New St bike - 300lbs, 350 mile range, $3200

[atadaskew]

5 gallon tank, 70mpg.
Why do some mfgs make it seem so tough to release a bike with decent range?
I'm looking at you Mr VFR1200..

 

http://www.clevelandcyclewerks.com/bikes/tha-misfit-by-cleveland-cyclewerks/

All kidding aside, the shop down the street from me is selling these, and they have a demo bike available...

[Sport-Touring]

[Rincewind]

I'd be suspicious with it being Chinese made.  I look forward to your ride review!

[atadaskew]

I'd be suspicious with it being Chinese made.  I look forward to your ride review!

http://www.clevelandcyclewerks.com/misfit-details/

CCW has test bikes running constantly with three as of this writing (01/2011) having over 72000 miles each on the odometer

[Fourstring]

Stainless steel lines, inverted fork, rear cowl included, fuel gauge.  Actually, for $3100, that's not a bad knockaround bike.

[atadaskew]

It has a kick starter.

Yeah boi!

[Playinthestreet]

What luck!!!!!  A dealer in Sacramento......

[Justin]

That seems like a well though out little bike. Has a lots of good bits and pieces. The made in China part scares me though. I'd I'd be happy to eat humble pie when I read some good reviews in a year from now. For $3200, that would be a fun little knock around bike.

[Kneescrubber]

I wonder how it handles in the twisties.

Interesting article from a year ago.

http://www.cycleworld.com/2011/01/28/cleveland-cycle-werks-heist-riding-impression/

[atadaskew]

I wonder how it handles in the twisties.

Interesting article from a year ago.

http://www.cycleworld.com/2011/01/28/cleveland-cycle-werks-heist-riding-impression/

That's the Heist, which is a hardtail.  The Misfit has shocks (!)

A 10mm wrench is all you need to remove the three bolts that hold its chromed valve cover in place (no need to disturb the gas tank), revealing screw-and-locknut-adjusters

nice

[Kneescrubber]

I understand. This is what I was focusing on:

Yes, it’s made in China (with various parts from other places), says Cleveland’s owner/visionary Scott Colosimo for the millionth time, but then, what isn’t? he asks, submitting as Exhibit One his constantly active iPhone. Made in China. In case you hadn’t noticed, a huge proportion of everything we drive, communicate upon, ride and play with now comes wholly or in part from China, along with a lot of what we eat, sleep on, lose sleep over and whine about. The baby-faced 29-year-old Colosimo is a realist. Trained as a designer and quickly frustrated after a few years inside American Industry, he decided to just bypass all of it and pursue his dream: build cool motorcycles. Cool motorcycles people can actually afford.
The thing to bear in mind about China, says Colosimo, is that its industry is not so different from any other country’s. There are factories that churn out pot-metal brake calipers and tainted baby formula, but there are also plenty that produce components of the highest quality. (If there weren’t, the world would’ve already ground to a creaky halt.) To get a good motorcycle out of China, then, what you need to do is elementary: spend some time there, root out and establish relationships with the good suppliers (mostly ISO-certified ones), which lead to relationships with other good suppliers. “When it comes down to it,” says Colosimo, “the Chinese are pretty much like us. They want to succeed, make money, live in a nice house, send their kids to college.” It’s pretty basic, isn’t it? Colosimo actually packed up and moved to China, and he still spends plenty of time there when he’s not at the home factory, which really is in Cleveland, Ohio.

More than one person wanted to know what year Triumph this is. Triumph of the global economy maybe? What it really is, is a 229cc Chinese knock-off of a vintage Honda Single in a 272-pound hard-tail package. If you’re not going far or fast, it’s not so bad.
In fact, he spent plenty of time banging his head against the wall attempting to source parts domestically, only to be shot down repeatedly by corporate entropy, fear of liability and plain old stupidity: Even U.S. companies that earn a living making brake discs for cars, for instance, recoil in horror at the idea of stamping one out for a motorcycle. In China, on the other hand, it’s how many would you like and when do you need them?

