Chinese Bikes

[KK]

1'st up If I cover anything which has been posted previously I am Sorry. I've been a Chinese Bike dealer.

Chinese bikes anyone thinking of buying one do the following.

1: Avoid anything peddled by The Internet Bike Shop huge failure rate on their machines & perts back up is a joke.
2: Ask about warranties I know from January that Superbyke who manufacturer their own machines will be doing 12 months parts & labour. If its just parts RUN AWAY
3: check industry figures if you're looking for a bike or scooter you can get monthly registration figures.
EG 50cc Scooters Baotian 50cc #1 reg'd scooter & a decent little Scoot
most common fault is fuel sensor, it can be de-restricted to 45-50mph. & only needs 200-300kms to be run in not 500+ like allot of others.
Jinluns are a good bike and figure wise are the #1 registered Chinese bike in the UK, decent build reliable engine good looking. Jinlun now have their own kit of nuts bolts & screws for the bike in Stainless steel as a substitute to the inferior chinese stuff on the bike.
4. You get what you pay for a £800 bike will last you for a bit.
5. If a company has 30+ models RUN AWAY quantity does not mean quality you'll be left high and dry when you need spares.
6. DO not buy off of the internet like e-bay or from someone more than 20 miles away, as soon as you get a problem you don't want to be traveling too far or trying to get parts from someone 200 miles away only on the phone or e-mail.
7. Loctite every nut bolt & washer on the bike this will stop bits vibrating loose and falling off like exhausts.
8. Buy the brand. Lifan Baotian Jinlun & Superbyke without a shadow of a doubt make the best of the Chinese bikes. They have reliabilty and quality.
9 If you're looking to pay under £600 for a 50cc Scooter or Under £1000 for a 125cc bike (unless its Lifan) don't bother.

If you want tales of woe PM me I've got stacks
If you want advice on good Chinese Bikes PM me

Honda were knocked when they came into the UK look at them now, allot of Chinese bikes are Shite, some however are fantastic
As the craze dies down there will be the good ones left standing. From January Baotian Scooters will be selling their Own Euro Patended models in the UK. Baotian also sell well in excess of 20k units a year in Italy France & Germany, who will not stand for the same cheap Shite we seem to accept in the UK.

I know that trading Standards accross the county Customs & Exise and DTI & DVLA are looking into the influx of cheap crappy and in many cases unroadworthy Chinese Motorbikes & Scooters.

If you make the right choice of machine & have a dealer nearby you should be ok.

Safe Riding

[TheShaggyDA]

Sounds like a thinly veiled ad for Superbyke...
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[i:6e3bfc7581]But still I fear and still I dare not laugh at the madman...[/i:6e3bfc7581]

[Itchy]

true true,

But there are some valid points , but to save yourself the hassle of all the above buy one of the bike 4 or a European bike , cheapo bike = false economy!.

Or if you want to go through the above , bring a magnet to detect stainless steel vs mild steel.
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[KK]

No Not advertising for anybody

Just letting folks know what I've experienced
Whats worth buying and whats not if you're thinking Chinese.

Its a lifestyle choice people will opt for a new bike over a 2'nd hand branded one. Add up No MOT for 3 years inexpensive available parts for the decent manufacturers the right choice is worth it.

If I can point them in the direction of decent reliable Chinese brands & away from the Shite....Its all good.

You have to remember that Peugeot, Aprillia, Piaggio all make in China now.
Peugeots £799 50cc all Chinese made has a 12 month unlimited mileage warranty (most Peugeots are 2 years)

Piaggio have a 45% share of Zongshen (who have the other 45%) with the remainding 10% owned by the State government.

Zonghsen Aprilia have 2 riders in the 250cc Moto GP class
Last season they made into 7 or 8 races in Europe this year they were not involved on race days, we're talking 1000's outside of qualification on some circuits.

Zongshen also do work for.......
Wait for it.......
Xenephobic Yanks close your eyes.....
Harley Davidson
They have a 650cc V Twin race bike coming out next year.
Its taken them 5 years to develop
& will be priced around 3 grand & in direct competition with the Hyosung GTR's

Superbyke's 125 crosser styled is a Hyosung
Superbyke's Supermoto's 125 & 200cc have Suzuki licensed engines in them
Superbyke's Buggy has an 1100cc Suzuki engine in it, word on the grapevine is it maybe on the next series of Top-Gear.
So coupled with a 12 month parts & labour warranty @ the price of a second hand Honda Kawi, Yami or Suzuki its worth a punt.

Not all Chinese bikes are crap.

[Richard_Schmid]

My first bike was a Crusader classic 125cc. Cost me £750, and what a pile of shite it was. Went ok...ish, but dropped it a few months after and Parts were a nightmare to come by. Company then closed shortly after...should have seen that one coming!

