RX3 Testimonials and Issues

[GSC]

My experience around resale was very good. Its been my first No Complaint machine! Awesome experience!
2015.5 RX3 extremely well appointed with upgrades and very clean. 8000 miles and all services up to date. A local man who is very mechanically minded, owns other bikes and appreciates a well taken care of machine.
He made a very resonable offer, 3k, and i accepted.

Current bike is a Beta 300 2T which i may add really requires looking after. Much more attention/service time than the RX3.
I'm sure i'll be back some day guys.

[Math Teacher]

My 2015 with 20,000 miles is in good condition. I have added a few things including a 40 channel CB radio with antenna. I would be happy with anything over $1000 that I could use towards my RX4 whenever that becomes available.

[BigDukeSix]

My new 2018 arrived with bent spokes that caused headshake. CSC fixed my problem, but it took a while to figure out what the issue was and to work through the logistics of taking care of it.

at about 400 miles or so, my rear brake began giving me issues - would only work if I pumped it. I stripped a screw when attempting to bleed the brakes and wound up having to replace the master cylinder.

Once that was replaced, all was good for another 100 miles or so and now the problem is back - but not every time I ride. I'm betting that I still have the original problem but it was just temporarily solved when I replaced the master cylinder.

I ride the bike now just a few times per week for running errands in town and when I run down to the community college where I teach a class a couple of times per week.

I really like the RX3, but my V Strom is my go-to bike for most riding these days. It's a little better suited for the high speed limits on country roads out here and I have a lot more confidence in it. Once you get outside of my town, there is a whole lot of nothing and if you break down, you could be there a while.

[sqwert]

First container 2015.

Throttle would not return to idle. No lubricant anywhere under grip or in cable. Surface rust on inner cable. Cleaned with SeaFoam Deep Creep, kerosene, SeaFoam Deep Creep, blown dry, then lubed with Blaster Chain and Cable.

Poor front brake. I rarely use rear brake unless loaded and on the highway.

Rear brake a bit grabby, so "grooved" to reduce surface area. Now, very nice.

Poor headlight bulb. Replaced with 55w H4 from Walmart. That was better than CSC's LED.

Rear axle nut torqued to specs after replacing worn out chain and sprockets parted company out in the country. Fortunately, found apparently abandoned car with lug nut that fit rear axle. Made it home. Drilled nut and axle for cotter pins.

Several electrical doodads under tank and seat failed while riding in rain. Hard to figure what was good and what was bad with so many concurrent failures. Replacement parts failed next rain. Both sets of parts ran fine once set atop the fridge to soak heat to dry. Solution was waterproofing like an Everglades swamp buggy, time and money never spent on any other bike. Bike runs in rain.

Bike would run several minutes to several days without leaks, then drain coolant in minutes. Never figured why or how. Refill, ride on to next pissing match.

No idea what has failed this time, just quit at 45mph on a back road..

Sad thing is, the RX3 is a quite pleasant bike to ride the paved back country roads. Handled great once preload and fork oil adjusted for load, even better when switched to softer sport touring tires, braked good once front upgraded with CSC parts and rear modified, to be less grabby, plenty of alternator for auxiliary lights that filled the blank spots from CSC's LED, Secure luggage for trips (CSC aluminum upgrade), and really nice ride with Tako's seat cover over CSC's taller seat. Ride and performance were perfect for where I wanted to go. Even the occasional tractor lane. Those positive attributes will be sorely missed, especially since the replacement will not share them. However, I was generally missing those attributes anyway since the RX3 couldn't keep itself running without constant trouble shooting and repairs in addition to scheduled maintenance.

[Working_ZS]

Originally Posted by BigDukeSix

...
at about 400 miles or so, my rear brake began giving me issues - would only work if I pumped it. I stripped a screw when attempting to bleed the brakes and wound up having to replace the master cylinder.

Once that was replaced, all was good for another 100 miles or so and now the problem is back - but not every time I ride. I'm betting that I still have the original problem but it was just temporarily solved when I replaced the master cylinder. ...

Not much can cause the problem that you are describing. Since the master cylinder is new, I think that you can eliminate it as a suspect. Things to check would be the rotor for warpage, which can cause knock back of the piston into the caliper, which would necessitate pumping the pedal like you describe, to get any rear braking. The caliper could be binding, so check the forward caliper slider pin, make sure that it is lubricated with silicone grease, AKA plumbers grease. The slider pin should slide in and out of the rubber bushing effortlessly; and the caliper itself should rotate upwards clockwise easily when you remove the rear pin. If you haven't already, I would replace the brake bleeder with a Speed Bleeder, and then re-bleed the brakes. If I recall correctly, the bleeder is a M8 x 1.25 - these are the ones that I used:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000WJ2SYK...ustomerReviews

They make bleeding the brakes pretty much foolproof, and air in the line can cause your symptom. Water in the brake fluid can do it as well, if your brake fluid has been sitting around awhile in a container that was not tightly sealed. Hard braking can cause the water to boil, flashing into steam, and causing you to have to pump the pedal. If yours is suspect, get some new DOT 4 brake fluid. One more thing to check would be for any soft spots in the rear brake line. To spot these, look and feel for any bulges in the line when you apply the rear brake.

[dpl096]

Kinda sad.... Seems like just yesterday this RX3 sub forum was a rock star. Hell if you missed a day or two you might be a hundred posts or more behind...place was rocking and exciting. For me the RX3 was a needed breath of fresh air and it sure was fun.

