Hey, Been bumming around the Internet while waiting for a 1.6gb download of topographic datasets of Nova Scotia and got thinking of Cleveland Cycle Werks Tha Hooligan. Have not seen it mentioned as of yet on the forum so I thought I would throw it out there to see if anyone knows anything about it or seen one. All the other CCW bikes are thumpers so I am assuming this one is too, but most of the info is listed TBA, all I know is it has 450cc and is probably got a short seat height because the other CCW's seem to be built for those who may be vertically challenged.
They are a US company that sources Chinese parts. Most bikes are based around 250cc air cooled engines. I don't have first hand experience with them, but I hear quality is OK for what they are. I don't think the bike pictured has been released yet. Probably good bikes for putting around town/tinkering with. Would probably skip if I was looking for a bike for heavy commuting.
Ride Apart has a review on them. I haven't heard of any mention on the forums. I'm 6'4" and love how I can easily more than flat foot my 990, though look goofy on any 70's scrambler or any of the trendy hipster bikes around these days.
Whats a hipster bike? A bio Diesel or electric bike with synthetic leather tires, plaid trim, one saddle bag hanging off the right side, and an apple logo headlight? haha I actually looked at a picture of a "today's hipster" and transmuted the picture of the person into a motorcycle in my head. Personally I think plastic shoes are worse for the environment then a dead cow, a freezer full of meat, a new leather jacket and a pair of shoes, and lets not forget a bag of dog bones for all those rovers and lassies out there. If it wern't for them how would we know that lil timmy fell in the well again? Oh crap! I have a point where is it now, oh yeah... I seen reviews for the Heist, Mistfit, and Ace but nothing on the Hooligan. Its all been TBA for some time was hoping maybe you guys in the states might have gotten a look at one. They peaked my interest because of their low seat height. I did some measuring today and I am thinking 35" seat height is going to be too much for me, unfortunately the DR650 and KLR650 are in that range of height. Anyway will have to ready the "shorty pants" thread might find some good answers there. Anyway if anyone gets one hopefully some info will make its way here.
Hi Tylenol, In the Google box: Lowering the DR650 You'll get a ton of info. Cheap and easy to do, too. Holler if you have specific questions. Sarah
I wasn't gonna go there but I really like the DR650 and KLR so I might just have too. I am worried that lowering will kill the ground clearance.
You might shave some foam off the seat and be good to go. Shaving the foam off the top actually makes the seat flatter and more comfortable, in my experience. I rode a stock seat to Alaska and back after shaving it down a bit. Sarah
I like the looks of the ace standard, looks like it might make a good dirt road bike. But I do not think the bikes are well made, lots of bad things on the web about them. Bad forks, wire harness fires, cush hub rubbers failing at 200 miles, footpegs falling off, no self locking nuts or bolts, front brake calipers falling off, melting headlight connectors, very cheap chains, etc. Much might be dealer prep, I think the bikes come right from China to the dealers, usually scooter shops. Before even starting one, I would go over everything, and plan on replacing all the nuts and bolts with good hardware. Adjust valves, change the engine and fork oil, etc. Or just buy a used TU250 for less and ride the thing cross country without checking anything.....
I did what Sarah suggested and I think I have the skills to lower the DR, I looked up the KLR as well but it seemed to me, if i understood it correctly, I need to have some parts fabbed up to make it work. Probably do more reading tonight thanks for pointing me that way Sarah. As for CCW, I do like the ace and it has a 10" ground clearance I think, I might be recalling that wrong, that would be good on trails. For quality what I got from the reviews was basically at 3000$ ish you get a bike that you can drive build some skills customize and not feel bad about crashing, a great first bike. You are not buying a timeless classic that will endure for years to come. With that said I will probably be doing the assembly myself and if I see something that could be better, it will be :) The dealer prep does make a big difference, as well as good mechanics doing the assembly. A good dealer or shop you can trust makes all the difference Imo. I also agree you can get some good used toys for a good price as well too, I guess in the end it depends on what risks your willing to take. With all that said however I would really like to see this hooligan in action, it might be great or it might be buff either way it looks capable and it might be a good first bike for those looking to get into the Adventure Touring class.
I work about 20 minutes from CCW. I went out there about a month ago when I heard about the Hooligun. They had the Motard version there. I guess the DS version was with one of their engineers. The bikes aren't close to ready for production, and the guy I talked to didn't know much about them. It's really tall, I would guess 36+ inch seat height. Looked pretty cheaply made, lots of flashing on the plastic, and burs still on some of the metal parts. The plate holder was held on with zip ties. Keep in mind that the bike I was looking at was a one off deal, still very much pre-production. I'll head back out there next week and hopefully get a more in-depth look at it.
Wow thats a pretty high seat, and it sounds like it needs some finishing touches, maybe that will be taken care of. Its good to hear from some one who has gotten a first hand look at one.
Like I said, it was still pre-production, so don't judge the bike on what I saw. It might end up being great.
It hope it does, a 400cc dual sport would be, IMHUO (In My Honest Uneducated Opinion), good. It seems to me there are many 250's then it jumps to 600+ cc's
It's 450cc. Supposed to be a copy of the Honda CRF450X. I'll shoot them an email and see if I can get an interview with the owner of CCW, and maybe a test ride. From What I have gathered it looks like it will be around $6k. Seems pretty steep compared to the rest of their lineup.
At a guess it looks like the older CRF that was copied for the other Chinese 450s I have seen. Odes here in Australia and the 450 that Christini sell as a complete bike are two that I am thinking of.
Wow, they all do look the same.... I wonder what differences there are between the clones. My uncle deals in Odes, CCW, Pitster, Linhai, Hisun, and I think Dinli. He also has a used 125cc Honda dual sport looks similar to the CRF's but I think he called it a KX or XL or YX? not sure. I think I am going to be driving an Odes side by side tomorrow he just got it in. I sometimes get to do some breakin runs with his new stuff and evaluation runs with trade in stuff to make sure everything is working ok and to get an idea of what it might need before resale. Anyway its good because I get to test drive all sorts of stuff, including a honda odessy I wanted to buy it for my kids it was a fun little rig.
