Thumper Club Forum
Club House => Chatter => Topic started by: guest7 on October 22, 2015, 09:44:25 PM
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We all had a good look at the Mash bikes at the Stafford show. They look like a great little thumper.
Any thoughts? Anyone got one?
(http://www.ngales.com/dbimages/mash%20roadstar.jpg)
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ooooh! I wonder if that front mudguard will fit an XBR, it all looks very similar to the Honda front end
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If they ever go racing and are sponsored by a certain energy drink......
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If you had come to the meet at Cwmdu you could have seen one in the flesh. Nice bikes, well put together and styled.
Welsh Will brought one and an Enfield cafe racer
I would have one if I didn't have my other bikes.
Mt little RS is bloody marvelous. Took me 250 miles this last weekend to the Ecky Thump rally at Cropton nr Whitby (ABR club forum meet)
Didn't miss a beat and took ALL the pannier, tent and tank bag gear that I normally have on the Ten!
Put new tyres on her and all the electrics work well, not bad for a 32yr old bike. Saw 73mph on the speedo which funily enough is almost identical to the GPS! (Compared to my Ten which is about 10mph out!) £10 for 100 miles, put hand muffs on and a loom for my heated jacket, so comfortable and warm. Still kept up with traffic and goes 'round corners like it's on rails.
Might do Llanthony on it!
Cheers Steve
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Looks as if it is based on the Honda 400 single motor.
Yes SteveD ...Alun(XTWill) is a dealer for Mash and Royal Enfield ;-)
Jethro
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My own fault that Steve, I had no idea the meet was on :(
When did you buy the RS?
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Yep Jethro it is identical to the Honda 400 engine as Tony (CL400) was there as well at Cwmdu and it was easy to compare the two.
It also means that the Honda 400 will be around for quite a while yet, spares will be interchangable! (and I would suggest that the quality won't be that far off!) :o
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as with all the current crop of bikes built in china and taiwan, id want to look at one thats seen a winter on the roads of the uk, just to see if the finish of the chrome and ally can cope with the salt. id kind of want it to be the full 500cc that it really should be, but i guess japanese and far eastern countries strange stepped licencing systems are to blame for that.
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I just had a better thought... would the wheels fit an XBR?
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My own fault that Steve, I had no idea the meet was on :(
When did you buy the RS?
Got the RS about 6 months ago £108? (W reg!)
Spent a bit every now and then on the Ebay and changed all the plastics and colour to Blue. Seat covered by Tony Archer (the), new rear shocks (crap, too hard) new battery, clean carb............MOT.
Then the other week I wanted to go to a meet up the East coast nr Whitby but where my Ten is garaged the owner had gone on holiday so I couldn't get it out. So I taxed the RS, got new tyres and inner tubes, put a ciggy lighter socket for charging, GPS etc and a loom for my heated jacket. Put all of the panniers and my new TIPI tent on the bike and set off for Cropton about 80 miles away.
All was good exept that she started to loose voltage when belting up the M1 (I got a cigarette lighter 'thingy' that shows battery charge and air temp and has a charging port! £5) I got to the site with candle power!
Next morning I took the seat, side panels and tank off to find out what the problem was. A terminal had disintigrated, but not bad for a 32 yr old bike. I just bared the wires and twisted a spare bit that I had to join them together. Check with multimeter and all was good 14volts at battery. Put all back together and Whitby for fish and chips. 'Round the campfire on the nightime the Harley boys couldn't comprehend that I had 'taken the bike apart and fixed it'.
Anyhow I've now soldered the offending connections properly and all is good. Just need to get some decent rear shocks and clean the carb out again and I'm down to Llanthony on her ;D
Cheers Steve
PS I recon over the last six months, along with buying and fettling, including tyres (Avon roadriders £126) it has cost me about £500
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Ah one, ah two, ah one two three......
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AxcM3nCsglA
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The SR is a good bit dearer, and im sure it wouldn't fair too well in a UK winter ;)
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I had a test ride on one earlier in the year when I was looking for a lighter bike to replace my then V-Strom 650. It may be sufficient to say that I eventually plumped for an SLR650 after a brief consideration of XBRs. After a few teething troubles with the SLR I'm happy with my decision.
My thoughts after the test ride:
Good points:
The engine is very lively and responsive. It goes better than I expected from 400cc, sounds good and is without doubt the best feature of the bike.
The gearbox changes easily and smoothly although it was reluctant to engage neutral.
The bike looks very nice (although you can't see much of it when riding) and the finish was good.
It has a comfortable riding position with raised bars. All controls "fell readily to hand" – or would do when properly adjusted. Brakes worked well and handling was fine at the modest speeds I achieved. It always seemed to be going faster than indicated which may be good or bad!
The frame looked well made and robust.
Two year parts & labour warranty is useful.
Less good points:
The build quality is not brilliant – for example, the gear lever is steel rather than alloy and its weld looked rough. Apparently another owner had experienced a stripped thread in the timing cover which raised questions to me about the material.
The suspension was quite crude – bouncy and harsh – although having just stepped off the V-Strom which is magic-carpet like this may not be fair of me.
I feel the price of just under £4,000 is rather steep especially considering what is likely to be dramatic depreciation in the first couple of years.
Conclusion.
I don't think it's for me – at least at present. It may be something I would consider when used bikes come on the market in a year or so when someone else has taken the depreciation hit.
