Replacement China racing bike;Sports or naked?

[prodigit]

So the Ninja 300 is out of the question.
Not only because of it's ridiculous price hike ($5500 it is now), but also because I just heard that it's a smaller bike than the following chinese bike, which is recommended for 6' riders (between 5'6" and 6'6").
And I happen to be almost perfectly between both, at my 6'3"!

So I'm looking around, and found these 2 bikes.
1: racing bike:
http://www.scooterdepot.us/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/330x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/m/c/mc_d250rtc.jpg

2: Naked bike:
http://www.scooterdepot.us/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/330x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/2/5/250rtc-800x800_1.jpg

The naked bike is $100 more. What draws me to it is the digital speedo:
http://www.scooterdepot.us/media/catalog/product/2/5/250rtc-22.jpg

compared to the analog speedo on the racing bike:
http://www.scooterdepot.us/media/catalog/product/m/c/mc_d250sx22.jpg


Both bikes have ~65MPH, ~70MPG.
I saw the vid, they are tuned for fast acceleration.
The racing bike has a 46T rear sprocket, which can easily be changed to a 36T. Doing so, should up the top speed from 65 to 80MPH, and the MPG from 70 to 90MPG (or 75 to 95MPG).

You think it's a good purchase, or should I remain with my MC-05-127 (which goes 60MPH already, and hits almost 100MPG), or still go with a Kawasaki Ninja 300?

[prodigit]

Seems like the naked bike gives a more upright-ish seating, so I might go for that one.
Any other $2k bikes you can recommend?

[Admin]

Naked all the way! :)

[prodigit]

I'm afraid I'll get bored of the naked bike quite quickly...

It's a nice looking bike, but I need something more. I don't want a gas hog, as many of the 500+ cc bikes waste more gas than my Chevrolet Cruze Eco.

The Kawasaki Ninja 300 gets ~48 MPG, which is strange, because the modified Honda Shadow VT750 I own, gets ~55MPG.
But with a sprocket change I can lower the kawasaki's RPMs and increase MPGs.
However I don't like the riding position of the racing bikes.

I wonder if there are any naked bikes with good engines and good gas mileage.
The Honda Grom is too expensive, and I need more. The GW250 seems like a good bike, 70MPG, but it's not very fast.
I guess I'll keep looking in the mean time.
The 127cc I have does quite a good job in regular traffic.

[epyon96r]

Naked, it has agressive mirrors too

[prodigit]

The mirrors are pretty much crap. I have them on my other bike too, and they're too small; albeit they are much further off center than on my current bike, so they might offer better viewing angles.

[Gimpdog]

Get the sport bike. If you scape up the plastic, you can get to ride a nekkid bike anyways, LOL!

[Firehawk989]

The naked bike could be more versatile. You could put some dual sport tires on it and do some light off roading if you're into that sorta thing.

[prodigit]

I went for the DongFang D250-RTC-B, the naked bike. Aside from the speedometer, it seems from the photo's that also the rear sprocket has changed. On the racing bike it's 46T, on the naked bike 42T (roughly estimated from counting the chain links).

That means that the naked bike out of the box is geared better too, most likely has a higher top speed, and higher fuel economy.
I have a similar bike, the MC-05-127, which had a similar gearing with a 41T rear sprocket, and I changed it to a 31T sprocket.
The bike now needs to really rev it to keep up with the faster accelerating cars, but it can (barely), and is a great econo bike at 100MPG.
I recently did a 150Mile trip on only $4 on gas!
I probably will gear the naked bike similarly.
It's double the cc's, pushing only 20% more weight (bike + rider), so it'll accelerate much better, while I estimate fuel economy would be able to be raised to ~85 to 95MPG. My aim is 100MPG on this naked bike, and I think I might even attain it, with the right gearing.
I've done all kinds of analyses, until I can actually perform the tests, and think that the gear change will be specifically aimed for my riding situation (suburbs 35-45MPH, with occasional 60MPH highway riding).


As far as the racing bike, I don't like the riding ergonomics (being ducked forward), and I don't like the fact that racing bikes are much more the target of thieves.
Once the stock tires wear out, I will try to replace them with higher profile tires, as the current tires seem too flat (they probably saved $1 on tires by making them low profile).

[Guest_3]

So this one makes you a 5 scooter[s] owner. :tup:

[jct842]

I would have gone with the naked one too. As far as having to rev and sproket size I would just get the bike broke in good along with some decent tires on it then determin if you need to change the sproket. On smaller bikes some will not reach top speed with a stock sproket and the bike with the 46 tooth might be a tad faster with the higher rpms from the different ratio. Way too many people get concerned with gas mileage on bikes. The difference between 60 and 70mpg isn't going to be more than a buck in a weeks worth of riding and maybe even a lot less.

[prodigit]

The thing is, when I change the sprocket to a smaller sprocket, I can attain the increase in MPG, AND gain top speed, in second to last gear.

If I go down from 42T to a 30T, acceleration from a dead stop will be a bit harder, but once moving, I can rev the bike higher, when I need to accelerate faster, and probably in 4th gear can get to the same gear ratio as the stock racing bike in 5th gear.

Right now, for two wheelers, I got:
1- Beach cruiser bike with 33cc 2stroke engine (moped)
2- TaoTao ATM50
3- TaoTao EVO150
4- Roketa MC-05-127
5- Honda VT750

I sold:
1- Extreme XB-700Li
2- BMS TBX260

And the MC-D250-TRC-B (naked bike) is probably arriving by next week.

I think I'm stepping down on scooters. Keep the ATM to do groceries, and keep the 127cc for now as a backup bike. The EVO I'll keep in case a friend of mine wants to do a ride, but doesn't have a ride. The 750cc I keep for longer distances.
I think I got all my bases covered, but if the 250cc naked bike proves reliable, then I might sell the 127cc. Too many tags becomes annoying.
I might also want to sell my beach cruiser, it's been rotting in the garden. With the scoot/motorcycle fleet like I have, there's no reason not to get rid of it.

[Gimpdog]

Nice set of scoots you got there, LOL!!!

[wheelbender6]

I'd get the sport bike. A naked bike is just a sport bike that's been crashed. Hyosung bikes fit taller riders better than their competitors. I'm not sure Hyosung is still importing 250s to the US.

[prodigit]

They are also double the price.
The naked bike is geared better than the racing bike, sits better and more comfy, and is less likely to be stolen. In Miami a lot of guys steal racing bikes.