New Upstate NY member
 

Hello everyone....A quick into. I've been lurking around for a week or so now and have gained tons of very helpful info.

I'm in my mid 50's and looking for a dual sport "toy". I've pretty much narrowed it down to a Hawk 250 or the new Bashan Enforcer, but like all of you, I have been waiting for some reviews on the new Bashan. I'm in New York and I understand registering the Hawk here IS a problem.

I really don't want to do much road riding, but it would be nice to be able to legally travel down a road to get to trails, or even run a quick errand, etc., otherwise I'd just buy a Hawk.

I've owned bikes my whole life...Jap bikes. Currently i own a 10 year old Kawasaki 650 Brute Force 4x4, which I mainly use to plow snow. It's like a tank and I don't really enjoy trail riding with it, as I prefer something more nimble.

Honestly I think most of the parts for the Hawk will fit the Bashan, and this week they have the Bashan Enforcers on sale for $1049 plus approx $150 shipping, so for $1200 I could be a guinea pig, but I'd prefer to let someone else do that ugly job!! I think the Bashan has a few negatives to the Hawk, but it is also a little cheaper, and most important, can be licensed.

Another thing that adds to the confusion is there are several different models of the Hawk 250 :wtf:....and no doubt different models of the Bashan Enforcer!

Well, that's all for now. Thanks to all who have made this site great!! :thanks:

Manny

Welcome to the forum. There are a few members here that had no issues registering there Hawk. Maybe some of them will chime in. I don't know about different models of hawks except for the year model. Most of them out there are 2016 models and may have a few 2015 models left in some ones old stock but most of the online dealers Hawks are shipped out of Texas through RPS and will be 2016's. The Bashan Enforcer looks very similar to the Hawk and makes me wonder if it's not the same bike. I'm very impressed with my Hawk and would buy another if I had to.

welcome from up north, north end of the fingerlakes... palmyra to be exact...

Welcome to here. Actually, there is only one Hawk. Sometimes, mail-order retailers will slap their own made-up name to it, but it is a Hawk. Motobuys, for instance, has two ads for the Hawk with two different names, and even a price difference?! But these are the same Hawk as sold by RPS...

http://www.motobuys.com/vento-hen-enduro-250cc.html
http://www.motobuys.com/lancer-enduro-250.html

Bashan as a brand sells a few different models. They have the Storm, the Brozz, the Shark, and a model with less features than these three (sells for a few hundred dollars less). The Enforcer seemingly came out of nowhere a few weeks back, and is designed to look exactly like the Hawk (it is Bashan's 5th model in their recent lineup). You would probably do fine ordering it, and like you mentioned, you would have a far easier time registering it in NY. However, I do recall someone just recently posting they had success in NY registering a Hawk, or maybe I am getting older and confusing it with another state?! A couple newer members from NY bought the Brozz and liked it, so don't disregard other Bashan models unless you really have your heart set on the Hawk or the near identical-looking Enforcer.

Thanks for explaining that culcune. Yes I see different prices from the same dealer often, just like the examples you posted....Feakin' crazy! I hate when they play games like that...It ruins there credibility IMO when they are trying to trick you right off the bat. Or maybe in some cases there are slight variations, who knows.

It was also great to hear the Hawk can be licensed in NY. I really don't know how important that is to me b/c I'm really going to mainly trail ride it, but it would be nice to be able to cruise legally to other trails, etc.

Well, this old man needs to go to physical therapy for another spin in the DR9000 decompression machine. So far I think it's hurting my back more than helping :shrug: I won't be doing any moto x, that's for sure!!

not really any different than Harbor freight.. look in thier mailers, and in the same mailer, 2-3 different prices for the same item in different spots.:shrug:

Good point. And I've had pretty good luck with most Harbor Freight Stuff. Like I bought one of their large cement mixers for a 30 bag job...80 pound bags, ugh! . The thing paid for itself on that one job and saved my back bigtime., and it still works like new. Assembly was fun though, probably worse than a Hawk I'll bet, lol. And they're Honda engine clones are awesome too.

So does anyone think one Hawk model is better than the other...the 2015 vs. 2016? or are they pretty much identical?

