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my guesstimate is we will probably get a cheap version come in here from mexico with the navi. probably the wheels you say, no fork gaters, plain cheap transportation, build wise, price, who knows, we'll see. you can get 2 or 3 china Built bikes for the price of jap Designed bikes, mostly the small bikes and scooters.
I'm fine with the bike sold in Mexico as long as we get it for cheap as well. They are very solid bikes.
The clones have always been inconsistent on the tune and valve lash. Definitely some fiddling goes a long way. I would probably go with the conventional fork model like the raven, tbr7 or x-pect. The x-pect is efi. The new 250 are also newer chassis, overhead cam and 6 speed. Alot of choices. I still like the honda. I would really like the honda drop shipped to my house or depot in a crate.A friend of mine bought a Brozz. I think he got it OTD for around 1600 or 1800 bucks. He wanted to see if a small bore dual sport would work for him. He ran the shit out of it for around 2500 miles then sold it and bought a KLX250. I had the chance to ride it. Unlike the all of the Japanese dual sport bikes the seat was more than an Upholstered brick and was pretty comfortable. I thought the bike worked pretty good except for the brakes which really sucked. A different set of brake pads would probably improve the brakes.
The engine was down on power compared to my KLX250 so my friend spend most of his time with the throttle pinned riding behind me. Although the bike has a much bigger tank than my KLX, it got much worse fuel mileage compared to my KLX so the range was about the same.
Everything considered it was a good bike for the money IMO.
I was on a dual sport ride a couple of years ago where we had 4 Chinese dual sport bikes of various brands all using the 230cc engine. They all did fine on the ride.
Clones work great for the price and are fun to tinker with. But the cool part about the 150 is the parts. The racks are already available. It is a proven farm bike. Around here that might convince some atv enthusiasts to switch over. The honda name is widely accepted in the farm community. I mostly ride big 4 bikes but have owned clones. So I find all of this interesting. If I organized a guided back country tour the honda might be a hoot for a rental fleet. The ride, experience and sights would be the priority. I would rather rent the honda over any clone or more performance oriented bikes. I kinda predict the 150 might be a fleet bike.
No doubt the Honda will be higher quality than the clone bikes. My problem with the Honda is that it's not that much lighter than my KLX250. It's 20 pounds heavier wet but that includes and extra gallon of gas. The seat is a bit lower and the bigger gas tank is nice but if wonder how well it will run if it comes with a carb. I think that price will be a big factor in how well it sells.
Easy access slide carb and roller cam followers will help big time. I think the 150 will be way more practical than a grom. But I agree..when comparing to xt, dr, klx and crf. It is a lame bike on paper with a proven track record. The whole mess is the price. I kinda would like to see a seperate dealer network for 250cc and less motorcycles only backed by mom and pop shops. Kinda crazy for the US market. The Philippines the 150 is $1800.....
These days all the Japanese 250-300cc dual sports are over 6K OTD. The CT125's are at least 5K OTD. I think as supply catches up to demand the price of the CT125s will come down. If they can sell the 150 for under $4,500 OTD or better yet under 4K, then it might sell pretty well. I don't see that happening. Honda dealers will charge all kinds of fees and jack up the price too high. I hope I'm wrong.
Maybe that is why fleet makes sense. 3 days and hanging with friends wherever and fly back home. The new adventure might be fly and ride 150s. Hey we all like ringing out under powered bikes.
I get the fun of a small underpowered bike. Back in the early 2000s I bought a TTR125 for my wife but ended up riding it more than she did. It was way too small for me but I still had a blast on it.
It is a lot lower which would make it much easier to ride for a beginner or someone with a short inseam. It will also be much less expensive. However, I get your point. It seems that the manufacturers don't make any effort to keep the weight down on their less expensive bikes. The KLX230 for example is only about 10 pounds lighter than the KLX250. Looking at the specs it should be a lot lighter. I see no reason the 150 shouldn't be closer to 250 pounds.
Slide carb that hangs off to the side should be easy enough to tune. My recent thought is a good sidecar setup with easy access. Then offer everyone in town a ride.. smiles and motorcycles can go a long way. Atv and golf carts are the choice around here.
