, when looking for first gear on most bikes you will feel that the you cannot select a further lower gear because the gear pedal will not depress again and so you know you have reached first however on this bike however when you reach first gear the pedal will still depress to the same degree as if you were in any other higher gear so you get an ambiguous sensation and cannot be sure that you have reached 1st.
Conclusion:
I really like this bike its handling and power are competent of a 4-stroke 250 (however, I believe I could be wrong, not in the same league as the Japanese supermotos, but its also not in the same price range as those bikes and so cannot be directly compared), it is in a civil state of tune but That SM250 that’s been winning races… I met the rider the mechanic and rode the bike on the track…and…oh my god! That thing is freakin fast!!! Its all down to the NT30k Carburettor he put on the thing, he also removed the airbox and put on a European spec pipe, but his power comes from the carb (which he says is a bitch to keep correctly tuned), so no doubt his bike is thirsty as hell and warranty invalidated, but the potential in that motor is clear, helluva fast!! So when you think you have mastered the stock bike (which is no slouch) you still got a long way to go to unleash the monster beneath. He recommends for general use to put a different carb from the one he has that costs only around 5k and is less temperamental.
Basically for a white plate Taiwan built (so easy to maintain and get parts) at 98k all in it’s a great city commuter as well as short distance touring bike that can have fun at the track using low revs so limiting engine abuse and I believe with a quick swap of wheels you can have a great time off-road or on the beach. CPI has quoted NT9000 for the front wheel assembly of the SX bike and there is a dual sport Maxxi M0006 for the SM back tire available
The dealer said he anticipates very high demand as the bike has received recognition by being raced successfully as well as getting glamour appeal since a local star rides one. I will say that, in my opinion, in the west this bike would fly out the dealer lots.
$NT98 000 cash including licensing and insurance.
$NT103 000 financed over 6 to 12 months
Some points of interest:
Run-in limits from CPI engineers:
The recommended RPM limit is 8000RPM in run-in period, the suggested timing for gear changing is :
1st to 2nd : 20km/h
2nd to 3rd : 35km/h
3rd to 4th : 50km/h
4th to 5th : 70km/h
5th to 6th : 95km/h
The first service light comes on at 300k’s that’s for the first oil change, next one is at 1000 then 1000k oil changes after and oil filter change at 5000km.
Seat gets uncomfortable after 150k’s solid riding, I’m considering getting my seat customised cause I do intend to spend many hours in the saddle.
Around NT200 (around 7 litres from reserve) to fill the tank with 92 octane, Reserve to reserve NT150 of 92 got me 118km’s on road riding and NT200 on the track got me 78km’s but have to refill after 70km’s or you get dry gulps from, the carb when coming out of a corner after braking hard on the way in…
The radiator has two thermostats one for the overheat warning light and one to turn on the fan, mine was cross wired so the light came on before the fan making me panic and stop till it cooled.
The rear brake sensor was malfunctioning so the brake light was permanently on so we disconnected it till a new part came (3 days) so I wouldn’t burn out the Led brake light.
Very soon after I started riding the bike I noticed that the front wheel and the back wheel were buckled I am convinced that the buckling is caused by a material defect because I have ridden the bike the same way for 830km now and no new areas on the wheel have buckled.
The exhaust pipe has a very efficient inward tilt to improve aerodynamics but a side effect is that it cooks the edge of the license plate, which needs to be mounted with a custom made arrangement since the holes for the plate are down the centre instead of at the top edges.
Sometimes but not very often there is a feeling of the teeth jumping like there is a tooth somewhere in the gear train or drive train that is not catching and jumps, this doesn’t happen very often it happens around 3rd or 4th gear with hard acceleration after the bike has been running for a long time
I had a small crash and there is some damage on the right hand grip and the rear brake pedal which was pushed up and scratched the engine cover on that side,
I am considering a solution to stop that damage if the bike falls (Hand guards to protect the handlebar and axle sliders and an engine cover to protect the pedals and engine casing). But I am very impressed by the way the bike handled the fall without any big problem, I came into the pits kicked the brake pedal back down into position and went right on riding.
Also footpeg sliders are an absolute must have item to protect the footpegs, since in the SM style of riding on the racetrack it is normal for the footrests to slide on the asphalt you can see my riding at vimeo.com/976828 and these are the pictures of the result to the footpegs
None of these things are showstoppers, its a great ride for the money, I really love it.
You can see pictures attached to this review at ravetiger.spaces.live.com/Blog/c … 1202.entry
Thanks Dogma. You’ve convinced me. I’m putting my order in this week or next and then making the rounds to find the cheapest financing. Great reviews. You have really taken the apprehension out of buying unseen.