And this:

I only had time to put a few hundred kilometers on one Heist, but I have to admit that for riding around town, the thing is pretty damn fun. Yes, it’s a hardtail, but nice little mountain-bike shocks support the seat, which is really low. Unlike the 2009 Johnny Pag we rode, the Heist’s fork tubes seem to contain some sort of lubricating fluid, which allows them to actually slide somewhat smoothly back and forth. As a result, the overall ride quality isn’t significantly worse than that of the H-D Iron 883 we rode a while back (with 1.6 inches rear travel).

Here's what Scott Colosimo rides: http://www.bikeexif.com/bsa-m21



I'm not judging good or bad; and I have no preconceived ideas of what CCW makes. Non-scooter scooter? Yes, very much. sPORT-tOUrIng? Not so much.



But I truly applaud Scott's efforts. Like Eric Buell in a way.

[Rogue]

Ride review done in LA:  http://www.clevelandcyclewerks.com/ccw-press/

I like it.  I like what CCW is doing.

Will I buy one?  Yes.  But the slow part is stopping me.  I still like it though.  I'm thinking it would be inadequate here in SoCal's relatively high speed driving and aggressive acceleration riding.  

[rgbeard]

All equal, I'll take the Honda CB250 or something similar.

Chinese-made isn't getting my attention in a positive way.

[Kraz]

Love it - cheap, simple, solid bikes is exactly what we need.

A 500cc single for a grand more (a la SR500!) w/o changing much else would be a great compromise.  I wonder if it's in the works...

[atadaskew]

All equal, I'll take the Honda CB250 or something similar.

Chinese-made isn't getting my attention in a positive way.

I would too but it is not all equal.  the Honda CBR250 (I think that's the one you are referring to) is at least $1K more, if you can find one.

Cuz then if you pay $1K more for the Honda, you can keep going up that path and use the Honda as a base-line, and say for $1k more I can get...

[Motozeke]

I would too but it is not all equal.  the Honda CBR250 (I think that's the one you are referring to) is at least $1K more, if you can find one.

Cuz then if you pay $1K more for the Honda, you can keep going up that path and use the Honda as a base-line, and say for $1k more I can get...

The CBR250R or the Ninja 250R are really the entry point for bikes that you can take 500+ miles on a mix of superslab and backroads. Not that I'd settle for a 250 for that, but it could certainly be done.

[Rogue]

Cuz then if you pay $1K more for the Honda, you can keep going up that path and use the Honda as a base-line, and say for $1k more I can get...

That's a very good point.  

Having said that, how much more is a $1k?  It's 30% more yes, but it's marginal in the overal scheme in a world of $10k+ motorcycles.  

Nevermind the price.  Nevermind the alternatives.  It looks to me like, the Misfit or the DS version would make a great urban assault vehicle.  Here in SoCal, it's an even better alternative to a car since we can use the lane splitting advantage.  I probably would not ST in it unless I live out in the country already.  If I knew I wanted something I needed to take on our high speed freeways here, I would definitely get something much more powerful with adequate wind protection.

For $3k, it's a very good deal if the stuff about quality and longevity is true.  If they made the Misfit as a 500cc, I would buy that at $4k.  Maybe attach another cylinder to the 229cc single and create a 500cc ohv aircooled V-twin, fit a 5-speed transmission, I'd buy one.  

[Kneescrubber]

... I probably would not ST it...

...Non-scooter scooter? Yes, very much. sPORT-tOUrIng? Not so much....

The thread title labels it as a new ST bike. No, it is not.

[Rogue]

The OP clearly had "tongue in cheek" so to speak, when he created the title.  The bike was meant for urban riding.  However, you CAN ST on it but it wouldn't be fun or even safe mixing it up with big trucks at 65 in that bike!

[JReazor]

I dig the Ace w/ clubmans and with all of the unnecessary bits removed. It looks like a good alternative to the Ryca kit.

[atadaskew]

The OP clearly had "tongue in cheek" so to speak, when he created the title.

Exactly, which is why I had the   in the title.
I only mentioned it as an St as its 350 mile range is almost double of a certain mfg's flagship sports tourer.

This is just a fun bike.  And if people tour the country on 50cc mopeds, you can definitely do it on this bike (back roads of course) and at least would not have to worry about gas stops.