New Zongshen RX3 (ZS250GY-3) Dual Sport

[culcune]

Originally Posted by zingshoen

not too cheap, but one could get convinced by a test ride. my dream is to buy one in china and go west via the silk road, it s been done, but it needs preparation to ride across the taklamakan desert. it may remain a dream because it needs a fair bit of preparation, some language skills and at least one other person to ride with. and of course it would be good to ride the bike here and work out its weaknesses and how to rectify them before we go on that trip.

Are these available in Australia yet? I always like the 'romantic' ideal of riding a small displacement Chinese bike through China and other countries nearby, such as Vietnam. This would probably be most close to being a "Chinese Honda" for such as trip as far as reliability is concerned (I do believe there are actual Honda joint-ventures in China, so my statement is misleading, LOL)

[SpudRider]

If I were adventure riding in China, I would definitely choose the new, Zongshen RX3 as my vehicle. In the following ride report, the authors chose the older, Zongshen 200GY-2 because of its reasonable price, build quality, and manufacturer support. Their choice proved to be well justified.

http://www.danielmontejo.com/Picture...themachine.htm



The riders in the following ride report also chose the Zongshen 200GY-2, and it faithfully transported them across China and Mongolia.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=371656



The new, Zongshen ZS250GY-3 is more powerful, and even better equipped to support adventure riding. It has much greater range with its 16-liter fuel tank. The RX3 also has three large, integrated pieces of luggage to carry the equipment necessary to support an adventure ride. I think the Zongshen RX3 would sell well in the United States at the suggested MSRP of approximately $3,400.



However, Zongshen America appears to be closing shop, and I don't think Zongshen International wants to spend the time and money necessary to comply with the EPA and DOT requirements of the United States.

[SaharaStorms]

Hi all. I've been searching across the net for info and forums on the RX3. Couldn't find much but did a lot of research for months on every bike I could find in the adventure tour field and after a lot of consideration finally bought the RX3. I've had it for about 4 weeks now. Anyway, I'm glad I found this forum with other interested people. I'd be glad to answer any questions you might have (to the best of my ability. I've a lot to learn) This is an absolutely, beyond shadow of a doubt fantastic bike! I haven't ridden other adventure tours but based on comparing many different reviews of other riders, I believe this to be the king of adventure touring. Instead of waiting for any questions I'll tell what I've experienced so far and see if I can add some of my personal pics. By the way. I'm a U.S. citizen teaching English in China right now. So here are some things I appreciate.
1. Shocks - Even in quite bumpy situations, the shocks on this thing make it feel like a Mercedes on a smooth road.
2. Engine - It has power that is quite surprising for a 250cc. I've let a friend ride it who's easily over 200lbs and he said the bike drives likes it doesn't even recognize his weight. We both rode around for a bit and with all that weight it still treated us like feather weights.
3. Seat height - I'm 5 foot 6 inches and am able to just rest on the balls of my feet. Any higher and I wouldn't be able to sit the thing, so it does sit up there.
4. Luggage - If anyone is interested, you can drop the cash and get a special set of 3 very large stainless steel carriers that are padlocked and everything. They have their own special frame and in the future, if my carriers (which are already a good size) don't provide enough room I'll move to the others. If you want pictures of those from TaoBao I can post them.
5. Power - it has it and lets you control it. You drive nice and carefully the bill will be nice. You gun it and drive it like a mad man, it will give you the power without thinking twice - and send you the bill later. In other words, its very fuel efficient, unless you enjoy its power often, and then you'll pay a bit more.
6. Long freeway drives - I was just on the freeway at 120kph to 130kph for an extended amount of time just last Thursday. It has no problem in the least. I kept my eye on the cooling and it didn't ever get above 2 blocks once I was full out.
7. Cooling - in reply to someones comment, it does indeed have two fans over the two separate radiators. You can hear them running even at 90kph. It's pretty cool to listen to.
In addition to the cooling, it's a good thing it has it and the fans do their jobs. Along the right leg I often feel the heat being jetted past the inside of my leg. If it weren't for the computer monitor letting me watch the cooling I would have been nervous because the engine runs quite hot, but the cooling does it's job and keeps everything safe.
8. Gears. Slipping into neutral is sticky. Often I have to sit there and fiddle with it as it constantly will bypasses right past into first or second. That's my only complaint about the bike. I'm still a noob to be honest so that might be entirely normal. Clue me in please if it is.
9. Stock tires - It comes with on road off road tires. Took them through some bad road on not to deep mud but the really slick stuff and it was very stable.
I treat it like my baby but I took it near the coast into a bit of the wet and semi deep sand (I know the tires aren't meant for deep coastal sands.) It crawled all over the place. Got it semi stuck a few times but turned the wheel, rocked it a bit and gave it the throttle and thankfully, I've ridden enough that I kept it under control. It turned into a big angry beast and clawed itself right out. It may be heavy, but it's engine more than easily makes up for it. On the way back I hit the freeway again at 120kph for an hour through down pouring tropical rain. It remained stable and smooth. Any more questions and I'd be glad to answer. I love this thing! Sometime if I get a gopro I'll videos on youtube. This baby really needs more public face time in the west.