I'm in NY and have a few months til spring anyways so i have time, and maybe by then someone will post some reviews of the new Bashan...although it's February 23rd and it was like 65 degrees today and it's been so freakin; awesome the past few days. I actually saw some dude riding his lawn mower today :hmm::lmao: That shit had a foot of snow on it days ago and surely ain't growing yet! But hey, the sun felt good probably.

Sorry...rambling :D Peaceout!

Man I tell ya... if my bike didnt need inspected and a new starter solenoid I would be riding to work today...LOL

i got my 2016 hawk at the end of 2016 and seems they have addressed the chain issue cause after 700 miles i still havent had to adjust the chain so it looks like they are getting better and better.

Now that you mention that. Since I changed my sprocket I haven't had to adjust my chain. I may of had 200 miles on it when I did that and now I'm over 800 miles.

Good to know regarding the chains....Because lets face it, it's cool to modify these things and make them better, but when you "have to" modify them to be able to even ride them, and spend a bunch of money doing so, kind of defeats the purpose of a cheap bike...and I mean I like tinkering on bikes, but I like riding them more. In 10 years all I've had to do to my Kawasaki was change the fluids and replace a battery. Period.

I don;t plan on putting more than a few hundred miles a year on my dual sport however, so don't want to spend Kawasaki $$$:D

And freakin' prices people are asking for OLD used jap bikes around is is humerus to an old fart like me!

Wishing I had a bike again today though, but mother nauture is about to remind us it's still February :tdown:

Not that spending money on the Hawk is a 'requirement', but if you wanted a bike without needing to modify anything, I would look at the Bashan bikes--more specifically, the Storm 250 (seem to sell out) or the Brozz 250 or the Shark 250 (almost exactly like the Brozz, but has standard front fork vs. inverted ones like the Brozz--generally sells for $100 less than the Brozz). The Hawk is something you will want/need to modify/tinker whereas the Bashan bikes are seemingly more bikes you can leave alone out of the box as they come with a good carb and are set up more for the street sprockets-wise leaving you to tinker with on YOUR terms later on.

I had a long chat with Don tonight and wound up ordering a Bashan. He confirmed the counterbalanced engine, less aggressive tires than the Hawk, and said it was more like a Brozz. He went on to say all the mod parts for the Hawk will interchange with the Enforcer, so lots of parts are available. Oh the Enforcer also has an upgraded carb and gearing Don said.

So, with any luck I'll be building my new toy next week or so. I just remembered the clocks move ahead an hour here in the east this Sunday so our days will be getting a whole lot longer :tup:

I just got mine this past Monday. I can confirm that the tires are pretty much the same as those on the Hawk. They look identical to me and just as aggressive. I actually wanted them to be like that though. And I wouldn't say it's more like the Brozz at all. I would say it's a Hawk with Upgrades to the carb, gearing, battery, spark plug, oh and remote start. :tup:. So basically it's a Hawk that comes to you with all the upgrades that people usually do to a Hawk. I'm hoping my papers come today so I can go register it. Here's the front tire on the Enforcer. The spacer is sitting on the tire because I'm trying to create a build thread so I'm taking lots of photos.

http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/s...pslyecmxta.jpg

Well that's actually awesome because I also prefer the knobby tires....So I wonder what the hell Don is talking about? Has he even seen one of these Enforcers I wonder??? I mean he got half the info right, but apparently he is wrong about the tires & engine being counterbalanced. And I'm not the first one who has reported Dons info regarding the enforcers....weird! He seemed like a really nice honest guy on the phone and I could tell he's been doing this a long time...He knew all the freight carriers and whatnot like the back of his hand it seemed.

I appreciate you making a build thread Ski_rush because i can only imagine there's a lot of trial and error building it! :thanks::thanks::thanks:

Like someone (or was it you??) mentioned on the other thread, Don has probably never seen them in person. They are sitting at Bashan's 'secret' warehouse in So. Calif. (I say 'secret' because they are near impossible to track down, and I have tracked down a few). They are a different warehouse than Kandi USA (aka Jass Motorsports) who only distribute the Shark and Brozz (one of the 'few' who I tracked down). There are some companies whose principal people travel back and forth to China and have a warehouse in the US who are really and truly only known to dealers and some distributors, and don't have a website (hence the 'secret' part). Bashan, itself, has eluded me, while I have known the Brozz/Shark distributors for a few years now (prior to Kandi, they were distributed by Peace Sports who still have 2014 models leftover as member letsride can attest to :tup:)

If the planets align, I plan on getting a Brozz. The Hawk and Enforcer do not appeal to me due to the lack of a rack (used to be STANDARD on pretty much every Chinese enduro) as well as the very off-road oriented tires. I guess, if the Enforcer came with a rack and more street-oriented dual sport tires, then it would be called the Shark :lmao:

The Brozz does look like a really nice bike, and much more suited for road riding than a Hawk or Enforcer. I plan on mainly trail riding and very little, if any road riding.

