Bikerdocs 2010 CF250T-6A Jetmax Review
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Specs:
Engine: Single Cylinder, 4 Stroke, Horizontal Engine
Displacement: 249.2cc
Bore & Stroke: 72 X 61.2mm（2.83X2.4"）
Compression Ratio: 10.5:1
Fuel System: EFI
Spark: NGK DPR7EAS
Max. Power Output: 16.5 kw/8000 r/min (22.45HP)
Max. Torque: 21 N·m/6500 r/min
Top Speed: 85m/h 135km/h
Cooling System: Water cooled
Ignition: CDI ECU
Battery: YTX12-BS Yuasa (12V-10Ah)
Transmission: CVT
Lubrication: Pressure & Splash
Engine Oil: SAE 15W/40SF
Gasoline: 90 Octane
Front wheel: 120/70-15 ~36.5 psi (cold)
Rear wheel: 140/60-14 ~40.5 psi (cold)
Brake - front: twin 230mm discs, twin piston callipers
Brake - rear: single 200mm disc & single piston calliper
Headlight: twin side-by-side Quartz Halogen 35/35W
Width: 31.4" / 80cm
Length: 88.9" / 226cm
Height: 53.8" / 137cm
Seat Height: 26.5'' / 67.3cm
Dry Weight: 350 lbs / 159 kg
MSRP: RMB 17600 + ORC + Taxes = RMB 20K
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First impressions:
Over all a nice maxi scooter - IMO, is well designed & constructed for a Chinese manufactured scoot that doesn't appear to have been copied directly from a competitor. The plastics fit together well & are very well thought out in terms of how they fit/snap together, and fairly easy assembly/disassembly. The plastics used on the Jetmax compared with the Kymco Xciting250 I viewed in Hangzhou, appear somewhat similar, but the Kymco oozed a better quality finish, and the plastics seemed to be to a different composition. Can't say the same about the Jetmax, the black plastic areas (storage cubby & around the fuel filler) lacked a certain polish which I'd have expected ex-dealer. I've since seen the Jetmax in black which has a nice sheen polish, but it's not the main areas of the plastics I'm referring to.
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To be fair though, I didn't have the chance of pulling the Xciting apart as I've done with the Jetmax, so I'm maybe being a little too critical? Don't get me wrong the Jetmax the plastics don't appear cheap or of a particularly poor quality - that I have often seen used in China for various products. It's just not to the same quality as found on the Kymco. (though to be fair Xciting250 is around 3 times the price of the Jetmax in China).
2010 Kymco Xciting250 rmb49000 +ORC versus CFMoto Jetmax250 rmb 17600 +ORC.
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Dash Layout:
Taking centre stage is the analogue speedometer in both miles/h & km/h. To the left of the speedo is the digital display for engine temperature & fuel. The right digital display combines a clock with a odometer, which doesn't seem to provide any trip mileage function.
The two digital displays provide the same amount of lighting regardless if the headlights are on/off, which is fine during daytime riding, but at night the displays provide too much glare which is a distraction. I've found myself a few times placing my gloved hand between my face and the dash to cut out that glare.
To change the clocks time one needs to use a small red button located in the left hand side of the lower front storage compartment, above the radiator reservoir. There are six warning lights; indicators, ECU, highbeam/passing, oil, parking.
To the left side of the handlebars is the hazard light switch.
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Handlebars / Starting:
The usual array of switches are found on the handlebars.
Left; horn, indicators/cancel, headlight high/low, passing.
Right; starter, park & headlight on-off, kill-switch.
In the centre handlebar console is the MP3/FM Radio controls though there is no display associated with the MP3/FM radio, so channel/music selection would be a little hit & miss (more below).
Starting the Jetmax is fairly painless, make sure the side stand is up. As with the CF250T-VIP (Honda Helix) there's a motor cut-out when the side stand is lowered. Right front brake lever needs to be engaged ever so slightly & then a press of the start button on the right handle bar fires the engine into life. Starting from cold, I've found that generally the Jetmax won't fire up first start time, it usually takes several attempts before the engine fires up & settles into an idle. On the centre-stand there is a small amount of vibration evident, buzzing though the screen & handle bar ends which is to be expected from a single cylinder. Revving just a little sees the vibration disappear, & when the Jetmax is off the centre-stand there is minimal vibration at all. When under way there's no intrusion or discernible vibration through the bars etc.
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The ignition key head has a unique design, which fits into a small shaped recess just below the ignition barrel. When fitting the key head into this recess & turned, this rotates a small metallic cover to cover the ignition keyway - nice touch. This is similar to the non-patented design of the Yamaha C3 50cc scooter.
