Took a plunge... trying a PP LXR250 EFI

[ChondaChondaChonda]

I honestly don't know much about the 400 debacle. What happened?

Over the past year I have had ample opportunity to get to know the owner and staff at Pitster. They have been stand-up folks, even when it they didn't have to, they have done right by me.

Being an importer can probably (or will probably) put you in situations that you don't want. I know that some small specific parts cannot be had because the Chinese manufacturers would prefer to sell complete assemblies. That is something that you have to accept when you buy one of these. I hope that they can get better at making model number based parts availability a thing. Until they (Chinese manufacturers) do, it will be a big detriment to many buyers.

The beauty of the NC250 based bikes is that there are parts sources galore. And they will be available irrespective of what happens to Pitster. Like I said, they have been fair, reasonable folks in all my dealings with them. I will buy another bike from them someday no doubt.

[Weldangrind]

Here's Doc's unfiltered experience with the PP 400: http://www.chinariders.net/showthrea...hlight=pitster
He bought it to help out another forum member and immediately regretted it. There was a gentleman who is not too far from me who had one. He said all I had to do was pick it up, but I chose not to.

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by ChondaChondaChonda

I honestly don't know much about the 400 debacle. What happened?

Over the past year I have had ample opportunity to get to know the owner and staff at Pitster. They have been stand-up folks, even when it they didn't have to, they have done right by me.

Being an importer can probably (or will probably) put you in situations that you don't want. I know that some small specific parts cannot be had because the Chinese manufacturers would prefer to sell complete assemblies. That is something that you have to accept when you buy one of these. I hope that they can get better at making model number based parts availability a thing. Until they (Chinese manufacturers) do, it will be a big detriment to many buyers.

The beauty of the NC250 based bikes is that there are parts sources galore. And they will be available irrespective of what happens to Pitster. Like I said, they have been fair, reasonable folks in all my dealings with them. I will buy another bike from them someday no doubt.

That's really good to hear. When I bought my first two CB's. it was truly a crap shoot. So many "rent-a-garage" dealers would be gone the first time you had to go back to see them and websites came and went regularly. Any positive news about a CB company from a customer is refreshing.

The PP 400 was a true pile. I guess the frame and suspension were acceptable but the motors were garbage.
I believe we had two here back-in-the-day. One guy bought his, it constantly broke and he vanished. Another owner had nothing but trouble with his and then sold it to Fastdoc. Doc gave it tons of love. Really liked it at first, rode it a few times and it internally grenaded.
It put the fear of God in everyone here for anything larger than a 250cc China Bike.

Doc's threads are here somewhere. It's a painful read of love and disappointment.

[ChondaChondaChonda]

Yeah. Just read through it. Photosucket really is ruining the forums. Made it hard to see what was discussed. I've never seen the PP 400. Sounds like a horribly engineered Frankenstein of a motor.

A big part of the reason I have documented the things I've discovered with this bike is so that future owners can find options to make the bike their own and get parts that are either better quality or better availability. Let's face it, with any china bike, today's models may not have much support in a few short years.

[ChondaChondaChonda]

So lately I've been doing some major modifications to the bike that aren't necessary and probably aren't very cost-effective, but I have terminal tinkeritus and really enjoy customizing the bike to make it mine.

I have not been posting about many of these changes because they don't seem to fit in this forum. He'll, they don't really fit in any forum!! My question for you guys, should I post the details of my custom mods or not? The mods won't have much value for the average buyer, as I am being super fastidious about trimming weight and turning this into what *I* think a good single track trails bike should be.

[JerryHawk250]

I would be interested in see some of these mods. I for one can't leave things alone. lol Though this information could be dangerous if it gets in the wrong hands.

[BlackBike]

Originally Posted by DreamTeam:)

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

I just started a FB page for these PP LXR250F bikes. There is a lot of support in the forums however, I have not seen a lot of support on FB and YouTube. Certainly some but it definitely leaves you wanting.
I wanna help bridge that gap. So many of ya'll have contributed so much time sharing about this bike. I just want to do my part and contribute to the cause and help more and more people have success with this bike (and perhaps other Chinese specials rocking the same motor and such) and especially have a good experience with this Motorsport.

