[Dualsport Chic]

Ok - this is the post that talks about my ultimate experience with Rex.

The deal breaker - the bike was too high for my inseam which precluded me from putting proper D/S tires on it (bad back so lowering links out of the question). This made my MABDR experience abysmal - the front end was washing out around every greasy hairpin through VA which really marred my experience of the route as I had trouble keeping up with my pack (and I'm usually the one going too fast for my fellow riders when I'm on the XT).

The ergonomics proved poor for standing for long periods of time. May have been able to fix that with some bar-back risers. Foot peg position was not optimal either - it did not leave me truly centered on the machine when off-piste. At the end of the BDR, I felt physically and mentally exhausted from continually battling with the bike through the numerous spots of challenging terrain/weather along the route.

Lastly, the resale on this bike is NON EXISTENT. Again, the risk of buying a Chinese product as there is not enough buy-in to buoy resale prices. I sold the bike for well under 1/2 of what I had into it and it didn't even have 7K miles on the odo.

What I really liked about the bike - road manners were lovely. Slabbed it back over two days from western NC and did 475 miles day one and 410 the next day and I arrived home in relatively good shape given nearly 1000 miles in two days. I also liked the DIY aspect of the RX3 along with the DVD to help those of us who aren't wrenches ease in to working on our own machines.

Support from CSC truly was great - the folks were very helpful and worked with me on several issues. Special shout out to Gerry - appreciated all the time he spent with me when I was trying to find tires that wouldn't lift the bike up too high for me. I also really liked the look of the RX3 - still do - its a pretty machine and I found several folks I interacted with saying the same when they got to look it over.

If I didn't already have my 05 F650gs, I probably would have kept the bike as a light commuter but it just was redundant with my current stable of machines.

What soured me on CSC was when they used my reviews without my permission (which were strictly off-limits for sharing), morphing them into CSC marketing material. When I brought it to their attention, copying my attorney, I never even got a response, much less a note of apology from Steve, the owner. Shame on them.

The RX3 is a great bike for what it is, but CSC tried to expand the audience of the bike by making it appear what it really is not: It is a light ADV bike , and I stress LIGHT and also a great commuter. It is in no way, shape or form and Dual-sport bike and cannot easily go where D/S machines regularly travel. There are a few folks (Joe Martin for example) who have really put it to the test but probably would have enjoyed their adventures oodles more on properly suspended steeds that would have been more suited to technical terrain.

Chinese bikes are making advances every year and within the next decade I would expect them to be on par with Japanese reliability and technology. Great to see new offerings in the market - its good when new entrants to the market challenge the competition as buyers ultimately win with more choices and improved quality over time. I wish Zongshen well in this regard as they're off to a decent start down that path.