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Size:
Jetmax is a large tall (maxi) scooter. To the casual observer the size of the Jetmax makes one think that it might have a larger engine. When I parked the Jetmax alongside my JinJian Startrek 125 scooter unlike the common or typical small panelled scooter so plentiful in mainland China, the Jetmax absolutely dwarfed it in size. The picture above eloquently demonstrates the size of Jetmax parked in front of my Dragstar 1100 Classic.
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Modifications:
Horn:
After riding the Jetmax for a few hours there were several items top of my list that need modifying. First to go was the pitiful sounding single tone horn. In China, one needs a loud horn & must be prepared to use it all the time when driving or riding here. I replaced the single tone with a dual electronic air horn combination which I installed in-front of the radiator. Where's the radiator, well note the fugly black grill in front between the twin headlights, just like in many vehicles that grill allows air flow onto the radiator. In the case of the Jetmax, there's a square 'box' shape that helps funnel the air to where it's needed.
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Headlights / Lights:
I've replaced the stock Quartz Halogen 35/35W headlights. Sorry but headlights this dim, for use in China where road users (read morons) drive with their headlights either on high-beam on nearly all the time (or if off completely), are absolutely useless. Instead I installed some 80/100W halogens (Korean brand) which seem to work well (haven't installed a relay as yet). I'm still considering installing a HID lighting system, as I did with my Dragstar & CF250T-VIP. Swapping out the indicator/turn-signal & headlight bulbs can be done without removal of the front fairing/panels, or at least that's the idea. I tried & had no issues doing so with the indicator/turn-signal bulbs, but when it came to the headlight bulbs I struggled. There's not a lot of room reaching up from underneath beside the front forks as there's just enough room for an average sized hand, if you have big paws, it's going to be easier, albeit longer to remove the fairing/panels completely to get unhindered access to the headlights. I persevered but found that one of the headlight bulbs couldn't be removed as the spring clip holding it in place was jammed between the headlight housing & the fairing (see photo).
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This meant I had to remove the panels to gain access to the spring clip to remove the bulb. Altering the height of the beam is achieved by rotating a small knob just below the bulb housing (see photo). Alteration of the headlight beam is only achievable in the vertical plane (height), but there's no movement horizontally which is unfortunate as both headlights tend to throw the beam towards the centre, with limited spread toward the sides. This left me a feeling a little uneasy when cornering as the light beam toward the side tends to develop a black spot this is exacerbated when leaning into corners in the dark. Adding HID headlights would likely further compromise the lack of spread as I've found that HID lighting on motorcycles provide good forward penetration but generally lack the sidewards spread that Quartz Halogen lights offer.
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The tail-lights are LED's and are fairly bright, however they are somewhat hidden more than I'd like, by the rear cowling/panel. This could potentially present a problem if someone is positioned behind the scooter with a higher field of vision (eg. turck). The indicators (turn-signals) are the standard incandescent bulbs which are coloured orange as the external indicator lenses are clear. There are reflectors positioned on both sides on the front mudguard & license plate frame.
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Mirrors:
The standard mirrors provide a clear view but are just far too upright for my liking & offered too much view of my shoulders while riding & not quite enough rear view. The mirror arms are angled to vertical. Essentially the arms need more angle horizontally (see comparison photos below). I removed both mirrors & was surprised/horrified to find that the right hand mirror mount had an anti-clockwise/reverse thread. I've never come across this before on a motorcycle. What were CFMoto (Chun Feng) thinking?
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In the photo, the mirror to the left is from my Dragstar while the right mirror is from the Jetmax. An alternative photo shows the mirrors mounted on the Jetmax, clearly showing just how vertical the Jetmax's mirror on the right side is. I've replaced the original mirrors now with a different pair (cost rmb90) that have the angle in the arm that is fairly common/standard. I just left the original mirrors at the dealers shop, since I thought they were so pathetic I didn't want to waste my time with them.
Liquid Cooled:
As described earlier the engine is liquid-cooled and the radiator filling cap & reservoir are fairly accessible. The water reservoir is accessed via the front dash, opening the cubby storage lid below the handlebars reveals the reservoir container & lid on the left side.
