Braaap Mx2 review and partial mods

[Snaptrax]

Gday guys
Haven't posted here in a while so thought I'd post up a review on a new toy I got recently.

So first of need to thank a certain person for hooking me up with this bike he doesn't want to be named but thought I'd chuck up an appreciation post bit.

Now onto the bike.
First of when I received the bike it had around an hour worth of ride time on it. So it is basically a brand spanker of a bike.

So I'll go through a few of the sections of the bike and let you know what I think of them

Looks:
Obviously it is a very appealing bike and has been built to look very good. The plastics I feel will be expensive as they are only designed for braaaps MX series.

Build quality:
Now we all know from previous bikes that braaap never really had the best of build quality(I am excluding the Ycf series that they brought in) so to see something this well built come from them is a surprise and needs to be acknowledged as it is a very nice bike and has been built off of the Mx1 but with a few little bits and pieces are different.

Engine and power:
No surprises here that it has the standard Zongshen z160ho motor with a tiny 24mm carburetor.
So while to me its a bit dissapointing to see they are still coming with the little carby it does still have a bit of power behind it. Although I was quite surprised that it would barely lift the front wheel into the balance point to wheelie. This to some would be a problem but to me wheelies are mainly just for showing off.

Size and feel:
Well if you have met me you'll know I'm not a small bloke and being 6ft 2ish and weighing near on 90kgs I'm not what you would call the ideal person for a pit bike.
So that aside i can sit on it comfortably and still be able to move around and stand up easily. So definitely a plus over the ycf bikes that where too narrow and tall that you felt like you where riding a penny farthing.

Suspension: Now this is what most people love in a high end bike. But to be honest I was definitely let down by the rear suspension not having an compression adjustment and only a rebound. And being a large guy I have had to play with the suspension quite a bit to get it to feel sort of nice.
The front forks look to be a standard gpx silver lable and the rear a wannabe Elka shock.

Handling: So the handling factor of this bike. I certainly believe that it can be a nice handling bike with a few little mods and tweaks.
But at the moment the tyres are a huge let down being the Kenda Carlsbad tyres they are a great all round tyre but for a track they are terrible.

Alrighty so getting onto the mods and parts replacements I'm about to do and have already done.

The first to go was the rear shock as it was a touchy b**** and wouldn't hold a nice rebound setting. Lucky I had brought a ycf pilot frame off of a mate and it had the elka shock still in it. So that was a perfect fit. Now that changed the way the bike handled for sure and made it much less tail happy.

Second to go if the bars. They are very low and are always trying to pull me to the front of the bike which I am not a fan of.

After that will be a nice set of Dunlop mx52 tyres when money permits.

So anyway enough of the talking here are a couple of photos to show off the bike.
View attachment 12497

 

[Georgalis]

Which of the braaap bikes were not ycf's ?

 

[gottagetacheaperhobby]

Good write up mate bike looks sweet, i love the exhaust tip, hows it sound?
Plenty of bling on it, but a shame about the suspension :/

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[Snaptrax]

Braaap used to make a 88cc that was before the Ycf range they ran Dnm suspension and a lifan 88 motor from memory
Also a 150 crf70 china copy and the famous Maestro.
I cant remember any other bikes that Braaap brought out but they did have a few bikes before they got the ycf deal.

Cheers Stu it's an awesome looking bike thats for sure.
Even though it has a huge it exhaust it's actually really quite especially for a z160ho. I would say my Lxr with the tb'd Z160 would be nearly be twice as loud.

Ill probably be keep this little beast at least for a while and do a couple of little bits and pieces to get some power out of it. Thinking about putting on a tb head that i have sitting in the shed so that migh be the next point of attack once i have the feel of the bike sort out.

Come to think of it the bars that come stock on the Ycf pilot's you wouldnt happen to have a set off that frame you are selling Stu?

 

[motovert24]

Which of the braaap bikes were not ycf's ?

thats the one before the YCF i think. rest were just normal crf50-70 pitbike frames from memory.

nice review zach

 

[Snaptrax]

Yup thats the old Maestro personally one of the most uncomfortable and heavy crf50 style pit bikes out there.

Cheers Harry much appreciated. With a few little mods I believe it will make a good bike.

