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Greetings from New Zealand
Greetings
I am the happy owner of the only Zongshen RX3 in New Zealand. I bought it from the original importer in February this year and have covered nearly 3000km since.
I took quite a long time (for me) to make up my mind whether or not to buy my Zongie but haven't regretted the decision. The bike is solidly built, reasonably powerful and very well equipped.
A couple of weeks ago i went on my first rally, The cold Kiwi. It is early spring here and the temperatures hovered around freezing for most of the weekend, very cold for camping in a tent!
The campsite was extremely muddy and wet but I had a great time anyway.
Attachment 19737Attachment 19738
I plan to do quite a bit of touring and camping over the summer and will try to remember to take photos so I can share this amazing country with everyone.
Happy riding:rolleyes1:
Re: Greetings from New Zealand
Hi and welcome to MCM
Although I consider the RX3 to be 1 off the better made Chinese bike, it's still a Chinese made bike.
So hold off with your happy news untill a year or so to see if the bike is still going and not to many bits have fallen off.
Good lucky and enjoy your rides out.
Re: Greetings from New Zealand
Thanks for the welcome.
I'm sure you speak from experience regarding reliability but as a long-time lover of Italian cars, things falling off is not only restricted to China. If you've owned an Italian car made in the 60's, 70's or 80's you'll agree that there was always something loose and something else which wasn't working today. I'm currently driving my 6th Fiat and although I regularly utter the threat that the next car will be Japanese it hasn't happened yet.
There will be items needing attention. I've already started replacing suspect nuts and bolts with quality ones whenever I do any maintenance and I think I'll replace the chain quite soon as it seems to be stretching quite a lot. Regular check ups have kept all my Fiats reasonably reliable over the years so I'll start there and see how we go?
Re: Greetings from New Zealand
It all comes down to ones "expectations" and it sounds like yours are realistic.
So you will be fine, good luck and keep us all here on MCM updated.
Re: Greetings from New Zealand
Quote:
Originally Posted by
prince666
It all comes down to ones "expectations" and it sounds like yours are realistic.
So you will be fine, good luck and keep us all here on MCM updated.
I nearly bought one, I liked it, Linuxyeti has one but I found it struggled a little bit with my big fat body.
Re: Greetings from New Zealand
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BigPhil
I nearly bought one, I liked it, Linuxyeti has one but I found it struggled a little bit with my big fat body.
Well Phil BIG, yes not FAT mate lol
There should be a 400 c.c one coming out soon.
Re: Greetings from New Zealand
The 400 looks really great, I like the double disks up front, and that it looks very much like the 250, just beefier. The only question now is how do I sneak a second RX3 into the shed?
Re: Greetings from New Zealand
Yes please, although you'll need to know how to swim! :lol8:
Re: Greetings from New Zealand
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kirkew
Yes please, although you'll need to know how to swim! :lol8:
I will ship it for you, want my NZ bank details so you can pay me plz!?
Re: Greetings from New Zealand
hello nice to meet you :D
Re: Greetings from New Zealand
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rollinsonphilip
hello nice to meet you :D
Thank you:clap:, it’s good to meet you too. What bike do you ride?
My American geography is a bit shaky but where are you based?
Re: Greetings from New Zealand
hello nice to meet you :D it is look pretty good
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Re: Greetings from New Zealand
Update
Well it's over a year since I posted about my new bike and yes, things have fallen off! most recently the mirrors have become detached and are a bit floaty.
I've also replaced the lower rear suspension bearings, 2 tyres, a chain and a week ao so ago the whole rear tailight. It has also needed a replacement rear master cylinder because the original one rusted solid and for good measure it now has Honda rear brake pads which along with the actually working master cylinder have improved the rear brakes appreciably.
The ignition lock succumbed to the elements and needed to be stripped and rebuilt, correcting a number of funny niggles when the bike was cold. It would just cut out randomly and then refuse to start etc.
I've changed the oil, it now has Motul and is actually due for another oil change soon (what are the intervals supposed to be?)
I still haven't laid a spanner on the engine. With the properly working ignition switch the bike is now 100% reliable starting and running perfectly always. I'm getting less worried by the revs each time I ride it, spending a couple of hours on Saturday with the rev counter reading well above 7000 without any issues at all. The temperature gauge moved up and down a bar every now and then but that was it.
I was seriously considering upgrading but can't bring myself to do it. I've made two appointments to ride potential bikes and cancelled both.
The weather is finally behaving here and we're consistently over 20 C so I think it'Attachment 20328s time to go camping. We'll see how we fare fully loaded over a couple of weekends and then decide. My suspicion is that I'll still be riding the same bike in another year's time.
Re: Greetings from New Zealand
Well the ride is still going strong - albeit from a little bit of an upgrade here and there.
Great to hear and read that things have improved.
:scooter:
Your experiences are reflective of so many of the issues with many made in China products - the manufacturers shave off costs by using cheaper inferior products or materials on all the little items, so that the collective sum saved (profit) is greater than the sum of the parts - which is pretty counterproductive IMO. Short term speculating vs longer term success. If the manufacturers or assemblers actually were prepared to spend a little more on the small little items that seem to fail (that at first seem to be insignificant) resulting in improving the overall product functionality and longevity - companies would garner a more supportive and perhaps increasing positive reputation.
Some manufacturers and assemblers have realised this and their business models are or have changed.
By simply replacing a few of the less reliable parts you've now got a bike that seems more dependable and you're more happy to ride and stay with.
:thumbsup:
Next time I'm over home in NZ, with family in Hawkes Bay, I'll drop you a message and see if we can't meet up at some point - even go for a ride or ten.
Shiny side up...
Re: Greetings from New Zealand
Next time I'm over home in NZ, with family in Hawkes Bay, I'll drop you a message and see if we can't meet up at some point - even go for a ride or ten.
Shiny side up...
That would be great, let me know when you're in town.
I absolutely agree about the cheap ancillaries. I think that's what was wrong with Fiat for many years. The engines and gearboxes were really great (Ok perhaps not the gearboxes) but the lights were pathetic ditto the washers and wipers and hooter etc, etc.
More recently the overall quality has improved and suddenly so has their rating with consumers.
What's that old saying? "Watch the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves"
Re: Greetings from New Zealand
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kirkew
Greetings
I am the happy owner of the only Zongshen RX3 in New Zealand. I bought it from the original importer in February this year and have covered nearly 3000km since.
I took quite a long time (for me) to make up my mind whether or not to buy my Zongie but haven't regretted the decision. The bike is solidly built, reasonably powerful and very well equipped.
A couple of weeks ago i went on my first rally, The cold Kiwi. It is early spring here and the temperatures hovered around freezing for most of the weekend, very cold for camping in a tent!
The campsite was extremely muddy and wet but I had a great time anyway.
Attachment 19737Attachment 19738
I plan to do quite a bit of touring and camping over the summer and will try to remember to take photos so I can share this amazing country with everyone.
Happy riding:rolleyes1:
I have a 250cc 2017 Empire brand and I plan to start a trip through the rest of my country ...
Re: Greetings from New Zealand
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Matteo2
I have a 250cc 2017
Empire brand and I plan to start a trip through the rest of my country ...
Great and welcome to MCM.
Look forward to your input, review and road reports (RR) about your experiences with you bike and you part of the world
:popcorn:
Re: Greetings from New Zealand
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Matteo2
I have a 250cc 2017
Empire brand and I plan to start a trip through the rest of my country ...
That sounds great, there's always heaps out there to explore if you get off the main roads and are prepared to make a few U turns. Happy travelling.
