Zongshen GS250 first impressions

I've seen ads for these things, and on Sunday I had the chance to kick
the tyres of one at my local dealer in cheap Chinese motorbikes at
Tarago.

For the price ($4500) it seems to be reasonable value. Time will tell
what the longevity is like, but for a learner who insists on buying a
brand-new machine I reckon they could do a lot worse. Since it's
based on an air-cooled 250cc single the performance should be about
the same as a CB250, albeit with slightly better aerodynamics. To my
eye the styling looks remarkably like the water-cooled GPZ250
(predecessor of the GPX250).

I confidently predict sharp price reductions on well-established
learner bike models like the CB250, GPX250 and ZZR250 over the next
few months. ;-)


BTH

 

In aus.motorcycles on 29 Apr 2007 18:16:43 -0700

Does, doesn't it. I find their site also has a v twin cruiser, bloody
thing even has footboards! (can't tell if it has heel toe change)

http://www.zongsheninternational.com.au/ZS250-5-2.htm

Might put the frighteners up Hyosung

Zebee

 

And with a claimed 2.4l/100km (or 41km/l in sensible talk), you'd get
over 800km out of the 20l fuel tank.

Not bad.


BTH

 

In aus.motorcycles on 29 Apr 2007 21:01:30 -0700

My GPz250 (belt drive model) averaged 35km/l on the daily commute to
Elizabeth. Admittedly not a lot of stop-start in that, but still a
damn good effort.

Zebee

 

I think I've missed a joke here somewhere...


BTH
(the guy who has never been involved with in-jokes in any way)

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 30 Apr 2007 17:23:24 +1000

Probably. Face it, Spagthorpe never got the "oily rag" technology
working right, they still had problems with the thing catching fire
never mind getting a consistent smell vapour mix in the carby, I don't
reckon Pristine would have solved it in the 12 months since they
bought the tooling.

Zebee

 

Chinese stuff is usually* much worse than Korean or Japanese. It'd be like
BMW being worried about the new cheap Commodore.


*(wild generalisation here)

 

Here in Victoria we are now getting adds on the free to air tv for all
things honda and kawasaki.
There are also kawasaki adds on the radio with a 1300 number.
None of which I have heard or seen before.

 

Yes and no. 10-15 years ago it was only the $2 shops that stocked
Chinese tools, and with good reason. Now you *can* buy decent quality
Chinese tools (and the cheapies are still available, although they've
improved a bit too).

How long did it take the Japanese to follow that same path, post-war?


BTH

 

Don't mention the war....

Hammo

 

I saw a Holden TV ad a few days ago that claimed the new Commodore had
vastly better steering than a BMW 550. BMW will be worried!

Theo

 

I dunno, mate drove his '04 5series into a Holden showroom on the
weekend because he wanted to test drive a V8 commodore (dunno which
one) because he liked the look of it (and you can buy a lot of petrol
for the, what 70 grand ?, difference). Didn't say whether he'd buy it
though (don't think he's decided)

JL

 

I saw a nicely restored EK holden the other day with wankerplate rego
"AUSMERC"

Moike

 

Hah ha!
Although I think personalised plates are wanker-identifiers (especially up
here where they cost $250 to $25,000) I do appreciate some people's efforts.

 

Oh I have no doubt the Chinese will win in time and acheive it a lot faster
than the Japs. They have the resources and the complete disregard for civil
rights that is the right formula for world domination.
But not this year. Give it another few years and we'll all be speaking
Mandarin.

 

But not this year. Give it another few years and we'll all be speaking

Well I doubt you will... All I can see you speaking is more poorly
reasoned semi-racist stereotypes.

 

1300Kawasaki is rebadged version of Floyd-Parkes Kawasaki in Ferntree
Gully. They've been there for a few years, the Parkes half of the
partnership got out not long after they were established... as have most
of the staff who have worked there for longer than a couple of weeks
from what I've seen. The Floyd half of the original name and now I
think the sole owner of the shop is Peter Floyd, a rich 2nd rate car
racer who races Porsche Cup types of races and runs the bike shop as a
bit of a hobby and really has no clue about customer service.

They were running a race team in the Aussie supersports series, and the
maintenance of their race bikes and his race cars takes precedence in
the workshop over customer bikes. The influence of the race team
doesn't stop there. They're sponsored by Michelin and Castrol. So
rubberwise they will only sell you Michelin, and the only lubricants and
other stuff in bottles they sell has a Castrol label on it.

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX

 

But at least the showroom would be well lit.

 

Uncle Bully wrote:

[...]

True.
World domination is on the evil little blighter's minds, that's for
sure. Just look at the cunning way that they package things. In no
time at all, the world population will have cut fingers from that
tough shrink wrap thing they use. Then of course, they will attack!

Mr H... stocking up on bandaids - that'll fix them!

 

Years and years ago when NSW first introduced personalised plates they
had a competition for the "best" number plate amongst all of the people
who had ordered the new plates. The winner was the person who ordered
"MY-EGO".

Nev..
'04 CBR1100XX