Are Benelli bikes big fat lemons....

[prince666]

Seals was replaced before the trip?
And most of the weight is loaded on the back?
Was in the area so happy to be off some assistance and no more then you ChinaV and most member on MCM would do.

Spot on here .

The forks are probably not that great to begin with

[prince666]

also doing research and switching to a CFMoto 650.

How a good look at the TR-G and read my review on the bike here on MCM.
47.000 km covered now and I have been very impressed with the bike.

Link.....http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...50-TR-G-review

[ChinaV]

And most of the weight is loaded on the back?

Doesn't matter, every time he hits the brakes a huge portion of that load is transferred to the front wheel and suspension. Even worse, the load is piled so high, the center of gravity is exacerbating the load transfer to the front.

[prince666]

Yes I understand now.

[stevenade]

I rode 6000km this summer on a 2013 made in China Jianshe Yamaha YBR250, loaded to the freaking brim, I mean I had fully loaded side cases, back case, TWO suitcases on the pillion seat, and a tank bag the size of a backpack, horrendous roads the whole way: zero effect on the suspension.

[ChinaV]

I rode 6000km this summer on a 2013 made in China Jianshe Yamaha YBR250, loaded to the freaking brim, I mean I had fully loaded side cases, back case, TWO suitcases on the pillion seat, and a tank bag the size of a backpack, horrendous roads the whole way: zero effect on the suspension.

By "Zero Effect", I assume you mean it didn't cause any leaking seals and the bike handled it fine. I've seen a ton of YBR's (both 125 & 250's) crossing China loaded to the max with happy owners. You can't say that an overloaded bike doesn't effect handling and safety... we've all done it, but it's something to avoid if possible. Over the years, I've been able to minimize the load by investing in good equipment. I've analyzed every item and try to reduce whenever possible. Here's my WR450 loaded for a 2 week camping trip.







The only thing not shown in the pictures is my clothing, which has to cover conditions from 5-35 degrees Celsius for most of my trips. The Wolfman tool bag has everything I need for a complete disassembly of the bike if necessary.

[stevenade]

That's one hell of a pack!

[billeuze]

off topic for a bit here, how come with some picture posts, I can only see the left 1/2 of the photos? For instance the above ChinaV post.

[modron]

cos the site is simple and doesnt scale pictures. Press and hold Ctrl and scroll your mouse if youre using chrome

[billeuze]

Yes this bike is heavily loaded. But I would not have considered it "completely Overloaded" I have ridden tens of thousands of miles on smaller bikes that were more loaded than this. But not on Chinese roads. And that I think is the issue, as we shall see...

As the story continues, after about 600 km on the new tank, it also started leaking. I noticed it when I stopped to camp for the night. I had again hit some extremely bumpy roads that day, some of the (unforeseen) bumps where taken at highway speeds which gave quite a jolt to the bike - more than what the suspension could properly handle. So, in addition to the slowly dripping tank I noticed the number plate holder was extremely close to the rear wheel and had in fact been hitting the rear wheel on some bumps knocking off one of the blinker lights. Well, it was cold and raining and I was just on the side of the road and i thought I would just keep riding to my next destination where i could assess the situation, order parts, etc.

So off I went. The GPS tried to send me on a road (probably a nice road) but there was no turn off to get to it, so it recalculated a new route along a long an X road that was in extremely bad shape. after 1-1/2 hours of covering about 50 km, I realized it could now take me 3 or 4 more days to reach my destination instead of 2 (it was 1100 km away). and besides after all the bumps, my fuel tank was now leaking much faster. So, I figures the only way to actually make my destination is to take the smooth expressway all the way. So I used the Prince technique of riding around the barriers on the far right truck lane - all the way, through 2 province changes - worked like a charm. On the expressways, if I didn't stop for anything, I got 250 km to a full tank. before the leak I got 300.

I arrived the next morning at my hotel, unpacked and checked out the bike.

The first clue that something serious was amis, I actually knew about already because i could see it when I stopped for gas. The trim around the fuel tank was separating. Now it is screwed on to the frame and on to the tank, so it seems as if the tank separated from the frame
01-trim.jpg

I will continue now in a new post as my poor internet connection is loosing stuff...