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CSC RX3

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Jack Giesecke

Jack Giesecke

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First Name
Jack
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Saw reference to this in a thread and googled it. Is it chinese manufacture? Sure has the trappings, importer with no dealer network, unreal low price. Might be great bikes, might, but with no chance of parts in the future, I'd pass basing it on my 2004 Diamo which is hard to find parts for.

Just wondering.
 
Well, CSC ( California Scooter Company) is the importer and they have been around for a while.
Higher grade Chinese construction, the fuel injection system used is American.
I know of at least three here in the forum.
 
I've never seen one but the reviews I've read and posting on forums all have been very favorable. Especially for the price point. And all seem to like CSC as a company.
 
Cutting out the middle man(Dealers)helps bring the cost down.
All parts are available in house in Asuza,Ca home office CSC.
A knowledgeable staff and professional enthusiasts is how I would describe CSC.
They appear to be in it for the long haul.
This ain't your Grandpa's Chinese bike.
China is a country not a manufacturer is a quote I like.
Emphasis is shifted to hands on owners with CSC tutorials
To help in the routine maintenance.
Zongshen reportedly produces 1 million bikes/motors a year
(400k motorcycles and 600k engines)
One North American Zongshen owner has over 60k miles on his dual-sport.
Basically they own the current market as they have no competition
In the mini adventure bike market.
I think we will soon see smaller adventure bikes showing up
From the other manufacturers.
Riders want a sub 400 lb.adventure bike.
 
inroads said:
... Riders want a sub 400 lb.adventure bike.
Click to expand...

Really?
Then why is the KTM640Adv no longer in production? :shrug:

Make Model
KTM 640 LC4 Adventure

Year
1999

Engine
Liquid Cooled, four stroke, single Cylinder. SOHC, 4 Valve per cylinder,

Capacity
625
Bore x Stroke 101 X 78 mm
Compression Ratio 11.5:1

Induction
Mikuni BST 40

Ignition / Starting
Kokusan Electronic Digital / kick & electric

Max Power
49 hp 35.7 kW @ 7500 rpm

Max Torque
52 Nm @ 5500 rpm

Transmission / Drive
5 Speed / chain

Front Suspension
48mm WP upside-down forks, 270mm wheel travel

Rear Suspension
WP monoshock, 310mm wheel travel

Front Brakes
Single 300mm disc 4piston caliper

Rear Brakes
Single 220mm disc 1 piston caliper

Front Tyre
90/90-21

Rear Tyre
130/80-16
Seat Height 945 mm / 37.2 in

Dry Weight
154 kg

Fuel Capacity
28 Litres
Click to expand...
 
And what was MSRP on the KTM? And what was the dealer network like in 1999?
 
Maybe we should reclassify as the affordable Adventure Touring category.That would eliminate the LC4 for the most part....Affordable,Touring and seat height kills the LC4 right out of the gate...Beyond the major price difference between the LC4 and RX3 ...Seat height is a major problem for so many dual sports.
Also the RX3 comes with turn key out of the box touring accessories:
 
Last edited:
Chirpy said:
And what was MSRP on the KTM? And what was the dealer network like in 1999?
Click to expand...

Irrelevant - what're they going for NOW? I gave $3500 for my 2001 and the '98 was FREE (not counting the 1900mi drive to get it, one way! :giveup: :lol2:) Without digging, I think MSRP in 1999 was probably abt $6K, based on the 625SMC that was $7839.48 OTD in 2006.

The 640A was produced up until 2007; 1999 just happened to be the year that popped up when I Googled for specs.

No clue what the KTM dealer network was like in 1999 but I'd bet a paycheck it was waaay more robust than one outfit in CA! (Note that I don't actually get a paycheck so my offer is more-or-less moot.) :mrgreen:
 
From the ADV thread, it does sound like CSC does this the right way - they have all parts in stock in California - you don't wait for the parts to ship from China. The parts are also really inexpensive. The people who have visited say that they could likely assemble a couple of fully complete bikes with the parts they have on hand.

Given that they have been around a while, I'm not too concerned that CSC will disappear tomorrow - my only real concern would be if they can successfully scale up their operations as they get more popular (which the RX3 and their new dual sport seem to be driving). I'd hate to see them fail because of their success, as seems to happen to a fair chunk of these really good customer service companies as they grow. It's hard to provide the same individual customer service when the customer pool keeps growing, and a lot of companies don't make the transition from 1 or 2 really good people to 10-15 good people backed up by the 1 or 2 really good people.

Supposedly they are working to build almost the exact same bike with a 450 (the same 450 Christini uses in their AWD bikes now). I could see myself being really interested in that one. A 250 wouldn't be bad for FM roads and dirt roads, but I end up on 70-75mph highways for an hour at a time, and I personally would want a little more engine.
 
inroads said:
... seat height kills the LC4 right out of the gate...Beyond the major price difference between the LC4 and RX3 ...Seat height is a major problem for so many dual sports. ...
Click to expand...

