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Mini Riders Legend
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To quote Thump*140 "Ok kiddies, grip your anuses", someones finally done a review on the Ciniworx CXZ175, even tho it arrived 3 weeks or so before the RevMX and Uncle Thump*140's review 
So for a start we already had some idea of how the zhonger175 would run thanks to Coolmodee01 and Eddie Cini having airfrieghted 2 to put into their bikes back in January, for those interested here is Coolie's thoughts on the engine in his build thread - http://www.miniriders.com.au/minibike-builds/26421-zongshen-175cc-install.html
First Impression:
as soon as i opened the box i simply couldn't wait to get thing running and go riding, i was very impressed with the fat bars deciding straight away to forgo the pro tapers and give the stock ones a good thrashing to see how they held up to it. Lots of RED, but i love the look of it still, though like many of us that buy a new bike we go looking for new sticker kits straight away, i am no exception, not that i've got one yet.
Engine:
Since i had already tried coolmodee's 175 i already knew what i could expect out of the engine and more since he has a keihin pe26mm fitted. Now having experienced the punch of the keihin i decided that i wouldn't take the OKO that Ed also offers with the CXZ figuring the On/Off delivery of power wouldn't suit my riding style.
With a 6-plate clutch, twin oil coolers, choice of carbies and ORK standard this bike will offer a great bike for the racer or trail rider alike. I believe there isn't a decomp cam fitted stock so i suggest using the proper method of kicking over the engine to get the longest life out of the beast. It should also be noted the ease with which the bike is kicked over, once past the first 'click' at TDC (Top Dead Centre) even with Rach88's measly 40 or so Kgs she kicks this bike over with very little effort.
After fueling up i was very impressed with the 5L fuel tank and that a reserve was there too, so with fuel filter fitted i kicked a couple of times and the beast ROARED to life.
Frame:
The most notable part of the frame for me has been the rear sub frame that runs almost to the end of the rear guard. Thanks to DVDrip's my bike has been flipped and i can attest to the advantages as the rear guard not only didn't break but also i can see no apparent weak spots on it from creasing or bending of the guard. Also no damage to the muffler was done thanks to the length of the frame.
VERY solidly mounted pegs are a big plus too as I've seen other linkage style bikes with a marked weakness in the peg mounting, for me this is extremely important for my 100+ kgs. The billet triples should also be noted for strength in the front end.
The accurate chain adjustment increments will take the guess work out of it, a big plus for me.
The tank is also well mounted without the noticeable side to side movement common on the crf style bikes.
Suspension:
The Weston forks fitted to the CXZ are a quality unit fitted to many Ciniworx models a proven performer that's been punished by riders of all shapes and sizes. I've found these forks to perform very well even with the stock fork oil, but can still be improved further either out of the box or when the seals need doing eventually. Further improvements can be made by adding aftermarket air bleeders to the top of the fork legs.
The FastAce rear shock comes with a 400lb spring which I've found suits my weight perfectly. Initially i rode with the compression settings fully soft and found it not bad, with some help the compression now runs towards the middle of the range, but have yet to really play rebound and preload. After finding that nice setup of the Hi/Lo speed compression the bike tracks straight and true over short sharp stutters or big whooped out ones.
Ergos:
The ergonomics on the bike are outstanding straight out of the box. The "bars-seat-pegs" ratio makes any riding position very comfortable whether your over the bars, off the back of the seat or neutral in both standing and sitting positions.
For me the most noticeable and best part of the bike was the width of the seat. My last bike was a Motovert on which my knees would touch long before i touched the seat with my legs, leaving only my ankles holding the bike on the engine cases. Now with this bike I get great grip on the seat and my legs still feel almost vertical when standing up owing to the still fairly narrow pegs.
Other:
The brakes are simply amazing on this bike, the twin piston with a 220mm front disc combined with the larger reservoir is almost too much stopping power especially in wet weather. The rear single piston 190mm disc is just as good with not much over an inch travel to get a fully locked up rear, this caused many stalls for me coming from an underslung rear brake lever. There is still a high degree of feel when using both brakes and with this new bike I have no trouble using one finger for the front brake. The stock ASV style levers offer reach adjustment to suit all riders and have yet to snap or bend on me despite a fair number of stacks I've had. Since I bent the rear brake lever on my last bike after a stack I also purchased a 'brake snake' to guard against doing the same with this bike.
