User CochiseCounty Introl

[CochiseCounty]

On some forums, people get upset if you don't introduce yourself, so here I am.

Cochise county is in the southeast corner of Arizona & I live in Northern California, but I have a concrete plan to move to Arizona in October.

And because California charges more for everything and because they frown on some Chinese bikes, I have no plans to buy a Chinese dual-sport until I move.

Until then, I figure studying this forum will educate me mightily.

I have been reading here and there on the web & I was surprised and intrigued that most of these bikes are based on the Honda CD125, a pushrod engine that is typically abused in Third World countries. That & its simplicity draw me.
However, the 50 mph highway top speed bums me out a bit. We shall see.
The shortage & price of used Japanese dual-sports are also important factors.

Hi.

[culcune]

Welcome from the other armpit of AZ, Yuma; not familiar with much of anything east of here as I tend to travel west to the Los Angeles area to visit friends and family. These bikes tend to travel at speeds faster than 50, stock, and with a gear or two swap, and if you are adventurous enough, closing in on 70 mph (those are the dual-sports; street bikes seem to be a bit closer to 70 stock--ask Jerryhawk about his Dongfang bikes ).

[Emerikol]

Welcome! I just moved out of Arizona. I re-geared my Hawk to do 65 or so on the highway. For an around town runabout, it's just about the best bet there is. I have to say that these bikes are an amazing deal for the price, as long as you don't expect everything you would get from a comparable displacement Japanese bike. This forum (and the members) is certainly a great place to get all your questions answered, along with the questions you would have never thought to ask. Again, Welcome!

[TxTaoRider]

Welcome. I geared mine up just a little and itll do 65, but the engine is near redline. However, since I do nearly all of my riding on trails or backroads I prefer having more grunt in 1st and 2nd than top speed. But if I ever decide to take a longer ride ive got a larger front sprocket I can put on. That's the nice thing about these bikes, for just a little money you can taylor them to your needs.

[culcune]

Originally Posted by Emerikol

Welcome! I just moved out of Arizona. I re-geared my Hawk to do 65 or so on the highway. For an around town runabout, it's just about the best bet there is.

I was allowed the honor of borrowing Emerikol's bike last November for our second annual group ride from Surprise, AZ to Wickenberg, AZ (the first ride in 2019 i drove my Subaru Impreza as a chase vehicle ) and with the gearing and carb work (cannot remember if he had some head work, too, but he will chime in with the answer), it made it from Emerikol's home to the starting point on I-10 and Phoenix Freeway 60 at about 65. Then from Wickenberg back to Emerikol's home on the same freeway and I-10.

[Emerikol]

Originally Posted by culcune

...with the gearing and carb work (cannot remember if he had some head work, too, but he will chime in with the answer)

No head work, just a 12T front sprocket, 39T rear sprocket, and a really good chain. On top of that, the stock carb was gutted and all the slag/flashing from the casting process was removed with a jewelers file. From there I re-jetted it, and popped on a pod filter. I also used a rotary rasp on the exhaust weld to clean that up a little bit. Finally I replaced the exhaust and wrapped the header. All in all, it does really well out of the little 250 powerplant.

[JerryHawk250]

Welcome aboard!