Tell that to Gaston Rahier!

(Note that I have nothing against the RX3 except that "they" stole the name from Mazda. I'm just a bit leery of jumping on the wagon of something so unproven.)
 

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I'm gonna look out for the 450.

Having worked on alot of Chinese ATVs, I can honestly say that MOST of their bad-rap comes from two issues--- (the second of which is slightly complex, so bare with me)

First is parts support. Plain and simple. That and dealer networks. I'm sure if you buy brand X atv for you kid, you can acquire parts for the next year or less. Problem comes when that retailer quits dealing that brand (think Tractor Supply, Atwoods etc. They can get parts for what they're currently selling...right up until they start selling something else). Like I said, it takes 6 months to a year before they've moved on to some OTHER Chinese atv brand, largely because most "dealers" arent selling just power sports stuff. They can be had online, sometimes, but always ship from china. The websites to order them are always kinda sketchy to read as well. The weak parts support means alot of shade tree fixes that are band-aids at best.

This next issue I'll try to put as delicately as possible. Understand these examples are NOT ALWAYS TRUE.... When someone decides to get junior his first ATV, or little dirt bike, they have 2 choices. Japanese, or Chinese (or European, but for the sake of argument). They can spend upwards of $2000 for something, or they can buy the comparable Chinese brand for a fraction of the price.

Imagine this.... You just paid 2 grand for a tiny little dirtbike for the kiddo. That's a big investment. You're going to protect it as best as possible by keeping it clean, cleaning the air filter clean, keeping the oil changed, and when something breaks, stopping by the dealer, or ordering the part from RMATV. Easy peasy. The guys that are serious about bikes buy the "good stuff" and take care of it line someone who is serious about bikes would.

The next guy was going into Tractor Supply with his kid, who spotted that cool little Lifan 110cc atv out froni. After much pleading dad finally caves, and reluctantly buys the kid the ATV. Dad is not serious about bikes, and fails to properly care for kids ATV the same manner as Dad who IS serious about bikes. Again, this is a loose generality, and not always the case, but I've found often is.

I'll also admit the Chinese bikes aren't as high of quality as the Japanese ones, but tell that to the guy from Laos with 60,000kms on his KLX250 chinese clone before he needed a set of rings.... True story.
 
jqueen said:
Supposedly they are working to build almost the exact same bike with a 450 (the same 450 Christini uses in their AWD bikes now). I could see myself being really interested in that one.
Click to expand...

This is where I start to listen. I'm also hoping for a middleweight from these guys, note the same engine manufacturer;

http://motoajp.com/

Their "ADV" bike (PR-7) is a bit of a porker at 360lbs+ but the PR-5R (250) at 240lbs with Sachs suspension for $6,200 shines a bright light in the right direction.
 
I bought the Diamo back in 2004 and it was built by Zongshen much as I could figure from the research I did on it. The engine has been great, still running like a top, but the chassis is less than wonderful. Vibration is a problem at high (60mph) speeds, vibrated the exhaust off, eventually, so it runs a straight pipe, now. LOL I could buy a pipe for it aftermarket, just hate to spend money on something I'm not sure I can keep running what with the lack of parts now. I quit putting batteries in it, kick start works fine as do the lights, run off the stator. I use it when it's muddy out back and I used it a lot duck hunting this season. My buddy broke the rear fender off it, no license plate bracket, now. Can't find a fender, but I'm not that worried about it as it's not used on the street now days. I can drain the carb with a drain plug on the float bowl, dump all the gas for storage. The only thing long term storage seems to do to it is make the clutch glue itself together. If it's spent a long time in storage without use, I'll have to take the oil fill off, bungee the clutch down to disengage, and break the plates apart through the oil fill hole with a long screw driver and a mallet. Oh, the rear sprocket bolts sheered off early on while street riding, just sheered off. Soft bolt material was the problem. I re-engineered the rear hub cush system with stronger stainless bolts and haven't had a problem many miles later.

Parts for all these China bikes are cheap. I bought a whole clutch basket for a guy that had a Zongshen based 150cc TTR125 clone. The clutch basket was 20 bucks, drive gear, all plates, pressure plate, and springs in a unit. :lol2: That was a tough little bike, too, BTW. But, the kid I sold it to trashed it a lot. He was a little moron.

I think the RX3 might be pretty road worthy, but I have my doubts about the air cooled TT they sell for 1900 or some such price. If it's as buzzy as that Diamo, stuff is gonna happen. LOL The vibs on that Diamo are enough to make my boys itch and go numb at 60 mph. :lol2: Might be nice if you're female......just sayin'.

