I am checking out all the bike options out there, and I came across the Hardford recently. I have seen a few riding around and always thought they looked OK, and there seems to be quite a few that have been customized around too.
Ratlung and I went to the shop last night and saw somthing pretty close to this (the below pic is a 125s):
The HD-150S is 58K new and the HD-200S is around 71K new.
Considering that a tidy standard 125 Sym Legend can go for upto 30K on the secondhand market, and these 150 Hartfords can go for 40K or so s/hand (I hear) and that’s if you can find either. I reckon that 58K for a new one actually seems not too bad.
Does anyone have one or know anyone else that does? Good points vs bad?
The shop we went to had ONE there, and it looked pretty dusty, and not available for a demo. Is there a shop around Taoyuan or Taipei that carries both models that will demo them?
The photo above is taken from a UK website that indicates that Hartfords are doing quite well in the budget bike category. steves-motorcycles.co.uk/har … -125s.html
(BTW, I don’t believe the HD-125S is available here)
Now you’re talking. the chief has been riding his for almost 3 years and is loving it.
I found mine being sold 2/h on like Tealit, I think.
It was a pretty sweet deal, some Canadian dude bought it new and bailed after 3 motnhs, left it with his GF to sell, it had like 3K km on it or something, it had been sitting in her underground for 6 months, covered, perfect nick.
New was like 75K or summit, I walked with it for 35K.
It’s the 150, plain Jane, though, not the doodadded one, I think it’s called the Cougar or Jaguar or some kind of big cat.
Only thing I did was get 3" lifters on the front forks, so it’s a wee bit taller to match my height, and get a crash bar.
My local dude has no problems getting parts, it’s no more expensive than a regular SYM or KYM 125.
They rock.
A buddy has had the 200cc model for 6 months now. Its a great bike. I’ve ridden it a few times and for what it is, it feels like a great bike. I would like to get one, wife doesn’t share my enthusiasm. Good instruments and good parts/mechanic availability.
I would put a bigger seat on it. I like the larger tires and the wheels on the bike in the pic. Same as his.
At around 71k I think its a deal.
The 125cc or 150cc should be good also.
So how fast does the HD150S go? The dealer told us it would go up to 140 km/h. Does it have enough power for 2 up? Would you think the seat is comfy enough for longer rides with 2?
Couple weeks ago I was doing 125 down Sun Jen Rd. at 0430, but that was alone.
I still have the standard seat, which is shaped a lot more like a giant twinkie than the custom jobbie Tru posted.
I wouldn’t want to do more than a couple hours on the highway on my bad boy without taking a break, I think you’d be looking at some pretty serious buttnumb.
2 can be a bit of a prob, I think.
I forgot to mention that I got a bit of a bitchbar welded on so the chieflette doesn’t go tumbling off, that squeezes things a wee bit if there’s 2 grownups.
can’t say much for the Hartford 150cc bike pictured since I’ve never ridden one, but I did very briefly own the supermoto version of the Hartford 150cc offroad VR or whatever it is that uses the same engine, I say briefly since I bought it new since they refused to let me test ride it, rode it around the block, realized what a hellish mistake I’d made and put it right back up for sale on the shop floor… ouch…
150cc 4-stroke with 2 valves (if I remember correctly) won’t blow your socks off, but it’ll be a good runabout… but 140km/h is extremely optimistic salesmanship other than downhill with a 20km/h tailwind… bear in mind that the engine is a third generation knock off from Kymco who knocked it off from Honda, but in Taiwan spares and servicing isn’t really an issue so that’s no big deal…
if there’s one constructive thing i can add to this discussion it’s don’t bother with the 200cc version… the extra 50cc despite raising one’s expectations does practically nothing for performance, it’s effectively just a big bore kit version of the 150cc with associated longevity issues and you pay far too much for the “status” value of the 200cc sticker…
if you do it go for the 150cc version and make sure it has the cool cast/CNC wheels with a wide enough rear rim to mount at least a 140 rear or whatever the aftermarket ones are…
Couple weeks ago I was doing 125 down Sun Jen Rd. at 0430, but that was alone.
I still have the standard seat, which is shaped a lot more like a giant twinkie than the custom jobbie Tru posted.
I wouldn’t want to do more than a couple hours on the highway on my bad boy without taking a break, I think you’d be looking at some pretty serious buttnumb.
2 can be a bit of a prob, I think.
I forgot to mention that I got a bit of a bitchbar welded on so the chieflette doesn’t go tumbling off, that squeezes things a wee bit if there’s 2 grownups.[/quote]
Thanks for the prompt reply. The brain is not too big, so that should fit, although I am rather tall. We will see, I will have to test drive one.
