Road bike Stels Flame 200 - Chinese answer to YBR 125

A utilitarian motorcycle for every day

Of course, the Japanese motorcycle monsters have their enormous experience and reputation on their side, but China is the world’s main manufacturer of small-capacity bikes, so the Stels Flame 200 motorcycle performs quite confidently in this field. Lightweight, cheap, reliable and economical - it is exactly what a first bike should be. And after the introduction of subcategories A and A1 in driver’s licenses, where “A1” means motorcycles with an engine up to 125 cubic centimeters, Flame 200 began to be purchased en masse by many motorcycle schools, because it can legally teach straight to category A, and on the super popular YBR- 125 - only on the A1, although these bikes actually differ very little, and don’t be confused by the number “200” in the name.

The Chinese have already become skilled in the production of budget motorcycles, successfully installing the same engines, gearboxes and suspension elements on a variety of models, sometimes even produced at factories of different manufacturers. This is for the better - such a wealth of experience allows them to make inexpensive, but quite high-quality bikes for every day, and the Stealth Flame 200 motorcycle is an excellent confirmation of this.

Characteristics and parameters

From a design point of view, the Flame 200 is absolutely nothing special - it is the most budget motorcycle. Steel frame, ancient 13 HP 1 cylinder air cooled engine, 5 speed transmission, carburetor and disc brakes front and rear. Thanks to its moderate seat height and dry weight of only 132 kg, the Stels Flame 200 motorcycle is controlled almost by an effort of thought, which is very valuable for a beginner who does not feel too confident on the road.

Of course, there is no need to talk about any impressive dynamics, but let’s not forget that we are talking about a very budget motorcycle, and not a sportbike. And the Stealth Flame 200 copes perfectly with the task of “driving every day” - a kind of workhorse, tenacious and not too gluttonous.

Alpha a and power

Carburetors of motorcycles IZH Jupiter-5, 4, 3
Most motorcyclists know that for the combustion of gasoline in the engine cylinder, a certain amount of air is needed. And that the mixture of this air with gasoline is formed in the carburetor and can be “normal”, “rich”, “poor”. At the same time, the technology of our days is very reliable, and there are almost no conflicts between the motorcyclist and the carburetor. Many people ride serenely, completely forgetting about the presence of such a “cunning” thing on a motorcycle. But some are unlucky. The vagaries of the carburetor force them to delve into theory. They have already learned that the combustion of 1 kg of gasoline theoretically requires about 15 kg of air and that in reality the combustible mixture entering the engine cylinders may, as luck would have it, fall far short of this ideal case. Either there is too little air, then suddenly there is too much! How long? Let's try to answer this and a number of other questions that should interest everyone, especially young motorcyclists.

First of all, let's get acquainted with the excess air coefficient a (“alpha”). This is the ratio of the amount of air actually entering the cylinder to that theoretically required for complete combustion of the fuel. A mixture for which this coefficient is equal to one is called normal. If it is less, then the mixture is rich, and if it is more, then it is poor. But here’s the problem: it turns out that not every mixture of gasoline and air ignites from a spark! There are limits. They correspond to the lowest and highest alpha values ​​at which the mixture is still capable of igniting. For gasoline at an initial temperature of 0 degrees Celsius, these values ​​of the excess air coefficient are 0.53 and 1.23, respectively. The composition of the mixture on which the engine operates during operation lies somewhere within these limits, having a strong impact on its power, efficiency, and temperature conditions.

Young people, as you know, love fast driving and therefore strive, first of all, to “extract” the most power from the engine. It is achieved using enriched mixtures, with an excess air coefficient of 0.8-0.9. Having achieved what he wanted - speed, such a motorcyclist receives in addition a bunch of, at first glance, invisible, but in fact very, very noticeable troubles. Incomplete combustion of the mixture, poor efficiency, accelerated deposits of carbon on engine parts and in the exhaust system, as well as a toxic gray-blue cloud behind, saturated with carbon monoxide, sulfur compounds, nitrogen oxide, etc.

Meanwhile, if you adjust the carburetor to obtain a lean mixture (a = 1.1 -1.15), then combustion will become more complete, efficiency will be better, and the doses of poison emitted into the atmosphere will also be reduced. True, the engine power will decrease somewhat, but a road motorcycle is used most of the time with partial loads, and they require from the engine only a portion of the power that it is capable of developing. Therefore, it is worth giving preference to a lean mixture at increased alpha values. It is clear that to obtain the same power with an excess air coefficient of 1.15, you will have to give more “gas” than with a = 0.8. But in practice, drivers feel this difference only when they need to quickly increase speed (lean mixture, reducing power, also affects acceleration dynamics).