I'll watch these little bikes, see how they go. MIGHT, I say MIGHT be an option in the future. But, the Honda CRF250L has been interesting me since it came out. The Honda is a tall guy, but I'm not that small and can actually flat foot my KLR. I don't think I need the KLR's weight and power, but I handle it in the woods here. If it gets really wet, though, I'll break out the Diamo. Meanwhile, the KLR is nice on the highway vs anything 250cc, Japanese or Chinese. I spent 1700 bucks on the KLR used from a forum member and I've been really happy with it and it has miles left on it as good as it runs, just had never heard of CSC or the RX3, a new one for me. As cheap as they are, if they keep their price point and prove themselves, I might think about one in the future. Whatever I get in the future, money will be important. I am not buying a new BMW GS, put it that way. :lol2: I'm retired now and on a fixed income. I don't do much touring anymore and was thinking the Honda CRF would be all I'd need now days, but the RX3 has some nicities, bags and such, and is, like the Honda, water cooled and injected and 4 valve head.

I'll sit back and watch, for now. :D
 
Being the guy who was dissatisfied with the performance of an ST1100, a 250 is out of the question for me. The 450 is intriguing, though.

My two biggest concerns are related to the "no dealership network" business model. One is that I'd have to order parts rather than pick them up locally. Truthfully, that is probably not a big deal since the last couple of times I've gone to a dealership for parts they had to order them anyway. I'd probably get them quicker being shipped direct from CSC.

The other concern is that there is nowhere to go check one out. Unless you live near their place in California, you're kind of buying blind. That's not something I'm interested in. I want to at least sit on one before I plop down the coin.
 
RX3 is a decent bike. Mine came off the first container, and for a brand new model very few problems. I've assembled brand new models from Honda, Yamaha, and Kawasaki over the years and the RX3 had superior assembly quality to any other new model even though the RX3 is considerably more complex than any of the others. I understand there have been a number of improvements since. CSC simply will not tolerate sloppy quality, and the owner of CSC has already made trips to China to improve quality. Zongshen has already learned CSC has no problem calling in whomever is necessary, and that's how things are done in China.

CSC provides a 1 year warranty on parts and labor, a second year on parts. So far every reasonable request has been approved and owners quite satisfied with CSC warranty responses. I've heard no complaints from anyone about poor warranty service.

CSC will respond to early emails same day. Late emails may not be answered until the next morning.

CSC ordered a full container of parts that arrived a few days before the first container of bikes. More shipments have arrived since. CSC can be contacted by phone regular business hours. Parts can be shipped overnight. CSC also is developing a nice accessory catalogue.

The CSC business model is aimed at folks who do their own service. All CSC's parts and information provisions aim at people like you and me, Jack. The RX3 comes with a shop manual, not and owner's guide. It is in English, too!

The seat sucks, but a folded Stearns seat cover is a major improvement. Anything else is a preference, not a problem.

Those of you with no experience with CSC need to control your prejudices. China has some awesome products marketed by Americans. If you are in to high performance cruising multihull sailboats check out the Gunboat line, some made in China. Like the RX3, nothing in the world like them.
 
The more I read about these things the more interested I get. If they end up doing the rumored 450 version it will be very tempting.
 
I think the sweet spots are a 450 +/- lightweight & a 600 - 700 middleweight with good dirt credibility.

Right now, neither market is particularly well served with current products aimed at the DS market that either dated or expensive. It's a little larger than a niche but certainly not a big demographic, good news being that there's little competition from the big guys.
 
Annhl8rX said:
The more I read about these things the more interested I get. If they end up doing the rumored 450 version it will be very tempting.
Click to expand...

I'm already banking cash for the 450, and the necessary upgrades to keep it from being a suicide machine.

The RX3 is not a crotch rocket. The RX3 is not a dirt bike. If you prefer one or the other, you'll be disappointed. It is in between. Ride it as such. It is too small and light to make big rides on big highways. It is too bulky and heavy to manhandle on rough single track and dual track, especially rocks and roots laid bare by erosion. It can do either, but it has limits. It can be tweeked in either direction, but not by much. It is a small and capable adventure bike. That's what it does. It loves paved back roads, and with a decent set of more aggressive tires it even loves the dirt roads. If that's not what you want, you'll be disappointed.
 
KenH said:
I'm already banking cash for the 450, and the necessary upgrades to keep it from being a suicide machine.



The RX3 is not a crotch rocket. The RX3 is not a dirt bike. If you prefer one or the other, you'll be disappointed. It is in between. Ride it as such. It is too small and light to make big rides on big highways. It is too bulky and heavy to manhandle on rough single track and dual track, especially rocks and roots laid bare by erosion. It can do either, but it has limits. It can be tweeked in either direction, but not by much. It is a small and capable adventure bike. That's what it does. It loves paved back roads, and with a decent set of more aggressive tires it even loves the dirt roads. If that's not what you want, you'll be disappointed.
Click to expand...


I have a YZ for the dirt, and I'm definitely not looking for a crotch rocket. I live in the DFW suburbs, though, which means highway is unavoidable. The one thing that has kept me from buying a KLR over the years is the underpowered nature, and the RX3 has even less oomph. If the 450 can lift the front wheel and cruise at 85 (without being redlined), it will catch my interest.
 
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