Well, I'm out. No more RX3.
 

I sold the RX3 today. No more wishing I had a real dual sport or a real touring bike, and having only a mirage (it looks the part) that actually wasn't very fun for either.

For a street commuter, sure? Short sprints on the interstate, okay. Rock gardens? Single track? Jeep trails? Smoothly graded deep gravel? Nope to all of them. A hard packed dirt road is about all it can handle gracefully.

I already have three other bikes that are great at the commuter job, one of which is actually surprisingly good off-road. So the RX3 had to be the one on teh chopping block.

On the bright side, I paid $1200 for it and sold it for $1700. I put nearly 7000 miles on it in two years. With the repairs and accessories I still came pretty close to breaking even. Sold it to a nice kid fresh out of his MSF course. He was happy to find anything under $2000 that was not only rideable, but in good shape too.

While I'm RX3-less now, I still have my SG400 and SSR Buccaneer china bikes :)

Charles.

Charles.

Wait a year and see what comes out in 2023. I'm picking up my KPX on Monday, so that means next year Lifan will come out with a liquid-cooled 400cc dualsport.

Haha.. thats so true.. we'll be seeing new Hawks, Brozz, Titan's etc with like 40hp, 6-spd all aluminum bits, titanium exhaust, Showa suspension and weigh like 250lbs...
maybe not next year though lol

Yeah, I should probably start saving up for the 400cc LC bike now.....

Don't feel bad. I paid $6500 for my "adventure sport" bike! I had a Suzuki DL1000. "Dual Sport". It was a fun road bike (really fun, what a wonderful engine!), but adventure bike dual sport tires are just crappy road tires that will drop you in the mud. I've watched youtube videos of these bikes too. The Honda Africa twin or Trans alp are heavy bikes, and many complain about, (and you might want) help lifting it back up after a fall:lmao:

Real knobbies might help keep it upright, but if it goes down.... Still a beast to upright!!

I think 650 class makes more sense for adventure sport based on a standard dual sport. But get some knobby-ish tires if the adventure thing means anything!!

I sold it for $5600, so as I said, Don't feel bad. You did well!

https://www.chinariders.net/showpost...2&postcount=46

Charles did you still have the factory Chain on your bike when you sold it? I am around the same mileage stock chain yet......

No, replaced the chain with an o-ring chain a few hundred miles after I bought it.

Charles.

Thank you for the honest, short review and the update/confession :)

Sounds so very much like my BMW GS650 - great on hard packed surfaces.. but once it got into the deep gravel, mud, and other loose terrains, it really couldn't hang; even with Pirelli Scorpions. Honestly I think it was gearing; not enough torque; maybe much like the RX? I switched for a few miles and got on the GS800 my friend had and it was a completely different story - bigger tires as well. The 650 also has a very low center of gravity to be a 'trail bike'. The Titan DLX I've been modifying and riding is miles beyond what the 650 could manage.. Came with knobbie tires as well. Probably not as much of a tank as the GS series lol but have dumped it once already - took it well.

Man, I hate that for you though - I have been really eyeing the RX3/4 bikes for a while. But, also hearing that it can't handle the small stuff with ease; bummer.. Good to know though! That makes a big difference in my next decision.

Sorry it didn't work out for you.

It's cool, I got some fun out of it. I just wanted it to be something it wasn't. Then I tried to spend a bunch of money making it better at what it was terrible at. In the end, the modifications helped but not enough for the riding I wanted to do.

I'm currently looking at the Mash 650 X-Ride, and hoping against hope they bring it to the USA...

Charles.

Honestly, with the spread of bikes I have, they really all do one thing really well. For my short errands around town, either the Hawk or V-Star are my go-to's. The Hawk really does well off road, but that's because I have some pretty aggressive knobbies on it. It's ok enough on surface streets, but the top speed is a super limiting factor. Even if I could get it rolling along at anything faster than about 65mph or so, the bike is so light that it gets super squirrelly and sketchy at those speeds. The Ural is a great all-around bike if you don't need to get anywhere fast, and it's a real crowd pleaser at the local drive-ins and get-togethers. Finally, there's the DR. That bike is AMAZING for pretty much anything I throw at it. It does great in sand, rocks, hills, and roads. The biggest variable is always going to be the matching the tires to the task. If I were take it on another long cross-country, I would buy a set of road tires, and a set of knobbies, and change them out depending on what terrain I'm trying to tackle. Right now I have a pretty good set of Shinko 705's on it, and they're good for just about anything I see day-to-day, but they wear pretty quick on the road, and aren't aggressive enough for soft sand or slick mud. Overall, I hope to hear you find a bike that fits your needs really well!

My Benelli Leoncino Trail is doing the stuff that the RX3 couldn't.

https://www.advrider.com/f/attachmen...-jpeg.3060117/

https://www.advrider.com/f/attachmen...-jpeg.3060738/

https://youtu.be/HCOq5-2W2uA

Charles.

My Benelli Leoncino Trail is doing the stuff that the RX3 couldn't.

https://www.advrider.com/f/attachmen...-jpeg.2975618/

https://www.advrider.com/f/attachmen...-jpeg.3060117/

https://www.advrider.com/f/attachmen...-jpeg.3060738/

https://youtu.be/HCOq5-2W2uA

Charles.

It's not a great touring bike, but neither was the RX3. It's a blast on the twisties and in the gnarly stuff though.

Charles.