Anyway, after literally months of looking for the 'righthand footpeg hanger bracket' it turned out that an old honda cm125 used the same part, and got fleesed for one of those.

Good ridence to that bike.

Seriously, if your a new motorcyclist looking for a cheap run about, spend that extra cash for a good warrenty.

Company was an internet based group called 'Europa international'

And the bike a crusader classic Bt- 125cc

Hope this helps,

Richard

[2t-Screamer]

[Richard_Schmid]

Add to that Aluminium bolts. Had to drill through one when i was fixing mine, and it was like drilling butter. Absolutly hopeless.

[2t-Screamer]

[ms51ves3]

[Itchy]

[----]

Its not just the above problems you get with the chinese bikes,its the constant vibrations,rattly chains and sprockets,rubbish brakes,e.t.c. that make you hate them more.


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[chris-red]

I would bet a large sum of money that my 20 year old Yamaha 2t 100 will last longer than a bike that has been made in china. 38k on the clocks nothing has broke (since I have had it)
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[jimbothe]

Buy a old branded make like Honda, Yamaha or Suzuki. In the long run it will be more reliable and save you money.

Jap bikes are built to last, chinese are not.
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[mattgirv]

There seems to be an air of bitterness throughout this post. Possibly because Chinese/Korean bikes largely are pieces of shit that deteriorate before the very road itself. The stringent rules placed on the other bike manufacturers are massive and it is only a matter of time before reality catches up with the manufacturers.

When this happens, most of the companies will disappear but you can bet they all won't. Then hopefully we will have reliable, safe and cheap bikes which would help increase biking numbers for sure.

It sort of resembles what happened with the Japanese market, only on a lesser scale. They essentially spent 10 years toying with the ideas already on the market, and used them as an example when they started exporting. Having not lived that long ago, I can't say for sure as to whether the Japanese bikes had a generally low quality build akin to these bikes.

I guess I'll ask this KK, are there many larger capacity bikes around?
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Bikes: 1998 Honda VFR800Fi, 26,500 miles
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[LeeR]

I agree to a point, but I've said it before and I'll say it again I believe the Japanese/Chinese comparison is incorrect. I hate to appear rude but the people making the comparison are either too young to know better or have forgotten their history.

Japan was in ruins after WWII so the UK/USA ploughed billions into rebuilding and restructuring the country, the same as they did with West Germany. So when the UK/USA assisted in redeveloping their industries it was no surprise that this included automotives. The Japanese have always been a proud nation, pride in their empire/emperor is the stuff of fanatical dedication. The Japanese worked almost manically to reach the same high standard as the West and while we sat complacent with our techniques and traditions, they like the West Germans eventually blew us out of the water on quality, and efficiency, and for the Japanese even price! Products built with pride and dedication and a desire to be the best.

Now the Chinese are a completely different culture still rather proud as a nation, but overturning empire, for nationalism, and finally communism they have found it hard to compete in the industrialised world. I remember in the early to mid-70s toys being made in Taiwan (the remaining enclave of nationalist China on the island of Formosa). And yet mainland China produced nothing in fact was effectively closed to the world culturally, economically and industrially. Since the late 80's however Western companies have seen an opportunity to "maximise profits" that effectively means get it made cheaper! In doing so they have invested in Chinese government state owned companies. These companies, like all companies, exist to make money but the difference with a Chinese company is they exist to make money for the glory of the nation "a bigger, better China". This philosophy is the driving force behind China's expansion, greedy Western companies blind to the methods employed sink money into unscrupulous Chinese companies.

Take Mattel for example 3 product recalls in as many months, why? The Chinese companies who made their toys had used lead in the paint, something outlawed in the West since the late 70's. Now Mattel had a contract, a written agreement, a piece of Quality Control paperwork from the Chinese company that said the toys were acceptable for sale in the West. The truth is they weren't, the truth is they lied and Mattel were duped, seeking to save money they've lost money and it serves them right. These Chinese companies have no care for the consequences of their actions, in truth you either do things their way or you don't do it at all; Sky, Google etc...

Things may change in the next 20yrs, hey it took the Japanese 20yrs since the end of WWII to build a bike that could win a TT. But personally I don't think they will, they've been at it almost 20yrs now and show little signs of improving. The Chinese companies will either continue to churn out crap and Western companies will have recall after recall, or the Western companies will return their manufacture to the other industrial bases of Eastern Europe, India and Mexico, maybe even back to the UK/USA. The thing is if you're going to do things properly, if you're going to have effective QA then this takes time and money and increases costs.

