dodgy chinese bikes

[Mad Hatter]

Dodgy Chinese bikes.

I had one, I did thousands of miles on it, 200 miles in a day with Mrs hatter to be on the back, and it never missed a beat, seriously it was awesome never changed the import oil or tyres and it went forever I tried to kill it and it didn't die, even froze it solid once and still started and rode it to work( second picture),pretty good as it cost me 150 quid.

For that I got a 4 stroke 125 returning at a minimum 80 mpg with a gear counter, can't think of the actual name, tool tube helmet lock and a load of other stuff. I would suggest changing the handle bars as they seem to be made of some sort of

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soft cheese.

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So has anyone else owned one or thought of owning one?

[ajwright64]

There's one almost identical to that at the metal salvage scrap yard. It has under 50 miles on it, and the guy couldn't find any parts to fix whatever was wrong with it. He paid so little for it brand new that he just ditched it at the scrap yard to get it out of his garage.

[Gripper1974]

A mate of mine called Graham did his CBT a few years ago and then went and bought a cheap little Chinese bike, he's still running round on it now. He uses it for work, daily commute of about 18 miles each way, uses it in the evening and he uses it at weekends. He's the only mechanic I know that doesn't own a car. Its clocked up around 85000 miles and is still going strong. Gaffer tape and super glue are holding most of the plastics together but as he says " Both of them together weigh less that carbon fibre " Must be something in it I suppose.

[Mad Hatter]

I used to mail order a lot of my parts from chinesemotorcyclepartsonline.co.UK but some stuff like the levers I changed for Honda cg levers the didn't fit exactly but they did the job.

I did have to re do a piece of the wiring loom and replace the ignition barrel steering lock and filler cap, after the ignition barrel destroyed itself because it was frozen solid, again, but the new set was only about 40 quid.

The panels on mine had been backed with fiber glass to hold the together as I couldn't find a decent glue.

[Throttled]

I think that there is no doubt it is possible to get a decent Chinese bike. The issue is with Chinese build quality control compared to Japanese bikes you are likely to get Friday bikes on any day of the week with the Chinese. So do you want to risk it?

[Gripper1974]

For the sake of a couple of hundred quid, I'd risk it. I mean, if you think about it, you could spend more than that on a set of tyres or a pair of decent boots.

[xtzrick]

A lad up the road from me has 1 the same as the 1 in Mad Hatters pic, he was having problems & asked me to take a look, only a float height issue.

I was impressed by how solid it looked, but looks are no guarantee of qualaty.

A day later I was in my local bike shop & a lad was after new wheel bearings for his Chinese quad with only 1K on the clock, the spacer between his old ones had crushed & knackered the bearings hmy:

But like Gripper says, I'd risk it, new bearings aren't much & I've always bought "rats" believing you build reliabilty into them.
Couple of hundred quid for an all year work bike you can take off road & it doesn't matter when you bin it, bargin

Rick

[davsato]

i see it this way-
a royal enfield will cost you 3 times more but have less performance and less reliability issues than a 125cc Ting Tong Dingaling.
a mate had a "pulse adrenaline" supermotard, the pillion grab handles were bolted on backwards, the front tyre was on backwards, and the front brake hose was routed wrong and pushed into the spokes when the forks depressed. uncrating issues really, all easily fixed, the tyres were rubbish anyway and got replaced, afterwards it was a very reliable and fun bike.

they are coming out with bigger engines these days, i am saving for a 250cc enduro, and will seriously look at whats on offer from the peoples republic. and the food aint alf bad too.

[BIG DON]

B)

I have not been impressed with their early bikes, what with chocolate mixed metal and kacky underpants tyres ect ect but now some seam a lot better, A mate at work his son has a who flung dung 125 and thrashes the daylights out of it and as some of you guys have said for a couple of hundred quid you can have some fun.
These are what I determine as Condom vehicles, You buy em use em and throw them away :laugh:

BIG D

[Mad Cow]

TBM tested a couple of Chinese trail bikes last year (sorry can't remember which makes) and concluded they were getting to be good value for money.