So, if we proceed from the fact that for a road motorcycle, efficiency and engine safety are of decisive importance, then at partial loads it is advisable to lean the mixture. But we will talk about this in more detail later. And now briefly about the design of the carburetor.

Advantages and disadvantages of the Chinese small-capacity model

• + Affordable price - in this segment this is undoubtedly one of the main advantages.
• + Inexpensive consumables and spare parts, which are always available at Stels dealers.
• + Gasoline consumption is about 3 liters per 100 km, which, in combination with a 17-liter tank, gives the Stels Flame 200 motorcycle a huge power reserve. If you decide to go on a trip on this bike, you will appreciate this fact.
• + Effective brakes by budget class standards.
• + The most simplified and therefore reliable design.
• — Low maximum speed - about 120 km/h.
• — Weak traction at high speeds.
• — If there is a passenger or large cargo, the dynamics of the bike noticeably sags.

Adjusting the Stels SB 200 carburetor

Correctly adjusting the carburetor on the Stels SB 200 motorcycle is certainly important. It ensures stable engine operation, minimum consumption and maximum power. Any problem with the carburetor almost immediately affects the operation of the motorcycle.

Therefore, it is important to correctly adjust the quality of the mixture

The Stels SB 200 is equipped with a PZ30 carburetor. This is an ordinary carburetor, without an accelerator pump. The idle screw (IAC) is located on the side of the carburetor, the quality screw (VK) is located with the head down under. Due to the nature of the frame and engine layout, adjusting the carburetor requires a little dexterity and specially trained tools. For a quality screw, you should choose a small piece of plastic that acts like a screwdriver. Also, it can be twisted with pliers or a screwdriver with a universal joint. Everyone chooses an instrument to their own taste. It is more convenient to turn the quality screw with a small ratchet with a head for a flat-head screwdriver.

We will not delve into the theory of mixture quality (what is called a rich mixture, what is called a lean mixture, and the like). Let's proceed to the procedure for adjusting the quality of the mixture. It is necessary to adjust the carburetor only when the engine is well warmed up. At the same time, the valve clearances must be adjusted, the carburetor cleaned, the air filter washed and impregnated.

With the engine off, turn the quality screw all the way, then unscrew it half a turn. After this, we start the engine. Now we achieve stable operation of the engine with the idle speed screw at minimum speed. The next step is to gradually unscrew the VK. Engine speed begins to increase. We continue to unscrew until the revolutions stop increasing. Having made sure that further unscrewing the VC does not increase the speed, we begin to tighten it until the engine speed begins to drop. Leave the quality screw in this position and adjust the VXX speed. This completes the adjustment.

You can check the mixture quality setting by sharply opening and closing the throttle valve. If the engine starts to stall when opening suddenly, the mixture is lean and you should tighten the VC 1/4-1/2 turn, then check again

IMPORTANT! Since the carburetor of the Stels SB 200 motorcycle does not have an accelerator pump, even with proper adjustment, the engine will choke a little when the throttle is sharply unscrewed. If the mixture is rich, then while driving after closing the throttle you will hear quite loud popping noises in the exhaust pipe

It is also worth noting that small pops are acceptable when the carburetor mixture is normal.

Reviews from real owners

For my first bike, I chose something cheap and not too powerful, so that it wouldn’t provoke me, and it would be scary to get on a big bike right away. I bought it in the store https://stelscenter52.ru/catalog/mototsikly/ Stealth Flame 200, the reviews about it are normal. I didn’t regret it - the moped is suitable for practicing skills and gaining riding experience. Only for me, with my size, it’s cramped, my back starts to ache after a couple of hours, but when I dare to go on a long-distance trip, I’ll sell the Stealth and buy something more powerful. Alena, Yaroslavl, Stels Flame 200 '2015.

At first I wanted to take Yobrik 125, then I came across Flame’s review, became interested, and ended up taking it. I didn’t do any tuning; I don’t see any point in investing in a budget motorcycle. I pour 92 gasoline, I drive every day for work, sometimes I cover a thousand kilometers in a week. Buzzing, eating, rushing. A normal spender for your money. Alexander, Vladimir, Stels Flame '2016.

An ordinary cheap motorcycle, of which there are many. After the purchase (I bought a used one), I plugged a more powerful lamp into the headlight and installed a reinforced generator (bought on Aliexpress), and hung music from the same place on the steering wheel. The consumption has never been more than 3.5 liters; the cruiser handles 110 km/h normally. I got tired of it after a month, the dynamics are not enough, and you won’t be able to go long distances on it, but I will drive it until I save up for 600 cubic meters. Igor, Chelyabinsk, Stels Flame 200 '2014.

