Crossfire 250 XZR Review

[TroubledSOUL]

Have attached some pics of the kickstarter and sticker peel (which isnt too bad).

See how close the kicker is to the brake lever and the foot peg! I think they were all stoned when they designed it.

It is a good bike for the price and if you dont mind tinkering and being thourough when checking it over before a ride or during a service. I certainly dont!

 

[rivvs]

do you do some mod on your bike

 

[TroubledSOUL]

Sure

At first I am going to focus on improving the cheap & nasty aspects of the bike, namely:

After Market Battery

Bark Busters, Better Quality Grips and a heavy duty aluminium Joker Throttle (the plastic one is cheap and already has a small crack starting due to a missing screw)

Was thinking of pro tapers as I had heard that the bars on Chinas were pretty cheap, but the ones on it dont seem to bad. I have dropped it pretty hard twice (once on a steeeeeep slope ) and they havent bent yet so I will see how they go

After Market Chain

Better kickstarter

Thats the immediate stuff I would like to upgrade

 

[rivvs]

you can put on it a 26mm oko carby like the atomik blitz this is the same engine

 

[TroubledSOUL]

How much an increase would I look at getting from replacing the carby? I was thinking of upgrading the jets, but not replacing it. would there be much of a difference?

I hate messing with carbies. I have an old 84 XT 250 that I rebuilt, spent hours tuning carby and I hated every minute of it . I'd rather avoid messing with the carb if I can!

 

[rivvs]

Thump 140 said that he had a big difference

 

[TroubledSOUL]

Will keep that in mind. I wouldnt mind a little bit more power. Also when Im going flat out it seems like it needs an extra gear. I am always shifting up expecting to have one more gear to go. I think the L4 engine has 6 gears as opposed to 5.

I should be changing the throttle assembly and getting the electrics looked at on the weekend

 

[Brood69]

G'Day guys,
I saw this thread while searching for a review on this bike, this was the only one I could find anyware.
I bought myself one of these crossfires around middle Jan, had it delivered in a box.
Limited edition white.
It pretty much came assembled, except for the front wheel, handle bars, rear shock swing arm and some bits and pieces... Got it done in about 2 hours, but not without breaking off one of the bottom axle nuts. Found an old nut lying around at home, saw it off to the right lenght and put it in. Works fine.

The problems you mention above is exactly the same as what I'm experiencing..
Peeling stickers, REALLY crap kickstarter, (I couldn't get it started even when hot), flat battery etc.
Also the rear brake foot pedal fell off. It looks like it is made of some real dodgy aluminium so don't want to tighten it too much, or I'll strip the threads..

Speaking of stripped threads, it seems a lot of the pre-assembled parts allready had a lot of threads stripped. I locktited pretty much everything a week ago and found a lot of the nuts and bolts didn't grip, especially the plastics' bolts.

All in all the bike ran ok, untill I tried adjusting the idling on the carb... turns out I adjusted the air/fuel mixture instead and it ran like a 1973 Ford.. in reverse..
Luckily some clever chinaman saw this coming and painted the screw where it should be. It's running fine (for) now.
Needless to say the owners manual is NOT all the same as the bike...
I found a lot of discrepencies between the online website ads and the downloadable specs as well.

All in all, it's a fun thing to ride, will have to see how it all ends up though.. I will either brake the bike or myself. If I don't brake anything I'll be seriously impressed with myself.. and the bike..

 

[TroubledSOUL]

Just had a new red joker throttle and a set of pro tapers installed on Sunday.

The bike is going in for a service this afternoon, going to get barkbusters chucked on it while it is in there!

If anyone else has bought one of these I would love to hear how your crossfire is going

 

[TroubledSOUL]

Hi Brood

Yes the rear brake pedal is crap. theres no shim holding the bolt in so you have to check if often. also keep an eye on the throttle assemly screws - you will lose them if you dont locktite them. I finaly got a joker throttle off the net and installed it on Sun, much better quality if you ask me

aside from the initial probs how is the bike running?

