The 250cc holy grail?

After the recent thread about the KYM/SYMCO monopoly shooting fish (sheep?) in a barrel with their endless boring 150cc 4 stroke offerings this might be good news for would be bike buyers… CPI are a Taichung based manufacturer that started making engines and then complete bikes and quads for export markets, they’ve recently started selling their bikes and scoots in the local market and the well styled GTR big wheeled scoot was the first of this wave of local competition to SYM/KYMCO…

CPI’s boss is the exact opposite of the stereotyped gaoliang drinking, binlang chewing, knock off meister you’d expect and his intentions at least are good, so while the current product range has room for improvement CPI is to my mind one of the better TW manufacturers… A friend of mine imports and sells CPI’s bikes and scoots in Turkey and he’s more than happy with their quality and reliability… In Taiwan CPI has a difficult and expensive time getting their bikes through the government red tape to allow them to be sold on the local market, wonder coughkymco why?..

Anyway as of February this year they’ll be bringing what looks like a quite nice new model to the Taiwan market… the “250cc Supermoto”… and the kicker is that they’ll be under NT$100k or so I’m told… I’m assuming that they’ll come with street tires not the offroad efforts pictured… hardly breath taking engine performace but double the torque of Kymco’s Quannon out of the box… 6 gears is probably overkill, but fine… twin discs (something that’s been standard even on bicycles since the late 70’s but Kymco et al are still having a hard time bringing to market)… decent looking cast bits and euro styling… erm… kick start, should be reliable at least… and erm, 8 liter fuel capacity, should be, ah, okay that’s just rubbish… but still…

Specification Supermoto 250
Engine 1 Cyl. 4 stroke OHC
Displacement 250 cc
Max. power 18 KW (25HP) / 8000 rpm
Max. torque/Nm @ rpm 20 N-M / 6000 rpm
Emission limits Euro 3
Cooling Water-cooled
Transmission 6 Gears
Starter Kick
Front brake Disk 267mm
Rear brake Disk 230mm
Front tyre 90/90-21
Rear tyre 110/80-18
Fuel Capacity 8L
Dimensions L x W x H 2100x830x1200
Exhaust system STEEL










I find it a little difficult to believe that I won’t be snapping one of these babies up if they’re really going to be under 100. There’s simply nothing else to compare at that price. Their GTR caught my eye right away. Haven’t seen at all many on the streets, though.

A 250 for under 100 grand? Passe styling aside, if it was lowered a bit, made cooly naked with some chrome bits and some fat smooth tires it would be a great street bike. I mean, it’s OK like it is, buuuut… Hey, wait a minute! Is it a two- stroke? Hard to tell from the pics…That would rock.

How about they make a real 250cc motorcycle with their technology?

Looks like the Taiwanese version of a trials bike. Is the market for these really big enough?

it looks like a trials bike because it’s got the “taiwan market” super low shock on it, hence the low rear end… a longer rear shock or some raiser linkages would make it stop looking like a dog with worms and more like a proper enduro/supermoto… small, simple, supermotos are the ultimate commuter bikes, tall, good view, narrow, light, good steering lock… this thing’s role in life would be a city slicker although a spare set of wheels would make it a weekend offroader as well… oddly the one pictured looks to be a combination of the “supermoto” and “enduro” flavours that CPI offers… oh and it’s most definitely a 4 stroke…

EDIT: here it is in unadulterated “supermoto” guise…


Plas -
Reading my post it looks negative and that was not my intention. Its certainly good news to see a bike manufacturer here raising the bar.
I just would like to see a good solid normal motorcycle coming in at the 250cc - 350cc range. IMO that is about the best compromise for in city/island touring - weight wise and power wise for possible 2-ups.

Thanks for the techno updates.

Wow. I’m impressed. That actually looks pretty decent. OK, so they’ve taken a lot of styling cues from KTM, but hey, it looks not bad.
I’d be interested to see the weight, wheelbase and geometry specs on it to get an idea how it will handle. 25bhp @ 8,000rpm and 20Nm @ 6,000rpm speaks of good torque all the way from off-idle. Probably something runs something like the old 4V XL250 motor from the mid '80s. Very nice around town and easy to learn to ride off-road with without killing yourself or at least scaring yourself shitless.

