{"id":18452,"date":"2022-08-31T12:39:23","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T19:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=18452"},"modified":"2022-09-01T06:52:36","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T13:52:36","slug":"an-electrifying-development-cscs-rx1e-motorcycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2022\/08\/31\/an-electrifying-development-cscs-rx1e-motorcycle\/","title":{"rendered":"An Electrifying Development: CSC’s RX1E Motorcycle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine an electric motorcycle that doesn’t look dorky, one that looks like a an ADV bike, with a fit and finish rivaling anything in the world.\u00a0 Before you go all “Ahm a real ‘Murican and yer not” on me, I’m here to tell you this:\u00a0 You don’t have to imagine this motorcycle.\u00a0 It’s real and I rode it.\u00a0 It’s quick and it feels light, and the thing handles.\u00a0 And yes, it’s from China.\u00a0 If that gets your shorts in a knot, move along…there’s nothing for you here.<\/p>\n

The bike is the new RX1E from CSC Motorcycles in Azusa, and it’s manufactured by Zongshen.\u00a0 That’s Zongshen, as in million-motorcycles-annually Zongshen.\u00a0 I’ve ridden Zongshen motorcycles all over Colombia, all over China, all over Baja, and all over America, and I’ve been in their factories many times.\u00a0 You may know a guy who’s cousin worked for a guy who thinks Chinese bikes are no good; my knowledge is more of a first-hand-actual-experience sort of thing.<\/p>\n

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The RX1E looks a lot like an RX3.\u00a0 It’s got the ADV style.\u00a0 I think it is an exceptionally attractive motorcycle.\u00a0 Some folks may wonder why the bike is styled like an ADV bike.\u00a0 Hey, it has to be styled like something.\u00a0 The ADV style has good ergos and good carrying capacity, so why not use that as the styling theme?\u00a0 \u00a0Just to check, I parked it in front of Starbuck’s, you know, like the big kids do with their BMWs, and it worked just fine.<\/p>\n

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The motorcycle has an 8 kilowatt motor (with 18.5 kilowatt at peak power), but the kilowatt thing for an electric motorcycle is misleading.\u00a0 This motorcycle is quick.\u00a0 I opened it up getting on the freeway and the bike blew through 70 mph before I realized it.\u00a0 It had more left, but I ran out of space.\u00a0 It’s silent, and you hit speeds you don’t mean to because there’s no noise to go with the acceleration.\u00a0 Think of it as the opposite of a Harley:\u00a0 \u00a0No noise at all, and lots of acceleration.<\/p>\n

It’s not going to be inexpensive, but it’s inexpensive compared to other electric motorcycles.\u00a0 CSC is going to sell a lot of these.<\/p>\n

The time for a full recharge, per the CSC folks, is 6 hours.\u00a0 CSC opted for a more powerful charger to get the recharge time down.<\/p>\n

It comes with a full set of luggage, crashbars, a windshield, and a cool dash.\u00a0 You can fit a full face helmet in the tail pack.<\/p>\n

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The RX1E is water cooled.\u00a0 \u00a0Yep, you read that right.\u00a0 \u00a0The Zongshen wizards use water cooling with a radiator to keep motor temps down.<\/p>\n

The dash is cool, and you can change the color theme.\u00a0 I liked it.\u00a0 It was a little difficult to read in sunlight, but CSC tells me that will be corrected by the time the bikes are released for sale in a few months (I rode the first one to arrive in America).<\/p>\n

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The bike has three modes:\u00a0 Eco, Comfort, and Sport.\u00a0 Eco saves energy, Comfort is kind of in the middle, and Sport gives snappier acceleration.\u00a0 Think of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.<\/p>\n

Switchology is superior, in my opinion.\u00a0 Here’s a peek at the left and right sides.\u00a0 Yep, there’s cruise control, reverse, mode setting, high beam and low beam, the horn, turn signals, a park position, and a kill switch.\u00a0 It’s a logical, well thought out, and quality presentation.<\/p>\n

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The bike doesn’t have that squirt out from under you feeling that other electric bikes have off a dead stop.\u00a0 CSC’s City Slicker had a little bit of that.\u00a0 The Zero I rode a couple years ago had way too much of it…so much so I found the Zero difficult to ride.\u00a0 The RX1E is much more rider friendly.<\/p>\n

The bike has disk brakes front and back and ABS.\u00a0 There are cast aluminum wheels.\u00a0\u00a0The final drive is via belt.\u00a0 There’s no messy chain, nothing to oil, and it’s quiet.\u00a0 I like it.<\/p>\n

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The fit and finish are awesome.\u00a0 It’s as good as anything I’ve seen on any motorcycle anwhere in the world.\u00a0 The one I rode was red (it’s the one you see in the pictures here).\u00a0 I saw a Harley chopper and stopped to ask the owner if I could shoot a photo of the the RX1E next to it.\u00a0 He was good to go, and I grabbed the shot you see below.<\/p>\n

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The RX1E ergonomics felt perfect to me.\u00a0 \u00a0The seat is comfortable, the reach to the bars was perfect, and I could put both feet flat on the ground.<\/p>\n

CSC shows the bike’s weight to be 469 pounds, but it felt way lighter to me.\u00a0 That might be because the weight is down low on this bike.\u00a0 Or maybe I’m just used to my Enfield, which feels way heavier.\u00a0 Whatever it is, the bike feels light.\u00a0 The RX1E has high flickability.<\/p>\n