One final point on comparisons, if a Japanese company had used lead paint in a toy, they'd apologise profusely and do it properly, I don't believe the Chinese give a shit.

Ride a Chinese bike if you like but personally I'd rather not “play chicken” or “Russian roulette” with the quality of a bike.

South Korea on the other hand is a slightly different story being about 15 years behind Japan.
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[c_dug]

KK can i ask what company you used to deal for?

one of my friends bought chinese, a P.O.R apache 125, to be fair mechanicly it isnt bad, starts first time everytime etc etc but the electrics are appauling (the indicators have never worked) and the brakes are useless at anything above 0mph
his exhaust came loose in about a month and he is missing several other bolts around the bike.
Also the rear wheel allignment marks on the swingarm are nowhere near level on both sides, almost as if they have been randomly stamped in on each side!
it is the start of a good bike, the frame, engine and suspension seem ok, if the company cared a little more about the bikes than the overall profits they might be able to make an alright bike.
for now at least id avoid chinese, in a few years a could see the overall standards raising however at the moment IMO it isnt worth the risk!

c_dug

[Whosthedaddy]

I must be the only one happy with my lil' Chinese bike?
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Current : MSX 125 Past : CBR 900RR Monkeybike : c50 LAC : ZXR750 H2 : FZR600 : ZX7R P3 : YW100 : TRX850: Trophy 900 T309 : GSXR 600 L0: Monkeybike : XJ6S Whosthedaddy

[TheShaggyDA]

[Whosthedaddy]

[Zenarchy]

[pa_broon74]

I looked at the chinese bikes but decided against buying one, (got a second hand Honda eventually.)

I think its like anything else, you only hear about them when they go wrong. there must be hundreds (20k plus mentioned above?) out on the roads, how many are still going strong?

I still wouldn't buy one mind, China's human rights record being what it is...
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Didn't catch anything.

[Teaman]

I sell chinese bikes aswell as aprillia, peugeot, gillera, and others not jap.
I can honestly say that quality varies from 1 model to the next and as for the internet bike shop I work for one of there dealers and I don't have a problem with them, Iwarrantyrrenty, its sorted out and to be totally honest theres no need to ruin away just because its only a warrantyrrenty, If you havmechanicalhancal sence you could fit most of the problem bits yourself.
now we don't stock all there range. It's up to the customer as to what bike they want. you pay 665 for a chinese 50cc with 1 year parts or 1500 for an aprillia sr50 with 2 year parts and labour. (who have had a nasty habit of fitting cheep main bearings)

we sell a loads of sukida or skygo 125's ancomparisonrison toamountmount of other makes we sell in the same size teh chinese are very good value. a suzuki gn125 is about £1comparedired to £815 for a similar chinese, now you might get mowarrantynty from suzi but it all depends on the dealer and also how you treat your bike.
ride them like a loon and if its obvious that you have neglected your bike you can loose yowarrantynty.

also on that point some chinese bike sellers can and are selling warrantyty for labour to run along side there parts one exsisting.

value for money I think the ones we sell are really good ( mind you we have had a few terrible makes and soon stopped selling them)

you usually find its one thing like a regulator, a bloke in a truck with 40 boxes of them go to one factory say sukida, they test a batch and the reliability ishitte so they refuse to buy them and send him on his way, he goes down the road to the next factory and does exactly the same until he sells them, now eventually theres going to be a factory fitting them to crappy bikes but there going to be really cheep sold by people on ebay who bought a crate load omixeded bikes and sell them unbuilt with no backup.

check out the internet bike shops record on ebay, there not that bad.

Pa_broon74 does the right thing. you research the product, you weigh up your options in relation to funds/ where you live (high crime area + sr50 is silly) what you need the bike for and then you make your mind up.

buy a second hand honda if you want. you might get a better name but what about the parts if it starts going wrong. crash an sr 50 and damage enough panels you write it off, crash a top1 50 and you couldnt give a buggery, you can have almost 3 of them for the same price.


Would I buy a chinese bike? I have a zzr 1200 and can't stand scooters or the bad rating little fools and even old fools with L plates thinking that a days cbt makes you rossi. I just mend them.
(but then the japs had to start somewhere and everyone had the same attitude towards them as most do to the chinese now) look what happened to the brit bikes
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Someone stupid does not realise they r stupid.stupidity is indistinguishable from malice U just have to accept that some people are thick as p1gsh1t and work around them.

[Ravo]

[panpan]

I'm very happy with my bike so far. No problems at all. I hope it stays that way.

[tutton]

Not all chinese is bad
ive had a cheap chinese pitbike
for over 3 years now
no problems what so ever
just needs a new plug every 6 months
or so which is reasonable considering.
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