Things The RXB250L Ain't

[zero_dgz]

Many things. But number one: A long distance adventure bike.


I went on a little ride up the MABDR last week. I went with two other guys with KLR650's, but I decided to be a dork and leave my KLR at home; I brought the RXB250L along instead. Mine is still new (well, it was, before I did this) and the only mods I have done to it are adding the Tusk Highland X2 rackless luggage, I strapped a cutting board to the back for a more stable duffel platform, some handguards, and I have my 3D printed air filter adapter replacing the stock paper filter. That's it. The carb, tires, chain, etc. are stock.


We went as far as Doubling Gap Overlook, some 400 miles in total (each way).



I thought the seat would be awful for long distance travel. I was right. Even with my ghetto homemade seat cushion and wearing padded undershorts, more than an hour on the saddle of this thing is excruciating. I spent a lot of time standing up, even on the road.


This trip required a pretty significant distance traveled on pavement. 140 miles or so. We saw a Figaro. The RXB's road manners are just like you'd expect a dirt bike on pavement to be. It tops out at about 75 MPH. A KLR is faster. That's saying something. I absolutely destroyed the rear tire this thing came with. It's just gone. It lasted about 900 miles in total, probably half of them on pavement. It's not even DOT, so I guess that's to be expected. I think I'll put some Shinko 244's on it.



My main gripe is this: The fuel tank is effing tiny. The reserve on the petcock is also completely useless. The usable range is just under 100 miles -- a little less if you're running around with it pinned all day -- and the reserve position on the petcock gains you a grand total of about half a mile. I'll have to pull it out and see if either inlet actually has a pickup tube attached it, or what. Luckily I was smart enough to carry extra fuel with me. I wish I could find a larger tank for this thing but I haven't been able to turn up anything that fits, since the plastics on the 2021+ models are different and apparently the tank and plastics are no longer EXC-F clones.



Off road it works great. You'd bloody well expect it to. I'm happy to report that I was the only one who had no issue whatsoever with any kind of terrain we encountered. Hills, narrow track, rocks, mud, sand, side inclines, sliding around corners, no problem. Since I'm used to my KLR this thing feels like a mountain bike with an engine on it. The suspension is fine. A little bouncy at the stock adjustment, maybe. I never bottomed or topped out. I ramped a few whoops and caught a little air and didn't have any issues, even with the luggage dangling off the back. The stock gearing is incredibly, ridiculously low. On steep rocky hills where the other guys are in 2nd gear, I'm in 4th or 5th. There doesn't seem to be any lack of low end power in the low gears, so I'm thinking a sprocket swap might be a good idea. I think I could add a tooth at the front and bring the cruising RPM's down without sacrificing much if any off road ability. The top speed on flat ground is eventually governed by hitting the rev limiter (which seems to be at about 9,500 on the stock CDI) rather than the engine running out of puff.


Are you sitting down? Get a load of this: My stupid "it'll be scrap in a thousand miles" Chinese bike is the only bike on the trip that did not experience some kind of mechanical issue. My one buddy either ripped off or vibrated out his kick stand and lost it, leading to him having to lean his bike up against stuff for the rest of the trip. He also broke his clutch safety switch. The other KLR shed a turn signal. Both of them drank a quart of oil between them. Me? My crankcase is almost as full as when I left. I think I burned about an ounce. (I'll be changing it anyway, as well as rechecking the valves now that it's, uh, "broke in.") No parts fell off. It never died or failed to start. Everything's great, except a bald back tire.

[AJ22_ChinaRider]

good to hear your bike outdid the KLRs!!