Uh, considering it had crossed wires on a critical cooling application, buckled wheels, a jumping chain and dry gulping carbs…Don’t you think you should wait a bit until their QC, assembly and suppliers get their act together?
Having said that…It does sound great, and at 107kgs has a really good power/weight ratio. It’s been a long, long while since Taiwan has made an exciting bike. I can’t wait to see it on the track.
Happy to help, please remember though that I am just reporting my experiences and my impressions and the facts I have uncovered, no one is paying me a commission to sell bikes and I don’t want to be held responsible if you buy it and dont like it hehe.
I strongly recommend to anyone who wants to buy any vehicle to get a test ride for themselves before buying, take a day or half a day get the HSR or take a bus or drive yourself to a big dealer who has a demo, its not really such a big effort for your peace of mind.
Makes me nervous when people say I’m the reason they bought the bike…unless they are happy with the purchase forever lol
The crossed wires were more an irritation than a danger since the overheat warning light was coming on way before the overheat point as it was coming on at the fan switch on temperature which is 80 degrees C. And if you are wise when you see that light you will stop the bike and let it cool and even then the light was only coming on when the air flow stopped passing the radiator when i was slowing down to leave the track or riding slowly on the track during a 30+C day.
The Dealer has just arrived to collect the bike to attend to my complaints regarding the feeling of teeth jumping (may just be the chain that is a loose) and the buckled wheels. I will let you know what he has to say about that.
Have you ridden it with a passenger? I see it has pegs for one in the photo, but it looks like it might be a little precarious and/or topheavy.
Then again, I guess it can’t be any worse than riding pinion on an NSR, which always leaves my wife speechless and shaking for a few hours.
Dogma, don’t worry. I will certainly not be holding you responsible if I’m not happy with the bike. No way. And those problems you mention sound to me like just teething problems on a new product. For sure I’ll make them known to my guy before I buy, and hopefully he’ll raise them with the company. Your name will NOT be mentioned in any way, shape or form.
In any case, the starved carb problem sounds more like a track thing to me, which I won’t be doing, while the others are just things I can look out for. The only real lean I’ll be doing is making the left off the Bitan bridge, and I’m sure the bike can deal with that just fine. 
I’m just happy to hear your reports, but again, I won’t be making ANY references to “someone who had a pre-release model” so please don’t worry on that account, and let me (us) know of anything else you find.
[quote=“Dogma”]Happy to help, please remember though that I am just reporting my experiences and my impressions and the facts I have uncovered, no one is paying me a commission to sell bikes and I don’t want to be held responsible if you buy it and dont like it hehe.
I strongly recommend to anyone who wants to buy any vehicle to get a test ride for themselves before buying, take a day or half a day get the HSR or take a bus or drive yourself to a big dealer who has a demo, its not really such a big effort for your peace of mind.
Makes me nervous when people say I’m the reason they bought the bike…unless they are happy with the purchase forever lol[/quote]
Hey, this is 100x better than just walking in blind, and it’s a great review. Just the fact you finally got Sandman off his ass to buy a bike makes you a hero my friend.
Hehe Brendon, im not surprised, the sound of a 2 stroke alone is nerve racking particularly if you kick in powerband at which point it goes from no go to all go, ur poor wife…
I havent had or gone pillion on the bike, when it comes back i’ll check it out, but a better idea would be for you to take the wife on a test ride with you and ask her how she feels about it.
In general I feel you should find 3 big advantages torque, sitting position and suspension.
The torque means the bike can pull away easily without a great handful of noisy fuss, although the bike is not quiet the noise is more enjoyable and the feeling of low rev torque combinded with 4 stroke thump thump single cylinder is a pleasing sensation, if you get my drift.
The ride height gives great visibilty for rider and passenger which instills confidence as well as giving you a long view for safety and the seating position is easier because the passenger is not either leaning heavily into you or leaning back with an empty space in front of him/her while you are bent forward which can be very unsettling for some pillions. I really doubt you will feel top heavy at all when you ride it i just feels like you have wheels on you, you dont feel at all encumbered by this bike.
Also that suspension that can handle brutal potholes with its large travel. The jury is still out on the wheels surviving the potholes, I have recently heard of an SX that was being tested by an official CPI tester that also had a wheel get buckled. Although I have hit many potholes and rough road sections and only suffered that one early buckling.
But whatever I or anyone else feels, i have learned from my wife that she has to be the one to say if she is happy to be on the back of it and no one elses opinion counts hehe
[quote=“sandman”]Dogma, don’t worry. I will certainly not be holding you responsible if I’m not happy with the bike. No way. And those problems you mention sound to me like just teething problems on a new product. For sure I’ll make them known to my guy before I buy, and hopefully he’ll raise them with the company. Your name will NOT be mentioned in any way, shape or form.
