Hello,
My name is Krasi and I'm exotic fetishist


After some months of lurking around your nice forum, it's time to introduce myself properly, albeit verbosely. The reason I came across here was my quest for information about Puzey XTR-4. They still don't have CE certification though, so in the mean time my wife benefited from the situation. Plus, I found myself digging through your rider reports and those in AdvRider. I was especially impressed my this thread over there:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=201349

Just little bit of background: I'm 34 and live in Bulgaria, Eastern Europe. Yeah, baby, former communist I currently posses two "big" bikes, both of which highly exotic:


(For sale! )

and GasGas EC300, 2-stroke:



The GasGas looked like that when I bought it brand new a few years ago. Nowadays it's quite bumped, but it'll retire with me, so it doesn't matter much.

Anyway, last week I received my SkyTeam (cool name, ha? Especially for an airline alliance), model ST250-2 V-Raptor. The irony is that my big road bike is also a Raptor model, but Cagiva, and it's 1000cc - as much as four of the new bike :)


Initially I asked SkyTeam themselves who gave me a price of $1450 EXW (at least this was the price a few weeks ago). After calculating shipment, import taxes, VAT, custom clearance, etc, I decided to buy it from the English importer - http://www.northbridgebikes.co.uk/index.html as the final price would have been about the same. I was in contact with Colin there who helped me tremendously and I'm expressing deep gratitude for his service.

Well, here is the "beast", fully assembled and running:










I think the engine is Loncin. You may correct me on that as I still have hard time remembering who were the main two or three engine manufacturers in China. I'm sure you know perfectly well the TT data of the bike, better than the factory themselves ;)

All in all, I'm pleasantly surprised by what I received. I have to admit I was prepared for worse. The bike came properly packaged, in a steel crate:




Tires are impressive, to say the least. Rear one is 180mm wide, which is as much of that of the big Raptor. Front is 130mm.


Like I said, I was prepared to complete the manufacturing of the bike:


Tens of stainless nuts and bolts to replace the OEM ones:

Actually they were pretty much rendered useless. I didn't come across a single loose nut or bolt. Plus, all nuts are with a metal unwinding protector (whatever it's name is). Not be a complete waste, I still changed some, like on the handle-bar clamp, pillion pegs, seat, etc. I guess, only time will tell if the OEM will get lost from the vibrations. Oddly, I couldn't loose the two bolts holding the from brake caliper to the left fork. Tried with a 1/4" wrench and a o-shaped spanner. I guess somebody was very enthusiastic with the pneumatic wrench...

There was grease like on a "real" bike, which was a nice surprise:




Without claiming to know much about welds (so much for my engineering degree!) these seem alright to me:



Since I was prepared, I changed fork oil. There was about 150ml of oil in each fork, which seemed not enough to me. I consulted with a local suspension specialist, who also advised me to put more - till the top end of the spring with fork fully compressed. So I did - it came to about 250ml in each fork. "Preload" spring bushings are about 1/3 of the springs themselves. And the springs are progressive, believe it or not:


I suppose these are some scooter/moped forks. I haven't measured their diameter, but it can't be more that 30-35mm. Front axle goes directly into a thread on the left fork, which was new for me, but probably is normal for such bikes:


"Pre-flight" checks included also valve clearance adjustment. Valves were tight, as I supposed by reading around the Net. During the check I came across the first major "design" flaw - in order to take out the cap for the intake valve, one must loosen and wiggle the top engine mount. Not a big deal, only three bolts with nuts:


Another shortcoming is that the oil stick, a.k.a. filler cap is tucked in a dogs arse, like we say round my part of the world, and getting it in and out is inconvenient, to say the least:

Oddly enough, apart from the dip stick, there is also an oil level checking window on the right side of the engine (which I haven't photographed). I guess there is no way you can omit checking the oil level

Battery arrived dry. The acid electrolyte was in a separate container, which gets shoved (hehe) onto the battery and the fluid bubbles into it. Probably this is standard setup, but it was new for me:


Electrics also seem "like real":

Everything is tight, tucked and worked the first time. Only the rear lights connectors under the rear fender seemed not water-proofed enough, so I winded some insulation around them.

From what I've read, I'm prepared to have to change rear sprocket and chain after not much mileage:


Rear brake caliper is with two pistons, which is also like "on a real bike" :


Initially I thought they managed to use the same caliper as the the front one, but, the heck, they are different:


The speedometer reminds me of the ones we used to have 20-25 years ago on some East-German-made small bikes, called Simson. Ah, sweet memories... In the crate, the odometer indicated 900 meters:


Indication lights icons are shifted one position to the right, but at least they are only three so there couldn't be much confusion:


Carburetor is Teknin or something like that. I'm sure you know more about it. "Standard of Japan" stamp, really brings a smile:

Model is stamped as PZ30, which I hope means it's 30mm. Am I right? Any advice on jetting settings about it, is more than welcome. Especially since the temperature is about 5-10 degrees Celcius around here and I think the engine runs on the lean side. Also, there are some hot air and case vent hoses around it, which I suppose I related to meeting the eco norms. If that's the case, I'd really like to simplify the system

One other flaw that showed up is that the right-hand tank sticker started to peel off:

Why on Earth did they have to use such 3-D stickers instead of regular PVC foil is beyond me. I'll try to stick it back, but if I fail, I see some weight reduction in the near future. I also noticed that the coating on the exhaust, close to the cylinder, started to crack and chip. Thanks God it's not a chopper :)

I expected the fuel line to be of the vacuum type (you know, thin and transparent), but this one seems genuine, at least visibly:



I think these are all the pictures I made. I hope you like them. I also changed the brake fluid and the engine oil, before even starting it for the first time. There was some "metallic" particles in it, but AFAK it's normal. I bought myself a 5-liter bottle so I'll see to change it quite often, especially during the break-in. Speaking of breaking-in, the manual says to be gentle during the first day or first 25km

I guess, that would be enough introduction. It turned out quite long, but I hope you like it. I'll be expecting your advice on everything about my (OK, my wife's!) new ride.