A couple of weeks ago I crossed the first 10,000 kilometer mark in my motorcycling life. And I did this thanks to my Stels Flame 200. There is only one picture, below are my impressions, descriptions and thoughts about this unit. Lots of books.

So, at the end of April I decided on the choice of my first motorcycle and purchased a Flamka. I chose the unit for daily trips around the city and trips to the dacha, 100-150 kilometers.

Mot showed himself to be just that. Light, nimble, feels great in the city, the only negative is the fairly wide steering wheel and the original mirrors, which hang exactly at the level of the mirrors of SUVs and crossovers, so beloved in our capital, which is already crowded with transport. The lightness of the motorcycle and the large angle of rotation of the steering wheel allows you to easily change from row to row in a traffic jam, even if the cars are pressed very tightly against each other. It feels almost like riding a bicycle. At the same time, the bike’s power is quite enough to keep up with fast traffic both on the Third Transport Ring and on the Moscow Ring Road. On the Moscow Ring Road, I left the left lane only if I was driving there in the dead of night, when the racers are leaving and the whole traffic is going much faster than the 120 km/h ceiling of the Flame. A small remark, I will talk about the real speed measured using GPS, my speedometer helpfully lies by about 10%, you are happy with the number 130, but there is no point... Although for some it is a joy. The flame is lightweight and has a nice modern design .

First impressions were good, the only thing I really wanted was sixth gear. The engine is a single-barrel engine, which means it has a lot of torque at medium speeds and an absolutely sluggish top end. I was ready for this. Maximum torque at 5.5 rpm, power at 7.5. Normal operating rpm is exactly 5-8 thousand, just have time to click the gears. The engine chirps and drives. I solved the issue of short gears at one and a half thousand mileage, changing the drive sprocket from the original 15 teeth to a 17-tooth one from a fairly well-known Soviet unit called “Ant”. It fits like a original, the only thing is that it needs to be secured with a lock washer, and not with two screws. But it's not a problem. By the way, the issue price is 75 rubles per star and 2 rubles per puck. As a result, I got a normal first gear, I no longer had to shift in the first second, and fifth became fifth, no more and no less. By the way, the engine has enough torque to not only maintain speed in fifth gear, but also accelerate or drive uphill. As a result: the engine is high-torque in the middle , the gearbox is too short

Native tires do not perform well . If possible, it should be replaced with something normal, but I will say that due to the lack of one, I still have my family, the rear tire has already acquired a noticeable shelf and, in general, after a couple of thousand it will show indicators of critical wear. The front one, surprisingly, has remained as it was, probably the reason for the not very good braking.

There are enough brakes. But I want more. In front there is one disc with a 4-piston caliper, in the rear there is a disc with a 2-piston caliper. On this bike, it is advisable to connect the rear brake to the front brake; in this case, the braking dynamics improve significantly, but it is still better to be careful; on the original tires, the rear wheel easily skids. I still curse at myself every time for over-braking with the rear. Perhaps this balance of power happens because of the tires. On the last batches of flames, the back one was different, softer with at least some kind of grip resulting from this. The original hoses are literally wadded. You press the handle, the force increases, the braking improves sluggishly, so I quickly replaced the front hose with a reinforced Venhil one. The handle became harder, the stroke decreased, now it slows down exactly as much as you press. But still it was not possible to make stoppie. Maybe it’s the tires again, maybe the suspension, or maybe just the geometry of the bike.

The suspension is moderately stiff . At the rear there are two shock absorbers with remote compensation tanks with pumping. For my weight of 67 kilos, it seems a little harsh, and it bounces the rear point especially unpleasantly at the junctions with the track, which we often encounter on the Third Transport Ring. But with the second number, even if it’s a guy, it’s quite possible to drive even on a broken road. The backside has never been pierced. The front fork seemed like the golden mean to me, but many people said that it would be nice to make it stiffer. It is known from forums and VK groups that this can be successfully solved by replacing the oil with a thicker one. Otherwise, it works pleasantly at full speed, absorbs bumps and doesn’t wobble. And, by the way, the front fork is upside down, it looks nice =)

The seat is hard , everyone complains about it, that in long-distance driving the fifth point becomes numb. Perhaps I ride in armored shorts, thanks to the rigid protection of the coccyx, and the load is distributed differently, so that 300 km at a time went as normal for me without the need to stop and stand.