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If the MASH had come out before I bought my 2014 SR400 I would probably have bought one just for the electric start, especially as it is about 1500 quid cheaper. The finish couldn't be any worse than the SR for longevity. I have just over 12000 miles on mine and it doesn't look as good as my 20 year old BMW.
However, I love my SR and won't be replacing it with a MASH; not even for an electric start.
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Reports about the poor quality of the suspension are what bother me, the roads around here are very poor and a sports bike just jumps from one bump to the next. There is a Mash adventure style bike which doesn't seem to have made it to the UK yet, I think that would suit me better although it looks like that would be nearer £5k.
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I don't know if it'll be any better - the pics I've seen are just a tarted up road model but there may be another on the way.
I did find it bouncy as I said but pleasant enough on smooth roads.
Bad road surfaces are one reason I tend to go for the big(gish) trailie type these days - apart from being better for ageing knees and wrists.
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The latest edition of Real Classic has a six page write up on the Mash by Frank Westworth. He borrowed one of Dave Angel of F2 fame, in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. The page after the write up features an add for the Mash Dirtstar 400. IMHO, easily the best looking of the range, too much crome on the basic Mash, and too much bling on the Von Dutch version :)
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yes, at the right money...cracking bike :)
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I'm deeply skeptical regarding Chinese quality, so no. Not at any price. In fact, the cheaper it is the more skeptical I become.
The one thing which might mitigate my feelings would simply be the fact that a lot of us, me included, don't really do the miles anymore, especially through a winter. I know that some do on here though, so no offence.
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Yes, read the review by Frank - "damning with faint praise" was the impression I got and I must say that is similar to my view.
I don't think there's anything significantly wrong with the Mash but I do feel it's overpriced for what it is. There is a thriving French forum for the marque: http://www.mash70-75.com/index.php which is worth a look.
I have to say I'm also sceptical about the quality although some of us will remember when that was said about Japanese products......
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I want to see one that's been used all winter. I don't care if the paint drops off (they all do that, Bavarian and Anglo-Thai paint just costs more), but I want to see one running with no more that the listed service requirements.
It would be good to see a list of priced spares and availability too (copy Fowlers website, they'll sell more Guzzis to proper riders than all the coffee shop boutique places). The Japanese are bad for model changes and not keeping any stock which is bad for a reliable bike, but add Chinese quality, old tooling and the chaos caused by an inability to give anyone bad news and it could be really bad.
Anyone seen a dealer running a blog (hint hint)?
Andy
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Its only a matter of time before the Chinese produce competitive bikes in the world market. I reckon Mash, along with the Sinnis range are getting pretty close. The big names now manufacture some of their range in China anyway, and there are very few bikes that can cope well with our winters. How any bike copes with the winter commute is down to how the owner maintains it. If neglected the bike will be a shed come spring, if washed once a month and covered in WD or similar, then no problems. I really hope Mash do well, as I think they're a cracking looking wee bike :) Also, good to see your letter in RC Ian :)
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OT, it's odd how truck parts last up to ten years bolted to basically an open chassis, exposed to all the crud and salt but the bike manufacturers still can't manage it, so we have to **** about with ACF50 and the like. They are ripping us off.
Andy
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.....I have to say I'm also sceptical about the quality although some of us will remember when that was said about Japanese products......
Fair point. And one I've pondered myself. I've come to the conclusion (just my opinion) that this isn't the same thing, with regards to the Chinese. The Japanese WANTED to make good products to a decent specification, engineering wise. Their ethic was to learn and then improve, on a continuos basis. I just don't see that with the Chinese. I believe that, if you're waiting for the same process to happen with the Chinese as happened with the Japanese, you may be waiting forever.
?
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I had my test ride at Chas Mann motorcycles in Kings Norton, Brum. This is an old established company* but has recently changed hands and the new owner, though a nice and helpful chap, seems much more interested in the "lifestyle" customer (lots of scooters, stylish waxed cotton jackets etc) than the more traditional rider. That's fine as no-one is going to make a living out of people like me who take every opportunity to save a few bob.
*one thing that did disappoint me a little was that it's trading to some extent on its previous history which is a bit misleading.
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I don't know if it'll be any better - the pics I've seen are just a tarted up road model but there may be another on the way.
I did find it bouncy as I said but pleasant enough on smooth roads.
Bad road surfaces are one reason I tend to go for the big(gish) trailie type these days - apart from being better for ageing knees and wrists.
I meant this one:
(http://olirider.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Partage-temporaire/i-bPS8MbX/0/XL/Mash_Adventure2-XL.jpg)
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/mash-adventure-400.1055782/
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The Mash bikes are made by Shineray who sell the Adventurer as the Kougar 400. two Shineray bikes including the earlier carb version of the Adventurer were ridden 20,000km from China to Germany
http://monkeykings.jimdo.com/bikes/
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Oil change every 3000 km? Is it a 2-smoke :-\
Andy
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Two points, although the Mash are built in China, its a French company, so perhaps quality control and standard of manufacture will be OK. Also a fair point a friend made was that, perhaps Rowena H would have been a better person to do the RC test write up as she probably has a more open mind and experience of bikes from the far east, were, much as I'm a big fan of Frank W, he has a bit of prejudice towards bikes from over that way. Just a thought :-\
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Oil change every 3000 km? Is it a 2-smoke :-\
The Honda XBR has similar oil intervals (if you want the cam followers to last)