{"id":107,"date":"2016-01-20T11:16:44","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T19:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ssrmotorsports.com\/news\/?p=107"},"modified":"2018-01-10T10:20:59","modified_gmt":"2018-01-10T18:20:59","slug":"sr150-sr189-reviewed-by-dirt-bike-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ssrmotorsports.com\/news\/2016\/01\/20\/sr150-sr189-reviewed-by-dirt-bike-magazine\/","title":{"rendered":"SR150 & SR189 – Reviewed By DIRT BIKE Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"review\"<\/a><\/p>\n

M<\/span><\/span>ost dirt bike riders have had at least some experience\u00a0with a Chinese-built dirt bike\u2014either riding one\u00a0or, more likely, having somebody ask for help with one.\u00a0The bikes we experienced 10 to 15 years ago ran fine but\u00a0were ponderously heavy, had suspension that was either\u00a0immovable or bottomed when you sat on it, and the controls\u00a0were clunky and either bent like string cheese or shattered\u00a0like pottery. The 2016 SR150<\/a> and SR189<\/a> will explode\u00a0those stereotypes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nTHE LOOK<\/strong><\/span>
\nBoth the SR models have a great look, plush and\u00a0adjustable suspension, a nice riding position and controls\u00a0that are brag-worthy. The SRs are similar in size to the\u00a0popular Honda CRF150F, but rather than mimic the styling\u00a0of any of the Japanese brands, SSR chose to go for\u00a0the KTM look. The SR150 uses the standard 14\/17-inch\u00a0wheel combo of a normal 85cc motocross bike, but it feels\u00a0more like the CRF150F with its 16\/19-inch wheels. For suspension, there is an inverted fork\u00a0with compression and rebound adjustments.\u00a0The remote-reservoir rear shock\u00a0has adjustable preload and rebound.<\/p>\n

\"SR189\"<\/p>\n

Even though the SR189 shares the\u00a0CRF\u2019s 16\/19 wheel combo, it feels\u00a0larger and taller than the Honda. Both\u00a0of the SR models have a tapered aluminum\u00a0handlebar that allows a wide\u00a0variety of riders to fit well and ride\u00a0comfortably. There are two sets of\u00a0handlebar mounting holes in the triple\u00a0clamp, so you can further fine-tune the\u00a0riding position.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE RIDE<\/span><\/strong>
\nGoing for a ride is easy. Turn on the\u00a0ignition key and fuel. Pull in the clutch\u00a0and clutch-lever-mounted choke lever\u00a0and hit the electric-start button. Our\u00a0bikes always fired easily and didn\u2019t\u00a0require the choke for long. The clutch\u00a0pull is comparable to Japanese play\u00a0bikes, but the shift levers are very short\u00a0to allow this motor architecture to work\u00a0with this chassis and footpeg location.\u00a0Still, we had no problem with missed\u00a0shifts, although upshifts required a firm\u00a0toe, and our young riders, Madeline\u00a0\u201dMaddy\u201d Huss and Chase Stangl,\u00a0never complained.<\/p>\n

\"Muffler\"<\/p>\n

These bikes do not come with spark\u00a0arrestors, so in California we were limited\u00a0to riding on tracks. Fortunately,\u00a0we were able to ride at the Huss\u00a0Ranch track in Maddy\u2019s backyard,\u00a0which has two tracks that are mild\u00a0enough for pit bikes. Another rider had\u00a0a Honda CRF150F that was dialed in\u00a0nicely for track play, so we were able\u00a0to do some back-to-back comparisons.\u00a0Power is quite similar between\u00a0the 150s, with the SR having a little\u00a0edge. The SR189 is noticeably snappier,\u00a0with more power and response.\u00a0Unfortunately, with wide-ratio transmissions\u00a0and soft, active suspension, these\u00a0bikes aren\u2019t very well-suited to tracks.\u00a0Our riders had a lot of fun, but the bikes\u00a0bottomed hard on landings. On acceleration\u00a0chop and braking bumps, however,\u00a0the bikes are extremely plush and\u00a0soak up everything.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