The native light leaves much to be desired . Well, what can two 35W light bulbs do? Neither to illuminate the road nor to show oneself in the flow. I had to drive with the long-range one at first... Without hesitation, I installed the xenon. At first I used both headlights, but then I didn’t like that the high beam one took a long time to light up, it’s not fun at night outside the city. While you are waiting for it to flare up, it is time to extinguish it because of the oncoming car. As a result, I installed a full-fledged halogen in the distant one. By the way, both of our bulbs have an H4 base. But in the near one only the near thread works, in the far one only the far one, and in order not to overload the wiring, when you turn on the far one, the near one goes out. Not a problem, so after spending a couple of hours I solved this problem. I ran the normal wiring through the relay from the battery and made sure that when the high beam was on, it would also give a signal to the low beam. As a result, it is now quite comfortable to move around at night. The original headlight gives a clear horizontal light-shadow boundary on the low beam. The distant one shines with a narrow beam towards the horizon.

Until mileage 7500, I just changed the oil and filled up with gasoline, and had no problems. The first absurdity happened at this figure - the throttle cable broke, the lead barrel in the throttle handle came off. It was in Moscow, there was a tire service nearby, so an hour later I drove on my own towards home. Next came the replacement of the throttle cable, the price was 100 rubles. But while I was out buying a cable, I came across a fresh, larger carburetor and decided that this was a sign for tuning.

Initially, I knew that the engine was designed for poor Chinese fuel and lubricants, so it has a compression ratio of 8.3. In principle, with this figure you can pour 80 gasoline into it, but I drove on 92. I was thinking of increasing the compression ratio to 10, installing a carburetor with a larger diffuser , then it seemed to me that this was precisely what was stifling the movement at the top. So I bought a fresh PZ-30 carb with an accelerator pump to replace my PZ-27, a forked throttle cable, took the engine head to be milled and waited. When the head arrived, I did porting in the head, bored out the intake manifold from 25-27mm in narrow places to 30mm so that everything matches the carburetor, made smooth transitions without steps or corners. At the same time, I changed the chain, because... the original chain sucks ... 428 chain 128 links from the Kirov plant - 250 rubles. Over the 2500 km that I drove, I had to tighten it once, although sometimes my own one had to be tightened almost once every 300-500. The engine became faster, it didn’t turn better, but the maximum speed increased by 10 km/h, from 120 to 130. In terms of numbers, this turns out to be approximately a 15% increase in power.

The first serious breakdown was not long in coming and happened at 8500 km; my gearbox secondary shaft bearing, which is near the drive sprocket, fell apart. There is a possibility that at first I overtightened the chain and that killed him, but still he shouldn’t die like that. Conclusion - defective. Because I had already gotten into the engine and didn’t have to pay RUB 2,000 to the officials for an oil change; I didn’t have to count on a warranty. Without thinking twice, I removed the engine and took it home to tinker with it in the evenings. I cut it in half, took out the hero of the occasion, looked at everything else and decided that what the hell, out of harm’s way, I’ll change all the other bearings too. No sooner said than done, I spent 750 rubles, I had a set of shaft bearings in my hands, and within a day I was already starting.

Then everything returned to its place, the bike drives, I’m happy.

Well, my story wasn’t entirely rosy, it was overshadowed by a breakdown, and quite a serious one at that, but as I understand it, no one else had such breakdowns. To judge the reliability, you still need statistics, which either don’t exist yet or they speak in favor of the flame.

In general, having driven these ten thousand, I understand that this is a very good option for moving around a city like the capital, where the traffic is dense, there are a lot of traffic jams, but when there are no traffic jams, they go quite quickly. I also understand that this is an option for a person who is not afraid of possible breakdowns and the need to modify some things for himself, because in fact, those who are now riding these Chinese cars are pioneers, we are studying his childhood illnesses and similar things, but Mostly we just ride and enjoy. A motorcycle for the city, for people without racing ambitions. It eats about 3.5 liters per hundred in the “all money” mode. He can easily take him to his dacha in the evening without traffic jams to get some fresh air for two to three hours longer.

Well, I think that the most important thing is that even despite that breakdown, I don’t want to get rid of it, so I continue to enjoy the rest of our short season and will probably open the next one also on Flame, but that’s how it goes. Now I already want the opportunity to drive on the highway 140-150, when the road allows, and I fell in love with the sound of the V-twin.

Main competitors

• The YBR 125 motorcycle is an incredibly popular motorcycle, inexpensive and ubiquitous on the roads. There is also a 250 cc modification, but it has never been officially sold in Russia. It’s also an excellent choice, but if you decide to buy a YBR, you’ll have to buy a used bike, or prepare a slightly larger amount than what you’ll need to buy a Flame 200.
• The Honda CB 125 is also a great bike, but it entered the market too late when Yamaha already reigned supreme in the budget segment. Its technical characteristics are similar to the Stealth Flame 200, but the price is slightly higher. But this is Honda!

Specifications