Are all Chinese scooters junk?? By stevenbich (Read 16,941 times)

[bigkahuna427]

KZ I bought this "thing" for $40 off of craigslist. It was sight unseen and all I knew was that it was a two stroke but the guy delivered it from about 50 miles north of me. I was expecting something with a Mina engine. It is a 2003 Kymco YUP 50. It is rough so this is saving it from the dead. I would have just parted it out on ebay but I was told the sf10 engine was really good and with just a deristriction of the variator they will do 45-50. This is the same engine used in the super 9. it is certainly higher quality than most of the crap I have seen... Just curious how it compares..

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[kz1000st]

You've come to the right place. This should help you out some.

motorscooterguide.net/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1059

Some of these people rode theirs in the Mad Bastard Scooter Rally.

[sprocket]

Honda scooters are built in China.. and so are Aprilias and Vespas...

These are generally twice the cost of a Chinese scooter and in many cases you get locked into dealer maintenance. Shop time and parts are expensive...

Some people want this... but for many scooter riders they can't afford the expense and prefer to go Chinese and know that they can work on their own rides and parts are dirt cheap...

As I said before the mainstream larger Chinese scooter manufacturers have quality that is close to the Kymcos and Syms and use a standard GY6 engine...

You have to decide what is the best fit for YOU...if you know nothing about working on engines and have the bucks and want a decent warranty buy Japanese, Taiwanese, Italian

But understand.. you are pretty much locked in....

[kz1000st]

No kidding about Honda parts prices. In my brief ownership of the Big Ruckus I spent $31 on a starter safety switch, $50 on a new speedo sensor for the front wheel, $15 for a breather hose and $20 for a gearbox gasket and small oil seal. Next 250 will be Chinese.

[Bashan]

Yeah, I agree KZ, Kymco makes high quality scooters. There's a Kymco dealer in my area and those are some solid machines in the showroom. If there's negatives to talk about it's the price tag which these guys are pretty firm on, and then working on them yourself. We had a guy post on the forum about a problem with a Kymco not too long ago and the usual fixes just didn't apply. I remember Sprocket told the guy to find a Kymco mechanic which in retrospect I think was good advice. We finally decided the guy needed a CDI and he found one online at an outrageous price. So there's something to be said for a good ol' standard Chinese scooter that you can work on and find reasonable parts for. Rich

[gy6luver]

Steven


I hope i caught you before you bought a scooter, chinese scooters are the cheapest, most poorly made scooters out there, couple that with the fact the replacement parts are worse then the originals lol

your better off buying a honda or yamaha, you will pay more yes, but you will also never be wrenching on it

to read my real world experience with these feel free to visit

msj.4321fun.com

I just spent 8 hours on mine fixing crap that was broken

enjoy the ride!

[tmec]

Dec 17, 2011 17:10:55 GMT -6 gy6luver said:

Steven


I hope i caught you before you bought a scooter, chinese scooters are the cheapest, most poorly made scooters out there, couple that with the fact the replacement parts are worse then the originals lol

your better off buying a honda or yamaha, you will pay more yes, but you will also never be wrenching on it

to read my real world experience with these feel free to visit

msj.4321fun.com

I just spent 8 hours on mine fixing crap that was broken

enjoy the ride!

to someone who bought a chinese scooter expecting it to have the reliability and dependability of a honda or vespa like you did then yeah that person will feel like you do and call them 'junk'

to someone who knows how to wrench on things and knows what they are paying for, they are fine.

you should understand this by now but you still scream 'junk'.

[kz1000st]

Dec 17, 2011 17:10:55 GMT -6 gy6luver said:

Steven


I hope i caught you before you bought a scooter, chinese scooters are the cheapest, most poorly made scooters out there, couple that with the fact the replacement parts are worse then the originals lol

your better off buying a honda or yamaha, you will pay more yes, but you will also never be wrenching on it

to read my real world experience with these feel free to visit

msj.4321fun.com

I just spent 8 hours on mine fixing crap that was broken

enjoy the ride!

No kidding about Honda parts prices. In my brief ownership of the Big Ruckus I spent $31 on a starter safety switch, $50 on a new speedo sensor for the front wheel, $15 for a breather hose and $20 for a gearbox gasket and small oil seal.

I'm sorry. Did you miss this? It seemed I had to do a little wrenching on a used Honda. MSRP when new $5500, or 3 Chinese 250s.