And not sure if you saw where I posted in another thread, Don emailed me back saying he has not seen an enforcer yet and was misinformed by his Bashan rep, and supposedly the Enforcer WILL have a counter balanced engine for 2018, and he apologized for the incorrect info.

Hi everyone, Im new to the forum and thinking of purchasing an enforcer this week. Does anyone know how much assembly is required. I talked to Don and he said all you have to do is put on the front wheel and fender and its good to go. He said probably an hour tops for assembly. Can anyone verify this?

:lmao: Don is such a comedian... :)

It's people like Don who are ruining the market on these fun little bikes .

So how much assembly is actually required. I am just curious as I have never dealt with one of these bikes. I just want to know what I am getting into. Is it about the same assembly as the hawk?

It should be very close to the hawk ,we do not know much about the enforcer yet ,they are very new and I think we have only two assembled so far and that was this past week ,you might look at those threads to see if it's something you might take on .

ok cool, thanks for you help

Enforcer17 and ski_rush are the two members around here who just bought them and assembled them. Look over their threads on assembly and what not. It took longer than 'an hour'. Don seems to be a decent dealer, provided you have some mechanical knowledge, and patience (shipping times seems to be an issue with some dealers, including his, as of late), but for quite a while, his reputation was impeccable. He was the dealer of dealers. Then, he started making promises that couldn't be kept to some members. It seemed odd, a fluke, maybe the members were like those same people 10 years ago who bought Chinese bikes for $1k and expected the quality and ability to be beaten up like a $4k Honda? Then, it kept happening, mostly with promises of shipping and actual shipping times, and no communication as to what is REALLY going on. No, I don't mean to beat up on him, but just from all the negative posts regarding ASPCUSA the past year. Obviously, there are happy purchasers, including our two Enforcer guinea pigs, ski_rush and Enforcer17, so it isn't all gloom and doom with ASPCUSA, either. But even with them, they couldn't get a green one, as they were told something about a train and a warehouse back in California, and found out the engine was not a counter-balanced one as Don admitted he had not seen an Enforcer in person (thus these two purchasers were really and truly guinea pigs).

All that being said, I am sure your purchase for an Enforcer will go fine. He does seem to have good service with certain products, and the Enforcer is one of them. The two members who bought one, and the rest of us, can help you assemble your bike, and don't be surprised if it takes you a few days.

Assembly of the Enforcer takes more than an hour. But, I really took my time to do it right and enjoy the process. I used thread locker on everything that I could and should. I also used grease on the axle bolt. I could have assembled it an hour, but why rush it? After I was done I wanted to do it again.

You have to mount the handle bar, throttle grip, front brake lever to the handle bar, and instrument cluster. After that, it gets really easy. Mount up the front fender, headlight, front wheel, etc. It's really very simple. The only wiring is plugging in the headlight.

The hard thing is that there are no instructions and mine came with a lot of these extra metal grommets that I didn't need. So I sat there wondering where they go and why I had them...Then others on here confirmed that their bikes were also shipped with extra hardware too.

It went together well and didn't take long. There's also time involved in filling and charging the battery and changing the oil and brake fluid.

On a side note, I had no shipping damage and the fit and finish of the bike is impressive... Especially for this price.

I'm still planning on posting a build thread; it just takes time to do that... Ironically, about as long as building the bike:lmao:

Hey JayBay, welcome...I just ordered an Enforcer from Don earlier this week and haven't heard anything about shipping yet...I actually wrote him yesterday and said I'd like a green one IF they are available when you're ready to ship, and he did write right back. His communication has been great so far...and I'm in no hurry since I'm in a frozen tundra ATM.

Got to take a spin on my Kawy 650 this morning...up and down the driveway plowing it :ohno: Sooooo freakin' cold out there!

yea i saw the part where he designed the enforcer.......