Good detective work plasmatron!

Plasmatron, I love reading your posts. When’s your novel coming out?

SuperMoto with dual sport tires… weird. Solve that problem with Conti Road Attacks, terrific dual compound, good in the wet, long life on the slab, gummy shoulders, hmmm.

I didn’t anticipate a domestic threat to the S/K iceberg, but way to go CPI!! An SM model not only hits S/K in the solar plexus (no competing models, 11 hp doesn’t cut it) AND appeals to urbanites with weekend wanderlust that want more than a scooter.

I like it, albeit not enough to be wowed, but I am a fan of kicking SYM Yamaha and Kymco up the arse so I could still think about getting one. I would prefer it even more if they started making scooters however, as I like a place to put the dog and shopping.

my old mechanic’s racing team got one of these a while back for him to test out. He wound up winning a few championships at the small track in longtan with that bike modded out. I saw the guy riding that getting extremely low on the corners.


Only thought it fair to paste the orange supercross one up here.

[quote=“plasmatron”]After the recent thread about the KYM/SYMCO monopoly shooting fish (sheep?) in a barrel with their endless boring 150cc 4 stroke offerings this might be good news for would be bike buyers… CPI are a Taichung based manufacturer that started making engines and then complete bikes and quads for export markets, they’ve recently started selling their bikes and scoots in the local market and the well styled GTR big wheeled scoot was the first of this wave of local competition to SYM/KYMCO…

CPI’s boss is the exact opposite of the stereotyped gaoliang drinking, binlang chewing, knock off meister you’d expect and his intentions at least are good, so while the current product range has room for improvement CPI is to my mind one of the better TW manufacturers… A friend of mine imports and sells CPI’s bikes and scoots in Turkey and he’s more than happy with their quality and reliability… In Taiwan CPI has a difficult and expensive time getting their bikes through the government red tape to allow them to be sold on the local market, wonder coughkymco why?..

Anyway as of February this year they’ll be bringing what looks like a quite nice new model to the Taiwan market… the “250cc Supermoto”… and the kicker is that they’ll be under NT$100k or so I’m told… I’m assuming that they’ll come with street tires not the offroad efforts pictured… hardly breath taking engine performace but double the torque of Kymco’s Quannon out of the box… 6 gears is probably overkill, but fine… twin discs (something that’s been standard even on bicycles since the late 70’s but Kymco et al are still having a hard time bringing to market)… decent looking cast bits and euro styling… erm… kick start, should be reliable at least… and erm, 8 liter fuel capacity, should be, ah, okay that’s just rubbish… but still…

Specification Supermoto 250
Engine 1 Cyl. 4 stroke OHC
Displacement 250 cc
Max. power 18 KW (25HP) / 8000 rpm
Max. torque/Nm @ rpm 20 N-M / 6000 rpm
Emission limits Euro 3
Cooling Water-cooled
Transmission 6 Gears
Starter Kick
Front brake Disk 267mm
Rear brake Disk 230mm
Front tyre 90/90-21
Rear tyre 110/80-18
Fuel Capacity 8L
Dimensions L x W x H 2100x830x1200
Exhaust system STEEL[/quote]Sounds great, especially if it really is under 100k. It took CPI a while though. Two or three years ago, I met a guy from CPI who was talking about this bike, and I was quite excited for a while then forgot all about it.

So where can we get one then?
And if we could just place an order as a bulk purchase straight from the manufacturer, could we get a discount. A forumosan group purchase perhaps?

[quote=“sulavaca”]So where can we get one then?
[/quote]

I’ve seen a guy on one of these on the track…They aren’t really fast, but seem very decently put together. I was surprised when I found it was of local manufacture. The weather looks promising, so I’ll probably venture out there on Sat and ask him where he picked it up. I do remember he said “Shr wan tzo io” (pardon the horrifying pinying) means around 100k.

