My Experience Buying a CSC TT250 Motorcycle On The Internet

I bought a motorcycle over the internet. I have to admit I was a little weirded out by the idea but the more I researched it, the more I liked the idea. I looked at a wide variety of Chinese dual sport motorcycles, mostly Bashan's & the RPS Hawk. Finding a reliable dealer with good customer reviews proved to be dificult for those two bikes. After reading several horror stories about shipping nightmares, delays, and really poor customer service I decided to look further.

Doing more research I discovered CSC Motorcycles in California and another company named SSR. Both companies are looking to take selling Chinese dual sports to the next level and help legitimize the industry of Chinese motorcycle sales. SSR sells their motorcycles at dealerships across the U.S. and CSC deals strictly out of their dealership in Azusa Ca.

I found an SSR dealer about an hour away. I liked the idea of being able to buy locally, and also having a shop to take it to if something went wrong. With the Bashan, Hawk, and CSC you have to work on the bike yourself. There is no dealer to go to for help when something goes wrong. The SSR is more than twice as much as the Bashan and Hawk, and about a third more than the CSC. Long story short, I was planning on going with the SSR but was informed by the dealer they were on backorder & they had no idea when they could fulfill my order :(

So I called CSC and talked to a sales rep from the company.The sales rep answered all my questions and I had a lot of them. He was patient, and not high pressure at all. He explained the shipping, the paperwork I needed to register the bike, warranty info, and answered any other questions I had. After talking with him, I told him I wanted to talk to my local DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) about registering the bike. I had heard registering some of these Chinese dual sports could be a real headache in New York. The salesman told me he had a bunch of bikes on the road in New York and that I shouldn't have a problem at all with registration. He then gave me a couple questions to ask the DMV about to make sure I had no issues.

When I went to DMV, the lady was far from helpful. Is there some sort of prerequisite that only mean, grumpy people are allowed government jobs? I had basic questions about the registration process and the lady just had a really short attitude, like I was bothering her or something. Finally the conversation ended with her saying, "If it's a motorcycle with a valid vin number it gets registered!" That was the end of our conversation! Sheesh! My tax dollars hard at work!

So I go home from DMV call back to CSC and speak with a saleswoman named Sara! She's just as helpful and freindly as the guy I talked to in the morning. After answering a few more questions I place my order. Within minutes of placing the order, my bill of sale is sent to my email inbox. I look over the order, double check the spelling of my name and shipping info. OK the paperwork and the process begins!

Just like both salespeople told me. I made the purchase on Friday, by Wednesday I recieved another email with a tracking number telling me my bike was on its way. It took 7 to 10 days for delivery and by the following Friday a delivery truck pulled up in front of my house and loaded a brand new motorcycle into my garage.

The delivery guy said he had never delivered a motorcycle in a box. His words LOL. I asked if he wanted to hang out while I opened it, and he did. It came boxed up, and strapped to a pallet. They stick each wheel into a wheel chock on the pallet, and then use tie down straps to secure from the handlebars, and passenger rails. Sorry I didn't get pictures of that, I was too excited and just started busting open the box like a little kid opening a Christmas present! It was packaged well, and outside of a little dust, arrived in perfect condition. The only thing I had to assemble was putting the mirrors on the handlebars. Just like the salespeople said, pull it out of the box, put on the mirrors, and the bike is ready to ride. I put the key in the ignition, pressed the start button and the bike instantly came to life!

The entire process from order date to delivery took exactly two weeks. I didn't sleep a wink during this waiting period. I had nightmares about registering the bike. Getting the bike registered turned out to be no problem at all. CSC supplied an MSO I think it stands for Manufacturers State of Origin, and the proper invoice with a notarized statement attached. That combined with my insurance documentation and 1 hour later I was walking out of the DMV office with new plates and a New York State registered CSC TT250!

After riding the bike for 5 days now I already put 200 miles on it. For the most part I'm pretty impressed with the bike. This is the perfect bike for riding around town. It's not super fast or powerful, but it handles great and is a lot of fun to drive. I also took it off roading a couple times and the bike handles like a dream in the dirt! I'm really looking forward to getting this bike out on some country backroads and traveling around on it.

My only complaint right now is a pop on deceleration. I'm pretty sure it's a carberateur adjustment. For now I'm going to leave it alone till my 500 mile valve adjustment. Once I get past the initial break in period, I'll adjust the valves, and carb.

I've been riding as much as possible, trying to get past the 500 mile break in period. Once I get the carb and valves adusted I'll be changing out the sprocket, adding some saddle bags for traveling and a luggage rack. I may even replace the carberateur with a better aftermarket one. For now, I'm happy with my choice of a CSC Motorcycle. The TT250 has proven to be a really fun bike to drive around town. I'll post more on it in a week or two after I get it broken in, and tuned up properly!

Here it is sitting in the rain outside of work this morning. One of the reasons I bought a dual sport. Now I can ride in the rain without having to re-polish a ton of chrome, and can drive it in the winter without worries of all my chrome rusting. I'll be posting more on why I chose this bike in future posts.

Thanks for reading and happy trails everyone!