The 30,000 Mile Fleet

[kz1000st]

This past Saturday I had the chance to take a reasonably longish ride on the CF Moto Fashion 250. It pushed my Chinese fleet mileage, finally, to over 30,000 miles. The Fashion just hummed and ate up the 156 mile trip. I did the whole ride without stopping, It's that comfortable.

In the last ten thousand miles some things have become evident pertaining to my fleet and Chinese scooters in general from those years. It has become clear to me that during the surge in gas prices in the 2008 year, and the increased buying of Chinese scooters, that some aspects of quality were compromised. My 2008 150cc had a bad weld in the exhaust pipe that blocked up about 1/3 of the diameter. It led to overheating in the cylinder head and valve spring breakage. My 2009 Fashion has had a few metal parts break that I find quite perplexing. It broke a transmission shaft soon after I got it, but the replacement is doing fine 13,000 miles later. Recently the swing arm bracket that holds the muffler in place had a large piece break away with the muffler now being held in place in three spots instead of four. A replacement is waiting to be put on. Last month I started hearing an exhaust leak noise that is coming from a hole in the muffler. There was light rust but it almost looks like a thin spot in the metal simply burned through from the heat of long rides between my house and Danbury, CT. I also have a replacement muffler in waiting.

The 2009 Cub clone has been almost flawless by comparison and just continues to amaze me. Occasionally I have to tighten a few nuts and bolts rattled loose by engine vibration but that's it. I'll let you know in 10,000 more miles how the fleet continues to fare.

[wheelbender6]

Well done, KZ. Is the Cub a 110cc?

[kz1000st]

No, it's only 50cc with a four speed semi-automatic. I've had it up to 50 mph on a level road and the thing has been as reliable as anything Japanese.