Well in his defense I'm not exactly sure how he worded it...Anyone who's spoken to him knows he likes to talk up a storm, like any good salesman, but he did indicate some involvement in it's design, I thought. And he very well may have been giving them input. Like everything with these Chinese bikes, who knows!

Thanks for all the info guys. Ski rush, did you have any issues registering it?

My new Enforcer has been shipped....From where and what color, I have no idea...That's all part of the Chinese bike experience, right??

I've spend the past 3 days clearing snow. We had a record breaking epic snowstorm....32" in a 24 hour period. Just f***ing unbelievable!! I have 4 rental properties, plus my own country property, and several neighbors that i plow, and wow....stick a fork in me....I'm done!! All with a 5 hp snowblower and a 650 Kawasaki Brute Force with a 5' plow, and my old F150 4x4 pickup, that i am so glad got new tires last fall. I actually got stuck on city streets several times.

But onto brighter times, hopefully...a new toy coming to assemble :-)

A couple years back we got 39 inches of snow in a short period. I was keeping up with my driveway by plowing every couple of hours. I have a diesel K3500 mason dump with a 8.5 meyers. Well the state shut down and they stopped plowing the roads. So when I went to turn around in the road to make another pass at my driveway I go my beast stuck. I tried for hours to get it unstuck, finally at 2 am I said F* it and I went back in the house and went to sleep. My Truck was literally in the middle of the road. My town had to dig the roads out with bucket loaders. I had an awesome Neighbor help plow me out with his for F350 so I could get my truck out of the road.

Tuesday we got 16 inches of heavy snow. I made sure to plow the street in front of my driveway so I can turn around.

Well, supposedly my Enforcer has shipped, so maybe Monday, which just happens to be the first day of spring, I'll be getting a call to come get it.

Although shipping times are all screwed up from the storm...and as i look out the window, it is snowing again :wtf: Yesterday I spent the day shoveling off my roof eves and clearing paths to the electric meter, propane tank, etc., while waiting for Fed Ex, who never showed up.....again!! Worst snow storm of my life and I am 55 years old.

Hi Manny, I ordered mine on Wednesday but haven't heard anything about shipping yet. How long after you ordered it did they ship it? I'm really hoping I can put this thing together. I've worked on cars my whole life, but very new to the motorcycle field. If I get stuck, I know there are some great people on here to help at least!

I ordered mine a week before you I believe, on Wednesday the 8th. They are or were having some credit card problems with their processor i believe, and i also believe that have it straightened out now, so yours will probably be shipping this coming week I bet.

There are lots of videos to watch...There's some good stuff here in the technical thread and a few assembly threads around on various bikes including the enforcer. You should be fine if you take your time. I'm just wishing i had a heated garage for assembly, but I might just drag it into the house to assemble :hehe:

I have a house bike, but it has to sleep in the entry. I remember the time that the stock exhaust was caught laying in the bathroom. I couldn't blame it on the dog because it was to heavy.

Well, I am going to TRY and re-order an Enforcer...I have been giving it a lot of thought. There are things I like better about the Brozz, but there are also things i like better on the Enforcer (wheels, tires for one). It seems I can buy the Enforcer for considerably less than the Brozz too, so if i can get Don to call me back I'm going to give er a try...again! Bottom line, I haven't been on a bike other than my ATV's in 25 years or so, so this will be a good place to start I think.

I will sell you a Pretty 1980 Kawasaki KX125. It's street legal because I said it is. :)

But then again a Malibu Barbie car is street legal in North Dakota, or was that south dakota:hmm:

I have 5 sisters and I broke a real Barbie plastic pink Corvette in the early 70's. :shrug:

We also have old cars and trucks.

Manny,

I've been going back and forth with don via email regarding the enforcer, so yesterday decided to give him a call, one of his employees answered the phone. I asked for don but, apparently he was busy. I asked the guy some questions about the bike. I also asked him how I should go about ordering one since don quoted me a price different than what he has posted on the web. I told the guy I want to place an order for one... he started studdering and said you better talk to don, don will call you back.

... should I hold my breath?

On the hawk I bought... still haven't received the replacement seat as of yet or the paperwork. I have a feeling that the stall tactic is to get you passed the point of no return as in passed the return limit date.

This is BS!