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The main radiator cap is accessed through a panel on the left side of the dash, by removing two screws. The radiator fan is fairly quite & warm air is dissipated through some venting channels hidden beneath all the plastic. There are two vents which can be opened/closed & rotated to blast warm out just below the front storage compartment - handy for winter riding. I've had an issue with the bike developing a coolant leak, while the dealer was at my home. The scoot was taken back to the dealership & I asked that the CFMoto rep be called to attend to sort the issue out. It was sorted, and I have since found that I've now heard the fan in operation from time to time which I hadn't heard before. The underseat storage doesn't get any heat into it as it did before, and the temperature has not got anywhere near as high as it had before even when in stop/start traffic jams. I'm wondering if there was an issue with either the thermostat, or an issue either ex-manufacture or with the dealer assembly? I've yet to clarify just what the issue was.
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Storage Compartments / USB / MP3/ FM Radio :
The Jetmax has to storage compartments. One is under the dash below the handle bars & requires the ignition key to open the storage compartment lid. The key is not needed to close/lock the lid. The front storage doesn't offer a lot of space, other than for holding gloves, packet of tissues/wipes, perhaps sunglasses etc. As mentioned above this is where the radiator reservoir is accessed. In the right side of the compartment there is a MP3/USB connection, which I've found especially useful to power my HTC devices (HTC-HD2 & HTC-TD) which I also use as for GPS. Just to the right of the USB plug is a small lever, this is the release mechanism for the seat. To the right is small rectangular fuse box with a lid that flips aside to the left to expose the fuses.
Using the MP3. Either starting the engine (or the key switched to on), then switch the scooters MP3 control on using the on/off button on the handlebar assembly. Turn the volume up a bit, and search for an FM station (yes there's an FM receiver its hidden under all the tupperware (plastics) forward of the dash but to the rear of the fan assembly). To use the MP3, switch back to MP3 from FM, then make sure to have a suitable MP3 device plugged into the USB connection inside the storage compartment. Switch MP3 device on. After a moment the scooter USB MP3 control should make a connection... hence important to have the volume up. One can do all this without the engine running, but small word of caution here, once one gets MP3 communicating with the scooters USB MP3 unit, and able to hear whatever one has on ones MP3 device, then pressing the starter button the connection will be lost and one will have to go back through the procedure again to re-establish the connection.
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There was an issue though with heat radiating, into the front compartment. It used to get quite hot inside & one wouldn't have wanted to carry any drinks or perishables in there. The under seat storage area also seemed to get hot, though since the water-coolant issue (above) was corrected this is no longer an issue.
The under seat storage is gained by using the release mechanism lever inside the front storage compartment or as it turns out from the ignition key, however mine didn't work & I've raised this with the dealer - which is to be corrected next service. The seat mechanically releases with a clicking sound, but there is no pneumatic arm as can be found on other scooters, nor any arm to hold the seat upright. With the seat manually lifted so that it flips forward to rest it exposes a cavernous under-seat storage area, that can easily consume a full-face helmet with plenty of room remaining. However with some rearranging it is possible to stow a full face plus a half face helmet or two half helmets The under-seat storage can't really hold two half face helmets, though it might with a bit of manipulation. It took me quite some time to accomplish just that with two HJC CL22N helmets. It must be said that the seat hinge mechanism is fairly simple & there's a certain amount of play in the hinge itself. While it's not a big deal, it is something I noticed & suffers in comparison to other scooter brands.
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Toolkit:
Fairly standard selection of tools, open ended spanners, couple of Allen-keys, spark plug spanner & multi-screwdriver. Most panels can removed with the screwdriver supplied in the toolkit.
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Fuel cap:
The fuel filler is under the lid accessed down in the main spar/spine of the floorboard (the floorboard is not flat perse' though the midsection is quite flat & it'd be easy to make or obtain a small bag, or chill-bag etc that could temporarily fit in that space between the base of the seat & the cockpit. Opening the fuel filler lid require the use of the ignition key. When I first opened the lid, the filler cap was attached to a very cheap linked chain, which connected through a small hole to the left side of the fuel filler assembly. First removal of the fuel filler cap, saw the chain come away from whatever mounting was used to secure the chain. Come on CFMoto it's little details like this that matter too, not just over all looks & performance etc. I used one of the lid bolts & a flat washer to secure the fuel cap more securely. While the Jetmax is rated to take 90 octane gasoline/petrol, in China 90 octane rated fuel contains too much sulphur, so I've only filled it using 93 octane. It holds around 8-9L of fuel & it does take some time before the digital fuel gauge to show the fuel volume.
