Faults:

I bought the Baja Phoenix 250 as a wreck just to have something to do. The guy who bought it new made it 2.8 miles and crashed it. It required extensive repair and rebuilding of the frame, forks, tank, fenders, etc. I was able to buy the needed parts from Baja or Honda or Suzuki. The bike is a Suzuki TU250 clone, except the motor is a Honda Rebel 250 clone.

After I got it back together, it had a few problems. It is extremely cold blooded. The alternator quit due to a bad voltage regulator at about 500 miles, but I was able to obtain the Chinese replacement for the part other than Baja Motorsports. In general it was reliable during the time I owned it.

General Comments:

This would be a good first bike or commuter bike for someone. Today parts would be nearly impossible to find if you're not a mechanic who knows what can be substituted.

The handling on these bikes sucks! They simply are not stable in any sort of a crosswind. I lived in Kansas at the time where the wind blows every day. The rake of the fork is too extreme, plus there may be some flexing of the forks and or frame. These bike can be a bit unnerving to ride on anything but a calm day.

The standard factory lights are weaker than expected on a modern bike.

The front brake is good and the rear brake is almost useless.

As far as the engine itself, it was smooth and rock solid reliable.

All things considered, this was a fun bike to rebuild and fool around with, but the handling sucked and the parts availability today would be a major issue.

Faults:

Wire came loose inside headlight housing, causing the horn not to work.

Front foot peg bracket bolts come loose, and require thread lock to stay put.

General Comments:

This motorcycle is an almost exact copy of a Suzuki Marauder 250. The engine is based on the Honda Rebel 250.

The engine is tuned extremely lean from the factory, probably to meet emissions standards. This makes it very cold blooded and very slow. Changing the main jet from a 98 to a 112 and raising the jet needle one notch makes a huge difference. It's still not as fast as the equivalent Japanese bikes, but it'll do about 65 as checked with a GPS.

The speedometer is not at all accurate. When it reads 65 mph, your actual speed is 54 mph. I installed a digital bicycle speedometer to give me the actual speed.

Front brake is good, but the rear is nearly useless. Lubing up all the pivot points on the brake rod helps somewhat.

The raked out forks make it handle poorly at slow speeds, but once moving it's very stable. Installing wider handlebars helps a lot.

Adjustment of the shifter is critical. If it's a little bit off, it'll be difficult to shift.

Engine runs smooth and quiet.

Oil changes are somewhat difficult, due to the position of the drain plug.

The chain is an O ring type, which is nice on such an inexpensive bike.

Aluminum wheels are nice looking, and there are no spokes to deal with.

Gearing is very low, but I managed to find a rear sprocket with 2 fewer teeth, which made it much better.