Cpi SM250 test ride
After 830km’s track and road riding
Tracks:
GAMFA/TIS
TSR
RKS
Acceleration:
Great, low-rev torque, the power comes right on through delivering immediately with the sweetest power between 6000 and 8000RPM
Speed:
Good, enough to get you in trouble quickly In busy city traffic and certainly brisk enough for longer distances. I took the bike for a Dynotest and it produced 19.5hp at 7980 RPM reaching 130.17km/h in 21.65 seconds
Uphill climb:
Don’t even feel the hills the bikes power is great.
Roll-on:
Excellent, even high gear roll-ons at low speed produce instant power, making quick overtaking maneuvers a breeze.
Emergency Braking:
When I made it slide it felt perfectly poised. Stoppie/Endo difficult to do with the two piston front calipers, did it on a converted bike with 6 piston calipers though and it handles very well. Had a situation when the car in front of me went for a turn then changed his mind and stopped right in front of me, I hit the back brake and geared down twice, the bike slid into the evasive turn and then I powered around the car, it was very easy to do with this light and nimble bike.
Corner Braking:
Absolutely great even with the standard equipment I was setting good times on the track trail breaking toward the apex.
Low speed balance:
Very good, the bike is well balanced and the riding position makes control very easy. Nice and narrow to fit through traffic.
Lean Angle:
Leans all the way comfortably till the footpegs are scraping the track, I have in fact worn out my left footpeg completely recommend footpeg sliders for the track
Low speed turn (balance):
Very good, easy to handle through its lightweight and upright riding position
High speed turn (stability):
Good, but not terrific, you have to work to keep control on the standard suspension if you hit a bump because this is not a race bike it will bounce and flex a bit but otherwise it is very forgiving if you get the line wrong and need to correct.
Comfort suspension:
Excellent, when you get on the bike you will notice the suspension compresses easily both front and rear which gave me cause for concern however while riding I could feel the road beneath me which gave me a feeling of confidence while at the same time the bumps and holes in the road caused no discomfort, which is very important for me as I suffer from back injuries sustained over many years of racing and riding.
Comfort seat:
Good for about 150km’s then after that asspain begins, but that is true of every bike I have ridden from superbikes to scooters, you want a great long ride seat, get a Corbin.
Comfort riding position:
The riding position is upright and as such some people may feel discomfort over longer distances from spine compression, however as stated before the suspension is very forgiving so that will be a mitigating factor. I have ridden up to 200km’s on one day and still had no discomfort in my back.
Comfort space:
Very spacious and comfortable, I am nearly 6ft, and am not comfortable on small bikes, full steering lock on scooters bruises my knees and the smallest bike I feel moderately ok on is a 400cc superports. This bike while smaller and less intimidating than the DRZ400 is still large enough to be comfortable. The ride height gives great visibility.
Buttons positioning:
Convenient and well positioned with easy access while riding.
Storage:
None at all except a very small compartment under the seat that has a small tool kit that comes with the bike.
Visibility mirrors:
The standard position of the mirrors is nonsense you cant see a thing and your hand touches the mirror very easily, this is easily resolved by simply rotating the two pieces of the mirror mount round and reconfiguring the way it stands on the mounts and suddenly you have higher mirrors that can see more and don’t touch your hands.
Visibility night:
Very good lights.
Sound:
Great noisy thumper, not super loud but loud enough that scooters and cars knew I was there and moved out of my way, a great safety factor.
Gauges:
A digital job with bar and number tacho, speed and total distance readout with Lap timer, average speed, Trip distance and clock all accessed by a button near the right thumb, lights along the edges for the standard information include neutral, lights, high beam oil pressure/service and temperature. Backlit in Blue when the lights are on is a nice touch. However no fuel gauge.
Clutch:
Easy to pull clutch releasing immediately from initial position at the grip which made it difficult to handle the clutch two-fingered, but this has been remedied with an adjustment. Gave it some power and slipped the clutch and up it went for a wheelie.
Gears:
Small motions get the gears selected with the solid click of a new gearbox giving you the feeling of a quality gearbox, when looking for first gear on most bikes you will feel that the you cannot select a further lower gear because the gear pedal will not depress again and so you know you have reached first however on this bike however when you reach first gear the pedal will still depress to the same degree as if you were in any other higher gear so you get an ambiguous sensation and cannot be sure that you have reached 1st.
