I knew that Yamaha was familiar. One of my friends who is an old time Yamaha / Honda employee and is retired had one. His son became a great motorcycle mechanic and when he was a teenager in the early 2000s, he used to ride his father’s FZ6 all the time. I’d go visit them and find his name written with melted tire rubber on the pavement on the backroads leading to their house. He did that for a summer before he realized it was easy to pin stuff like that on him if the neighbours started to complain to the police … lol.
I also thought that was a Shadow … when I bought my Vulcan two years ago, the guy I bought it from was also selling a Shadow and it was a toss up for me between the Vulcan and Shadow … only reason I took the Vulcan was that he had tried to customize the Shadow so much that he wanted it to look like a Harley complete with the logo (I’m not a big Harley guy but I do know that other die-hard Harley riders don’t like it when people do that to their bikes)
Really curious about the Orion and Raven … aren’t those Chinese or Asian bikes? … I’m not against them because I think of them as being the same quality as what bikes would have been 20/30 years ago. I also suspect that they are probably just copies of 20/30 year old Honda and Yamaha technology … which means that they are probably pretty good.
Love that Suzuki Vanvan … looks like a classic old bike (which I love) but with those big fat tires, you could take it anywhere. A weird bike for sure because it looks like some sort of weird trials bike
And the Harley Sportster is probably the only Harley I would ever buy. I love the look of Harleys, I would just never buy them. I had an old motorcycle mechanic who owned several Harleys and his first piece of advice was to tell me - never buy a Harley, as they are a mechanics nightmare. They’re good if you can work on them yourself but a pain and expensive if you ask someone else to do the work. The Sportster is one of the least problematic of the Harleys.
Wow … what a line up … thanks for sharing … ride safe and good luck to you out there … the roads are a lot more dangerous now than they were 20 years ago, just from the shear number of vehicles out there the problems are just multiplied, so it puts all us riders in danger everywhere. But whatever happens, as long as you got an engine and two tires under you, you’re doing good.
Really curious about the Orion and Raven … aren’t those Chinese or Asian bikes?
Yes.
The Bashan is more or less a Chinese clone of the Honda Bros 125, which is a small displacement light duty dual sport that is sold in developing nations and in this case specifically mostly in South America. It is mechanically identical to the extremely popular “Hawk” 250 bikes and their myriad clones (TBR sells one just like it, X-Pro sells one just like it, etc., etc.) The difference is that the Bashan is EPA certified to be truly 49 state road legal (all but CA) as a roadgoing motorcycle whereas the others are technically “off highway use only” and difficult to plate if you don’t live in a state that will plate dirt bikes at the drop of a hat.
It has the very common Chinese “CG” 229 engine in it, which is a clone of the Honda CG125 pushrod engine, but with the jug and head upscaled to 229cc. The Chinese call it “250” cc because their measurement methodology apparently consistently includes the volume inside the head. Whether or not they do this on purpose to have an excuse to lie about their numbers (you know, from the Country That Fakes Literally Everything) is possibly a topic for debate. From the factory this bike makes an asphalt-peeling 14 horsepower, and we’ve got it riced out to the point that it makes maybe… 16? On a good day, with a following wind. I bought this for my nephew to learn to ride, and he uses it to tag along with me on dual sport camping trips and so on. He loads it up with even more crap that I strap to my KLR and the little thing complete with its noodly suspension and tiny weedy motor handles all of it without complaint – provided you don’t ask it to go faster than about 55, or maintain a brisk pace going up any steep hills.
The Orion has a Zongshen manufactured genuinely 249cc overhead cam engine in it that is a complete clone of the Honda CB250F engine. “Orion” is a private label rebranding of this, and these bikes are actually manufactured by Nicot Motorcycle, at least per the origin paperwork that came in the crate. The frame is very KTM inspired, and the suspension at least is compatible with EXC250F parts. This one cranks out around 22 horsepower while managing to weigh very little (about 275 lbs), but has a fuel tank the size of a thimble and the seat is awful.
I keep thinking about selling the Orion and picking up one of the new “Paladin” 300’s, which are total clones of the Kawasaki KLX300 to replace it. I actually bought the Orion during the height of Covid when the KLX was unobtainium.
