Quote:
Originally Posted by David-McMullan
Could it be that America is finally ready for a Chinese 2 wheel invasion? If it is then a lot of the credit has to go to Joe Berk and the way he has introduced the Zongshens.
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Joe deserves a lot of credit, but there have been a few players over the years. The big one as of recently has to be RPS and Adam Renkleff and the Hawk 250. While low-priced bikes in a box have been around for several years, for some reason, a bike that cannot even be registered in some states, has caught on like wildfire, and the momentum has kept going. This, in spite of the fact that the Hawk literally needs a new carb and jets right out of the gate, and seems to need some trial and error to get running properly, not to mention new sprockets.
Second has been the Bashan bikes and discount online retailers (credit to an unknown person for the Bashan bikes). These bikes seem much better out of the box, and cost a little more than the Hawks. The Bashan Storm has been a solid bike for many members, including one that a member rode from Utah to New York City back in the spring. It was a young woman riding solo, no less!
Then along comes Joe and the RX3, and then the TT250. Some of us question the premium of the TT250 over a (virtual identical) Hawk or Bashan, but that is part of the CSC business model, and is working very well for them, thank you. They do get the bike running and shipped in a literal suspended animated state, so all one has to do is uncrate it and start it up and ride! Some here have mentioned they prefer to put their own bike together, but again, the CSC business model is set in place and one either picks up their bike from CSC in person (as one would at most any bike dealer), or they ship them ready to ride anywhere in the US.
The closest competitor at this time, American Lifan, has plans in place to become a player, but they are going to try, once again, to set up a physical dealer network, with their flagship bikes being the full-fairing KPR200 and the street-fighter-ish KP200--200cc, liquid-cooled, fuel-injection. But only 200cc...
I could see the Tekken bringing another breath of fresh air (following the RX3) to the US, in spite of the limited engine size some were not happy with as mentioned above. The big deal for the US--price. There will be people buying lower priced bikes with small engines, and as competition being good for brands, I can see an air-cooled Tekken with all the 'adventure' cases going against the RX3 for market share--provided the Tekken is priced lower accordingly (unless you have plans to find a liquid-cooled, EFI engine for it). Heck, I like the Fuego DAX replicas and the Grom replica; you could start with those...