That's one of the older style chinese bikes and they do have some quality issues like you said. But the newer style chinese bikes are much better. They still have little quirks and a few items that aren't that great, or fit and finish not being perfect, but the newer chinese bikes like Trailmaster or the X-pro Templar models have some tough swing arms (but still made of steel), and slightly better chains (but still not great). But the Zongshen engines they use in most all of the chinese bikes are really good. I just bought a new Trailmaster T5 dual sport and I was shocked by how nice it is. And only 1699!
I've got a little over 1000 miles on my 23. I swapped out the sprockets for a 45 and an 18. Made it much more rideable. Also put universal treads on. That also helped the ride. I use mine for commuting to work, errands and just riding around the country roads around here. We are pretty rural. I like to strap my tackle box and fishing rod to it and hitting a fishing hole. My bike has a pretty easy life I'm 62 so my dirt biking days are pretty much behind me. Never had an issue with how it ran. Had to swap out a solenoid early on but the new one was 7 bucks so I bought two. I'm happy with my Hawk.
Nice, I have 3500 miles on my 2017 Hawk, but I replaced chain and sprockets, carburetor to a VM26 with proper jetting, and I put on better inner tubes and Shinko 700 tires on it. Had a few spokes pop on it, but that has stopped now that I check them regularly. I even have a CSC TT250 head on mine that flows a lot better, and I even ported the stock exhaust to match the exhaust port. It runs like a scolded ape, I can top out at 67Mph. Haha....and my other bike is a Ducati Multistrada 1200S Grandturismo.
Couldn't have said it better myself. When friends ask ask me about the hawk I always tell them it's not great for a total noob. If you have a little experience working on bikes then it's a great deal.
I believe this is perfect for the absolute beginner to learn how to do maintence on, and do your own modifications on, learn electrical, chain adjustments, fenders and throttle, clutch adjustments and replacements, brakes and brake pads etc.. Things one would be reluctant to try and do on a more expensive bike. Especially one they ride at higher rates of speed out on the highway on only.. You can test your maintenace skills off road first and make sure your adjustments are correct before you ever attempt to be a new rider in traffic feeling pressured to do highway speeds. Yeah this is perfect for the beginner to learn everything on before you graduate to the bigger heavier strictly street bikes
@@johnskipper2619 I'm not saying you're wrong but I'm also not exactly going to say you're right. If you have good mechanical knowledge already or you have someone around you that has good mechanical knowledge then yes this is a great bike for a beginner. If you are just getting into bikes really don't know anything about them and are not very mechanically inclined this is an absolutely terrible beginner bike.
@@agentsleepyhead I'm 19 but have been working for a small engine shop since I was 13 but yet I never owned a single two wheeled vehicle. Bought this sucker off amazon back in November and I am loving it. Got me a plate and a motorycle license too XD
6000 miles....awesome brother. Thanks for all the reviews/information. I have a 2020 Bashan Brozz blue eagle with many upgrades. Much respect from Georgia. GaMike
I’ve been following your Hawk vids carefully. I’ve been wanting one and quite frankly keep waiting to see how long yours lasts...I must say I’m impressed! I just wish the Chinese would clone a KTM 500 dual sport for like $4-5 grand...Something with some power!
one of the reasons engines like this Lifan/Zongshen last is they are low powered. If a $13,000 KTM needs an overhaul after 5,000 miles of racing how long would a Chinese copy last?
It's funny you talking about a collection. I have a BMW ADV and a KTM 2-stroke Enduro and I added one of these. May seem nuts but my DM250 (same bike as yours) is as much fun as the others. Like you say, there's a space for these in every collection - and I agree. Would be fun to supermoto it one day :-)
You got a defective unit. I have 8,000 miles on mine now and I have only changed the cable 1 time. I would see if they will send you some parts to fix it. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for your update....👍 I have 770 miles on mine now.., And absolutely nothing to report on the negative side.......! Of course I drive mine pretty Sane...😹😹 But the world needs good old boys like you to beat the living snot out of our toys, to let us know, well..... , maybe I shouldn’t climb this hill... Or maybe my bike was not meant to drive down the middle of the river beds...! ( still full of water ) 😹, But so far I have just been using my Hawk for cruising around town and taking trips out in the country, taking pictures and exploring Moderat trails....! I believe anything we purchase made any place I don’t care if it’s USA ,Japanese,or Chinese , if someone does not abuse ,it or miss use it, it will last Far beyond your expectations.....! Keep up the good work and keep your videos coming....!!! Professor Jeff....🎵🎻🎶🎸🎼🎹🎵🎻🎶🎸🎓
Thanks for the awesome comment! I am very confident if you take care of these bike they will last forever! I have been extremely suprised and overjoyed with my bike!
@@goodolboys713 ... Since my last comment my HAWK now has., 3350, miles on it.... it still looks like I just got it out of the crate....👍 I hope you had a good Christmas and I hope you have a happy new year....🙏
i love having a cheap china bike!! I have an SSR140TR And i beat the heck out of that bike!!! Constantly red lining and letting the clutch pop out to get the tail end sliding in turns and still running strong!!! not sure id show up at a public trail or riding club with a china bike though lol
I was really going to finish it off throughout the summer and change if for the wet season.. an update coming on this in the next video actually 🤘 thanks for watching!
