Modern Buddy

Bet I had you at $1995, amiright? Meet the CSC Motorcycles San Gabriel 250. Since you probably didn't read past $1995, I'll repeat some other numbers, 229.5cc, 16.1 HP, 13.5 ft-lb, 273 lbs, 17" wheels, 4 gallon gas tank, not half bad looking and officially certified by the state of California Air Resources Board as of today. Click here to go to the CSC Motorcycles page about the SG250.

Um, reminds me of a Honda 250 Nighthawk.

I forgot to mention, this is a thumper, like the G400C. The Honda Nighthawk is a twin.

Here ya go:
https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/c ... er-is-1995

My Summer Fantasy involves buying a fleet of these, setting up shop at the head of the Blue Ridge Parkway, running a business where folks fly in, hop on one of my rental bikes, ride the Blue Ridge Parkway on their own little motorcycle adventure, then I truck the bikes back and they go on their merry way with bugs in their teeth.

I have my own fantasies but they're probably too TMI for this particular forum...

Doesn't CSC stand for Scooters? Where's the scooters?

That seat angle looks painful

CSC made a clone of the mustang a few years ago. It was a small wheeled motorcycle with a 200cc mill and manual tranny. I do not recall an actual scooter offered by CSC.
-Cleveland Cycleworks sells some speed parts for the 229cc engine, like a high compression head. It would be cool if those speed parts fit all the Chinese 229cc engines, like the Hawk dual sport and the CSC TT 250.

Quality of construction? Reliability? Availability of parts?

Just cheap - all by itself - is not a virtue IMO. Lots of cheap stuff in this world. Way too much.

wheelbender6 wrote:-Cleveland Cycleworks sells some speed parts for the 229cc engine, like a high compression head. It would be cool if those speed parts fit all the Chinese 229cc engines, like the Hawk dual sport and the CSC TT 250.

That's a good question. All I know for certain is that the motor is the same as the TT250 bike (JCASC.229TCR) which CSC has been selling via the same direct sales paradigm. I know this because they are included on the same California Air Resources Board (CARB) Executive Order. The TT250 has been a pretty big hit for CSC (because of the low price) and I haven't heard much bad about the motor or the bike, either. Normally, I shy away from "new" bikes, but, again, the same motor has apparently been fairly successful in the TT250, so I feel like it's not exactly a "new" motor.

P.S. Bear in mind this is an air-cooled 229.5cc $1995 bike with a claimed top speed of 68 mph so it's really not competition for the G400C. The SG250 is a cheap learner bike which should be fun around town. The G400C is bigger more-capable bike with a claimed top speed of 90mph.

The CSC RX3 and TT250 have been reliable. Not up to the level of Japanese bikes, but reliable and competent. I hope the quality of the new cafe racer will be similar.
http://www.motorcycle.com/shoot-outs/20 ... v-shootout
https://sullybiker.wordpress.com/2017/0 ... er-gallon/

Honda Nighthawk. Always reliable and you can get a used one cheaper then one of these China bikes new. This coming from someone who has owned a China Helix clone scooter before.

The Nighthawk was good looking for a 250. They were criticized for the drum brake up front, but the drum looked cool to me.

The motorcycle.com blog has a little article about this new bike here. They have pretty much the same take I do which is that this bike is largely the same as the TT250 which isn't a bad bike for the money.

The TT250 works well for taller riders.
The cafe racer is reportedly small for riders over 6 feet.

Mentioned in the Revzilla link above: There are no dealers. You order directly from CSC and it's shipped to your door. Maintenance and service are up to you.

Good point. Tazio. If you don't want to do your own basic maintenance, CSC bikes are not for you.
-Cleveland Cycle Works sells a very similar bike and I think they have dealerships in major cities.

Great price. If I didn't already have 2 scooters & a motorcycle I'd be seriously considering one, even though my last motorcycle taught me to hate carburetors. Interesting: The seat height is 2.3" lower than a 50cc Honda Metropolitan & the price is $504 lower.

Looks like CSC wants to get into the electric market too. It appears to made in the same factory that makes the SSR Razkull 125.

https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/c ... er-at-1995

I like it but wish it had more range.

I expect that we will see a lot of pizzas delivered on CSC City Slickers.

37 miles at 37 mph? And that's optimistic? Uh... No thanks.