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My experience with new motorcycles from the lesser-known or new brands hasn’t always been a smooth ride, literally or otherwise. And when it is from China, the hesitation only doubles. The stereotypes surrounding anything that comes from the Middle Kingdom creep in my head despite my best attempts to believe otherwise. Oh, did the ‘Brixton’ name make you think of pubs and pints, tweed jackets and bowler hats… or Triumphs? I realise this might rattle your teacup, but the brand named after a London Borough is actually an Austrian company that teamed up with a Chinese engine manufacturer and is now assembling them in Kolhapur to sell in India. Not quite what you’d expect from a name that screams ‘London pub,’ eh?

One of the reasons why I wanted this to be a good motorcycle was because of the way it looked. And it wasn’t just me, but everyone who saw the Crossfire wanted to pose with it and take pictures. It’s not the kind I would want in my living room, but the kind that would look the best with some dust on its tank and mud on its tyres… the kind that will earn its attention by being ridden and not by being an art piece. That said, there was a lot to admire about the 500 XC — its stance, the chiselled tank, the race plates on the sides, the bench-style seat and the beautifully-finished exhaust. And just in case the name didn’t give it away, the Union Jack embossed on the tank grips was a not-so-subtle reminder.

Hoping the Crossfire’s Austrian genes would lend it some precision, control and a feisty character, I set out to do some scrambling on this scrambler. And it didn’t take long to realise the European influence. The 195-kg kerb weight made it very easy to manage through the rough stuff. And backing me up in my questionable off-road decisions were the ergonomics — the handlebar was tall and wide enough to give me leverage when seated or straddling, and the footpegs were placed just right for either riding styles. The fully adjustable KYB suspension could handle almost anything that came in our way — and that too in the stock setting. Thanks to the 19/17-inch tubeless spoke rims and the Pirelli Scorpion Rally STR rubber, I wasn’t fretting about punctures either. The tyres would just plough through the loose terrain, and kicking up dust was quite easy with Gaokin’s GK500 engine.

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The 486cc liquid-cooled parallel twin engine was surprisingly good. It delivered oodles of torque all the way up to the mid range. Though this wasn’t the slickest six-speed gearbox, the shifts were surprisingly smooth but a slip-and-assist clutch would have made the job tad easier when riding through slow sections. No vibrations, good performance and a decent sound track to back it up… I almost forgot that it was a Chinese engine till it started giving me some harsh reminders.

Any attempts to achieve the top speed were quickly thwarted by stern protests from the engine — first the power completely cut off, leaving me with no option but to restart the bike; soon after erratic fuelling, an error code, and random stalling followed. Even the ABS completely stopped working for a while, which otherwise is not switchable. This ordeal continued for three hours before the bike was back to its normal self. And from then on, any hope of this being a great, reliable motorcycle faded; never in all these years of riding have I experienced a mirror coming off from its stalk until that day. I didn’t mind the dated LCD console until I realised that the near-horizontal placement made it impossible to read in daytime.

With the nagging thought of a breakdown hanging over me like a cloud, I somehow made it back home. The ride back was all about me praying that the motorcycle doesn’t give up. Even if I ignored the Rs. 5.19 lakh (ex-showroom) price tag, no bike should make the person think whether they can make it home… unless it’s an electric, of course. That said, when it behaved, the bike was genuinely impressive. Maybe someone at Kolhapur’s MotoHaus should consult the compass on the Brixton’s logo — it might just point them toward better quality control. It may have taken a whole world to build this Crossfire, but it still has to win over a country where value is more than a buzzword — it’s practically a national instinct.