CCW tha Heist

[nicholastanguma]

Cleveland Cyclewerks sells Chinese manufactured machines at a low pricepoint. This unavoidably means crap components in lots of areas, as well as shoddy construction. I think one day CCW will have their teething problems ironed out, and that day will probably be when they've established their products as genuinely built in America.

Right now you need to understand that a hardtail Chinese bobber will likely always require tinkering and money. It's not a Honda or BMW. I understand new motorcyclists want to save money wherever possible concerning their first motos (who doesn't?), but take it from someone who's been doing the motorcycle thing for years and years: a CCW machine WILL require money and attention from you to keep going. IT'S A CHINA BIKE.

If you're not willing to keep spending time and money here and there, on this and that, then I suggest you cut your losses and sell if possible. Get a Honda Rebel or V Star 250--there's aftermarket support for bobbing them, or turning them into lightweight tourers, and the online forum support for them is active. Plus, they both have literally decades of build history behind them, so they're proven bulletproof, parts are plentiful and cheap, and any moto mechanic knows how to work on one.

In all honesty, if I were buying a Heist brand new I would:

1) Only purchase from Tom Weaver.

2) Give him a very appreciable chunk of change over the MSRP.

3) Tell him to use that money to literally rewire the entire motorcycle, exchange literally every nut and bolt for stainless equivalents, change out every bearing and seal for anything-but-China replacements, re-weld every bracket and weld that's been proven to break on these machines, and rebuild the entire carbie and motor with his hot rod upgrades and never reuse any of the Chinese gaskets that came stock.

4) Send out the forks to be Ti-nitride or DLC coated to fix the bloody stiction problem.

5) Preemptively fix every problem that's been proven to happen with frequency to these machines. Little things like improperly vented gascaps and un-Loktited fasteners, for instance.

I'm totally serious. And bear in mind I say all this with much love for Tha Heist--it's currently one of my all-time favorite motorbikes.

[SR.MAILMAN]

I TOTALLY agree with your post. As an owner of a V Star250 bobber, I can tell you and everybody else, that NO (low price,under $10,000.00) bike is perfect.

I have put $2,500.00 into mine (above purchase price) and it is close to, but still not perfect. LOL ! But now I can say "It is Mine".

[xetaprime]

So I ordered a stainless steel hinge I was going to split in two to extend the forward control shift pegs.

heistshift.JPG

Here's the result-

P1060662.jpg

It arrived lighting fast from ebay! Didn't expect it until Monday and here's the temp fit until I pick up some stainless washers and lock nuts.

P1060664.jpg
P1060665.jpg

The bolts are Hurricane POMA sidewalk stainless- but will see if I can find some recessed tomorrow. Raising the peg makes a big difference IMO. Holes match the shifter. Only had to enlarge them- cool beans.

Best, Xeta

P.S. Ordered my Brass Balls leather seat yesterday... D'Ohhh!

Update: Stainless bolts from lowes;

P1060672.jpg

[xetaprime]

So, I've been thinking of making my own tail light, something close to but not the vintage Ford light. Yesterday I stopped into a thrift shop and found a stainless steel cup for $.50!

P1060673.jpgP1060674.jpg

And tonight I ordered a self contained tail light for a Land Rover...

60_1.jpg

It'll be like a rocket version of the Ford something something. Now I just have to wait for the light to arrive from... ENGLAND! Cheap though! Like $10 including shipping. Oh the fun we have :)

[xetaprime]

My Brass Balls seat arrived today! The front hinge bar fits perfectly! The rear bar is off just a touch and required like 5 minutes of hand filing. All I need now are some nuts and BAM! A most righteous seat!

P1060675.jpgP1060676.jpgP1060678.jpgP1060679.jpgP1060680.jpg

[Tacoma]

I love the new seat Xeta. A new seat is one of the next things I will be doing to Tha Heist. i just ordered a new gas cap from CCW and I am waiting on that. I also took a a little time a few days ago wrapping the exhaust pipe and putting on a new MPH speedo from 233 motorsports! Here is some pictures of the bike as of today. Let me know what you guys think with the build so far.DSC_0004.jpgDSC_0005.jpgDSC_0007.jpgDSC_0010.jpgDSC_0013.jpg
BTW has anyone else seen the weaver head for sale on clevelandcyclewerks.com? There is a head done by weaver rides and there is a 300cc piston on there? Details please! I might have to get the head!

[scootdog11]

As newer members on this thread may not be aware of - there's A LOT of activity on the FB group that Gardo also started over a year ago, you'll most likely get answers quicker over there - since a large portion of CCW owners communicate within this group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ccwthariders/
There's also a forum on www.ccwthariders.com that folks use (as well as this forum) that do not want their info made public, or are just anti-FB.

Just wanted to make in known for the growing CCW Heist community that there are other group options to add yourselves to. Ride safe everyone!

[xetaprime]

Tacoma, Did your stock wiring fit with those handle bars? Mine barely fit with the bars I put on, but would love to raise them a bit.

Scootdog,

Gave up Facebook a while back and it seems pretty quiet over on 'riders' as well. I would have liked to have gotten Tha Heist back when things were jumping here.

Hate Holidays! I'm waiting on a stainless cup for my new old stock speedometer. I did buy that Bridgestone I mentioned a while back. Not sure why really lol. It's huge! But the cable and cable nut fit right up. Now the question is ratio. Either way, it's a crap shoot. Gambling is half the fun. I don't like the Baja speedo 233 is selling mainly for the external knob...

[Tacoma]

Xeta, stock wiring bolted right up to the keystone bars. They are stretched as far as they go though. The knob on the outside of the odometer doesn't bug much. I'm just happy to have a trip on there.

[nicholastanguma]

Gave up Facebook a while back and it seems pretty quiet over on 'riders' as well. I would have liked to have gotten Tha Heist back when things were jumping here
.

The website forum is dead as far as I can tell, and has been for a while. This thread seems to have become mostly newbies asking the same questions over and over, and people whining about the same.

Even if you guys don't ever use Facebook, at least reconsider for purposes of joining Tha Riders FB group. It's used as a forum, not for typical pointless social media blather. There's constant activity over there, and every question you post will usually be answered in much detail in less than a day.