Time for a review on the Venom X22R 250. I didn't want to do a review until I actually had a chance to ride and put some miles on the bike to give an honest review. So far i have just over 750 miles on it.
First of all Venom Motorsports USA were awesome throughout the whole process of me asking question, bugging the hell out of them if you really want to know lol and delivering the bike. Big thumbs up
From the time of the order to my driveway it took 8 days. It was delayed for two days due to roads being closed because of snow. Not bad considering it came all the way from Canada to South Louisiana.
My first impressions of the quality of the bike were more than I expected. Assembly was very simple. Bolt on the mirrors and adjust the handle bars. The oil that came with the bike actually was decent quality oil compared to what came in my Hawk. I did run it with the oil that came in it for the heat cycles as i was going to change it out over the weekend anyway to install the oil cooler. I did he usual inspection and adjustments on the bike that should be done. Axles, bearings and swing arm was already well greased from the factory. Surprising isn't it? lol The engine cranked up the first try and idle nice and smooth. Gears shifted smoothly as well and neutral was easy to find even after the engine had warmed up.
There were only a few things that I found on the bike that i felt needed to be corrected on the bike during manufacturing. Number one was the speedometer accuracy. It was roughly marking 9-10 mph over actual speeds. 17.2% to be exact but was able to correct this with the SpeedoDRD U1 speedometer calibrator. The second item would be the stock 42 tooth rear sprocket. It was geared way to low for a street bike intended for highway speeds. I was able to have a 34 tooth custom made. I should of gone with a 35 tooth due to the 34 tooth put the chain too close to the hub. I'll swap that out at a later date. The third item was the mirrors. They look good and are functional but after about 300 miles i had one that would not stay set in place and had to hot glue it to keep it from moving and the other one the glass got loose and would vibrate. I just installed new mirrors last night which are a big improvement in quality. All this said, I past this information on to Moose with Venom and he has already contacted the manufacture to have this corrected on the next batch they have coming. More accurate speedo, I suggest a 38 tooth sprocket in stead of the 42 which would be an all round gear that most people would be happy with and better quality mirrors. Like i said, Venom listens to the customer and is doing things to help improve there product. The Venom X22R 250 among a few of there other bikes are built for Venom Motor Sports and to there specifications and quality. If you bought anything from Venom and see something that should be corrected, give them some feed back on it. They really appreciate the feed back to help improve products.
The stock carburetor is a good carb once it was tuned for the mods i have done. With the mods i have done the bike is capable of 80+ mph. I have not actually held it long enough to see what it will top out at but don't feel the need to find out. It does what i intended the bike to be used for. I'm able to hit the interstate and run 70-75 mph easily. At 5'10" i'm very comfortable and able to ride long distances non-stop and not be tired. This bike is way more comfortable than the hawk for higher speeds and longer distances. Perfect commuter bike in my opinion. Now that it has warmed up i have started taking the bike to work which is about a 12 mile trip one way. Fuel economy has been between 64 - 68 mpg. With the 5 gallon tank i'm not worried about running out of gas riding all day. I've only filled it up 3 times since I've bought the bike.
I've installed the Keihin PE30 over the weekend and haven't chance to check fuel mileage but if it's anything like the PWK30 on my Hawk it will be the same. I can say this. Even without the head work the PE30 is a big improvement over the stock carb and complements the gutted cat and air pod filter.
After sales service. When i received my bike the box had some damage. In my initial inspection didn't see any visible damage. It wasn't till the weekend i could hear an annoying rattle. After looking around i found one panel was cracked in shipping. I contacted Venom and was send out a replacement panel the following day. Now that's what i call service.
To sum it all up. After 750+ miles I'm very happy with the choice on the bike and very happy with the after sales service I've gotten from Venom Motor Sports. More dealer need to pay attention and realize that this is the reason Venom Motor Sports is doing so well. I'll defiantly buy from Venom again.
