I’ve got one with 60kms on it, it’s downstairs and my only problem so far is the back brake pedal being at the bottom of its adjustment and still too high.
[quote=“Andrey”][quote=“sandman”]Oil change after the first 300km. After that, it’s every 1,000km.
I change mine every 500 miles or so, like I’ve done on all my bikes since I was a kid.[/quote]
It’s not normal! You should oil only chain every 1000km![/quote]
my buddy runs a performance scooter shop. he service all sorts of scooters made locally in taiwan. the norm is suggest 1,000km oil change.
im in the middle of my tests and 1,000km is no big deal. i got people doing 2,000km on a fully synthetic 10w-40 made for cars.
problem with scooter is lack of oil filteration. all they have is a metal screen to catch large debri. if u ask me what for even have one :roflmao:
Sandman what happened with your front wheel bearings? Did they change them for you FOC?
Yes. Better quality ones, too.
Yes. Better quality ones, too.[/quote]
I wouldn’t mind seeing a pic…Curious to see how they address this issue.
I have my new CPI for a few weeks now and did 700 km with it. I can not stop realising how much fun I have with this little bike. in the past I have driven (mostly new) Kawasaki, Honda, Montesa, Ossa, Suzuki and before this CPI I had 4 Harley’s. From 883 Sportsters till my last Springer Softtail 1340. That one I parked in a car so I stopped driving until the limping was gone haha. I have warm feelings for Harley and the general experience that you can race them like any ordinary Jap bike, just get a new one in one or two years cos than they start to get minor mechanical problems. Now living here I wanted to get a New Sportster again but was shocked about their prices and stunned about the fact that they were sold out (twice). The bike I had in mind would have cost me 700.000 NT. Would I have had fun with it? Yeah, likely. Later on I stumbled over a CPI bike (never heard of it) and couldn’t believe the price of that thing. New, 250 cc, water-cooled and for just 109.000 NT. I read a lot of negative stuff on Forumosa about this CPI but took the plunge anyway.
Man, I am having Fun Fun Fun with this bike. Ok, the seat is so high that I can barely touch the ground (I am 175) and the seat is pretty uncomfortable for longer distances. After a 9 hour drive my ass felt like I have been on a horse for 3 days. Most annoying is the position of the horn switch, that I need when I am begging for some f***ker’s attention. Some people are really out there to kill me I think. Ok, the front suspension feels a bit wiggely when you use that front break in a curve, and yeah; I don’t like the fact that I have to lock my steering handle in order to get the key out and open my gas tank.
SO WHAT?
For that money I got a bike with real good torque, lots of noise (how on earth did that ever pass a test?). It looks flashy with all those LED lights, it handles really well, acceleration is great considering its 250 cc and over all it is a very cool bike. People won’t stop looking at me at all those traffic lights. (Or is it me they are looking at? I never know for sure…) I kick its ass, ever since I got it and nothing fell of yet.
I can only say that it is very good value for money.
That is what you always have to keep in mind…
Frans in Taipei
My bearings seem to be more normal now – no evidence of weird wear or anything. Had a problem with the heavy hot wire to battery being cut by something under the seat – easy fix.
Then a problem with battery drain – much too high. Should have been registering +/- 0.5 but was way up at +/- 1.5! Easy fix. Most recently, the cooling fan went, causing the thing to overheat. Easy fix.
Overall, a bunch of niggles but nothing serious. It’s still running lovely, still bog-standard. In general I’m still happy with it despite the problems, which I’m sure have not ended. But what the hell? Its a NT$90k machine. And I’m luckier than my mechanic’s brother who’s having problems with his spanking new Benelli – that he has to have shipped back to the factory in Italy! Maybe he’ll get it back before the cold weather comes.
I have tested this bike for a few days and did about 200 km on it. I was completely satisfied by it’s way of ride, BUT one problem prevent me from buying it. That was the gearbox! It was very difficult to catch a neutral or find the first gear, that was very annoying on traffic lights, but most of all I was very unpleasant surprised when discover that gear could lowering by itself! For example, you could drive the bike for about 10-15 min at 6th gear and then that 6th gear, that was turn on, suddenly turns out and it appears like neutral between 5th and 6th gear. This is very dangerous, especially when this defect appears when you overtaking a car or going in the turn on wet road. I hope that this defect is an exception and apply only to exemplar that I was wanting to buy.