I knew that Yamaha was familiar. One of my friends who is an old time Yamaha / Honda employee and is retired had one. His son became a great motorcycle mechanic and when he was a teenager in the early 2000s, he used to ride his father’s FZ6 all the time. I’d go visit them and find his name written with melted tire rubber on the pavement on the backroads leading to their house. He did that for a summer before he realized it was easy to pin stuff like that on him if the neighbours started to complain to the police … lol.
I also thought that was a Shadow … when I bought my Vulcan two years ago, the guy I bought it from was also selling a Shadow and it was a toss up for me between the Vulcan and Shadow … only reason I took the Vulcan was that he had tried to customize the Shadow so much that he wanted it to look like a Harley complete with the logo (I’m not a big Harley guy but I do know that other die-hard Harley riders don’t like it when people do that to their bikes)
Really curious about the Orion and Raven … aren’t those Chinese or Asian bikes? … I’m not against them because I think of them as being the same quality as what bikes would have been 20/30 years ago. I also suspect that they are probably just copies of 20/30 year old Honda and Yamaha technology … which means that they are probably pretty good.
Love that Suzuki Vanvan … looks like a classic old bike (which I love) but with those big fat tires, you could take it anywhere. A weird bike for sure because it looks like some sort of weird trials bike
And the Harley Sportster is probably the only Harley I would ever buy. I love the look of Harleys, I would just never buy them. I had an old motorcycle mechanic who owned several Harleys and his first piece of advice was to tell me - never buy a Harley, as they are a mechanics nightmare. They’re good if you can work on them yourself but a pain and expensive if you ask someone else to do the work. The Sportster is one of the least problematic of the Harleys.
Wow … what a line up … thanks for sharing … ride safe and good luck to you out there … the roads are a lot more dangerous now than they were 20 years ago, just from the shear number of vehicles out there the problems are just multiplied, so it puts all us riders in danger everywhere. But whatever happens, as long as you got an engine and two tires under you, you’re doing good.
Here’s the 2001 BMW R1100R
Yes.
The Bashan is more or less a Chinese clone of the Honda Bros 125, which is a small displacement light duty dual sport that is sold in developing nations and in this case specifically mostly in South America. It is mechanically identical to the extremely popular “Hawk” 250 bikes and their myriad clones (TBR sells one just like it, X-Pro sells one just like it, etc., etc.) The difference is that the Bashan is EPA certified to be truly 49 state road legal (all but CA) as a roadgoing motorcycle whereas the others are technically “off highway use only” and difficult to plate if you don’t live in a state that will plate dirt bikes at the drop of a hat.
It has the very common Chinese “CG” 229 engine in it, which is a clone of the Honda CG125 pushrod engine, but with the jug and head upscaled to 229cc. The Chinese call it “250” cc because their measurement methodology apparently consistently includes the volume inside the head. Whether or not they do this on purpose to have an excuse to lie about their numbers (you know, from the Country That Fakes Literally Everything) is possibly a topic for debate. From the factory this bike makes an asphalt-peeling 14 horsepower, and we’ve got it riced out to the point that it makes maybe… 16? On a good day, with a following wind. I bought this for my nephew to learn to ride, and he uses it to tag along with me on dual sport camping trips and so on. He loads it up with even more crap that I strap to my KLR and the little thing complete with its noodly suspension and tiny weedy motor handles all of it without complaint – provided you don’t ask it to go faster than about 55, or maintain a brisk pace going up any steep hills.
The Orion has a Zongshen manufactured genuinely 249cc overhead cam engine in it that is a complete clone of the Honda CB250F engine. “Orion” is a private label rebranding of this, and these bikes are actually manufactured by Nicot Motorcycle, at least per the origin paperwork that came in the crate. The frame is very KTM inspired, and the suspension at least is compatible with EXC250F parts. This one cranks out around 22 horsepower while managing to weigh very little (about 275 lbs), but has a fuel tank the size of a thimble and the seat is awful.
I keep thinking about selling the Orion and picking up one of the new “Paladin” 300’s, which are total clones of the Kawasaki KLX300 to replace it. I actually bought the Orion during the height of Covid when the KLX was unobtainium.