Suzuki GW250 impressions

[gogowanda]

We should be able to release the first wave of products by year end. We're preparing the online retailing package, find the proper staff for the customer service etc...

I'm staying in Atl 'til next spring, winter is our R&D time over there, will get the monster project done.

i saw a flyer about the china motorcycle accessory show in Nanjing, also in Oct, how does that compared to the chongqing show? who are the attendees at these shows, dealers? bike owners? i'm interested in doing a showcase at one of these shows next yr but it'd be best if the bikes can be shown in Haojue's factory booth.

Hey Daz - welcome aboard MCM. Good to see you here.

I, for one, am definitely looking forward to your company's customized GW products. The prototypes I have seen pics of look fantastic.

Good luck at the Atlanta bike show. If you head back for the Chongqing show, we'll catch up. I think Robert will still be in Germany.

[Lao Jia Hou]

It has been a while since I have added anything here. Apologies.

I've picked up a few GWs, of various models & colors, including the new GW250S (Travel Edition) and a sharp looking GW 250 Sport (just a regular GW, but with a cool Blue & White color scheme). I am really enjoying the GW250S (Travel Edition) - the upright seating position is more my style.

Here is a pic of the two of them on a recent mountain run (Jing'rs will probably recognize the vista pull-out).







The bikes continue to purr along. They are definitely excellent city/mountain bikes - very nimble, easily navigated through gridlocked traffic (i.e., Beijing 24/7) and easily tossed through sharp mountain corners. Although they can handle expressway speeds, that isn't their strong point.

However, the first little hiccup happened yesterday (next post).

[Lao Jia Hou]

Yikes!!!!!!!!!!



Your initial thought is probably the same as mine - oil & water (damn, damn, damn) - and all of the "worst case" scenarios that one immediately thinks of to cause that horrible milky white mess. This happened on the Blue & White 250 Sport.

The leak came from a cooling hose joint, at the radiator. But a quick check of the engine oil window showed that it was still pure & clean (WTF? mixed oil/water, if in the crankcase, will cloud that window very quickly). That made me think that oil was being pushed into the cooling system (only moving in one direction), but that simply didn't make sense. Also, the coolant reservoir tank was pure & clean green.

So, why the white gunk?

A search of Chinese forums uncovered that this is not uncommon with the GW250s. It seems that a number of GW owners have experienced the exact same thing, with a leak occurring at the same point, and white stuff spraying onto the engine & headers.

Apparently, however, the spray exiting the poor joint is not white, but rather the normal green coolant mix (from factory), that has a higher-than-normal Glycol content and turns a white color when it is forced to dry almost immediately (which it does on the header/engine).

Apparently, there has been a batch of GWs that did not have the coolant hoses properly tightened, and this has happened.

Well, that is the story I have been reading on forums (which, of course, are always 100% accurate and true). I'll examine things more closely over the coming days, when I've a bit more time.

Needless to say, seeing white stuff is really scary. Anyone who has been around muscle car rebuilds knows what this means, and it is not a pretty picture.

PS: Before you say it (I know you are thinking it) ... no, no no ... yes, I do get excited on the GWs, but not THAT excited.

[Lao Jia Hou]

By the way, for anyone interested, Suzuki produces two types of coolant that is recommended for the GW250:

1) Long life coolant (green in color). This is what comes in the bike from the factory. You mix this green coolant with distilled water (50:50 ratio). Don't use regular tap water, as the bike has an aluminum radiator core that will clog/corrode from minerals inside tap water. Distilled water is inexpensive and readily available from any Watson store (comes in a clear bottle with a green cap). Watson usually places it alongside regular bottled water. The label clearly states "Distilled Water". Also good for batteries, of course.

2) Super long life coolant (blue in color). This is premixed. You just pour it into your cooling system, right out of the bottle.

I'm not sure if it is ok to mix the two different types of coolant. I have the GW250 shop service manual and it doesn't mention anything about mixing the two different coolants.

[euphonius]

Birdshit?

[Lao Jia Hou]

Birdshit?

Quick eye, but I don't think so. Tastes much differently!

[Lao Jia Hou]

Little update.

I needed to get a servicing done on a GW.

I wanted the dealer (Qili Motors) to check the valve clearances, as I had not had this done and it was well past Suzuki's recommended mileage limit.

Qili refused to do it, saying "they are fine, we don't hear anything - we'll do it when we can hear the valves rattling away." You can't make this shit up.

So, an argument started ... but, of course, in Qili's view it is the "expert" and I am the typical dumb customer ... worse, I am a dumb foreign customer. No amount of reasoned explanation helped - I was confronted with the "just come back when it is broken and we will fix it" mentality.

Fine, I will do it myself ... but I have better things to do.

I didn't even want to get into the Suzuki recommended "check torque settings on all major fasteners" ... Qili's technician walked around with a crescent wrench seeing if things were tight. Sigh.

[ZMC888]

Same bs here. We can't actually go to the dealer to have any work done, my toolkit is better than theirs, they don't have a torque wrench or even a tire pressure gauge.

I have to take the bikes to independent mechanics or do things myself, it's the only way. I'm going to get my valves done pretty soon, but not by the dealer.

[Lao Jia Hou]

... they don't have a ... tire pressure gauge.

Haha - right you are!

I forgot to mention something else the "technician" performed.

Qili Motors spent a lot of money acquiring and renovating a new building for its service department. It is impressive, by Chinese standards. For example, each station has air hoses on a retractable overhead spool.

So, the "technician" pulls down the hose, attaches a pressure gauge with a trigger at the end (so air can be shot out), and he begins to spray the dust off my bike. I have no friggin idea what part of "maintenance" he is doing but ... after spending 5 minutes blowing some dust off the bike, he detaches the gauge and returns the air hose to the ceiling.

I'm sitting in the "Customer Comfort" area, a few feet away, and I just can't take it. I walk over and ask ... "uh, excuse me, would you mind checking my tire pressure?"

Damn, you would've thought I was asking him to bake a cake! He reluctantly did it. I double-checked at home, late last night (tires were cold) ... sure enough, 44 in front, 48 in rear.

Another example of upgrading the hardware, but the software is still version 1.0.

[ZMC888]

Yep, they need to by micro-managed down to the last detail. One time I asked a mechanic of 30 years if he could put some oil down the throttle lines as he was installing a throttle cable anyhow. He gave me a look as though I'd just asked if I could bed his daughter, then he squeezed black used engine oil down only the push line (of a push pull throttle) and gave me a smug look.

Often I fix, maintain and adjust my bikes near my apartment complex. They seem to have no word for maintenance only 'fix', 'preserve' or 'adjust'. They keep coming over and asking 'are you fixing your bike?' 'Is it broken?' No just checking the tire pressure, checking the chain tension etc. The concept of maintenance seems utterly lost on all but about 2% of the very best Chinese mechanics.