Category: News

xMoto Let’s dig in…..

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I’ve spent a lot of time hitting the starter button on my xMoto hoping (praying) it’d just fire up. I pulled off all extra electrical crap, as I’d been managing to pop some fuses. After some digging, it was quickly apparent was my problem was.

Crappy Rusty Fuel Pump

Ones Fuel Pump should NOT look like this. No worries, a quick 50$ order on Amazon and we had a replacement installed. In the process, I managed to break the wiring on the fuel level sender. I opted to remove it, and subsequently used the plug in the harness as a secondary ground wire for the fuel pump. Apparently this could be a problem area on some G650X’s, so I figured why not tackle it quickly right off the bat?

Sure enough, soon as that new fuel pump was in….the bike fired right up.

I was much excited, and was promptly riding to starbucks for a photo op in the middle of the night. My excitement however was short lived, as after 2 days of commuting, the 3rd turned out a bit hotter than I’d hope…..

I was able to pull all my essentials off the bike, and had tools out quick enough to pull the just so slightly hot muffler off the bike. My wife picked me up, and I grabbed my car with hitch hauler and off to work. I’d had a similar thing happen in the past with my first 650X where the catalytic converter had failed, and clogged the exhaust. Or maybe it was the internal baffles? I don’t know. Either way, I figured I’d investigate and hack things open.

Alas all things were clear…..

So I welded her back up…..and called it a day

It was suggested to me to cehck the spark plugs. I thought this was doubtful, as its got 2, and how do 2 spark plugs fail. Well, I listened to the internet advice, and wouldn’t you know it….it fired right up.

And thus we have it. It’s all buttoned back up, and I’ve now got ~900 miles on it in the time I’ve been able to ride. Darn midwest has been funky weather, which has limited ride time.

Winter time is hitting, so the bike is getting some new tires and sprockets. Prior owner had it geared for CRUISING, so its much too tall for round town fun.

More to come.

-Andrew

TSE250R Initial Ride Report

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First of all….What is it?  The TSE250R is the 2 Stroke Big Bike offering from US Based company GPX Moto.  GPX Moto is a subsidiary of USA MotorToys who also owns Pitster Pro (small bikes).  The TSE250R is in essence a Yamaha DT230 motor packaged into a 2017 Husqvarna TC Chassis.  The manufacturer (in China) apparently bought tooling from Yamaha for the engine, and so far as I know or can tell, the frame, plastics, etc are Husky replicas.  GPX opted on this bike to adapt a CRF450 front fender and a 2015 Yamaha WR450F headlight.

Right side look at the TSE250R

After a bit of time in transit, and getting my lights wired up, I finally got to fire up the TSE250R for some test riding.  Keep in mind that the bulk of my riding has been on the street.  I’m in the middle of flatlandia IL, so very few places to actually ride off-road. Despite most of my riding being street oriented, it gives a little different perspective from others.  Traditional 2 Stroke engines conjure images of vibrations and the tingling feeling in your hands as they’ve been buzzed to oblivion.  The powerplant of the TSE250R goes a long way to address this issue.  The TSE250R engine, initially a Yamaha engine is one that is counterbalanced.  This counterbalancer smooths out engine vibrations to a degree that on the street, you’re feeling more vibration from the knobby tires than the engine itself.

Right side of engine showing expansion chamber and oil injection pump area.

Now this is not to say that the engine does not feel like a 2 Stroke.  In just about every sense, it does.  There is the ring ding ding of the expansion chamber (which is double walled and sound deadened for noise reduction).  The power kicks in with a bit of revs and tapers off smoothly.  The state of tune on this is for overall power spread.  You’re not getting a massive hit with this engine.  Riding on the street really exacerbates this as you feel the revs taper off quick as you’re clicking through the gears.

Stock gearing on the TSE250R is 12/52.  Comparing this to the original Yamaha this motor was in, and this is incredibly short.  Original DT230 bike ran 16/55 gearing.  This variance though shows just how wide and versatile the transmission in this engine is.  With the TSE250R’s oem gearing, you can comfortably cruise on the street at 60mph.  At these revs, the engine is turning a calculated 7000 RPM.  Despite how high these revs are, as noted earlier, the bike is oddly smooth.  Same setup dropped into some light off-roading and the bike immediately feels far more at home.

