Just saying Hi ....

[ZSX_MIKE]

Hi guys. I'm Mike. I have a Lexmoto ZSX 125, had it over a year a half now, and it's okay, better than I thought it would be when I bought it. It's just an occasional commuter for me when I feel like a change from the car, mostly for the summer now or whenever the weather is warm and dry!
It does have a few problems though.
Firstly, it's absolutely gutless! In fact I'd even go so far as to say that it's dangerously under powered. I can't get straight on it after starting up on a cold morning especially, and ride off straight away, because it won't let me, it just dies if I so much as look at the throttle! I have to leave it to tick over and warm up a bit for 5-10 minutes before it will actually let me open the throttle! .... I had a classic '83 Yamaha DT125 LC before it, which was a completely different animal in every single way, and in a race, the DT wouldn't just beat the ZSX, it would absolutely humiliate it..... But, it was a mk1 two-stroke unrestricted one with the full 16bhp though
I've honestly ridden faster, yet smaller cc mopeds than the ZSX
And secondly, (and this is my fault by the way, not the bikes) I made the mistake of taking it out a few times last winter, thinking that because it was less than a year old it would be perfectly fine, but no, I took it out just a few times, certainly not every day or even regularly, and only when it was actually dry and snow/ice free, but even so, the frame still started to go rusty, at just one year old - highly questionable material quality there me thinks! - I had to partially strip it down, thoroughly clean and paint the frame with Hammerite underbody seal, the same stuff I painted the chassis of my old Escort with years ago, in the hopes of stopping it from rusting any more. It's part of the reason I only ride in dry weather now.

So for now, not wanting to make the mistake of last winter, it's chained up in my garage under it's cover with the battery disconnected until next Spring. Which will give me some time to figure out how to improve/modify it a little to maybe get a bit more power out of it to make it a bit more of a pleasure to ride. Some say to block off the egr valve as that will make it run better and give slightly more power, but I'm not sure about that yet I'll have to try and research into it a bit because I don't know how to do anything like that, or even where abouts it is on the bike for that matter.Also, there is a new exhaust I could get for it, a Stainless steel one with a proper can. The dealer I bought the bike from suggested it, it's actually for another Lexmoto bike but with a little modification it will fit the ZSX - great, more modification! Why isn't there just an exhaust for THAT bike??

Anyway, hope to get to know some of you guys, and hear some of your stories. Speak later guys

Mike.

[Zorge]

Hello Mike.

It appears that you are not new biker, so i think that you will manage to persuade your bike to run as it should.

But don't expect miracles from his 10-12 ponies...

[ZSX_MIKE]

Actually, I am a new biker .... Well, relatively new anyway. I started riding off road and dirt bikes 20 years ago, but kind of grew out of it, and then I got my driving licence when I was 17, immediately got into cars instead (I was always more interested in cars back then anyway) and never looked back - until two years ago! That is when I started riding again when something weird came over me and I got this bug that I just had to get a bike! .... Bit of a long story actually, but the quick explanation is that I decided to get a bike, but it had to be a specific bike, a bike I wanted years ago when I was 16 years old (legal riding age in the UK) but my parents would never allow it.
It was the Yamaha DT 125 LC
So I found one, it appeared to be in mint partially restored condition, so I bought it ...... This now leads on to another long story, but to make it short, I sold the DT and ordered a brand new Lexmoto ZSX 125 - which took over a month to arrive and be delivered - which is yet another long story ....
And as yet, I've had this bike ever since, and it's alright to be fair to it, in fact it's better than I thought it was gonna be. I do think though, that at 5'9" tall, I'm just a tiny bit too tall for it and this gives problems when I'm out on it for any longish periods of time as it makes my legs feel numb and gives me pins and needles in my hands - due to the riding position and being just a bit too tall for it.
But the biggest problem by a mile, is that it really is dangerously under powered for modern UK road use. It's almost caught me out a couple of times when I've been filtering through traffic and tried to jump into a gap etc etc, it just cannot accelerate quick enough, and it tops out around 60 ish MPH but takes an age to get there ..... It just has no power at all.
It apparently has a 10.3bhp engine according to the official specs - but it feels more like 4-5, 6 at the absolute most, and that's when it's fully up to temperature and been running a while! Any old two-stroke 125, or an even small cc two-stroke bike would just laugh at it in terms of performance!

I don't for a single second believe that I could get anything like the power and performance of an old two-stroke out of my ZSX, not even close in fact. But there surely must be a way of getting the full power out of that engine by way of simple modifications, like I said earlier, the exhaust and egr valve are great places to start, if anyone can confirm??

Mike.

[Zorge]

Yes, this emission standards often can (and they do) "choke" already under powered bikes. But besides exhaust and EGR, you can do something with the carb - rejet and raise needle. Why not to try?

[ZSX_MIKE]

Okay thank you, I will try that :-)

Mike.