[CreekWalker]

There are enough people on these forums who are riding these bikes and enough people giving them 5-star reviews in the marketplace that most people are obviously having good experiences, but I gotta tell ya, my experience with the X-Pro Hawk 250 DLX has been nothing but a headache ... to the point that I don't think I'd ever buy a China bike again.

My experience started back in late spring. I bought an assembled version of the 250 DLX. So when it was delivered, I changed the oil and fired it up. Kept it on the highway for a few hundred miles to break it in. Changed the oil at 200 miles and 500 miles. Then the troubles began.

First the clutch burnt out. I could've understood if I'd been riding the bike hard, but I hadn't. I had been very gentle with it. RPS shipped a new clutch because it was still under warranty (and that's the one plus...RPS has been very easy to work with) but while waiting for their response I actually went ahead and purchased a new clutch. So now I have a spare.

Replaced the clutch, got the bike back on the road, and after just a couple hundred miles I started hearing a ticking sound. Before I could get it off the road, it was obvious something broke. Opened it up and the centrifugal oil filter had sheared off, throwing metal shavings everywhere.

Contacted RPS again, and they offered to send a refurbished motor if I paid shipping. When the motor arrived, it was actually for the carb 250 version rather than the DLX. I decided to make it work by switching over the head and the stator assembly (the EFI version has a temp sensor screwed into the head that the carb version isn't tapped for, and the wiring coming out of the stator is also different). Got it back on the bike, tried to fire it up and nothing. Put a compression gauge on it and it was getting no compression at all.

Contacted RPS a third time. After sending pics and video, they shipped a rebuilt DLX motor and I shipped the carb motor back to them. Got the newest motor on the bike and it fired right up. Rode less than 100 miles and it started blowing fuses. Trailered it home, parked it and was sitting and staring at it, contemplating where to start going through the wiring for a short when the wiring harness caught started smoking and then flamed up right beneath the fuel tank. I guess if I'm looking at it from a glass-half-full perspective, at least I know where the short is at without having to look too hard.

I haven't yet got the wiring harness rewired so I can see if it caused any more damage to the electrical components but this bike has seriously been nothing but one headache after another. It's never been ridden hard; I've treated it as if it's still in the break-in phase. Now I'm ready to push it over a hill somewhere!