HI-BIRD or Komoto? Best place to buy?

[SpeedSouth]

Originally Posted by IronFist

Most of the members here have spent a lot of time trying to make 300's out of 250's, or 250's from 200's. I had a 150cc chinabike and would have loved to get my hands on a 200 cc bike. I say yes, you always end up wanting that little extra, no matter what it is.

Not to go too far off track here, but I find it interesting that I look at the reasons you give and reach the conclusion that the extra 50cc is NOT worth caring about. :wink:

I guess it's all about perspective. As I see it, if I know I'll always want something bigger...then it doesn't matter what I have, and therefore, the 200cc is perfectly fine.

Six of one, half-dozen of the other. :P

My 200 will never be more than a 200, and my 250 will never be more than a 250.
I'm already looking at a 500. 8O (Someone help me, please...I'm sick. :oops: )



On the other subject I shouldn't post on...I wanted to add my thoughts on the seat hieght. I believe the DS's are taller than most street bikes, but the trade-off is a bit softer suspension, so it sags more when you're in the saddle...than say, something like a Yamaha Venture might sag. I'm sure there are exceptions, but it seems like a good rule of thumb to me. Taller but softer.


Best of luck with your decision. As long as you're here asking for help and listening to the advice (a critical step a few people ignore) given, you can't go too far wrong.

[allenr]

I would not feel right if I didn't say something here. I have the 250 Komoto from ANAMCYCLES. It starts and runs great, and, so far, I am very satisfied with the bike.

That being said, I must say that I am having some problems with the customer service dept. First, I ordered the bike as soon as they opened and was told that it would ship that same day. I called back four days later and after about 20 calls I got to talk to someone and they said that it had not shipped yet but would ship tomorrow and it did. I am only 150 miles away so it only took 1 day from when they shipped it.

When the bike first came, it was missing the left rear foot peg assembly(the entire triangle thingy) and the headlight faring brackets. I made numerous calls over the next two days and none of them was returned.
On the 3rd day, I finally got through to the parts dept. Joe told me that he would ship the parts to me the next day. Its been two weeks and i'm still waiting. After trying to figure how to bolt the front fender on for a couple of days, someone on the list told me that I needed brackets...Duh...2 of them. There was none in the box so I started trying to call them and email their customer support dept. That was 7 days ago and they have not returned my calls/emails. I ordered an aftermarket faring/headlight assembly that I liked better and installed it. I am still riding it without a front fender and foot peg assembly.

Like I said, I love the bike and believe that it is a good product. The paper work came in a week and was all notorized and legit. It was easy to reg. in Okla. I really don't want to cause this dealer any problems but people should know that at best, they definately have some problems with communications and customer support.

[katoranger]

That is good info.

Allen

[Dragon]

Wow! Sorry to hear about your Komoto problem, allenr. The Hi Bird must have been assembled in a different factory because mine came with everything and a whole bunch of extra nuts and bolts.

[DesertDog]

Originally Posted by culcune

Don't forget the DRZ-400 which feels like it's 50" (but Suzuki does have a trick that allows one to lower the bikes for shorties like me)

Desert Dog's 300cc XTM (apparently not EPA-legal yet) is listed at 970mm :!: :!: , which would put it in this territory, too.

sorry i dont reproof my typing , i gave an error in seat highth many pardones >>>>>>>>>>>> :?:
34" is my sons thats what i went off of !!!!!!

man u guys are a tuff crowd, tuff ? whew/////

excuse me just this once ,,, golly Andy

[allenr]

Oh well, For the price, its worth a little extra hassle. From what I have been reading, I got one of the last ones until the end of summer. Thats probably the reason for the Hi-Bird tank shroud(should have said Hybrid) with the rest of the bike being Komoto. As long as I get the parts, I'll be fine with it.

Originally Posted by Dragon

Wow! Sorry to hear about your Komoto problem, allenr. The Hi Bird must have been assembled in a different factory because mine came with everything and a whole bunch of extra nuts and bolts.

[culcune]

Originally Posted by allenr

I would not feel right if I didn't say something here. I have the 250 Komoto from ANAMCYCLES.

Not to defend them, but it seems that your bike was probably one of the last ones they had, and I bet your bike was one of the ones that had to have parts "borrowed" from it for prior customer service issues with other customers.

In my opinion, they should not have sold it if that was the case, but you might not have the bike either--but I think from a PITA point of view, it would have been better to tell you they had no more than sell you this one.

[allenr]

I agree completely. I am very happy with this bike. If I can just get them to answer their phones/email and eventually send me the parts, then i'm good.

Originally Posted by culcune

Not to defend them, but it seems that your bike was probably one of the last ones they had, and I bet your bike was one of the ones that had to have parts "borrowed" from it for prior customer service issues with other customers.

In my opinion, they should not have sold it if that was the case, but you might not have the bike either--but I think from a PITA point of view, it would have been better to tell you they had no more than sell you this one.

[Death85e]

Truly sorry to hear about your customer service experience with ANAMCYCLES mine has been very different so we have the extreme in both directions one very good and one bordering on the extreme of cutomer no service...sounds like an AT&T commercial 8O .
I'm sry that i have not gotten any names of the people that i've dealt with in the customer service and parts departments or i would gladly pass them along to you in hopes that you'd have a better experience with them :( .
With respect to Cerviperus i know you will find a bike that you'll be happy with and that will serve your needs and its my hopes that it will be soon so you can begin enjoying the fun of riding these lil china bikes .
I apologize to you for hijacking your thread and wish you all the very best 8)