Hyosung?

[land_shark]

Does anyone here have any knowledge of hyosung bikes  I think they were primarily a scooter manufacturer suzuki-spinoff company out of Korea.  There is a great, quirky little Moto Guzzi shop nearby in Riverside, IA (Ned's) that is selling them.  Being that they are in the bidness of selling, they have nothing but good things to say about the brand...  

If anyone is around that area, you should check out the shop.  They aren't open every day, but when they are, you can expect nothing but smiles and possibly a bowl of home-made ice cream.

[tacoman]

Theres a ton of these Korean bikes popping up all over.  Auto parts stores are selling them, I even saw some for sale in a mini-mart.  I believe some of these Korean and Chinese firms have bought old tooling from the Japanese big four.  The technology on these bikes looks 1970s with some flashy plastic added.  I'd say these things are disposable bikes, run em till they break and toss em out.  I don't think replacement parts are readily available.

[ray nielsen]

A local motorcycle aftermarket shop was asked to work on one when the dealer who sold it couldn't due to lack of special tools.

The flywheel needed to come off to check the magneto, but required a 17.5 MM wrench!  Nothing they had in the shop would fit.  It's been a couple of months now and the scooter is still there -- the owner doesn't even want to pick it up.
 
The same shop had to buy 100 feet of chain for another Korean bike -- the chain size was not standard and was only available from an importer in CA.  Luckily for the owner the chain was cheap, even at 100 feet.  He's sure got a lot of spare chain now!

Korean cars are improving, but their motorcycles/scooters seem to leave a lot to be desired.  In time, maybe they'll be worth owning.

[Red01]

Most of the autoparts store bikes are Chinese. Some of them are license-built Honda powerplants (likee the little 50cc job I bought for my grandkids for Christmas).

Hyosung/AlphaSports is, as noted, a sort of spin-off of Suzuki. Suzuki got them started years ago and they have been building small displacement motors, bikes, scooters and quads for Suzuki for a long time. Suzuki's little JR50 & 80 minibikes as well as the 50 & 80cc quads and their entire small scooter line is built by Hyosung. The SV650 motor was devleoped by Hyosung, too... that's why their Comet 650 bears such a strong resemblance to the SV650.

[tacoman]

Its, actually good to see some small cc, beginner bikes available for under $1K. My little girl is only 1 but I've already been eyeing some JR50s, can't wait.

[gtbandit]

Theres a ton of these Korean bikes popping up all over.  Auto parts stores are selling them, I even saw some for sale in a mini-mart.  I believe some of these Korean and Chinese firms have bought old tooling from the Japanese big four.  The technology on these bikes looks 1970s with some flashy plastic added.  I'd say these things are disposable bikes, run em till they break and toss em out.  I don't think replacement parts are readily available.

Hyosung/Alphasports are nothing like those cheap bikes found in autoparts stores and the like. As Paul stated they built bikes for Suzuki and are using that learned technology and tooling to build what should be quality bikes. One of the major US motorcycle mags did a review on a pre-production Comet 650. They said it still needed some suspension refinement, but otherwise were impressed. It is still difficult to find a dealer in most parts, though. I can't even find a website!

[RUSS M8]

Hyosung is just starting to take off in Oz, with 250 sports/cruizer/scooter and 650 sports.  I spoke to some people, and while I wouldn't think a hyosung would be a great bike if you wanted to keep it for, say, 10 reliable years, they are not far off!
Hyusung have buily many Suzuki models and apparently wanted abit more of the limelight, but the big S wouldn't have a word of it - so off they went and into the worldwide marketplace, and are selling fairly strong.  The Comet 650 actually puts out more power than the SV650!
This is not another supermarket kids bike brand, the Korean's are comming (remember what everyone said about those strange Japanese bikes in the 50's and 60's, and more recently what we said about cars like Hyundai?  You wait 10-15 years and see...)

[Grendzy]

I can't even find a website!

Their website is http://www.alphasportsmotors.com

I really like the GT250 (at least on paper) - It looks good, and has better specs and far more power than the other cruiser/standard 250s in the US market (more like the Ninja 250).  I think I'm going to check out Ned's this weekend.  Thank's for the info so far - if Hyosong turns out to be reliable, I'm going to really be considering one.  The suzuki connection is reassuring.



Here's an interesting article about Hyosung from a canadian reviewer:
http://onewheeldrive.net/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=276

[Zhi]

There's just something I do not like about the urame design of the GT650, but if they change that, I would seriously consider buying one if/when it makes it on these shores.

[gtbandit]

I can't even find a website!

Their website is http://www.alphasportsmotors.com

Thanks, I think I tried that site a couple of months ago. I don't believe I got it to work then. I don't think it's been updated since '03.

Welcome to the board!

[Grendzy]

don't think it's been updated since '03.

I found the Korean site, it has some nice pictures, though I can't read the text obviously.
http://www.hyosungmotors.co.kr/

[tacoman]

Its actually good to see someone making a bike over 500cc that is streetable, keep with traffic flow, and handle short interstate runs, etc.  I know they're popular but the big four can't seem to make them for under $7,000.  That or maybe the people buying these don't want four cyl. bikes.  Honda had a 600 (similar to the 919) and Yamaha had one also but I don't see them on the dealer's floor anymore.