[Daeouse]

This bike looks amazing! It really does look like something special!

[SpudRider]

Originally Posted by Daeouse

This bike looks amazing! It really does look like something special!

This bike is definitely a heavyweight at 385 pounds. However, when you consider all the standard features I listed in post #4, this bike really does seem to be an excellent value.

[Daeouse]

Originally Posted by SpudRider

This bike is definitely a heavyweight at 385 pounds. However, when you consider all the standard features I listed in post #4, this bike really does seem to be an excellent value.

Most definitely! With that list of extras, you're not giving up much in the way of equipment! I've seen more expensive main-stream bikes with less equipment than that with that price! That's Craigslist money right there! Very cool indeed! I hope you do get your hands on one, I'd love to hear a Ride Report from you about it!

[SpudRider]

Originally Posted by Daeouse

Most definitely! With that list of extras, you're not giving up much in the way of equipment! I've seen more expensive main-stream bikes with less equipment than that with that price! That's Craigslist money right there! Very cool indeed! I hope you do get your hands on one, I'd love to hear a Ride Report from you about it!

I've got too many motorcycles now! I doubt anyone in North America will acquire one of these bike soon, if ever. The Chinese correctly understand they can't compete with the Japanese in the U.S. market.

[SpudRider]

Here's a nice review of the Zongshen ZS250GY-3 (RX3) published at Chinamotoworld.com.

http://www.chinamotorworld.com/index...a=view&id=1793









I was alarmed to see this article lists the following tire sizes for the RX3.

Tires:
(Front) 100/90-18
(Rear) 130/90-15

I thought, when will Zongshen learn not to put a 15-inch rear wheel on a dual sport motorcycle?!

However, the Minski TRX300i sold in Eastern Europe lists the following tire sizes.

http://www.minsk-moto.com/en/enduro/trx-300i.html

Tires:
(Front) 100/90-18
(Rear) 130/70-17

Perhaps the Minsk TRX300i has different wheels from the Zongshen RX3? I hope the RX3 review made a mistake, and both bikes have a 17-inch rear wheel.

[katoranger]

I could almost see buying one at $3400. The weight may be an issue, but there is likely places to to cut some out.

[SpudRider]

Zongshen builds good engines and good motorcycles. I have ridden almost 61,000 miles on my Zongshen 200GY-2, and it is still running very well.



I'm confident the ZS250GY-3 will also prove to be reliable. The new RX3 has everything you could want in an adventure motorcycle as stock equipment, except for handguards. At a price of $3,400, I think it represents an excellent value. The RX3 is not a dirt bike, so I would be willing to deal with the additional weight. The fuel injected, NC250 engine is reported to produce about 26 horsepower, which is about 60 percent more horsepower than the ZS200GY-2 engine produces. Therefore, I think this bike would be safe to travel on secondary roads, and perhaps make short sprints on limited access highways.