Stock chain is O-Ring Type

The brakes on the bike appear to be very similar to the Brembos commonly found on KTM and other Euro bike manufacturers.  However the brakes on the GPX are not Brembo.  This is not a major concern though as the brakes feel very positive, have great grab and when asked, will lock up the wheels.  Time will tell on how they hold up, but initial impressions are very positive.

Very KTM like brake and swingarm setup.

My time spent off-road has been minimal, but this is where the TSE250R motor is shining.  The engine pulls in a very linear fashion.  While a big hit of a more racey 2 Stroke may be exhilarating, wider and linear is excellent for off-road.  A quick stab of the clutch quickly picks the engine up onto the pipe, but still smooth, tractable.  In a small ravine, 2nd gear hopped the front wheel over a water eroded rut with ease.  Rolling back down and to jump out, on the gas, the bike roosted out with a slight jump.  Landing and immediately accelerating off to the edge of my property. A downside to the bike so far has been with regards to throttle and throttle response.  Coming from a Fuel Injected 4T, with an ultra light throttle, I miss the immediate response.  Fuel Injection provides absolutely crisp throttle response.  In comparison, the carburetor dulls these responses and even with “perfect” jetting on a given day, it’ll be slightly off the next.  That is what it is.  I appreciate its simplicity, but if you’ve been spending time on an injected bike, you’ll feel the difference.  The other downfall is the throttle is on the heavy side.  This isn’t carburetor related, but moreso that the bike has mechanical Oil Injection.  For this to function (for those not familiar with 70’s 2 Stroke bikes), the throttle cable splits off in a Y, with one end terminating at the carburetor and the other at the oil injection pump.  The more throttle, the more oil.  Consequently you end up with spring returns in both the carburetor as well as the oil pump, giving a slightly heavier throttle pull.

A side look into the “mikuni TM” carb.  Note also the electronic Powervalve

The main thing I’m anxious to test more on is with regards to suspension and chassis.  The TSE250R is setup with FastAce suspension.  The bit I did test on my property felt very compliant.  Despite running tires at silly high pressure (24psi for road use), the tires kept firmly planted on the ground.  Looking where I wanted to go, the bike didn’t think twice about tipping down into the turn and following through.  Steering is incredibly light with great feel.  Turning radius does feel somewhat limited, though this may only be an issue if you’re going full trials mode with your riding. I noted the downside above regarding throttle pull, and while I’d like to say that is my only complaint, I feel there are a couple others that can be noted.  One is that there are hints of the “Chinesium” on the bike.  These details can be seen in add-on type areas.  For example, the front fender is off of a modern Honda CRF450R.  The triple clamps appear to be KTM Replicas.  Instead of adjusting tooling for the lower triple clamp to directly mate with the Honda based front fender, they chose to make a steel adapter to fit the Honda fender to the KTM clamp.  Yes, it works, however this adds weight and extra complexity.  This is the same for how other extra parts add on notably around the dash and extra brackets for mounting a number plate vs the supplied headlight. My greatest real concern on this is the fact that everything so far on the bike appears to be a replica, or I guess say it how you will, a knockoff.  I found this out as myself and others online were beginning to rejet their bikes for use and weather.  The carburetor is supposed to be a Mikuni TM30 carburetor.  After digging in, it is apparent that the carburetor too is a replica of the original Mikuni.  This can cause issues if you’re looking to use OEM Mikuni components.  Main Jets from Mikuni for this carburetor are a very goofy thread size.  M5.3 x 0.9.  The manufacturer of this carb opted to thread the needle jet (where main jet threads into) with the more common M5x0.8.  They also size their jets differently from Mikuni.  Not major issues, but it can throw some complication in the mix. As things stand, it’s hard to say how you can beat the value of this bike.  New from GPX, the TSE250R hits the bank for $5600 (+Shipping).  Compared to a new KTM, you’re saving around $3000.  Long term is obviously a work in progress and you won’t have to twist my arm to do my part to put this bike through a torture test.  Simply put so far on this is that if you’re OK with being a sort of beta tester for a first line of bikes from GPX, then you very little chance of being disappointed with the bike.  I know I’m looking forward to what else GPX has in the works.

