New Zongshen RX3 (ZS250GY-3) Dual Sport

[SpudRider]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

And you are our King!

[SpudRider]

Twenty minutes ago the Hanjin Germany was sailing southeast at 16.3 knots from the following position.

LAT: 46° 51' N LONG: 147° 13' W

The latitude of the ship was slightly south of Olympia, the capitol of Washington State.

[NoVa Rider]

Its great to see the CSC tutorials on the blog. Good job CSC (and Joe, I think).

Like a lot of DYI guys I find myself thinking about alternate ways to do things, but the instructions are solid and its great to have the photos. So I don't mean to open endless discussions about other ways of doing things.

That said, I wondered about the second sentence in the paragraph on "bleeding brakes" in the Brake Maintenance tutorial. If you change brake fluid every two years as CSC advises (and I absolutely concur), I don't think you need to bleed the brakes every year. The context here might be "if air gets into the system." But if the brakes become spongy or fluid level drops, I'd advise finding and correcting the leak before bleeding the brakes.

[NoVa Rider]

While waiting for our RX-3's to arrive, I'll offer some comments on two interesting machines.

KTM is coming out with a Duke version of their Indian-built RC390. If they decided to offer an adventure turing version of this bike, it would be interesting competition for the RX-3. Particularly if they offered it in Zongshen Yellow. But the stripped down Duke is priced at $5K. And I expect an adventure tour version with bags etc would be at least $6. I'm still happy with the RX-3 package, or expect to be once I get my hands on it.

Another bike that caught my eye is the new AT-styled Yamaha FJ-09. Not that I would consider it either: I don't need 100 hp, I don't want to put a payment well north of $10K into a bike. Also, I noticed that Yamaha suggests you not use both the side cases and the top case at the same time since it might upset the machine. What? Still, the single amazing stat on this bike is that with side bags, and wet (I think) its just a shade over 100 pounds heavier that the RX-3. Wow!

[CSCDude]

Originally Posted by NoVa Rider

Its great to see the CSC tutorials on the blog. Good job CSC (and Joe, I think).

Like a lot of DYI guys I find myself thinking about alternate ways to do things, but the instructions are solid and its great to have the photos. So I don't mean to open endless discussions about other ways of doing things.

That said, I wondered about the second sentence in the paragraph on "bleeding brakes" in the Brake Maintenance tutorial. If you change brake fluid every two years as CSC advises (and I absolutely concur), I don't think you need to bleed the brakes every year. The context here might be "if air gets into the system." But if the brakes become spongy or fluid level drops, I'd advise finding and correcting the leak before bleeding the brakes.

It's a good point and I greatly appreciate the feedback. Your comments will be incorporated in the tutorial later this evening.

Thank you again.

[detours]

The CSC blog has a new tutorial on air filter maintenance. As always, with excellent instructions and pics.

If I might make a suggestion/correction, the second paragraph says to remove the rear seat using the 'ignition switch'. It should read something like 'pops off using the keyed seat release in the left side body panel ...'

[CSCDude]

Originally Posted by detours

The CSC blog has a new tutorial on air filter maintenance. As always, with excellent instructions and pics.

If I might make a suggestion/correction, the second paragraph says to remove the rear seat using the 'ignition switch'. It should read something like 'pops off using the keyed seat release in the left side body panel ...'

Another good input. Thanks very much! Already corrected based on your input.

[detours]

Got a question about the stock RX3 headlight.

The main lamp is the top center, and there are LED accent strips on each side ... but what is the bluish round thing in the bottom center?

High beam projector? Accent light?

[SpudRider]

I might be wrong, but I think the blue dome covers a running/accent light. Of course, Joe can give us the definitive answer. I base my opinion upon memory, and the photograph graciously posted by Katflap.

[SpudRider]

Thirty minutes ago the Hanjin Germany was sailing southeast at 19.4 knots from the following location.

LAT: 44° 57' N LONG: 142° 26' W

At that time the vessel was due west of Salem, the capitol of Oregon. Having crossed the 45th parallel, the vessel is now closer to the equator than the north pole.

[3banger]

Quick question for the Dude after reading the air filter maintance blog. Does the filter come pre oiled from the factory? Any thoughts using No Toil? I'm happy with the product on my KTM 200 and it would just be simpler to use the same stuff on the RX3.

Thanks again for the excellent level of warrenty suport for the DYer with photo illustrated instructions. Once some of use tinkering types get our hands on these bikes there will lots of this stuff poping up with all sorts of intresting mods. It would be nice if there was space to host them on CSCs web page or at least a place to post links.

[SpudRider]

I love No-Toil filter oil, and I use it for the conical air filters of both of my Honda motorcycles. I'm sure No-Toil would also work well for the RX3 air filter. The RX3 has a flat air filter, and it is much easier to apply filter oil on flat air filters. Flat air filters are also much easier to clean. My Zongshen ZS200GY-2 employs a flat air filter, and I use conventional filter oil on that air filter. However, the No-Toil is so easy to clean from the air filters, I might switch to it exclusively.

[SpudRider]

[SpudRider]

CSC just posted a nice tutorial on fork maintenance at their blog. I was very pleased to discover the Zongshen RX3 forks are an improved design over the standard Chinese forks installed on my Zongshen ZS200GY-2. The new RX3 forks employ conventional fork bushings, which are located on the outside of the inner fork tube.



The standard Chinese forks placed the bushings inside the outer fork tube, which made them very inaccessible. The RX3 forks are designed the same as Japanese forks, and this design is much superior. I continue to be impressed with the design improvements Zongshen has incorporated into the new RX3 motorcycle.

Zongshen has also added rebound damping to their latest RX3 forks. If the cost is reasonable, I would certainly consider upgrading to the latest fork design.

[SpudRider]

Also, I was very pleased to note that CSC will stock all parts for the Zongshen RX3 forks. Zongshen America did not stock fork bushings and many other small parts for the Zongshen ZS200GY-2 (Sierra) motorcycle. CSC is offering product support which far exceeds the support available from any other vendor of Chinese motorcycles, and greatly exceeds the support I received from the now defunct, Zongshen America.