I would like a rear disk but I think it lame to have the rear brake cylinder sticking down so low. So its good your happy with your bikes brakes and the same goes with me. If I could have I would have bought the same bike you have with the low brake cylinder or not. (really nice bike) As you know I tried. Right now I have much bigger problems to deal with on my CB. :cry:

Brake Debate
 

I don't mind working on the drum brakes if something happens, which tends to be rare. Let us not forget that the bike I ordered was a storm, branded as a Kymoto XDP. The bike I received was the Brozz, which left me with a choice. My first instinct when I noticed the drum brake was to flinch just a little, but I gave the bike a look over and did a little research on the Brozz. As it turns out the Brozz meets several vital criteria for me, the first being that it is street legal in NY. Secondly, the reviews and threads that I read all said that this was a good bike, with a taller seat height, faster top speed(which I can vouch for and will demonstrate when I'm street legal) and full LCD digital gauges, and the 2016 18C has the inverted forks, which I require. So there I was with a bike that had many features that were missing from the storm, and only one negative; the drum brake. Then I remembered being a kid zipping around on 2 stroke 125's in the woods back in my day when drum brakes were what you had and never had a single failure other than normal wear. I also looked closely at the position of the cylinder on on the storm and read that a few guys had issues with that. And I though it would be much cheaper to upgrade the rear brake than to upgrade all the other stuff that is standard on the Brozz, so I kept it, put it together, rode it, loved it and I have not one regret.. You have to remember that this bike will maybe go 70 on flat ground and I'll never run it WOT except maybe once to check top speed, so it's a non-issue.

I believe the trepidation in regard to drum brakes comes from the way they are on a car or truck. There are a crap ton of springs and everything has to go together just right for it all to work. Not so with the ones on these CBs. They are pretty simple in construction and very reliable. On this site, I can't recall anybody asking for help because of a problem with a rear drum brake.

...vs. all the threads over the years regarding issues with Chinese disc brakes!

I was a little surprised you were willing to pay Motobuy's price for the Storm, but I do understand that everything seems to cost more in NY, or shipping to NY. The Brozz and the Shark are supposed to be Bashan's 'premium' bikes, so my guess is they (Motobuys) knew they aren't drop-shipping Storms, but do know that that bike is in great demand, hence their premium price. Like I mentioned regarding their re-naming bikes, that helps keep it vague if anyone was to complain. The discount outlet that someone found selling both the Brozz and the Shark charges $279/bike for shipping, and they mention that several places will cost more to ship to, including NY.

http://www.powersportsmax.com/index.php/cPath/482

You nailed it right there... I've been working on vehicles for well over 20 years... serviced plenty of cars/trucks with drum brakes over the years... never liked it personally...

I have owned a few vehicles over the years with drum brakes too... and again... I never liked it when it was time to service things...

But that's my fault for keeping things for several years and several hundred thousand miles. You have to work on everything at one point or another as father time goes by :lmao:

Yep, if I had got this bug 6 months later than i did last winter I would have that brozz too . But my bike is one of those "good enough " bikes till the csc rx4 450cc dream bike.

NY is expensive
 

I paid a lot, even for NY. I went through Motobuys because they deliver. I had originally bought a Hawk, but read that NY put an end to their street use, so I cancelled that order and the guy from Motobuys called Kandi to check on which bikes were already proven street worthy in NY and recommended their Kymoto XDP.. AKA the 18C... The bike shipped from Cali and was here 4 days later. I called about the MSO and an actual helpful person answered the phone, answered my questions and was super helpful. These thing all add value. I have read far too many nightmare stories of people buying from unreliable sources with no support and I didn't want to eld up like that. Also, all these guys are talking about this bike being 1400 dollars... well there might be some people offering them for that much, but try getting one from them at that price delivered from one coast to the other. The first time I meet somebody who got this bike for $1400 will be the day I start feeling bad about overpaying

Thanks for clarifying--I know people on here get certain prices stuck in their head, and don't realize once a bike sells out, it either takes months to get a few more, and then sells out and is gone for good, or NEVER comes back. The $1400 Storm might not be anymore, even if dealers keep teasing with "a few months." The first time I saw it was with a brand called Hibird. They had the first enduro over 200cc available for the mass-market. It took Chinariders by storm (pun intended)! They were selling like hotcakes for $1100, shipped. Then, they ran out. Never to be seen again. The importer/dealer got a container of 200cc bikes, identical to the 229cc version, charged $1200, and promptly sold out. Then there were none.

Ironically, a year or so later, the dealer started selling a 229cc enduro by a brand called Hensim, which, too, promptly sold out. It would take a few more years to see Hensims again--now called the Hawk.

History keeps repeating itself, and sometimes members have to resign to paying more, which, ironically, is only a few hundred bucks more in most cases. Heck, I keep seeing the once-$1200 Hawk now selling for $1400+, and that bike needs work out of the box (sprocket, carb, exhaust, etc) to compare with other bikes, namely Bashan.

Quick Video Walk Around
 

OK.. because I know somebody will call me on this.. The odometer reads just under 20 miles, so it appears as though I may have exaggerated a bit in an earlier post when I said I put 100 miles on it.. I guess, because I didn't know how many miles I rode... but it felt like a hundred, I swear!! I also cut off the S at the end of the DualSports stickers that came with for the fork guards.

https://youtu.be/GxEbaMeK3AU

Thanks for the video. That is one sweet ride.

Nice!

Somebody needs to move this to the dual sport forum. Lot of guys that are very interested in this bike may miss this thread.

idk who has a storm that said they cant do 50, but my storm will run 60 all day, with a little twist left for the hills ... it is no power house for sure, but 60 all day long ... and for me, the rear disk is just a peace of mind thing, when going down big hills off road (i have had shoes come off the backs, never pads though) but it is all about what each person likes ... i would have loved the dash of the storm to be that upgraded digital one for sure though

Still no MSO for the Brozz
 

Totally bummed. 3 weeks since delivery and nothing but the run-around..The bike is probably going back.
:tdown: Motobuys.com