Overall this is a great machine that should be on your new bikes to consider list.

For more pictures and detail views, check the following gallery:

Rustic Road to Ruins Pt4.5 – Riding with a Miata

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Well I’m finally back at it. Life as usual has been hectic. My wife is on day shift now, so she’s got a normal schedule which means my post-work rides are a bit more limited. Not too big a deal, cause she likes to go out on the bike with me.

Yesterday I was planning to take a ride out to my parents cabin an hour south of Lacrosse, WI. From my place it’s about a 3.5 hour drive. I figured I could leave early enough to get there, and be back home in time to make some dinner. The weather, my GPS, and my apparent lack of sense of direction had other plans.

I left my place at about 8:30am, got about 5 minutes down the road, only to have it start to rain quite heavily on me. I stopped in at my local skatepark where there is a shelter and tossed on the rain gear. I more or less couldn’t see jack until I was about 10 minutes North of Lake Geneva. I was planning to scoot as quick as I could to Janesville, WI, grab gas, and then take a new route West over to my parents place.

My brother called and said he left a bit behind me in his miata, so we’d try to meetup somewhere along the way. My route had me going through Dodgeville, WI, so I said lets meet there and rock on. Unfortunately my navigational systems were not working. I took a turn too soon in Janesville off of rte 14. I found myself who knows where, trying to follow God only knows what route, and with a bladder that had to be relieved of the gatorade & coffee it had ingested earlier.

I made a pitstop off some backroad and gave my brother a ring. I was watching my clock and realized there was no chance I’d make it out to my parents place and back home in time to make dinner, so we made the executive decision to stop in New Glarus, WI for some lunch. I worked my way along a few back roads to get myself to ummmm 59 or 69 or something like that, which heads North into New Glarus.

Things got real for me at this point. I came to where I’d make a right onto the main road. I saw 2 cars off a bit in the distance working their way towards me. I thought at first…..they’re far enough away, I can accelerate and it’d be no big deal. Then I thought….eh, my brother is a little behind me, and I’m in no hurry, lets just chill, let them go, and cruise behind them.

That choice was a ride saver. About a mile down the road 2 small deer decided to jump out right as the lead car came up on them. You couldn’t see them at first due to them being as small as they were and with how tall the grass was. The lead car nailed one of them sending it spinning down the road. The car behind the lead car more or less just drove around the lead car after they moved to the side of the road. I pulled over and talked to the woman. She was OK and relayed she was glad it was her that hit the deer and not me. Needless to say, I felt the same way.

The ride into New Glarus from there was only a couple miles, so in a way it felt good to be in the relative safety of a small town, and theoretically less wildlife. My brother and I grabbed some lunch, and worked on a route that would take us back home following some back roads.

I relayed to him that I found I am having troubles coming to grips with riding the Ducati on the street. The bike is no slouch, it is plenty fast and I’m wondering if that is the “problem”. As I roll through turns, the bike feels it is going incredibly slow. A quick glance at the speedo tells me it’s not, but it just feels that way. I find myself constantly worrying about the gravel in the roads, and with yesterdays weather, all the dark\wet spots (notably the locations where people decided to shoot their grass clippings into the street). I explained that I don’t have these thoughts or concerns when I’m on my KTM, even with full on knobbies. I can feel with the knobbies the tires rolling and beginning to slide. I don’t get that same feedback with street tires.

I’m sure it’s a combination of not having road raced in a long time, a high power street bike, and just still early in the season to be 100% comfortable with pushing a bit. Or maybe I should go back to a lower power street bike. This thing cruises so smoothly at highway speeds that its hard to dislike, yet I keep finding a way.

On the way back, we managed to end up on a Rust Road that I hadn’t nabbed yet. RR81. I honestly don’t remember what it was all like. More narrow and covered with trees, opening up at the end where it meets 39.

We took some Wisconsin Lettered Roads on home, with us testing a camera setup my brother has been working on for awhile. We managed to capture a pretty rad shot:

And with that, the sun seemed to creep out, giving us a real nice cruise home. After a 250+ mile day, I was back home by 4pm and was able to begin prepping dinner.

Andrew

Edit – Footage from the camera while mounted on my brothers car.