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Took delivery the other day and this is based on initial impressions and assembly. Total of 30 min driving time. Context: we bought two Chinese imports, a Geely 50cc, at the same time. IT is easy to compare between the two machines on assembly at least. My daughter needs one for campus driving (50cc) and I was looking for something a little more powerful (250cc).
What I am going to say about the Geely may surprise some of you, I was impressed with this bike. It isn\'t my cup of tea as it is too small, but I think they have mastered part of the ownership experience that some of the other manufacturers haven\'t realized. Geely had a number of good points over the luxury cruiser when it came to assembly.
BOTH machines were internet purchases and there was no local dealer involved.
Machines came about a week apart. The Geely we had to pay an extra $99 for residential delivery, the RX260 included this in the tot price. Neither truck service (we had two different ones as these came from different internet vendors) included a lift gate. Added cost for the RX260 to get liftgate (from UPS trucking service \"Overnight\" was $69). As the RX260 weighs 300 lbs, we elected to have extra help and got it off with 3 men and did \"fair\" - I rented a \"ramp.\" This was a good idea as these trucks (neither) had a ramp. Absolutely silly, a ramp is min equipment.
Geely we rolled right in the garage after ripping the crate. Not the RX260.
Shipping crate - Geely was in a wood crate, RX260 came in a cardboard crate with front wheel off. Geely had both wheels on. RX260 didn\'t. I was surprised to say the least as the front wheel had a disk brake and I was a bit concerned about the complexity of the installation. Instructions were completely missing on assembly, user manual was generic. Called the dealer and was referred to another web site for assembly guidance. I was ticked a bit. I don\'t like surpises. Vendor\'s web site said nothing about front wheel installation. This was a very poor business practice and just turned me sour right away. Initial impressions are important and this wasn\'t good.
The instruction for the front wheel had no diagram, only text. Like I said, I had to call and get the web address for where the instructions were. Especially concerned about torque applied to the axle nut, no specifications were listed.
Another point. The Geely had NO SCRATCHES, the fit and finish were excellent! The RX260 had about 3 places where paint was rubbed off or abrasive action in the factory during assembly caused a blemish. The vinyl on the bike was also scratched in 2 places and it wasn\'t clean (dusty or something - didn\'t look new). Again, Geely wins out.
Popped the seat up, first thing noted was the poor latch assembly for the seat at the rear. This is really evident until closing - one needs to \"slam\" the read aspect of the seat to get it to catch. I will try and work with fine tuning it later.
Battery installation uneventful, although electrolytes needed to be added. The Geely battery was sealed and needed no liquid added. RX260 wasn\'t hard, again expected the battery to be at least as easy as Geely but it went in OK.
RX260 has no kickstart, only electric button under the throttle. Geely had kickstart, electric, and remote! Geely also had a security alarm. There was no remote or security on the RX260 despite the higher cost. Interesting. The remote start is really nice, wish I had it on the RX260.
In the Geely, start up was simple. This is a 2-stroke, so I installed the injector oil and gassed it up. Started with absolutely no problem. All modes worked perfectly - kick, electric switch, and remote.
Now, ready to hear about the RX260? It was a catastrophe.
We gassed it up the RX260, checked the oil. What more is there to do? Battery works, starter turned over (you must clutch the rear brake level on all electric starts). Nope, didn\'t run. Popped the plastic under the seat so I could see the carb. There in front of me was a gas filter with a dangling fuel line.
What happened? During the quality check in the factory, they hook up an external fuel tank to test the engine. Well, it must have passed. But so much for the quality tech, he (or she) never hooked up the fuel line so the machine was getting gas. Personally, my opinion, if the quality check person would have left the bike alone it would have been fine.
To make a long story short, tech support guided me and I was not able to resolve the problem. Why? It was more complex as the quality check person changed some of the vent tubes on the carb. I got lost. The vendor offered to pay 50% for a professional to look at it, but where? I live in Iowa, no dealer. I am not talented in this area and needed help.
After securing my own assistance (this could have been very, very difficult including loading on a trailer etc), we had a tech come out to the house. He fixed the problem in about 10 minutes (off-duty Honda mechanic). Eventually we were up and running and after 2 days I got a test drive finally.
Now, back to assembly. User has to install a plastic windshield, mirrors, and a optional cargo trunk. I got no instructions on the windshield. Had to disassemble the front plastic molding. There were no bolts included, had to go the hardware store to get M6 metric ones to secure windshield into the welded metal frame. Fit and finish were poor. Very poor. I know it could have been my fault as I said I am not a mechanic, but I found what should have been a simple task very frustrating again. The Geely had no windshield.
Mirrors next. Geely mirrors went right on my daughter\'s bike. Mine didn\'t. Wrong bolt size. Since it was welded, the bolt couldn\'t be removed. Back to the dealer to call and ask for a replacement. Stock mirrors were not adjustable, the new ones sent with the right bolt size were. Again, wait time for the mirrors.
Cargo trunk installation uneventful. The same problem though with the latch as what I described earlier on the seat. Wouldn\'t catch. Yes, I know they are tricky as my daughter\'s bike bike has a similar cargo bin. In fact, they look identical except for the color. Nope, different \"subcontractor\" there on this item. Greely cargo trunk latches fine. Mine doesn\'t.
Other misc problems. I still don\'t know how to check fluid level in the radiator. I figured out how to check the fluid level for the brakes, but I didn\'t get help from the manual. In examining the radiator cap, it is located under the seat. Guess what? You have to take off about 3 pieces of plastic to get to the radiator cap - it is half covered and you can\'t get it off without all of the other pieces being removed. Poor design. Really.
OK, I won\'t comment on the ride and performance here as the two machines are very different. This was a review about assembly only.
Does anyone have any experiences with the RX260 assembly? Was yours in better shape than mine on delivery (trucked, not dealer setup so we are comparing apples to apples).
Thanks. Ken Culp
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