 

[gottagetacheaperhobby]

I do have the ycf bars still, but they are slighty bent sorry bud

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[Snaptrax]

Ahh no worries Stu. Those bars are my favorite bars haha. I have them on my Lxr and they feel awesome.

 

[Snaptrax]

So i have run into a snag with installing the Elka. The bolt holes for the elka are 12mm where as the bolts for the braaaps mounts are 10mm so i will need to get some 12x1mm pipe to take it down.

But on another note im heading out to Park4mx on Monday for its first real test. I will let you know how it goes and what i end up doing to it.

 

[Snaptrax]

Alright so ride day has been completed and what can i say haha.

First of all the oil cap fell out spewing oil all over my boot and the bike. Luckily i was flagged down by my mates and it still had a little over half of the oil.
Second the rear brakes locked on for some reason. Still unsure what happened there but it released after adjusting the brake pedal rod.
Third well not really a problem there was a lot of random bolts that came loose. Which is expected from a new bike.
Chain has stretched beyond the adjustments within three hours of riding. Which is a bit disappointing from a bike worth so much.

And last but not least is the suspension. Which is well terrible even after trying for a good hour I gave up.
So from my opinion save nearly $500 and buy yourself a Lxr 190. Racing around on this bike i had absolutely no chance of keeping up to my mate which we are normally pretty well matched. Which again is expected from a 160cc bike although my mate rides a Psto With a Daytona 150 Trex.
I wish i could say i loved it but it isnt the right bike for me. So id rather give people an honest rever on why i dont like it and what could be better.
But yes in my opinion it is going on gumtree for someone else to appreciate. Ill stick to my Lxr haha.

 

[my67xr]

That's disappointing new's !
I was hoping the frame and suspension was better compared to their older bike's.

 

[Snaptrax]

Definitely disappointing. Dont get me wrong. Some people would love it but to me its not for me at all.
The frame is built like a tank and i could not imagine it ever breaking.
But the suspension was just bad. And it wouldnt work together nicely. Either the rear is too soft and the front is too hard or the other way around. But thats my opinion others could be vastly different.

 

[Trains]

I also rode this bike today so i thought i may as well throw in my 2 cents.

This bike was extremely dissapointing... especially for such an expensive bike. The first time i saw the mx1 and mx2 i was genuinely excited to see that Braaap and YCF had parted ways and was really hoping for the high tier braaaps to be a huge improvement from the older factory models.

Okay first up, the ergonomics. What i found was the most dissapointing during my ride. I hated the previous Braaap models because of the ergo's. This bike was not an improvement at all. The seat felt like a pizza cutter. So thin that it would slice you in half. And then it must be made of the highest density foam braaap could find. Its as stiff as a rock... Im 6 foot 3" and this bike is the same size as a pitster pro LXR but it felt stupidly cramped. The rear seemed to really like to skip around also.

The bike is heavy. Very heavy. But, surprisingly you dont feel it when you ride at all. The frame seems to be very strong.

Bike has the natorious kenda carlsbad tyre on it which i have never been fond on (personal opinion).

Engine, although slow was very smooth and pretty linear. The 23mm mikuni syle carby (i think) was too small which limited the power. The upgrade to a 26mm is definitely required.

Finally. For a bike selling for $3600 the little details are really what killed it for me. The bike wasnt executed correctly. The bike needed things like a different throttle assembly, specifically an alloy one. Plastic really doesnt cut it. You cant even adjust the height of the front brake lever because the throttle assembly restricts it.

There are cut outs in the frame where cables run through. Some grommets or rubber edging would have been appreciated here.

There is my brutally honest review of the braaap mx2.

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[gottagetacheaperhobby]

Well, sounds like the new bike is actually worse than the ycf/braaap factory pilot... disapointing considering the ycf could be improved on fairly easily. Good write up anyway guys, should hopefully save a few guys from wasting cash..

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[Snaptrax]

Cheers Stu.

I will say i would rather ride this bike then a Ycf pilot. It does feel a bit better then those bikes.

I reckon with the Elka rear shock that i wanted to put in it. I believe with that it will work much better. But for the effort and and cost of the parts to get it to work id rather sell it to someone that will like it more then i will.