Couple weeks ago I was doing 125 down Sun Jen Rd. at 0430, but that was alone.
I still have the standard seat, which is shaped a lot more like a giant twinkie than the custom jobbie Tru posted.
I wouldn’t want to do more than a couple hours on the highway on my bad boy without taking a break, I think you’d be looking at some pretty serious buttnumb.
2 can be a bit of a prob, I think.
I forgot to mention that I got a bit of a bitchbar welded on so the chieflette doesn’t go tumbling off, that squeezes things a wee bit if there’s 2 grownups.[/quote]
Thanks for the prompt reply. The brain is not too big, so that should fit, although I am rather tall. We will see, I will have to test drive one.[/quote]
Do be advised that the one shown, I guess it’s the 125S, I’ve seen a few of them around, is REALLY short, like unless you’re under 5’6", it can be kind of uncomfortable to ride, you end up feeling like Magilla Gorilla on Mr. Peeble’s tiny tricycle, hence my addition of the lifters.
I had to do the same for my old Kwang Yang 150 fake Virago, and I’m only about 6 '.
Here are the two flyers we got, from two dealers(kymco and yamaha). Both seemed to indicate that theirs was the ‘latest’ model, but as you can see the pics show 2 different HD-150S models. The 200s look the same.
Annoyingly, the website url www.hartford.com.tw that is printed on the back of one of the flyers shows 6 CNC mills etc, and ZERO mention about bikes. I have ranted about this sort of thing before.
I have been wary of Hartfords for a while since hearing not-so-good things about them from a couple of people including my mechanic. But if The Chief’s bike has been going alright for 3 years then they can’t be that bad.
Still, I think Truant should take a look at the Kymco KTR150 as a possible alternative.
[quote=“joesax”]I have been wary of Hartfords for a while since hearing not-so-good things about them from a couple of people including my mechanic. But if The Chief’s bike has been going alright for 3 years then they can’t be that bad.
Still, I think Truant should take a look at the Kymco KTR150 as a possible alternative.[/quote]
joe, which one is that, I don’t know it.
Now you guys have had me minutely reviewing my entire Hartford experience over the last couple of days.
This is my 3rd bike in 14 years, and, yeah, I’m a daily user, no car and maybe one day a week where I don’t ride it.
My last was, as I said, the KY 150 fakey chopper dealy, which I rode for 8 years and 2 engines.
Compared to that, the HF is kicking mucho booty in the details department.
e.g the electric start on the KY stopped working after 6 months and I could never get it fixed; the shifting post on which the gear shifter is mounted stripped inside the gearbox 3 freaking times, the horn could never be made to work, and there were a bunch of other little things, the kind of stuff you live with when you drive beaters, but after 3 years, the only things wrong with the HF are physical damage that I haven’t fixed.
The HDs do look nice. I like the ones with the flames down the side.
[quote=“the chief”]…after 3 years, the only things wrong with the HF are physical damage that I haven’t fixed.[/quote]That’s good news. It was the long-term reliability that I was concerned about so the fact that yours is still going strong is reasurring.
I have seen those around, but don’t really know what to think of them. Are the KYMCO’s well built? Sounds like The Chief had bad experiences with them.
We have a Hartford shop in Yang Mei. I drive past it every day. A few years ago it was full of Hartfords and they were going at it big time. I noticed shinny Hartfords in various states of dissasembly during this time.
Obviously they were having glitches. The store seems to have settled down now to just a few bikes going out every now and then.
Maybe the Hartford initial testing is not up to par and any parts failures are likely to show up fast.
Maybe in the past few years since I saw all those bikes in bits things have improved.
And, balance this out with the great run The Chief has had out of his bike.
There’s really almost nothing I can say to fault this bike, 4valve new generation Kymco engine, comfortably adequate components and okay build quality for a Kymco, smooth, easy to ride, obviously no power house, but it’s okay… BUT and there’s a fly in the ointment… you could only get away with one of these things if you are well under 6 feet tall and I mean well under… I don’t know who Kymco built these KTR’s for but they’re BMX small and a mate who’s got one who’s somewhat vertically challenged still finds it a tight squeeze and his waife like wife don’t fit so good on the back either making 2 up a pain… plus tank range is about 100km… still that’s only 2 gripes about an otherwise top bang for your NT$50,000 bucks bike… oh and the rear rim will only take a 100 to 110 rear… 3 gripes…
There is a litte bit more info there. Cheers
