Buccaneer SRT250 Classic or Cafe Purchase
 

Please be sure to post your thoughts and photos if you purchase one of the new SSR Buccaneer 250cc Bikes, or have first hand knowledge about the good & bad about this bike! We would all like to know if this bike is a good investment, a "keeper" :tup: , or a piece of crap, a "junker" :tdown: !
First hand knowledge is so far just about impossible to obtain. There must be someone making a purchase of this nice looking bike!
:thanks:

Have you Google searched Italjet? I know they are branded as such thanks to that really bad movie from Nepal in which the guy dreams of the Italjet and the good looking woman. I am guessing they are sold in Europe. Perhaps there are forums or youtube videos of this bike labled as an Italjet?

I saw one of these at a dealer in China (it's the only one I've ever seen), but I did not see any on the road. It is a very good looking bike; almost British in appearance (maybe that was just the classic air-cooled V-twin speaking to me). I don't know anything about its performance, its reliability, or how it sounds. It sure looked good.

I'm afraid I have no first hand experience. The Buccaneer is a great looking bike for the money. However, I believe it is rated at a bit over 17hp.
-The Zongshen RX3 single costs a few hundred bucks more and is rated at 24hp or so.
I don't know if the RX3 can be customized as a cafe racer without considerable expense.
This article may help you decide.
http://www.motorcycle.com/manufactur...fe-review.html
http://www.ssrmotorsports.com/news/w...016/02/1-1.jpg

I think these will find homes with the same kind of people buying up CCW's cafe racers, as the quirks with the CCW's don't seem to keep people away from those. These have the advantage of a v-twin, although I have no idea what the advantage is over the thumper in the CCW lineup :) Fuel injection is another advantage. I don't think one would go wrong with one of these, provided one wanted a low-cost, cafe-style bike for 'cheap' ('cheap' being relative). In other words, like the CCW bikes, I doubt that this will fall apart.

everyone knows (or should know), that there is always a certain amount of a "project bike" factor built into every china bike.

I like the buccaneers a lot, but the 250 air cooled models from SSR are simpler and make more HP. In the UK, the China Bike equivalent to the Buccaneers appear to be more closely related to the XF250 dual sport. I have asked SSR to look into this, and will post more if I get an answer.



https://www.heraldmotorcompany.com/

The Snake Eyes is closely related to your XF250, and in fact, falls under the same EPA/DOT certification. It is manufactured by Pioneer like your XF. The Bucaneer bikes are OEM by Ningbo Longjia.

There is a bike made by Pioneer which looks like the Herald bikes, so my guess it the Heralds are OEM by Pioneer/Qingqi. I believe SSR had those a year or so ago on their site when they were showing their 'coming soon' bikes. Obviously they narrowed down their choices. Too bad as I would have preferred the single ala the Heralds, and it would have made it much easier for SSR to source their parts and whatnot, let alone their EPA/DOT certification, as they did with the Snake Eyes and XF250!

As always, expert analysis. :tup:

I wish I was an expert...my info simply came from the EPA/DOT certification excel sheet that I cannot post because I don't know how, and from memory of the SSR site from some time ago. I remember them posting the Pioneer manufactured bikes that look like the Heralds, as well as the Buccaneer twins. We even discussed them and some asked why have all the 'retro' bikes that look the same. Obviously, SSR narrowed down the choices and went with the twin-cylinder retro bikes, while retaining the bobber with the thumper engine. In hindsight, they should have kept it all thumper for simplicity sake, and certification sake.

But, from what I understand, California's CARB will be requiring all bikes to have EFI in the next few years, so I can see why they would market test the twin twins which are already equipped with EFI, and are already proven in other countries' markets via Italjet.

Edit: Just looked again at the certification--the Herald-like bike was called the Outlaw 250, and since manufacturers or brands submit a list of models that utilize the same engine in case they want to sell them, the Outlaw is certified, but SSR has chosen not to market it for obvious reasons.

Thanks for the info Culcune. I do like the snake eyes, but wish it came with a full size seat and the classic styling of the herald bikes. My wife won't allow me to buy a bike without room for her on back. :shrug:

I love the looks of the SSR Buccaneer, and I may have to go take a test ride on one soon. Turns out there's a dealership local to me that carries them.

Charles.

Please report on it; as you can see we discussed them 2 years ago and no one has reported buying one since!

I am new to the scene and am drooling over much of the content on this forum and I just want to ask if folks could remember not everyone has the assumed knowledge when you mention models and history etc. ie when you mention a model please mention the manufacturer who made it and the dealer or importer who is selling it. I am trying to make a cheatsheet or quasi catalog listing all the major players and models in the imported asian bike market with web links and locations etc. OH and a billion THANKs to those who post photos and that PIC of the Buccaneer is the best I have ever seen!

SSR calls it a Benelli. I saw one at a get together in Knoxville TN last fall and it looked very nice. The owner was pleased with it. I just wish it was 500cc instead of 250CC.
http://www.ssrmotorsports.com/store/...aneer_cafe.php