Conclusion:
I really like this bike its handling and power are competent of a 4-stroke 250 (however, I believe I could be wrong, not in the same league as the Japanese supermotos, but its also not in the same price range as those bikes and so cannot be directly compared), it is in a civil state of tune but That SM250 that’s been winning races.... I met the rider the mechanic and rode the bike on the track....and...oh my god! That thing is freakin fast!!! Its all down to the NT30k Carburettor he put on the thing, he also removed the airbox and put on a European spec pipe, but his power comes from the carb (which he says is a bitch to keep correctly tuned), so no doubt his bike is thirsty as hell and warranty invalidated, but the potential in that motor is clear, helluva fast!! So when you think you have mastered the stock bike (which is no slouch) you still got a long way to go to unleash the monster beneath. He recommends for general use to put a different carb from the one he has that costs only around 5k and is less temperamental.
Basically for a white plate Taiwan built (so easy to maintain and get parts) at 98k all in it’s a great city commuter as well as short distance touring bike that can have fun at the track using low revs so limiting engine abuse and I believe with a quick swap of wheels you can have a great time off-road or on the beach. CPI has told me that during the period while the SX is still undergoing homologation they will be offering a special price for a package of the front and rear wheel assemblies from the SX model, this will give you two bikes for the price of one. The price of this package is as yet undecided.
$NT98 000 cash including licensing and insurance.
$NT103 000 financed over 6 to 12 months
Some points of interest:
Run-in limits from CPI engineers:
The recommended RPM limit is 8000RPM in run-in period, the suggested timing for gear changing is :
1st to 2nd : 20km/h
2nd to 3rd : 35km/h
3rd to 4th : 50km/h
4th to 5th : 70km/h
5th to 6th : 95km/h
The first service light comes on at 300k's that’s for the first oil change, next one is at 1000 then 1000k oil changes after and oil filter change at 5000km.
Seat gets uncomfortable after 150k's solid riding, I'm considering getting my seat customised cause I do intend to spend many hours in the saddle.
Around NT200 (around 7 litres from reserve) to fill the tank with 92 octane, Reserve to reserve NT150 of 92 got me 118km’s on road riding and NT200 on the track got me 78km’s but have to refill after 70km’s or you get dry gulps from, the carb when coming out of a corner after braking hard on the way in..
CPI tells me that a full tank of 9 litres will get 200km's
The rear brake sensor was malfunctioning so the brake light was permanently on so we disconnected it till a new part came (3 days) so I wouldn’t burn out the Led brake light.
Very soon after I started riding the bike I noticed that the front wheel and the back wheel were buckled I am convinced that the buckling is caused by a material defect or if it was buckled before I received it by someone riding it with too low pressure and I just didn't notice, because I have ridden the bike the same way for 830km now and no new areas on the wheel have buckled.
CPI is currently sending me a new rear wheel to test. And strange though it may seem the buckle on the front wheel has vanished.
CPI will be making an in depth examination of the rear wheel however to ascertain the cause of the buckle in the rear wheel and have assured me that this is the first such failure in 30 bikes that have been running in testing.
The exhaust pipe has a very efficient inward tilt to improve aerodynamics but a side effect is that it cooks the edge of the license plate, I have raised this issue with CPI who assure me that they will be resolving this problem by the time the first bikes roll out to the dealers
I had a small crash and there is some damage on the right hand grip and the rear brake pedal which was pushed up and scratched the engine cover on that side,
I am considering a solution to stop that damage if the bike falls (Hand guards to protect the handlebar and axle sliders and an engine cover to protect the pedals and engine casing). But I am very impressed by the way the bike handled the fall without any big problem, I came into the pits kicked the brake pedal back down into position and went right on riding.
Also footpeg sliders are an absolute must have item to protect the footpegs, since in the SM style of riding on the racetrack it is normal for the footrests to slide on the asphalt you can see it going round the track at the bottom of the page and here are some pics of the resultant footpeg sliding
None of these things are showstoppers, its a great ride for the money and in fact is priced too low, get them quick because the prices are due to rise considering the worldwide increases in production costs, I really love it.