 

[makkadakka]

>

hey can u put some info up on the bike, up to date, cause these post's are from last year, how is the bike holding up after a couple months of riding, if u still have it

 

[TroubledSOUL]

Hey Makka

The bike is going greatguns, took it out yesterday, about 5 hours of pretty hard riding. Aside from dropping it and ripping the end of the right grip its good. Am planning on posting some up to date pics, the stickers have peeled of one side so am going to clean that up and get some new stickers for it first.

aside from the stuff listed in the original postings, I have put an aftermarket aluminium joker throttle (red)

are you thinking about getting one? let me know what info your after and I will help you out

 

[makkadakka]

hey

hey man, yeah i brought one, got it yesterday, still runnen in, im not sure wat the best way to run it in is, cause the bike ddin't come with a manual -_-, stupid chinease ppl, but yeah awesome looken bike i got the black one, and same with u i took the kick start off, tired leg after attempting to start it with the kicker, and the kicker gets in the way heaps while riding, very annoying, if u have a link or anything for the run in manual i'd love to see it, cause it's been 5 yr's since i had a bike and it was a 125, atm im runnen it in, no more then half throttle and im not going over 50km/h, i ran it for 10 minutes for up after a good idle to warm it up and make sure the water cooling was all good, after 10 minute let it cool down then rode it again for 20, same deal then rode it for 40 minutes, am i doing the right thing, if not please say so, i like ppl to tell me info, cause i know i dont know much about the whole runnen in stage, ty mate ahve a good one

 

[Brood69]

What's up? My crossfire's still going on strong, riding it pretty hard now. Dropped it once and ended up sitting on the exhaust pipe when I landed.. Burnt a f***ing hole in my ass!!
Bike's fine though, and probably still laughing at me... wait 'till I heal then we'll see who's laughing!
Took some picks as well so I'll post them soon.

(Still can't help trying to find 6th gear..)

 

[logicquests]

Makkadakka.

There is a really good sticky on here regarding running in your bike.

From what I can gather, dont be too gentle. I know this is the opposite of what our Chinese friends may suggest but I know who's methods I would be putting more faith in.

http://www.miniriders.com/motor-tutorials/26318-how-run-new-engine-run-hard.html

I am sure you will find the above sticky very useful. It not only explains the how to but also the why.

Enjoy your new bike.

Logic

 

[TroubledSOUL]

Makka

Dont be too gentle with it. The main this i was concious about was not sustaining a high rev range for too long in the first 20 hours or do. I dont really think it even took that long to run in. The manual said after 30 hours the bore & piston will be properly settled. just needs that extra gear!

Where abouts do you go riding? what kind of terrian? they are a great bike for takling hills!

 

[Reggsie]

I like the sound of this bike but i'm worried that it'd be too big for me... I'm riding a friends crf 230 at the moment since my old bike cacked itself. So i checked out the crossfire website and there's a significantly smaller 250 on there (i assume it'd have less power etc) and i was wondering if anybody here knew anything about the quality on it? Are crossfire's generally reliable? here's the link Crossfire XB31L 250cc Dirt Bike 250cc OHC Zongshen Powered Dirt bike. Chines dirt Bike.

 

[makkadakka]

Hey

Hey mate yeh i ride in everything, rocky terrian, mud hills gravel and very washed out terrain like pot hole ruts etc, but yes i do agree it really does.need another gear, one thing that ****ed me is very weak radiotor, 1 drop and it dmged it, no leak tho, but yeh bike is awesome, the trails i ride are extreme, but the bike is smashen hill climbs, im happy with its performance for a china brand thats for sure

 

[Brood69]

G'Day guys,
I'm so glad about that thread on running in the bike..
Incidently the way I was riding it in the beginning was exactly the way it should have been ridden, and I have to say it feels like it's got some extra kick in it's tail compared to a month ago..
I removed the kickstarter as well.. Damn that thing is just in the way! No use at all..
I've noticed yesterday, however, that the fuel hoses are all starting to perish. The bike is parked in a shed all day and are never exposed to sunlight, except when being ridden. Just cheap parts I guess.
Does anyone know of a good online shop where I can get some new fuel hoses, and spares in gereral? We live in the remote outback and don't get near bike shops very often.
I also need to source some well priced off road boots on the web, cause if that engine hits me on the left ankle one more time I'm gonna scream like a girl!
Anyway, ride on and post it..

 

[Brood69]

Hey Makkadakka,
you can find the XZ250R Manual here:

http://www.crossfiremotorcycles.com/index.php?dispatch=attachments.getfile&attachment_id=29

and the parts comparison with the Honda CRF250/450 here:

http://www.crossfiremotorcycles.com/index.php?dispatch=attachments.getfile&attachment_id=24