The stock grips are the Renthal-style half waffle grips that i have had before I liked the feel of the pro taper pillow tops on coolmodee's bike better so I purchased some straight away.
While not quite as comprehensive as the RevMX's spares kit Ciniworx does offer a spares kit with the bike including rimlocks, tubes, unifilter, teeshirt, hat and stickers. For those that get the OKO 26mm carby instead of the molkt I believe the carb comes with its own spares or is tuned already.
In Summary:
Some might say that linkage isn't everything but I wouldn't go back. This bike has improved all aspects of my riding and the linkage is a huge part of that keeping the power down over all terrain. The 175cc's is rest of it especially with the molkt carbies smoother power delivery, but very soon I'll be keen to upgrade to the punch of the keihin particularly if i want to challenge and oko fitted 175's on the track.
Since there are still many out there that like the extra stability and whatever else you get out of big wheels (cheater wheels- 17inch front and 14inch rear) Eddie has organised with the manufacturer to have a larger swingarm built to accommodate them. I imagine that one will be sent over for some testing as is the norm for all Ciniworx models, except this CXZ175 model. That's due to the first linkage frame tested (the YX) not being up to scratch in a few departments, bad linkage ratio and pegs snapping off the frame to name a couple.
Now to some of the issues I've had:
The fuel cap like the RevMX was machined without enough width in the thread and tho i never experienced any fuel leakage it was replaced at no cost.
The original kick starter after a ride or two turned past 90 degrees at the elbow this fault may be just on my bike but is worth checking anyway, again this was replaced at no charge (see picture below). Though i continued to find issues with this type of kick starter bending them either from gripping with my legs and bending it towards the bike or bending because i kick too hard and bend it when it hits the stop when kicking over the bike. I believe the fault lays with me either way and i just had to buy a billet kick starter to solve this. I believe I also bent Thump*140's when i rode his when we did the comparison ride day, though that wasn't a stock one either i think.
The gear lever i killed on the first ride, again my fault because i have a heavy foot when i change gears to make sure I get the gear. Coolie has the same issue with these levers but none of the other guys i ride with have chewed the teeth out on their levers so it seems to be our own fault.
The tyre pressure was something i didn't check when putting the bike together and only recently found they had around 28psi in them, a bit high but with no rimlocks fitted 20-25psi wont rip valves out.
now for some piccies
So for a start we already had some idea of how the zhonger175 would run thanks to Coolmodee01 and Eddie Cini having airfrieghted 2 to put into their bikes back in January, for those interested here is Coolie's thoughts on the engine in his build thread - http://www.miniriders.com.au/minibike-builds/26421-zongshen-175cc-install.html
First Impression:
as soon as i opened the box i simply couldn't wait to get thing running and go riding, i was very impressed with the fat bars deciding straight away to forgo the pro tapers and give the stock ones a good thrashing to see how they held up to it. Lots of RED
, but i love the look of it still, though like many of us that buy a new bike we go looking for new sticker kits straight away, i am no exception, not that i've got one yet.Engine:
Since i had already tried coolmodee's 175 i already knew what i could expect out of the engine and more since he has a keihin pe26mm fitted. Now having experienced the punch of the keihin i decided that i wouldn't take the OKO that Ed also offers with the CXZ figuring the On/Off delivery of power wouldn't suit my riding style.
With a 6-plate clutch, twin oil coolers, choice of carbies and ORK standard this bike will offer a great bike for the racer or trail rider alike. I believe there isn't a decomp cam fitted stock so i suggest using the proper method of kicking over the engine to get the longest life out of the beast. It should also be noted the ease with which the bike is kicked over, once past the first 'click' at TDC (Top Dead Centre) even with Rach88's measly 40 or so Kgs she kicks this bike over with very little effort.
After fueling up i was very impressed with the 5L fuel tank and that a reserve was there too, so with fuel filter fitted i kicked a couple of times and the beast ROARED to life.
Frame:
The most notable part of the frame for me has been the rear sub frame that runs almost to the end of the rear guard. Thanks to DVDrip's my bike has been flipped and i can attest to the advantages as the rear guard not only didn't break but also i can see no apparent weak spots on it from creasing or bending of the guard. Also no damage to the muffler was done thanks to the length of the frame.
VERY solidly mounted pegs are a big plus too as I've seen other linkage style bikes with a marked weakness in the peg mounting, for me this is extremely important for my 100+ kgs. The billet triples should also be noted for strength in the front end.