GOOD STUFF<\/span><\/strong>
\nThere is a long list of good stuff\u00a0on the SR play bikes. The forks have\u00a037mm tubes, so they are on par with\u00a0the best of the racing mini cycles for\u00a0fork size (with the exception of the\u00a0KTM). The shock shaft is 16mm. It\u00a0wasn\u2019t too long ago that those were\u00a0numbers worth bragging about for a\u00a0full-size motocross bike. Thankfully,\u00a0SSR cleverly copied more than the\u00a0KTM look. The bike uses a singlebolt\u00a0seat attachment and has a large,\u00a0side-access airbox with an oiled-foam\u00a0air filter large enough for a 450cc\u00a0bike. The tapered bar with bar pad,\u00a0adjustable handlebar mount location\u00a0and wide footpegs are also in the\u00a0plus column. No spark arrestor is a\u00a0major drawback in many parts of the\u00a0country, and as yet we don\u2019t know\u00a0of anyone who makes a spark arrestor\u00a0for the SSRs. We didn\u2019t weigh\u00a0the bikes, but they did feel a little\u00a0heavier than the Honda CRF150F,\u00a0and the CRF150F is no light weight.<\/p>\n

\"Choke\"<\/p>\n

It actually weighs roughly the same\u00a0as a CRF450R motocross bike. None\u00a0of our riders complained about the\u00a0weight, but it will be an issue for\u00a0smaller riders. Maddy and Chase\u00a0both normally ride full-size bikes. We\u00a0also swapped bikes with a CRF150F\u00a0rider, and she wasn\u2019t bothered by the\u00a0weight but did praise the suspension.\u00a0The rear brake is great, but the front\u00a0takes a fair amount of effort. The lever\u00a0feel is solid, but the stopping power\u00a0comes in smoothly without a lot of\u00a0bite.<\/p>\n

Where the SSRs really shine is\u00a0price. At $1899 for the 150 and $2199\u00a0for the 189, they are considerably less\u00a0expensive than other play bikes with far more basic suspension packages.\u00a0The 189 looks and feels great after a\u00a0non-stop, rider-swapping day at the\u00a0track and racing a Grand Prix. During\u00a0that time the bike crashed twice. Both\u00a0times we had to clean sand out of\u00a0the throttle, but otherwise the bike\u00a0looks and feels new. One fall bent the\u00a0brake pedal a little, but we were able\u00a0to straighten it, and it suffered no ill effects.<\/p>\n

Obviously, it is too early to say\u00a0anything about the SSR minis\u2019 longterm\u00a0reliability, but so far they feel\u00a0plenty stout, and they are backed\u00a0by a 60-day warranty. We have seen\u00a0the warehouse, and it is impressive.\u00a0SSR claims to have parts for every\u00a0bike it has sold. Hopefully, we can\u00a0get some serious miles racked up\u00a0and see how it goes. We think it will\u00a0go well. \u274f<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Learn More<\/a> for specifications.<\/p>\n

Download PDF<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most dirt bike riders have had at least some experience\u00a0with a Chinese-built dirt bike\u2014either riding one\u00a0or, more likely, having somebody ask for help with one.\u00a0The bikes we experienced 10 to 15 years ago ran fine but\u00a0were ponderously heavy, had suspension that was either\u00a0immovable or bottomed when you sat on it, and the controls\u00a0were clunky and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,27],"tags":[35,39,38,37,36,34,33],"class_list":["post-107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-reviews","category-product-news","tag-dirt-bike","tag-dirt-bike-feb-2016","tag-dirt-bike-magazine","tag-mid-size","tag-reviews","tag-sr150","tag-sr189"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssrmotorsports.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssrmotorsports.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssrmotorsports.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssrmotorsports.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssrmotorsports.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssrmotorsports.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":438,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssrmotorsports.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions\/438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssrmotorsports.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssrmotorsports.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssrmotorsports.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}