tire preference

The problem with Chinese bikes, based on the photos of them, are that oftentimes they are photographed in their 'natural habitat'--the photo you have is one the owner of Excalibur took at the TMEC factory when he was overseeing his 'batch' of bikes being made. By the time they are assembled and boxed up, the tires they used could be far different than what the photo shows. However, to discredit my theory, the photo of the black one with the 17" street tire setup looks almost identical to my bike.

I ride my bike 12 months a year including the one or two days of rain we get here in the desert, and only commute on it on paved roads. The street tires are god-awful on anything we call dirt (but is really powdered beach sand-like) around here, but in those tires' defense, I would not expect any better out of the 21"/18" knobbies, either, around here.

Since your riding season will be cut short due to weather, my suggestion is to ride the stock wheel/tire setup until that happens. Once you start getting used to the bike in general, then for next season next year, you would probably want to consider having an extra set of the street-tire setup. Also, coming back to the here and now, I am guessing you have quite a few trails to explore in Wisconsin on real, honest-to-goodness tight-packed dirt roads and trails. I am of the belief that even those would not be an enjoyable experience on the street tires. It would be akin to someone riding a sport-bike occasionally on trails. Probably not the best of fun. But the perfect habitat for street/dirt 21"/18" tires.

Don't get ahead of yourself as far as the wheels/tires go is ultimately what I am saying. I am by no means an expert on anything with motorcycles, but I do have enough experience, now, to not get ahead of myself, and feel confident to at least give you the advice to get used to your bike as is. You will see what I mean within days of you getting the bike assembled and ridden, how good these are as beginner bikes. You will definitely grow to like riding and then love it--however, you might want to 'move up' in bike choices next year, meaning it wouldn't be in your best interest to get all kinds of extras only to end up selling the bike.

For instance, one member on Chinariders.net had one of the '09 models (they were still new into 2011 through some dealers and Excalibur) and had a long thread about all the things he did and changed out. However, on a whim, one day he went to his local Honda dealer, one thing led to another, and next thing he knew, he had qualified for a loan on a new CBR 250, so was announcing on his thread of his intention to sell his TMEC. His asking price was about 1/2 of what he paid if I remember (a dealer out of California--not Excalibur--was selling those '09 bikes fully assembled and shipped for $1500 and he asked us on his thread if we thought $800 was a fair price to ask).