The accurate chain adjustment increments will take the guess work out of it, a big plus for me
.The tank is also well mounted without the noticeable side to side movement common on the crf style bikes.
Suspension:
The Weston forks fitted to the CXZ are a quality unit fitted to many Ciniworx models a proven performer that's been punished by riders of all shapes and sizes. I've found these forks to perform very well even with the stock fork oil, but can still be improved further either out of the box or when the seals need doing eventually. Further improvements can be made by adding aftermarket air bleeders to the top of the fork legs.
The FastAce rear shock comes with a 400lb spring which I've found suits my weight perfectly. Initially i rode with the compression settings fully soft and found it not bad, with some help the compression now runs towards the middle of the range, but have yet to really play rebound and preload. After finding that nice setup of the Hi/Lo speed compression the bike tracks straight and true over short sharp stutters or big whooped out ones.
Ergos:
The ergonomics on the bike are outstanding straight out of the box. The "bars-seat-pegs" ratio makes any riding position very comfortable whether your over the bars, off the back of the seat or neutral in both standing and sitting positions.
For me the most noticeable and best part of the bike was the width of the seat. My last bike was a Motovert on which my knees would touch long before i touched the seat with my legs, leaving only my ankles holding the bike on the engine cases. Now with this bike I get great grip on the seat and my legs still feel almost vertical when standing up owing to the still fairly narrow pegs.
Other:
The brakes are simply amazing on this bike, the twin piston with a 220mm front disc combined with the larger reservoir is almost too much stopping power especially in wet weather. The rear single piston 190mm disc is just as good with not much over an inch travel to get a fully locked up rear, this caused many stalls for me coming from an underslung rear brake lever. There is still a high degree of feel when using both brakes and with this new bike I have no trouble using one finger for the front brake. The stock ASV style levers offer reach adjustment to suit all riders and have yet to snap or bend on me despite a fair number of stacks I've had. Since I bent the rear brake lever on my last bike after a stack I also purchased a 'brake snake' to guard against doing the same with this bike.
The stock grips are the Renthal-style half waffle grips that i have had before I liked the feel of the pro taper pillow tops on coolmodee's bike better so I purchased some straight away.
While not quite as comprehensive as the RevMX's spares kit Ciniworx does offer a spares kit with the bike including rimlocks, tubes, unifilter, teeshirt, hat and stickers. For those that get the OKO 26mm carby instead of the molkt I believe the carb comes with its own spares or is tuned already.
In Summary:
Some might say that linkage isn't everything but I wouldn't go back. This bike has improved all aspects of my riding and the linkage is a huge part of that keeping the power down over all terrain. The 175cc's is rest of it especially with the molkt carbies smoother power delivery, but very soon I'll be keen to upgrade to the punch of the keihin particularly if i want to challenge and oko fitted 175's on the track.
Since there are still many out there that like the extra stability and whatever else you get out of big wheels (cheater wheels- 17inch front and 14inch rear) Eddie has organised with the manufacturer to have a larger swingarm built to accommodate them. I imagine that one will be sent over for some testing as is the norm for all Ciniworx models, except this CXZ175 model. That's due to the first linkage frame tested (the YX) not being up to scratch in a few departments, bad linkage ratio and pegs snapping off the frame to name a couple.
Now to some of the issues I've had:
The fuel cap like the RevMX was machined without enough width in the thread and tho i never experienced any fuel leakage it was replaced at no cost.
The original kick starter after a ride or two turned past 90 degrees at the elbow this fault may be just on my bike but is worth checking anyway, again this was replaced at no charge (see picture below). Though i continued to find issues with this type of kick starter bending them either from gripping with my legs and bending it towards the bike or bending because i kick too hard and bend it when it hits the stop when kicking over the bike. I believe the fault lays with me either way and i just had to buy a billet kick starter to solve this. I believe I also bent Thump*140's when i rode his when we did the comparison ride day, though that wasn't a stock one either i think.
The gear lever i killed on the first ride, again my fault because i have a heavy foot when i change gears to make sure I get the gear. Coolie has the same issue with these levers but none of the other guys i ride with have chewed the teeth out on their levers so it seems to be our own fault.
The tyre pressure was something i didn't check when putting the bike together and only recently found they had around 28psi in them, a bit high but with no rimlocks fitted 20-25psi wont rip valves out.
now for some piccies
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