I can only imagine how valuable of a source this could be with people like Chonda and some of these other guys.

I am a huge advocate for Motorsports and feel more people could benefit from them.

Feel free to check it out. Its brand new so the community consists of 2 haha. Hopefully before too long it will grow into s mall niche of people willing to mentor and share their experiences.

Not trying to step on any buddy's toes or devalue these forums. Only to help contribute to the cause. I know I will need guidance in the future and I know others will too. It should be a good place to discuss and share video footage etc...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/425498251229437/

or look it up. Title is PitsterPro LXR250F EFI Liquid Cooled

Hope it works out


~Marco R.

HEY CHONDA... you've created a monster

[Megadan]

Fellow forever tinkerer checking in with a +2 on the "share" idea.

[culcune]

This is pretty much what the Pitster 400 looked like. These bikes were doomed from the get go, but it was not Pitster's fault...for the most part. Xingyue manufactured several models with the 400 engine and at least 4 different models were offered in the US at one time. 2 were 'adventure' type bikes and two were 'dual-sport' types. Pitster rebadged one of the models. These bikes offered a ray of hope for those of us looking for something larger than '250cc' (223/229/etc) which were just starting to become the norm as far as Chinese dual-sports were concerned. However, their engines came with an apparent fatal flaw, and in typical Chinese motorcycle manufacture fashion, rather than fix it, the bikes disappeared.

[ChondaChondaChonda]

Thanks culcune for that. I've never found a picture of it.

One lesson from all that seems to be not to buy a motor that isn't fairly well proven already or is a close enough clone that Japanese manufacturers parts will fit it.

It looks like for 4-strokes that the NC250/450 made by Zong will be their go-to motors. Zongshen seems to be built to a higher standard than many of the other motors and is used in so many bikes now that I'm not too worried about parts for that. The 450 is still an unknown, but I guess I see how slow the release has been since it's inception and believe/hope/ have heard that is because they had some issues with early versions and wanted to fix them before selling them in mass quantities. Let's hope.

I'm also doing some work fixing up my original Chonda bike, which is a '93 CR125 with a Zong 230 clone motor in it. Probably keep it for a buddy bike for times when my son or SIL want to ride with us old guys. I'm actually going to put the original LXR250 tank and seat on the CR125. Mocked it up and it makes the bike look much sleeker and lowers the seat height a bit.

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by ChondaChondaChonda

Let's face it, with any china bike, today's models may not have much support in a few short years.

This is not uncommon. I worked on a neighbors 6 year old Yamaha and when I went to the dealer just to get a throttle assembly, the 20 year old Gift to the Motorcycle World behind the parts counter said "Sorry, it's been discontinued".
At least with a bunch of these China Bikes, they share a ton of the same parts that are readily available on Amazon and EBay.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by ChondaChondaChonda

It looks like for 4-strokes that the NC250/450 made by Zong will be their go-to motors. Zongshen seems to be built to a higher standard than many of the other motors and is used in so many bikes now that I'm not too worried about parts for that. The 450 is still an unknown, but I guess I see how slow the release has been since it's inception and believe/hope/ have heard that is because they had some issues with early versions and wanted to fix them before selling them in mass quantities. Let's hope.

The 450 in their current line of bikes is being used by a few people in racing with decent success. The reason I know the fork internals swap with KYB stuff is because of this. It is just a clone of an early CRF450 engine, but with a few changes to likely not upset the Honda monster. One thing I do know about it is that it is built a bit less high strung, so the servicing is more relaxed.

I was planning on picking one up, but I got my big VFR instead, so it will likely have to wait until next year.

[ChondaChondaChonda]

Decided to get rid of the stock dashboard made of steel... going to use the Trail Tech as my primary source of information. It has proven itself very useful. Wish I could afford the new color version with the buddy tracker system.

Here is my latest attempt...

[chadzu]

Where does the HUD projector mount?

[ChondaChondaChonda]

Originally Posted by chadzu

Where does the HUD projector mount?

It's built into my new helmet / camera combo. Gps and full course rendering too. When they get the next revision of the firmware done I'll be able to ride in a complete dust cloud, but HUD will show the course ahead as if it was clear. Gonna be awesome.