What about your gearbox Sandman? Is it functioning normal?
Andrey,
I think the CPI you tested was a lemon. That’s the first report of the tranny jumping out of gear that’s been posted on flob, and flob seems to have the most active thread in English on the CPI 250 SM.
Loretta complained about difficulty finding neutral when he first got his CPI but I assumed that was just because he is, after all, an idiot.
I haven’t had any such problems with mine. I find the transmission to be very crisp and precise, in fact.
maunaloa, sandman thank you for your comments! I’m glad that it was been just an exception in my case. Maybe I bought one next moto-season.
Just got off the phone with another CPI-owning friend whose gearbox has just seized at 80kph, causing him to leave a 30-metre strip of rubber on the road.
I hope he didn’t come off. That could have been a law suit.
I had occasional false neutrals between 4th and 5th or 5th and 6th (I can’t remember) when my bike was under 1000km old.
A bigger problem for me was putting it in neutral by mistake and revving the nuts off it when shifting from 1st to second. The opposite to what Andrey said. Just because the gear pedal is half an inch too high and my ankle doesn’t flex up far enough for a positive shift when my weight is forward.
I had my third oil change done this morning at 2600km. It’s not using any coolant any more like it did for the first thousand km. The had those new Fastace USD forks in stock, $28,500 fitted including Brembo rip oss Frando four pot caliper. That’s what I’m having for Christmas.
Also I put a bit of plastic in the clutch lever to stop it returning all the way because it doesn’t have a reach adjuster.
Frans, you should be able to take the key out when it’s in the off position. You don’t have to lock the steering according to me or the owner’s manual.
Looks like it’s a commonly encountered problem… I don’t want take part in this lottery where I can loose my life.
I should make it clear, I have not had any problems with my gearbox after doing 1000km or less. Putting it in neutral between 1st and 2nd is my fault, not the bike’s!
Any updates on these ten years later?
I’ve Ben asked Ng around and the general thought is that they are pretty good bikes for cheap…
…unless you get a lemon.
I’ve seen some nice looking and some heavily modded 2010 models for sale on Rakuten…
Thoughts?
As I can’t get a duc supermotard in tw (or afford one there anyways) this seemed like a decent choice in white plate
It’s the best bang for the buck of any motorcycle on the island. You won’t find another bike with better performance for prices comparable to it at all. That being said, it lacks the overall quality and refinement of most imported Japanese bikes, but for those you’ll pay a much higher price.
My SM has had it’s fair share of small problems, but nothing serious, it runs really well, but small things seem to break more often than they should. But for the price I paid (mine’s used) I expect things here and there to go wrong. Overall it’s been a worthwhile bike that I’ll keep for the long run.
The place to find info is on Facebook, check out the links for the two groups below:
This group is a mostly foreign motorcycle group but many of the members have CPIs so they can answer whatever questions you have in English.
And this group is a local SM250 group that has all the answers, but it’s mainly in Chinese so the language barrier might an issue
Awesome! Tks for the insight.
Have you done any major mods/upgrades to yours?
As cash will be an issue when I first land, I was looking at getting a used one. Seen various from 40-85k. Can’t really tell why some are more expensive. Seems to be mostly the owners opinion of their bikes worth.
Mine is mostly just bone stock, nothing major done to it.
I paid on the low end for it, NT$45k, knowing that it would need some work done to it at some point.
I’ve done a little work on it fixing whatever breaks, but I’ve got no intention of dumping money into it modding it. For my purposes it’s fine. Eventually I’ll be buying a nice red plate bike once a good deal rolls around.
I’d say the sweet spot price wise is about NT$65k. Usually at that price you’ll get a bike that’s in good overall condition that shouldn’t need much work, if any done to it. You’ll also usually get a few mods at that price too. Once mod, which you should for sure look out for is the brake caliper mod, swapping the caliper out for a Frando unit. The stock brakes kinda suck so it’s the one mod that’s worthwhile for sure.
Here’s a pic of my bike below…