The lack of any noise takes some getting used to.\u00a0 \u00a0It was unnerving at intersections.\u00a0 On an internal combustion engine motorcycle, the noise makes you at least think other people can hear you.\u00a0 \u00a0The silence of an electric motorcycle makes you wonder if they see you.\u00a0 Maybe that’s a good thing; it made me even more of a defensive rider than I normally am.<\/p>\n

There’s no shifting, and because of that there’s no clutch and no shift lever.\u00a0 Oddly, the lack of any need to shift felt perfectly natural.\u00a0 Not having a clutch lever on the left handlebar when coming to a stop takes a little getting used to.<\/p>\n

The bike has a reverse.\u00a0 It doesn’t need one.\u00a0 It felt so light and the seat is so low that backing up the old-fashioned way is easy…you know, sitting on the bike and using your legs to back it up a hill.\u00a0 Yep, I did it.<\/p>\n

The turning radius is delightfully tight.\u00a0 I don’t have a spec for this, but I can tell you that u-turns in one-lane alleys are easy.\u00a0 I know because I did it.<\/p>\n

CSC tells me the range is about 80 miles, although the spec below says 112 miles.\u00a0 I haven’t tested the bike for range like I did on the City Slicker because I only played around in town for an hour or so.\u00a0 Good Buddy TK, the sales dude at CSC (who may be the world’s only sales guy who never stretches the truth), has been commuting back and forth to work on the bike and he tells me the 80-mile range is real.<\/p>\n

The RX1E impressed me greatly.\u00a0 If reading this blog gives you the impresssion that I really like the RX1E, I’ve done my job as a writer.\u00a0 CSC and Zongshen have hit a home run here.\u00a0 Zongshen’s engineering talent and CSC’s ability to see what the US market wants is impressive.<\/p>\n

Spoiler alert:\u00a0 Knowing people in high places has its advantages. I used to be a consultant for CSC, and CSC advertises on the ExNotes site.\u00a0 But that hasn’t influenced what you’re reading here.\u00a0 \u00a0My friendship with the CSC owners got me an early ride on the RX1E (a scoop, so to speak) and a chance to see the specs before anyone else, which we’re sharing here.\u00a0 They’ll be on the CSC website<\/a> today or tomorrow.<\/p>\n

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CSC RX1E Specifications<\/strong><\/p>\n

Motor<\/strong>:\u00a0 Liquid-cooled permanent-magnet
\nPeak Power<\/strong>:\u00a0 24 hp (18.5kW)
\nTorque:\u00a0<\/strong> 61.2 lb-ft (83Nm)
\nBattery:<\/strong>\u00a0 Lithium-ion 96-volt, 64Ah
\nBattery Capacity:<\/strong> 6.16kWh
\nCharger:<\/strong> 110-volt
\nInput Current:<\/strong> 15A
\nRange:<\/strong> 112 miles based on New European Driving Cycle (NEDC)
\nFrame<\/strong>: Tubular steel
\nRake & Trail:<\/strong> 27\u00b0, 74mm
\nWheelbase:<\/strong> 55.5 inches (1400mm)
\nFront Suspension:<\/strong> 37mm inverted telescopic fork, 4.7 inches travel, adjustable for rebound damping
\nRear Suspension:<\/strong> Monoshock, 4.3 inches travel, adjustable spring preload and rebound damping
\nFront Brake:<\/strong> Two-piston caliper, 265mm disc
\nRear Brake:<\/strong> Single-piston caliper, 240mm disc
\nWheels:<\/strong> 17-inch aluminum
\nTires:<\/strong> 100\/80-17 front; 120\/80-17 rear
\nLength:<\/strong> 82.2 inches (2090mm)
\nWidth:<\/strong> 34.0 inches (865mm)
\nHeight:<\/strong> 47.4 inches (1205mm)
\nSeat Height:<\/strong> 30.9 inches (780mm)
\nGround Clearance:<\/strong> 6.0 inches (150mm)
\nCurb Weight:<\/strong> 436.5 pounds (198kg); 469 lb with luggage and crash bars
\nMax Load:<\/strong> 331 lb (150kg)
\nTop Speed:<\/strong> 75+ mph
\nColors:<\/strong> Crimson Red Metallic, Honolulu Blue Metallic and Silver Moon Metallic
\nPrice: $8,495<\/strong> (plus $410 dealer prep, documentation, and road testing fees) and if you order the bike now, CSC is offering $500 off with delivery in Spring 2023<\/p>\n

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Hit those popup ads and keep us publishing!<\/p>\n

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Never miss an ExNotes blog:<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine an electric motorcycle that doesn’t look dorky, one that looks like a an ADV bike, with a fit and finish rivaling anything in the world.\u00a0 Before you go all “Ahm a real ‘Murican and yer not” on me, I’m here to tell you this:\u00a0 You don’t have to imagine this motorcycle.\u00a0 It’s real and … Continue reading “An Electrifying Development: CSC’s RX1E Motorcycle”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,64,369],"tags":[192,2983,34,2982],"class_list":["post-18452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-electric-motorcycles","category-gear","category-zongshen","tag-csc","tag-electric-adv-motorcycle","tag-electric-motorcycle","tag-rx1e"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/20220831_0025-900.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18452"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18510,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18452\/revisions\/18510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}