How hard to put together?

[Myth]

Awesome!!!  Well congrats on the working bike Zyphilin and welsome to the womderful world of riding!

[choylifutsoccer]

Are you going to buy a replacement? The dipstick is practically useless in my opinion..it's never accurate..

[ILL CLICK ENT]

The dipstick is practically useless in my opinion..it's never accurate..

I agree. Z, did u have ins? If so good riding.

[Zyphlin]

ScooterDynasty sent me a replacement dipstick, though I've heard it was rather useless anyways.

I took a long time to send in my VIN to ScooterDynasty as I didn't feel rushed with needing to get it fixed before I could drive it. I'm bad about getting things done timely if there's not some pressure So no insurance or tags yet.

However I got to ride it around the parking lot today of my apartment complex. Its a nice place, with a lot of room around most speed bumps if I want to go around, windy portions of it, and pretty little kid activity in most places. Its a nice place to get some practice. I'm still EXTREMELY new with this so it helps to have a place to get used to the bike. I really really have to get used to the friction zone on this bike, as I had problems with that when I was going through my class. Had a tendancy to stall out. I've never even done a stick shift on a Car so its rather new to me.

One issue. I thought I smealt something like a burnt smell when I got off today. Faint, and not exactly burnt, but it just didn't smell all that right. At the same time too, I did notice a bit of steam coming off the front of the bike at one point while riding (however it was rather brisk out and I only noticed it a moment, figure it could've just been the heat of the engine).

Would either of those things be out of the norm?

[choylifutsoccer]

For the first 100 to 200 miles, there will be a burning smell after you ride. I think this is normal and part of the break-in process.

[Myth]

Yeah Z, all that smell is is some oil and grease buring off.  I wouldn't worry about it.  The sight glass is the only way to go for checking your oil.  It's fast and easy.

This is the first bike I've ever rode, but I have tons of experience in standard cars.  Hell, I hate driving automatics.    And I started in a school parking lot and driving around a small town.  But since you are so new Z, be careful when down shifting.  Luckily when the rear tire breaks loose, it has a tendency to stay behind you.  Just don't down shift when cornering.  I'm sure you heard that in the class, but I wanna assure you that it's a bad idea.

[ILL CLICK ENT]

yes, please downshift before cornering. you have more control. take ur time. the most important thing is never, never, never panic. u freeze up and twist the throttle and then its an e.r. visit.

[Zyphlin]

Thanks for the info and the advise!

Good to know the smell wasn't anything I did.

Yeah, shifting has been an issue for me on the  bike I had in my class. For some reason I would hit Neutral instead of 2nd 50% of the time I tried to upshift on the bike there. Though so far on riding this one I've not had issues shifting up to 2nd, which has made me happy.

The throttle is a LOT more sensitive though. It seems like if I let off it just a bit it c ompletley tries to go to a near stop. That'll take some getting used to.

They did mention not to downshift in a turn, though had us upshifting at times. Frankly I'm so nervous about shifting and getting it right I wouldn't want to try it at that point anyways.

Question. On the bike I road in training the gear shift pedal would noticably not move as much when you were all the way down in first gear and tried to push down, or all the way up in top gear and tried to push up. For some reason it doesn't feel like that's the case on the Zongshen? Am i right aobut this or just didn't have it in place right.

Thanks for all the help from you all, its really appreciated. I guess one more question. When shifting, when in general do you do it? Do you stay in or go in 1st gear much at all, or do you hit up to 2nd quick? What's your normal gear for cruising at about 40 MPH? Thankfully most of my driving will be between 25 and 40 MPH, 45 probably max, as I stay mostly around my town at first. I can go the back way to work to avoid going on rt 28 up here in northern Va which is always busy and about 60 is the average speed. Don't want to touch that till I'm fully comfortable.

[Myth]

Okay Z, I can answer at least one of you "?'s".  I can do 35mph in fifth gear though that's low reving it a little.  Fourth gear should be able to handle the average driving speedy that without making you shift a lot.  If you were running in fifth gear you'd wanna down shift to go 25mph.  As far as shifting is concerned, I shift around 4-5k RPM's as a rule.  6k RPM in high gear will get you 50mph or so and 7k RPM will get you around 60mph in high gear.  Between 9-10k RPM will get you around 80mph.  6k in fourth gear will get you around 40mph.  If you are going to be holding 40mph for a while, then you don't wanna go on and shift.  Hopefully that helps some.