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Seat Size & Comfort:
Seat Height: 26.5'' / 67.3cm
Seat Length: 37.5"/ 95cm
Seat Rider Saddle Dimensions: 16"/ 40cm + back support 8" / 20cm Width: 16" / 40cm at rear of saddle tappers towards the front by 5cm overall (35cm)
Seat Pillion Saddle Dimensions: 13.5" / 35cm Width: 16.5" / 42cm
Height Difference between rider - pillion: ~ 2-4" / 5-10cm
The seat is wide & long. The riders back support is fixed - it can't be altered - & offers little lumbar support. I found it useful to ride with my bum on the soft back support, compared to the hard riders saddle (numb-bum after several hours). The seat surface has a rough texture, which in the hot humid weather it's not long before my sorry arse needs some relief. Rather than stopping when I'd rather be riding, I've taken to occasionally placing my rear on that back support, & just leaning a little more forward which is not a big deal - it's less lean forward than on a typical sport tourer. Otherwise the position on the Jetmax is pretty much the sit-upright posture (slouching) that is typical. There have been some posts on other Jetmax threads commenting that the rider - pillion seat is too radical. I'm not sure where those comments are coming from, since I've tried sitting on the rear a couple of times while the Jetmax has been on the centre-stand & all I can guess is there's a lot of BS to be vented. There's only 5-10cm height difference between rider - pillion height. If you're carrying round a tall pillion, there might be some issues with wind buffeting.
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Passenger grab rail / luggage rack:
The pillion gets a very sizeable grab-rail either side of the rear pillion seat to hold on to, if holding the rider is less than ideal. The grab-rail is alloy & is kind of shaped like a triangle. On the inside of the grab-rails there is a soft textured insert which I assume is to provide a nicer tactile feel for the pillion. The grab-rail also provides ideal leverage point to get the Jetmax onto the centre-stand, which is easily accomplished. Remember centre-stands are about technique over brute strength. Notable for it's absence though is that the grab-rails do not join as a loop around the rear of the seat, as I'd have expected. Aesthetically it'd look more finished, but more importantly could also provide a luggage rack, which is absent. This seems such a misnomer for a scooter, even with the large under-seat storage. In China, nearly every bike has a top-box, so I can't understand how CFMoto could leave such an integral design feature out (this has been corrected and I've another post in the forum dealing with the rear rack fabrication. CFMoto has since this review, begun to manufacture an integrated rear luggage rack and pillion grab rails (again see later in the review for photos and simple review). I've looked under the felt mat in the under-seat storage & under the rear guard but there is no easily accessible frame fixtures to use as mounting supports to make a luggage rack. Looks as though I'll be fabricating a mounting myself. Link to luggage fabrication.
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Brakes:
Up front there are twin 230mm discs, with two pot/piston callipers(front brakes only) operated by the standard right non-adjustable handlebar lever. The rear is a single 200mm disk & single piston calliper operated by the left handlebar non-adjustable lever. The brakes are not interlinked, which I thought was a pity, because in China one can never have enough braking ability! The rear brake when applied even with a small amount of lever action, stops rather quickly without suffering any lock up - physically lock the rear brake requires quite a significant grab of the brake lever. The front brakes are quite another matter entirely. The front brakes stop the Jetmax but do so in a non-obtrusive way that feels rather vague. Grabbing a handful of right brake lever doesn't induce any change, there's no wheel lock up. What I find disturbing is that the rear brake feels as though it pulls the Jetmax up faster than the front brakes even when not trying to lock up the rear wheel. There's little nose dive through the stubby front shocks when the front brakes are applied. This has altered over time with more distance covered, so it's likely that the front brakes at least on my scoot needed some bedding in time.
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Ride / Handling:
Jetmax handles & corner well, turning in & out of corners with ease. Very stable overall, not heavy. I'm 182cm tall & the screen provided good wind protection - just a small amount of buffeting to the head/face. It's a non-issue as I drop my visor one notch & it's sorted. The Jetmax is easy to manoeuvre in low speed situations. The Jetmax can feel a little unsettled on less than ideal riding surfaces, & transfers a lot of that through to the rider, which means having to slow down on long sections of 'crap' road surfaces. With the addition of the luggage rack fabrication & the topbox the handling on these crap road surfaces is much much better, while I still take it easy, the scoot & me as the rider don't suffer the bone shaking ride we did before. Modification see here
Suspension is best described as sharp, providing a lot of feedback to the rider. Has good seating position to see the road ahead in high volume traffic situations. There is no adjustments available on front or rear suspension setups.
Link to Jetmax luggage rack fabrication
Re: 2010 CFMoto Jetmax 250 Scooter
Hi,
nice article, unfortunately I can see only one picture: the one with the opened lower front storage area.