Nice video! It’s videos like this that will continue helping chonda catch traction it’s not a race bike it’s a dependable starter you can build into what you want Even with just a few hundred bucks thrown into these bikes they start producing more power and a smoother ride..always tell people for 1450 bucks plus a couple hundred for extra stuff to fix things they went ultra cheap on
Hey man I say I'm glad you made that review I like these bikes I put 3000 miles on it last year before I sold it and yeah I had mine issues too but it was so much fun my one thing is I don't know how I did it and now I know how to actually fix it now but then I didn't was I had my rear brake lock up on me let it it wouldn't lock up but I should just blend the brakes better yeah for like the last month I own that thing I was only using my front brakes
Pretty much everything you need to know as far as parts goes is within this playlist: Hawk 250 ru-vid.com/group/PLCqZY9vEtcDwxmZpWo6t9FFktQXy5gJxg Hopefully this helps, Thanks for watching!
I'm looking to get my first dirty bike, I wanna make it into a vintage style tracker, would you recommend this bike Any other bike you might recommend And all the money spent on the upgrades on this bike, does it make more sense to just buy another bike instead
My recommendation would be to get a Japanese bike. The hawk is a lot of fun and I really enjoy working on it. But there is constantly something to work on. The Japanese bikes (Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha) are just built way better and built to last and take some abuse. Plus you can find a decent $2500 Japanese bike pretty easy (I easily have well over $2500 in the hawk between time and cost of all of the repairs) your definitely time and money ahead to buy a Japanese bike especially if you don’t like working on them constantly 😂 anyways thanks for watching!
Didint ypu do the air box mod originally and that's where the water issues came up? The stock airbox on my 2020 hasn't had a drop of water on it. Just trying to clear that up to new buyers. I believe the motocheeze mod will also cause those issues. I'd say it's best to keep it stock
No, I had the stock air box the entire time. The stock air box design is garbage, once I modified it it was good to go. It’s safe to tell people the stock air box design is flawed and garbage. It needs modified! Thanks for watching!
Just as a disclaimer I DONT recommend cutting holes in the air box, I don’t like the pod filters, I don’t recommend cutting on the air box in any way. It ruins the bike IMO.
Good ole boys, he rides his bike hard in a lot of wet conditions. He needed to modify his air box for the way he rides. Some people ride bikes that never see rain or mud puddles and they do away with their airbox completely and just use a pod filter. But the first time they stuck in the rain on their bike or ride through a creek off rode they will have issues. He is in fact correct that the holes in the airbox not being sealed is a bypass around the filter that is supposed to keep out dirt, dust, water & trash. No filter by itself will keep out water after it becomes saturated. Normal riding of these bikes, depending on dusty locations being the exception may not need to worry about the holes in the airbox that bypass the filter, but anyone riding in supper dusty dirty wet conditions should try and modify the airbox enough that everything going in the motor has to go through the filter first, thats why its there.
Me and My buddies live in Ohio and all watch your channel. We all 3 have hawks and would enjoy meeting up for a ride. We all have some upgrades and fixes done to our bikes. Would like to meet up and talk and ride.
Awesome question. In my opinion I highly recommend keeping and modifying the stock air box. I personally would never run a pod filter. If you doing any kind of riding in rain, wet muddy areas, or dusty conditions you will want the factory air box. Think of the pod filter as an on-road air filter on good clear days. Any other situation you will want to protection of the air box. Hopefully this helps. I have a whole video on moding the factory air box on my hawk 250 playlist if you want to check it out. Thanks for watching!
It think it would fair ok, Alex Choi actually already did it! I would have a few concerns with it, I go 150 miles at the most on longer rides, which I consider short compared to Alex Chois trip lol. My point being that this bike needs extra attention (mechanical repair) compared to most other bikes. So would the tat be possible? I think yes. However you would have to be on top of maintenance, make repairs BEFORE breaking down. I will say this, my bike has NEVER left me stranded, that being said I have done a lot of preventative maintenance to my bike, and to go along with that I can constantly looking my bike over to look for broken parts and things that need fixed. It’s a good thing I do because at times it seems like I am constantly working on the bike, thankfully it’s something I enjoy doing most of the time! That’s my two cents, hopefully it helps!
Very simple, I have a video about it on the hawk 250 playlist. Check out the description box of any of my hawk videos and there is a link to the hawk 250 playlist on almost every video. Hopefully this helps thanks for watching
@@goodolboys713 Thanks. I just ordered an X Pro Titan 250 which I assume is just a Hawk with a flat seat. I'm retired and never drive anywhere any more. About 300 miles a month. I figure this bike will do that for $20 in gas. lol
Watched the whole video and was kinda convinced then saw the end with amount of smoke 🤣 looked like it's running premix. Better off buying a older Honda
I have heard anywhere from 60 to 80 mpg, I don’t know an exact number on my bike but I can ride it hard for 60 miles and still have near half a tank. They are great on gas. Thanks for watching!
It happenes😂 in all honesty most of the bike is fine, but when parts need replaced always go with something better that what I came with! Iv had very good luck with Japanese rubber bushings. Thanks for watching!
They tell us to stay under 35mph during break-in, boohoo. Mine is a '21. The airbox is made different, now...if 1 is n the wet, i can't c not chekn everythn out, anyway. Have you found a center stand? People do hatefull/spitefull, malicious things. Parking in public leaves you open to crap a regular kickstand can't protect you from.
No center stand for me, yes there are definitely some spiteful people. We mow an HOA as lawn care professionals (everything is done the the T including the straightest stripes on earth, and there’s nothing but complaints each week! Anyway, best of luck to you! Thanks for watching!
I have never looked for a back rim, my best recommendation would be to go through txps or go on the Facebook pages and forums and ask around. Hopefully this helps!
