Opinions on Hongdou

[vulture]

I've just done my CBT, and have been recommended a Hongdou as a first bike. Is it true that this is a Honda rebadged, and what price should I be looking to pay for one?

My budget is around the £500 mark as I wish to use this to practice for my DA, and then sell it on.

Cheers

Vulture

[Jammy-G]

Hongdou is the Chinese copy of the Honda. They have bought the rights to the plans for the bikes and use their pattern parts to create visually identical copies for a fraction of the price.

The build quality is generally not as good as Hondas, but if you can get a bargain on one and take good care of it, you wont lose out too much.

How long are you planning to keep it for?
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RooRoo: just like the time i stuck my finger up my arse with no lube at all and she didnt talk to me for hours

[vulture]

I'm planning on keeping it for 3 months max. I just need to get some road experience before I go for my DA. As long as I can sell on the bike and not make a big loss, I'm happy.

Cheers

Vulture

[Laura]

I would get a old cg125 then they can be picked up for less than 500 quid if you are only keeping it for that short a time.
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Good girls ride motorcycles bad girls thrash them.

[Key67]

I'd echo what Laura says.

I did my CBT back in April along with a relative of mine. I got the CG125 and he got the Hongdou, throughout the practicing on the car park we kept swapping bikes and we both agreed that the Hongdou was lacking some of the qualities of the CG125.

My relative was having real problems with his emergency stop on the Hongdou, as soon as he got on the CG he was fine!

I would say that if you had the choice go to an older CG125 before a newer Hongdou. That's not saying that the latter was no good, they are good value but they just don't have the finesse of the CG. Oh and it didn't start up that well either, though it was fairly new and the engine may have been a bit tight!

Hope this helps.
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[vulture]

Thanks for all the info. Now, I don't suppose someone has got a cheap CG125 to sell me?

Cheers

Asif

[Ade067]

You're best bet would be either Ebay or Biketrader.co.uk

Or look in you're local papers

[Jebus]

Hello,

I haven't got a bike yet or anything needed to get on the road with a bike. I was looking on ebay and saw these houngdou bikes for the first time i thought great, i can get a newer bike thats as good as a honda but far cheaper. As they kept becoming available on ebay it got me thinking, why are these bikes so much cheaper? After a few hunts on forums i read a few times the bikes are poor compared to the CG and the other bikes they have copies of so i decided against it and just focus on getting an oldish cg for a first bike. i guess that they can be good if you are on a tight budget or something along those lines but a cheap copy of something from china don't inspire me that much really!

Thanks for reading
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2nd time around CBT: 8/9/11
125 Varadero

[mrchips]

I'd be skeptical of the engines. I presume they are not Honda engines.

[dibbster]

I owned a CG nearly 3 years, great bike. I would get one of them rather than the Hongdou, when you come to sell it back on it will hold its value better, It should also be easier to sell on/ part exchange as more people have heard of them.
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[ts50x0]

apparently the build quality is poor on the hongdou and they are very tempremtal. a cg that has done 40,000 miles is supposed to be more reliable than the brand new hongdou. has anyone thought of the suzuki gs125. they are reliable and in my oppinion better looking and sound nicer than the cg too.