In any case, the starved carb problem sounds more like a track thing to me, which I won’t be doing, while the others are just things I can look out for. The only real lean I’ll be doing is making the left off the Bitan bridge, and I’m sure the bike can deal with that just fine.
I’m just happy to hear your reports, but again, I won’t be making ANY references to “someone who had a pre-release model” so please don’t worry on that account, and let me (us) know of anything else you find.[/quote]
Sorry I didnt address the concerns of the dry gulping, it must be understood that a SM when approaching a very sharp race turn comes in on heavy front brakes slowly releasing them all the way to the apex (well all racebikes do this, but i guess the difference is in the shape of the tank and the position of the fueltap/petcock), this drives all the fuel to the front of the tank for a long period, the dry gulping occurs when the tank is very near to the reserve volume of fuel so there is very little fuel in the tank ,say around 1 litre, the fuel tap is placed at the bottom but at the back end of the tank, so it is perfectly understandable that there will be no fuel available to the carb during the long braking period and during that time the little carb uses what fuel it already has. It just means a competitive disadvantage for racing rather than a problem for road riding, I have to ride with more fuel than neccessary to finish the race.
The reason I have released the information of riding this bike is because my dealer has agreed to let me blab about doing long term tests on his demo bike to whomever I like, so feel free to mention me, refer to my reviews and my videos if you feel the need. I have made it clear to my dealer that I am reviewing this bike, the service support that can be expected from CPI and his (the dealers) level of service for many interested English speaking prospective buyers.
So far my dealer has been really terrific and caring, although he cant speak English, he is quite patient and willing to go quite far to deliver the bike to you should you want to purchase from him, he does require that at the beginning of discussions you do go to his shop in Taoyuan to meet him so he knows you are serious, thereafter he will be happy to deliver the bike to you personally and collect the bike from you should you have any problem with it. The boss himself comes out to do any on-site work or deliveries and collections, he does not send any minions.
You will however need to be able to or have someone that can help you communicate in Mandarin.
This sounds very good indeed, to me! I live only about 30 minutes from Taoyuan on the freeway. If I have any problems with my guy (who isn’t a CPI dealer but who says he can easily get one for me) I’ll keep this in mind.
I’m really not expecting this bike to be that much of a step up from a moped – its a small 4-stroke single, after all – but I’m confident it’ll be better than anything else I can justify paying for.
Cool, you’re closer to him than I am, here are his details.
進興輪業有限公司 No. 410, Chung Shan Road, Tao Yuan City 桃園縣桃園市中山路410號 (03) 335-6566 0932-361582
hehe really not a moped dude, if you set your expectations that low u’re gonna be blown away for sure. CPI is not encouraging discounts but if you say you are part of my group (just say the foreigner from Hsinchu) and ask him he may offer a small discount, really small like 1000NT or something and he will still get your plates insure and deliver it.
Dogma, nice piece of work. I will buy one after they sort out the wheel buckling. I’ll have to ride both models. I love my DRZ-400S (Stateside), so I haven’t ruled out the SX.
The dealers rating has just dropped considerably in my view
Unfortunately the dealers response was not good, he has two different stories about what he believes happened to the wheel, one story he told my wife (because I cannot speak Chinese so I cannot speak to him directly) he said to her that I damaged the wheel when I fell off the bike, I know this is not true because the wheel was damaged before I fell, I fell after doing 750km’s and I noticed the damage at around 100km’s into the test ride after I had the bike and for all I know the damage was there when i recieved the bike, I didnt look for it when i got it did I?
His second story he told my friend (who is a mechanic) he said that I damaged the wheel by riding with the tire flat and that the tire became flat from riding over a nail, this is also not true, yes the tire got flat but it did not get flat from a nail it got flat because the air was escaping from the damaged part of the wheel, this happened at the TIS racetrack and I simply filled the tire up again right there without going anywhere until the tire sealed against the rim again and I drove home and the tire never got flat again….
The dealer has returned the bike to me but he has not replaced the wheel it looks like he just beat it with a hammer to get the bend out of the rim. This will not help me to report on the strength and reliability of the wheel as it comes from the factory because where it was weak before it will be worse now because the metal fatigue from repairing would add to the weakness not to mention the fact that the wheel will now be out of balance which will cause it to shake at high speed and then damage the wheel bearings.
And it has nice scratches on the black and red paint from him beating the wheel.
Not happy, he is basically calling me a liar.
Oh and he also broke off my left mirror…