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I think his review was honest and he made a lot of valid points. Why it's so negative is that it's a direct comparison to the pure dual sports. The RX3 is worse in about every way compared to an actual dual sport on trails which he absolutely makes clear.
The RX3 is a CB250 in adventure clothes. Sure it'll go on some trails but so will that CB250. If you put a 18" front and some crash bars/skid plate on that bike you'd have the RX3. It's NOT as good as the other dual sports on trails. Sure you can go at a mellow pace and get places but as soon as you get aggressive it's out of control and all over the place.
The main "problem" with the RX3 is the cost, it's now 4275 dollars once you add the fees. Thats very lightly used KLR650, DR650 BRAND NEW CB300F (3900) Yamaha R3 (4750 otd) Suzuki VanVan 200/TU 250 etc territory. The RX3 is not as good or reliable as those bikes. The dual sports crush it offroad and the R3/CB300F are better street bikes. If Honda made a CB300X that would be extreme competition for the RX3.
It's a good buy at 2895 or low 3000's but not at 4275.
Resale is also something to consider, I'm sure I'll be lucky to get 2000-2500 for mine once I sell it. That's not the case with any of the Japanese bikes and if you buy used your barely losing anything. Those are extremely valid points he makes that anyone looking into this bike should carefully consider.
His last point about this being Zongshen's first real effort into the USA is really the most interesting, I do wonder what further revisions of this bike will bring and I hope it does add competition to the Japanese brands to lower the prices and bring in some other small ADV models.
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