[Orlando texas]

They are fun lil bike I've have put it to the limits riding 2 up loaded ridding 400 miles one day and 370 the next day doin75 mph most of the way not bad for a 250 then. Straight shot home to Big Ben National Park 13 hrs straight to the park 630 back and forth plus the miles on dirt we did inside park

[calvarez]

Originally Posted by dpl096

Kinda sad.... Seems like just yesterday this RX3 sub forum was a rock star. Hell if you missed a day or two you might be a hundred posts or more behind...place was rocking and exciting. For me the RX3 was a needed breath of fresh air and it sure was fun.

It was new and different then, lots to talk about. I bought mine late last year and have noticed a decline in posts even since then. That happens. There's already so much data on it available by searching so people just are not driven to start new threads. And at some point you run out of things to put in the "what did you do to your RX3 today" thread.

[2LZ]

Dualsport Chic wrote in another thread:

Ok - this is the post that talks about my ultimate experience with Rex.

The deal breaker - the bike was too high for my inseam which precluded me from putting proper D/S tires on it (bad back so lowering links out of the question). This made my MABDR experience abysmal - the front end was washing out around every greasy hairpin through VA which really marred my experience of the route as I had trouble keeping up with my pack (and I'm usually the one going too fast for my fellow riders when I'm on the XT).

The ergonomics proved poor for standing for long periods of time. May have been able to fix that with some bar-back risers. Foot peg position was not optimal either - it did not leave me truly centered on the machine when off-piste. At the end of the BDR, I felt physically and mentally exhausted from continually battling with the bike through the numerous spots of challenging terrain/weather along the route.

Lastly, the resale on this bike is NON EXISTENT. Again, the risk of buying a Chinese product as there is not enough buy-in to buoy resale prices. I sold the bike for well under 1/2 of what I had into it and it didn't even have 7K miles on the odo.

What I really liked about the bike - road manners were lovely. Slabbed it back over two days from western NC and did 475 miles day one and 410 the next day and I arrived home in relatively good shape given nearly 1000 miles in two days. I also liked the DIY aspect of the RX3 along with the DVD to help those of us who aren't wrenches ease in to working on our own machines.

Support from CSC truly was great - the folks were very helpful and worked with me on several issues. Special shout out to Gerry - appreciated all the time he spent with me when I was trying to find tires that wouldn't lift the bike up too high for me. I also really liked the look of the RX3 - still do - its a pretty machine and I found several folks I interacted with saying the same when they got to look it over.

If I didn't already have my 05 F650gs, I probably would have kept the bike as a light commuter but it just was redundant with my current stable of machines.

What soured me on CSC was when they used my reviews without my permission (which were strictly off-limits for sharing), morphing them into CSC marketing material. When I brought it to their attention, copying my attorney, I never even got a response, much less a note of apology from Steve, the owner. Shame on them.

The RX3 is a great bike for what it is, but CSC tried to expand the audience of the bike by making it appear what it really is not: It is a light ADV bike , and I stress LIGHT and also a great commuter. It is in no way, shape or form and Dual-sport bike and cannot easily go where D/S machines regularly travel. There are a few folks (Joe Martin for example) who have really put it to the test but probably would have enjoyed their adventures oodles more on properly suspended steeds that would have been more suited to technical terrain.

Chinese bikes are making advances every year and within the next decade I would expect them to be on par with Japanese reliability and technology. Great to see new offerings in the market - its good when new entrants to the market challenge the competition as buyers ultimately win with more choices and improved quality over time. I wish Zongshen well in this regard as they're off to a decent start down that path.
__________________
Carpe Diem
IBA#65836

2005 BMW F650gs
2008 Yamaha XT250
2013 Yamaha XT250
2009 Suzuki Gladius

[Juanro]

Originally Posted by dpl096

Kinda sad.... Seems like just yesterday this RX3 sub forum was a rock star. Hell if you missed a day or two you might be a hundred posts or more behind...place was rocking and exciting. For me the RX3 was a needed breath of fresh air and it sure was fun.

We could start a thread "Where did you ride your RX3 today", that would ensure a constant flux of new posts.

[Azhule]

Originally Posted by dpl096

Kinda sad.... Seems like just yesterday this RX3 sub forum was a rock star. Hell if you missed a day or two you might be a hundred posts or more behind...place was rocking and exciting. For me the RX3 was a needed breath of fresh air and it sure was fun.

A few of the regulars that posted a lot daily and the couple of guys/gals I rode with a few times sold their RX3s or they rarely get to ride or post anymore due to bad motorcycle accidents...

The others are just busy with life to my knowledge and have no time or need to post up much... less time always posting "the bike is still running" on forums means more time spent on two wheels after all

[2LZ]

Maybe we should start an oil thread! ;-)

What will start new chatter is the RX4's arrival in the Adventure Bike forum. I can't wait for that thread to fire up with the first owners.

[JerryHawk250]

Originally Posted by 2LZ

Maybe we should start an oil thread! ;-)
.

NOOOOO.. That's a good way to get band from this sight for sure.

[Math Teacher]

Mine is from the first shipment. Came partially assembled so I had to do the final set up and adjustment. That was part of the deal from day 1. If you had an RX3, you were expecting to do some wrench work yourself.

[dpl096]

Originally Posted by 2LZ

Maybe we should start an oil thread! ;-)

What will start new chatter is the RX4's arrival in the Adventure Bike forum. I can't wait for that thread to fire up with the first owners.

Did you get struck in the head.......again? The oil wars lol