Honley (Zhongshen) RX3

[linuxyeti]

Hi All

Oh well, after 5 years, the Skyteam has gone, to a very happy new owner, to be replaced as my manky weather bike by this Zhongshen RX3 (Otherwise known as the Honley Venturer). First off, why has the skyteam gone, my last 125, well, I was keeping it going for 2 reasons, brother in law only has a CBT, and since failing his mod 1 twice, has become disheartened, so, has decided not to renew his cbt. Secondly, I was using the skyteam when the weather was bad, which is was great for, however, it was just too slow to use on the motorway, so, more than doubling my travel to work time :-) So, with no need for a 125 for the brother in law, I decided to get a 250, I nearly got one of these a little over a year ago, but ended up with the Mash.

This one, although I'm the first registered keeper, is not new, as it has been used by a dealership in Glasgow as a demo bike, and it does show, it was quite mucky, and had some damage, such as one of the crash bar welds broken, one of the skid plate mounts snapped, front brake lever scuffed, and some scratched on the crash bar. Anyhow, crash bar weld, and skid plate mounting fixed with some spot welding, the scratches & scuffs tidied with a touch of hammerite satin black, and then just a generally good clean.

The good news is, the bike runs well, and will enable me to use the motorway in the bad weather :-)

Anyhow, here's a couple of pics :-

[Krasi]

Don't see any pictures

[linuxyeti]

Hi

The images are showing fine here?? Anyhow, got to use the RX3 for what I got it for, riding in crap weather, at motorway speeds, a feat which I accomplished very comfortably this morning.

Oh, and I still haven't hit the stalling issue that I've seen other mention, all that I can put that down to is, it's fully run in, with 2000miles on the clock and/or it's the fact that I let it warm up for a min or 2 first thing, either way the wind and rain this morning didn't cause any problems

[bojer]

Hi Linuxyeti ,

We seem to be following similar paths here ! I still have my 250 Pulse Adrenaline but have fitted some TKC80s for trail use but have been tempted by the RX3 . Had a good look round the WK400 trail too , which looks to be the off road cousin of your Mash - was very impressed really could not see anything wrong with it at all . There are a couple of low miles Rx3s for sale atm and it was the stalling issue that was putting me off . I had not read that they had fixed it but you'd have hoped it was sorted by now , rear wheel of 15" restricts tyre sizes a bit too.

Be interested in your views on it as time goes by .

Thanks ,

[linuxyeti]

Hi Bojer

Yeah, I'll keep everyone updated, well, I've really only ridden a couple of hundred or so miles on it so far, it's an ex demo bike, and whilst I'm not too impressed by the dealer I got it from, I'm quite happy with the bike. And when it comes to looking after the bike, this is an absolute boon .. http://www.cscmotorcycles.com/RX3-Tutorials-s/282.htm I have managed to stall it once, immediately after I'd filled it, possibly over filled it, so may have been a vacuum issue. But apart from that, no other occurrences. Having said that, my Triumph America used to stall quite a bit, even after it had been remapped, so make of that what you will. Yes i like the look of the WK400, and although I got a CF650TR, I really don't rate WK bikes at all, as they really don't seem to know anything about the bikes they sell, just glad that I won't have to rely on then for spares, as there's always aliexpress and tabao !! I love my Mash 400, and hopefully Mash will release the adventurer over here.

To be honest, it's a bit of a shame Lexmoto don't supply the larger displacement bikes, or even Sinnis in the UK, having said that I've got no concerns about Mash, or for that matter Earnshaws, so far...

Your username seems very familiar, are you on, or were you on the Huonaio or Jinlun forums?

Cheers

Tony

[bojer]

Hi Tony ,

Yes I am (was?!) on the Huonaio forum for some time ,but I don't have 125 any longer and my patience ran a bit thin.....

Fantastic to have that info on the RX3 available , TBH I have always looked after my "China bikes" myself and kept away from the selling dealer very often . The prep of my Adrenaline left something to be desired as usual so it's not been back since I bought it . It is the supply of the WK parts that is a bit of a concern , the Pulse is well provided for by parts it shares with the 125 - not sure it is even listed by Lexmoto any longer .

Thanks for the info on the RX3 , will watch with interest .

cheers,

[linuxyeti]

Hi

Yep, I thought I recognised you !! Like you, I've done my own servicing, apart from on the Mash, so far, partly because I like the dealer who I got it off. it would be disingenuous to say parts aren't available from WK, they have quite a comprehensive list at http://quadzillaparts.co.uk/index.ph...arts&type=bike it's just my dealing direct with them, and also some of the resonses they seem to give on their facebook page, just seems to show they don't know the bikes that they sell all that well. I have the CF650TR, as I said, and I really like it, and I've seen other of their bikes I really like the look of, I just have the feeling with WK, it's handy to know what the actual make and model of the bike is, and then you can always find what you need of tabao etc, at least a a fallback solution.

Likewise, if you look on tabao for the RX3 spares, look for the ZS250GY-3 for general spares, plus NC250 for engine parts.

Cheers

Tony

[bojer]

Good info , thanks for that , my concern over parts was that its good to have alternative sources should WK lose interest or similar ..... you've answered that one . I do notice their spares listing does not include the 400 Trail or the previous 450 they imported , though I have been told their spares supply is good - by a WK dealer . Having the spares listing on the web gives you more confidence , a long way to catch up with all that US based RX3 stuff though . Surprised the RX3 hasn't had more of a take up , think it was probably a bit overpriced initially , not seen one in the flesh yet - I'll make the effort to do so !

cheers,

[linuxyeti]

Hi

I haven't seen another one in the flesh yet, but I do know of at least 2 local riders, 1 in Dudley, and another in the Redditch area. I'm still happy with e bike, gave it a pretty good run yesterday of over 100 miles, to Birmingham & back to Wolves, before going off to Stafford, over to Telford and back last night. I still haven't hit the stalling issue. I think I'd like to upgrade the headlight though if possible, generally it'll not be a problem for me, but last night, going down some unlit country roads was a bit more of a challenge than it should have been. So, if anybody knows of an upgrade to the RX3 headligy, be it bulb or complete unit, please let me know.

Cheers

Tony

[culcune]

So, if anybody knows of an upgrade to the RX3 headligy, be it bulb or complete unit, please let me know.

Cheers

Tony

I am fairly certain 'Spudrider' on Chinariders upgraded his headlight tremendously on his RX3, but that is in the US, so not sure if you have access to the same parts in the UK as we do?