Is your scooter a regular production model? Looks like someone worked on the opening at the top where the lock snaps in.
Re: 2010 CFMoto Jetmax 250 Scooter
Quote:
Originally Posted by
messenger61
Hi,
nice article, unfortunately I can see only one picture: the one with the opened lower front storage area.
Is your scooter a regular production model? Looks like someone worked on the opening at the top where the lock snaps in.
Yes, the photo limitations have piss@d me off no end. I cannot get passed being able to only have 5 photos in my post, no matter what method I try. I'd prefer to have my review/report in the one post than to make multiple posts, but perhaps that will be my only option other than to post my review on scooterist, and just paste a link to it here, and remove the content of my review from MCM in a form of protest! LOL
The Jetmax is a regular production model, albeit it's all new, and I think CFMoto are a little stretched trying to get it to market as well ramp up their new production model - the 650cc twin cylinder sport-tourer road bike along side all their other scooters and ATV's. I think the opening that you are referring to, looks the way it does as a consequence of the locking/snapping action of the lock itself, though I note on close inspection that perhaps the edge of the opening is not as smooth as it could be. Something that can be easily remedied with a few minutes and a small file. The opening is not something that can be easily seen without bending/kneeling down as it's not line of sight. Overall anywhere that can be seen easily or readily is pretty well put together. The fitting and overlapping or connections of one part or plastic to another is pretty good in my opinion. Removing the front screen and plastic fairing is well conceived and logical (something I've repeated 4+ times already).
Overall I'm pretty impressed and happy with my purchase decision, and it definitely represents good value for the money spent. Now if only they had a English manual, which I'm trying to get.
Re: 2010 CFMoto Jetmax 250 Scooter
Great introductory review, thanks! :thumbsup:
I saw one of these at a recent June bike show in Beijing and found it quite interesting. A couple of weeks ago, I saw another one sitting in a dealer in Beijing and when I found out the price, I thought ... wow, that's a pretty good deal.
I've owned a few scooters in the past (nothing this big), and always found them perfect for day-to-day living. Easy to zip around on short little errands, and somehow there always seems to be ways to carry more and more shopping bags on them.
I suspect that you'll be using this bike quite a bit over the coming weeks / months, so it will be interesting to read any updates on how the bike is meeting your requirements.
Again, thanks for sharing! :clap:
Happy riding
Richard
Re: 2010 CFMoto Jetmax 250 Scooter
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lao Jia Hou
Great introductory review, thanks! :thumbsup:
I saw one of these at a recent June bike show in Beijing and found it quite interesting. A couple of weeks ago, I saw another one sitting in a dealer in Beijing and when I found out the price, I thought ... wow, that's a pretty good deal.
I've owned a few scooters in the past (nothing this big), and always found them perfect for day-to-day living. Easy to zip around on short little errands, and somehow there always seems to be ways to carry more and more shopping bags on them.
I suspect that you'll be using this bike quite a bit over the coming weeks / months, so it will be interesting to read any updates on how the bike is meeting your requirements.
Again, thanks for sharing! :clap:
Happy riding
Richard
Hey Richard,
Thanks for the thumbs up on my review. Little frustrating with the photo issues as I wanted to post photos to help explain or further exemplify a point raised in my review. But it's just not going to happen which is a shame. With regards to scooters, I also had never even contemplated a scooter until I was here in China, and my first scooters here were large battery e-scooters, but I had to push or call my local dealer on more than one occasion after running the batteries flat, even though I knew that my e-scoots could cover around 55-60km (indicated) - I'd push that little bit of extra ground from time to time. Over the years I've progressed and bought several motor-scooters with my last being the CFMoto CF250T-VIP (Honda Helix) which I recently sold after a couple of years ownerships and lots of modifications. It's happily being used on the outskirts of Shanghai by its proud German owner, who got sick of his CJ750 outfit.
When the new scooters were announced, I looked hard at Jonway's GTS500 http://cn.jonway.com/Chinese/product...d=107&from=new as well as a few other's and read a lot of reviews here. Still contemplating the JH600. CFMoto though seem one of the better manufacturers and they never let me down when I had a warranty claim with the CF250T. Unfortunately no dealers here had or were prepared to get a Jetmax just as a display model, so I decided, what the heck for the money I'll buy it, that and based on my past experiences with CFMoto and various write-ups or impressions about the Jetmax.
:scooter:
I'll be adding to my review, though I hope MCM can pull their finger out to sort the diabolical situation with the posting of photos.
:riding:
:deal: PM'd you BTW.
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