[quote=“plasmatron”]
Specification Supermoto 250
Engine 1 Cyl. 4 stroke OHC
Displacement 250 cc
Max. power 18 KW (25HP) / 8000 rpm
Max. torque/Nm @ rpm 20 N-M / 6000 rpm
Front brake Disk 267mm
Rear brake Disk 230mm
Front tyre 90/90-21
Rear tyre 110/80-18[/quote]

25HP and 20Nm torque is a lot of power for under 100k new. Most of the stuff Sym-Co and Hartford are putting out top out at 12-16HP for 150cc and 250cc engines respectively. As long as this comes to market it’s going to make the other Taiwanese offerings look very feeble. And I never thought I’d see the day when we get front and rear disc brakes as standard from a Taiwanese manufacturer. Big props to CPI :bravo:

There’s a sporty looking CPI parked near my Ninja and it doesn’t look at all out of place next to a big bike. No idea what model - I’ve been hoping to bump into the owner so I can ask about it.

When I last spoke to the head honcho at CPI last year he said that the game plan was to set up SYM-CO type CPI dealers island wide, at least in the major centers… I’ve not seen many in Taichung so far, I dont know if that means they aren’t meeting with the success they were expecting with the GTR (which they sell boat loads of in Europe) or the fact that I’ve not been looking for them… A mate of mine who runs a Kymco shop says they don’t have many dedicated shops (in Taichung), but a lot of places can order them similar to Hartfords… I’ve seen a few CPI signs and posters up at various bike shops as well…

As for getting a group buy discount I’d guess that a company that’s preparing to launch a new product locally to a limited sales market whilst cementing new dealer networks and sales channels is unlikely to jump at the chance to pull the carpet out from under it’s own feet with discounts to random groups of people, unless we’re talking in 40’HQ quantities… although in retrospect I think that if we all get together and practice riding in a human pyramid balanced on say three bikes, we may just be in with a shot of a display team promo deal… of course we’d have to secure the matching Evel Knievel suits first…

For concrete pricing, the cynic in me would entertain the possibility that the majority of sales channels may well treat these bikes in a “gravy on the side” kind of light and perhaps be likely to highball a casual “多少?” enquiry just on the offchance someone will bite… I’d also suspect the perceived “prestige value” of a 250cc might make it very hard for dealers to resist the temptation to gouge potential buyers, especially us ‘ignorant big noses’… That said, everything I’ve seen in chinese bike forums and heard through the grapevine says available February '08 and you’ll be getting change from NT$100k… so NT$99,999 then… :smiley:

Didn’t see it and not sure if anyone has asked -

Carb’s or Fuel Injected?

And no electric starter. Will this be an option?

no electric start didn’t stop people buying millions of XL250s. (actually, i can’t remember if that did have one).

it certainly looks a lot like a baby KTM. It may be a wise move to introduce a more sophisticated bike from a marketing POV, but from a maintenance POV, how many AhToos will treat it well? one only hopes that pressure for better mechanics will slowly increase the standards of graduating students from the vocational colleges.

[quote=“plasmatron”]When I last spoke to the head honcho at CPI last year he said that the game plan was to set up SYM-CO type CPI dealers island wide, at least in the major centers… I’ve not seen many in Taichung so far, I don’t know if that means they aren’t meeting with the success they were expecting with the GTR (which they sell boat loads of in Europe) or the fact that I’ve not been looking for them… A mate of mine who runs a Kymco shop says they don’t have many dedicated shops (in Taichung), but a lot of places can order them similar to Hartfords… I’ve seen a few CPI signs and posters up at various bike shops as well…[/quote]If I ever get one, I’ll probably get it from Eric in Taichung. He knows the guys from CPI quite well.

I got to thinking about some of my older bikes, and realised I had more than a few 250s many years ago, in the mid 80s when i was a motorbike courier in Sydney. My favourite was the GPz250, a little belt drive twin (no chain maintenance and really nippy while still quite reliable).

Now that was 25 years ago. We’ve come a long way, obviously…

Kawasaki GPz 250
Year 1983
Engine Four stroke parallel twin SOHC
248 cc
Bore x Stroke 55 х 52.4 mm
Compression Ratio 10:1
twin carbs (Mikuni CVs?)

Digital Ignition / Electric Start

Max Power 33 hp @ 10500 rpm
Max Torque 2.3 kg-m @ 9500 rpm
Front Brakes 2x discs
Rear Brakes Single disc

Dry-Weight 146 kg, Fuel Capacity 17 Litres