Magician 250 any good

[China Rider 27]

My girlfriend wants to get into riding but she is 5'1". Seems like the Magician 250 might work but is it any good? What about parts?

[Deryl]

I would steer clear of the magician. Since she is 5'1" if it was me I would pick a grom clone. Maybe even wait a little and pick up the adv 190! That would be a sweet little bike for both of you.

[41bigdawg]

Nothing wrong with the Magician. It is a fun and capable bike but at 5'1" tall the magicians seat height may pose a problem. My Girlfriend is 5'6" and she is on her toes with both feet down. With all of these China bikes the success is in proper set up and maintenance.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by 41bigdawg

Nothing wrong with the Magician. It is a fun and capable bike but at 5'1" tall the magicians seat height may pose a problem. My Girlfriend is 5'6" and she is on her toes with both feet down. With all of these China bikes the success is in proper set up and maintenance.

Except the Magician has several recorded instances of frames cracking at welds. That would be the one potential issue. Doesn't mean they all will, but it is sonething to consider.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by China Rider 27

My girlfriend wants to get into riding but she is 5'1". Seems like the Magician 250 might work but is it any good? What about parts?

Does she specifically want to get into trail riding, or just riding in general?

[China Rider 27]

Riding in general with some trail riding. I have been breaking in my HAWK 250 the past few weeks and so she has gotten interested. Definitely a way to spice up your life! The specs I saw on the HAWK said the seat height was 36 inch so I had her sit on my HAWK and imagined the 32 inch height of the Magician, looked like about 4 inches to fit so seemed like it might work. That before I saw 41bigdawg post on his 5'6" girlfriend on her tip toes. I had ordered a Magician this past weekend. Today, looking around I found a video Motocheez did showing the HAWK seat measured at 34 inches. I measured mine looks like 35 inches. Think its gonna be close but we will find out. Tonight, I saw some of that reference on frame cracks and lets hope the steel has improved but... being a do it yourself welding may be next on my new list of skills. I will post back with the outcome.

[RedCrowRides]

Not to belittle your GF's abilities in any way ,but considering her small stature and her being a female i' would tend to think she just isn't going to ever push the Magician hard enough to enter the realm of frame cracking levels of pounding. Not saying a frame should ever crack under abusive conditions but "most" of those reported here seem to have been under fairly severe use and / or by larger riders ,neither of which are probably going to apply to her . Magicians are fine for casual trail riding ,but they simply are not full on Enduro or MX bikes , combining that understanding with proper maintenance will likely see the Magician perform perfectly well for her .

[41bigdawg]

Your girl will be happy with the Magician. It has adjustable pre load on the rear shock, I took some of the pre load out of it which allows it to compress a little more in the rear. This helped out with the height issue for my girlfriend. I have ridden it and it is a lot of fun to ride, works well on pavement and dirt roads. Haven't had any issues with frame cracking or anything else for that matter. Mine doesn't see any heavy abuse...it wasn't made for that anyway. For the Money you will be happy with it. Just take the time and go thru it good when you set it up and have fun

[Bruces]

In order to truly appreciate what the situation is ,we really need to see some pics of this 5 ft girl ,on and off the hawk to size her up .

[China Rider 27]

Spent the last few weekends going through the Magician. Thanks for the pre load suggestion made a big difference. Stock height she was on her tip toes a little side to side. Preload backed off got closer to having feet planted and half way from tip toe to the ground and think workable. See what this does to the ride.

Since I got into this China Bike scene on January 1st I have gone through the HAWK and now the MAGICIAN. I tapped the frame triple tree for a grease zert as I had the HAWK. The metal on the Magician drilled much smoother with less chipping. 2 cents on that. The welds all look good.

Bolts and tapping issues on the Magician. Horn bolt stripped needing a retap and new bolt.

Magician comes with tapered roller bearings in the triple tree with not much grease (ditto on grease for the HAWK triple tree I did).

Forks came 220ml equal on both sides looked clean.

Valves - intake valve was tight. Exhaust needed adjustment.

Sprockets - 15t/45t

Chain 125 links

Magician Air Box is the biggest issue and one royal pain to access. Comes with a thin foam filter. Have to figure out an inbox POD filter to get better filtration.

Magician comes with a swing arm fulcrum type shock mount. It has crude attempts at roller needle bearings in the joints similar to a drive shaft u joint cap and has grease seals. Definitely needed to be taken apart and greased. Main swing arm came with a grease zert installed but needed replaced.

I find the MAGICIAN very appealing. Something about the minimalist compact style. Today, sun shining after a week of rain, fire it up and see how she rides!

[Megadan]

I see the Magician also comes with the "just a tad" approach to bearing grease. At least they are consistent in their cheapness. Kudos to you for properly going through the whole bike.

[culcune]

The soon-to-be-released Lifan X-Pect mentions 32.7 inch seat height.

[China Rider 27]

41Bigdawg got it right! This Magician is a fun to ride! I see why people like it for city, very maneuverable.

Carb seems pretty good out of the box, at least to the half throttle.

Yaa grease issue is a little baffling, must be in short supply?

Wondering about replacement bearings? The bearings in it were the same front and back stamped 620. I compared them to the front bearings I took outa the HAWK which are stamped 630. Slightly smaller as the 630 would not fit in the hub. Anybody know the cross reference to All Balls or other? or will it require measurement?

[boontalee]

hey do any of you china rider gurus know if the magician has a relay that controls the head and tail lights as well as the horn? I lost all three at the same time I have brake lights and turns signals

[NzBrakelathes]

Originally Posted by boontalee

hey do any of you china rider gurus know if the magician has a relay that controls the head and tail lights as well as the horn? I lost all three at the same time I have brake lights and turns signals

Check left switch as it all comes from there think you have a busted black wire on that side or going to that side
Black is ign power that would be the start of running those things