My main concern regarding this motorcycle is the lack of a good service manual written in English, and the lack of spare parts. However, if this bike sells as well as I anticipate, I think the parts will become readily available on Taobao. Nevertheless, you would still need to wait for the parts to arrive from China.

[SpudRider]

Originally Posted by katoranger

I could almost see buying one at $3400. The weight may be an issue, but there is likely places to to cut some out.

I usually draw the line when the price of a new, Chinese motorcycle approaches $2,000. However, I think the Zongshen RX3 is an exception to this rule, since it has so many excellent features as stock equipment.

Fuel Injected Engine
Water Cooled Engine
6-Speed Transmission
Crash Bars
Windshield
Digital Dashboard
LED Turn Signals and Brake Light
16-Liter Fuel Tank
Integrated luggage
Stainless Steel Muffler
USD Forks
1-inch Fat Handlebars

The RX3 also appears to have fans on both radiators, and even the switchgear looks pretty nice! The only additional equipment I would add to the RX3 is a nice set of Tusk handguards for about $65. The RX3 is not a typical, Chinese motorcycle. I think this bike compares well to the Honda CRF250L, which currently sells for $5,000. Yet the CRF250L does not have all the adventure equipment of the ZS250GY-3. Indeed, you would spend a lot of money trying to add the same adventure equipment to the CRF250L, and it would still not work as well as the RX3, since the Honda was not designed to accommodate this equipment.

[culcune]

Chinamotoworld had an interview months back with one of the main people at Zongshen (it might have been the founder, Zuo Zongshen himself), and he seemed willing to put his money where his mouth was in saying that the entire Chinese industry needed to concentrate on quality, and that Zongshen was going to do so (this interview was right before the international rollout of the RX3).

A few Chinese joint ventures (not necessarily Zongshen except for some Piaggios) produce several mainstream bikes, such as a few of the engines for BMW and I believe KTM, if not the majority of the bike.

I think a $3400 price in the US would be easily justified as pretty much the maximum for this bike once it has been proven as reliable. This could even be the strategy from Zongshen if they are planning a reintroduction to North America? Or a re-label from a joint venture? We will see--or it will be the best Chinese bike in the world that never comes this way?

I do think that Chinese bikes in general better do something soon if they ever want legitimacy in North America. It took years for Korea to produce reliable cars (part of the 'years' was convincing people to accept their cars once they already were reliable), and Chinese bikes have already left a lot of people with bad taste in their mouth (including people who have never even rode one, but were simply pundits of the proverbial "friend of a friend who had one and it broke down just from looking at it...") from the time period starting around 2005 or 2006 when these bikes were getting more popular.

Fancy accessories cost $, however, and this bike is testament to that. Spud, those rides from the past on the old Zongshens, were done easily by ex-pats in China when the price of the GY-2 was about $1k USD in China. These new ones have come a long way from that, including being over 3 x's the price in China!

[SpudRider]

Culcune,

I think you summarized the situation very well when you stated the Chinese are not currently interested in establishing a network of supporting dealers in the United States. Until the Chinese change their mind in this regard, I don't foresee them returning in force to the North American market.

[Weldangrind]

Originally Posted by SpudRider

The only additional equipment I would add to the RX3 is a nice set of Tusk handguards for about $65.

Or, a set of Acerbis handguards from Taobao for $13.15 US. Not joking; those are the handguards that you saw on Son of Weldangrind's Lifan. http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=13150621412

[SpudRider]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

Or, a set of Acerbis handguards from Taobao for $13.15 US. Not joking; those are the handguards that you saw on Son of Weldangrind's Lifan. http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=13150621412

A Chinese bike deserves Chinese handguards.