[jct842]

I get a real laugh every time I read the negative crap coming out of the mouth of "GY6LUVER" isn't that a oxyMORON? even a honda put to that sort of abuse would die. ten to one after killing the top end of his gy6 the engine case was not properly flushed of the metal particles that came off after running it out of oil and red lining it for hours. You know a honda might have lasted another hour or two under the same circumstances. a gy6 is happy running 45 mph and can do it forever. john


also gy6luver claims 4000 hits a day..............according to his "hit-meter" on the blog in the last 7 days he has averaged 12 hits a day. you talk about embellishment! the whole web page since sept has less than 200 hits on it!!!! since he is a web expert he will probably go change the hit meter to conform with his claims.

[bigkahuna427]

Not defending Jay here but IMHO just looking a Chinese scooter it is a cheaper product because costs from wiring to castings have been cut everywhere. I believe the Chinese are very capable of building very high quality stuff but americans are easily duped into buying a product based soley on price and looks. If the Chinese built a product that was the quality of the Japanese stuff and priced it on the same lines the Japanese stuff would out sell it because there is a better reputation there. The only way the Chinese can compete is to blow it out of the water on pricing. This will usually come at a cost when it comes to reliability.
I myself own these chinese scooters but I enjoy the satisfaction of owning something dirt cheap and being able to keep it running. If you buy one you had better be ready to work on it on your own. There are some good resources on these forums that will help but I constantly see posts like "Just installed BBK and won't start". If you don't know how to figure out how to get an engine running you probably had no business taking your engine apart and putting it back together. If you enjoy wrenching than go for it. If you enjoy riding than go for quality over price and there are several brands to choose from that will give a decent quality scooter. So, not all Chinese scooters are junk just the ones I own.

[sprocket]

It really comes down to EXPECTATIONS...

If you use a 150cc scooter for what is was designed for...urban transportation... and run from 45mph to 55mph you will have a fairly dependable ride if you change the oil and adjust the valves etc...

Most of the problems with Chinese scooter are the owners frankly...

[kz1000st]

Not defending Jay here but IMHO just looking a Chinese scooter it is a cheaper product because costs from wiring to castings have been cut everywhere.

The issue of wiring and castings is, once again, totally dependent on who you buy a scooter from. Mine is a Bashan speced by GS Motorworks. My wiring, connections and electrical components are just fine. Bashan builds their motors in-house and so control the casting process. If you look at some of the the Shady companies, Sunny Sports, Baja Motorsports for instance, they spec cheap materials with the predicted outcome. Buy a Znen made scooter and your chances are much better at getting good components.
For all the knocks they've taken Znen built Lance scooters racked up some impressive mileages. Lance has since moved on to SYM built Cali Classics from China with impressive results.

Now Tao Tao has gotten into the act, again through GS Motorworks distribution and input, and done well. Complaints about Tao Taos are rare. I'm waiting for them to build a 250. I'm sure it will raise the game to near CF Moto levels.

As for what the Chinese are building on two wheels I would bet if Jason had acquired a Chinese built Honda Cub copy this would be a non-story. Based on my experiences with two 50cc Cub Clones I would ride the "Goat" from Thriftyscooters anywhere.

www.thriftyscooters.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=1234

[89newbie]

Dec 18, 2011 12:38:39 GMT -6 sprocket said:

It really comes down to EXPECTATIONS...

If you use a 150cc scooter for what is was designed for...urban transportation... and run from 45mph to 55mph you will have a fairly dependable ride if you change the oil and adjust the valves etc...

Most of the problems with Chinese scooter are the owners frankly...

Hey Sprocket as Dave on Storage Wars ,YYYEEEEEPPPPPP, you hit the nail on the head!

[89newbie]

Seems to me when quality is being talked about C.F. Moto comes up as being above the pack. Its kinda like years ago when other makes of cars claimed,"Rides like a Cadillac"! Their 150's water cooled, fuel injected, bigger tires and great braking are above par, but the 250 still has me looking for Spock to appear! No offense meant here Rich or Cookie, I think its a great bike but the cosmetics dont do it for me, Then its could br like cancer, maby it will grow on me. ROFL

[89newbie]

I feel as if I have been suportive to Jay, but his last comment is crap. Who in their right mind would take a new bike totsaly loaded, run it the way that bike was run, and expect anything but failure! Sorry Jay your experience at this point to me has changed to a lesson in how to ruin a bike!