New Taotao Hellcat owner

[Hellkitty]

HI peeps, just joined the CR forum. Tomorrow I pick up my new Tao Hellcat. Looking forward to sharing ideas,mods and experiences with what I hope to be a growing number of Hellcat owners. I just bought it as a project bike. I love to tinker with minis. I have two honda CT 70's with Piranha 125cc engines that I installed a couple of years ago. Great china engines! Pretty much just use them for trail riding. I'm hoping the Hellcat will make a better road bike, although I plan on installing dual sport tires on it.

First thing I'll do is borrow the Mikuni 22mm carb from one of my CT70's and see how good of a match it is for the Hellcat. They work great on the Piranha 125s so it should be a good fit for the Hellcat.

Ill do another post when I get my Hellcat together. I'll let you know my impressions and any problems that I encounter for those of you that might be interested. Until then....cheers!

[BlackBike]

Welcome to the forum. Pics please !

[culcune]

Welcome to here! Look forward to see how well these bikes can do.

[Hellkitty]

Well I picked it up today. Havent unboxed it yet. I bought it from Powersportsmax here in So.Calif. Despite the bad reviews this place gets so far my experience has been good. They were very friendly and and even issued me the temporary registration and told me that I will receiving my registation and plates in the mail. I was expecting to have fill out a bunch of paperwork and mail it back to them. Big plus. Unboxing and photos coming soon!!!

[culcune]

Since you picked it up in person, that would help their credibility out. I think a lot of the complaints were from people promised a bike, only to find out they did not have one in stock, etc. or waiting for the MCO so they could register their bikes at their state's DMV office. Things like that. But, their online prices are very good because people will still order from them in spite of bad reviews, but I don't mean that in a bad way (there are those 'buyer beware' people) like in your case

[Hellkitty]

People who have a bad experience are more likely to write a review than people with a good experience and people just expect too much for what they are paying for. I find it amazing, even for something made in China, that they can manufacture all these parts, the engine,frame, tires,wheels and everything else,assemble it, ship it all the way over here to a distributor,sell if for $950 and everyone makes a little money.

[Hellkitty]

I got the Hellcat assembled today! No surprises, no damage, just a few nicks on the front fender, no big deal.The front wheel was a bit of a pain even with two people. I seen somewhere, maybe on this site, where somebody put the bike under a large step ladder and used ratchet straps attached to the ladder and the bike to raise the front end so this is what I ended up doing. Brilliant idea! Worked like a charm!

I was surprised to see the battery was already installed and charged but not connected. I think on the Boom Vader the battery comes in a separate box and you have to add the battery acid. The battery on the Hellcat appears to be sealed. cool!

So I assembled it, hooked up the battery.Everything appears to work, lights, horn, turn signals, brake lights. Pushed the starter button and the engine turns over. Didn't have time to add gas or change the oil so I didn't try to start it. Only thing is that the high beams do not appear to work. Maybe the engine has to be running?

I can tell there are some quality issues. I noticed some loose bolts, I don't think the front brake line is routed correctly and a few other things . I'm going to go over everything and and replace some of the bolts, especially the engine bolts with some good quality stainless steel.

Overall, considering what I paid, it think it is pretty cool. I love the way it looks.
Its actually a little bigger than I expected but I've never seen even a Honda Grom up close. I have a week off over Christmas to mess with it so I'll give another report after I get it running. Cheers!

[JerryHawk250]

Sweet looking bike
That wouldn't work for me because I would look like an overgrown kid on it being non-vertically challenged. lol Enjoy the ride and keep us posted.

[Hellkitty]

I decided that before I even add gas and start this thing I'm gonna take the plastic off, go through and check everything and do a carb mod, possible air box delete, replace all fuel/ vapor hoses and what ever I think needs to be replaced or modded. I figured I'm going to do it anyway, why not just do it now before i run gas through it. I also want to replace all the screws and bolts with some quality stainless hardware. i was searching for bolts and I found that there are packaged kits for Japanese sport bikes. Do you guys think buying a kit like this would contain most of what I would need and be a good investment?


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bolt-MC-Har...75.c100623.m-1


I think these are actually zinc plated not stainless

[Hellcat Rider]

I got mine from the same company and picked it u localHad no issues

[SlendyMayne]

Originally Posted by Hellkitty

I decided that before I even add gas and start this thing I'm gonna take the plastic off, go through and check everything and do a carb mod, possible air box delete, replace all fuel/ vapor hoses and what ever I think needs to be replaced or modded. I figured I'm going to do it anyway, why not just do it now before i run gas through it. I also want to replace all the screws and bolts with some quality stainless hardware. i was searching for bolts and I found that there are packaged kits for Japanese sport bikes. Do you guys think buying a kit like this would contain most of what I would need and be a good investment?


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bolt-MC-Har...75.c100623.m-1


I think these are actually zinc plated not stainless

I'd recommend going to your local Ace Hardware to find all the nuts, bolts and screws you need. It's way cheaper and you will be able pick out the right screws along with spares.

[Hellkitty]

Hey folks, just thought I’d give an update on my Hellcat if anyone is interested.
When I received my bike, there were two long bolts in a package marked “parts”.
Initially i did not know what they were for but later I figured out they must be replacement engine bolts. I read there was an issue with the engine bolts breaking, so i guess this was their way of rectifying the situation by attaching two bolts the the crate with no explanation of what they were for. The original bolts were marked grade 8.2, the new bolts are grade 8, a stronger bolt less prone to breakage. The top bolt was easy to replace but the lower one required me to remove the swingarm to gain access. So I removed the the rear wheel and swing arm and replaced the engine bolt. I wanted to replace the swingarm axle and the rear wheel axle with Honda Grom parts but none of the Honda dealers in my area had them in stock, I’ll have to order them. The swingarm axle and the rear wheel axle are the same part and cost about $7 apiece so why not. I also am going to replace the chain tensioner hardware with Grom parts because they are junky too.
I also installed a Mukuni VM22 carb. I was going to remove the airbox but I noticed there are slots with rubber grommets on both sides where a tab on the fairing plastic slips into for support, so I decided to leave in on for now. I also noticed there is no EGR system on my bike, I think every Grom type bike I've seen has a hose going from the exhaust port to the intake with a vacuum actuated valve but not on the Hellcat. Cool.

Aside from the things I mentioned the bike seems like it is pretty well put together. If the engine proves to be reliable, I think the Hellcat will be a really good bike. I’m going to put everything back together tomorrow and start it for the first time. I”ll let those of you that are interested how it goes.

Cheers, Scott

[Chinabike]

Thinking about get a Hellcat soon. How is it doing? Can you list all your current mods?

[letsride]

Looks like a Nice Bike for the money! WHY OH WHY do I want one of these little buggars?? I'm 5' 10" I wonder if I would even fit on one of them? Please let us know how its doing. I hope these TAO bikes are better than their cheap 110 quads. I got rid of the one I bought my son, it was a pile, the front suspension was a joke, the welds looked like a blind man did it, LOL.

[Hellkitty]

Originally Posted by letsride

Looks like a Nice Bike for the money! WHY OH WHY do I want one of these little buggars?? I'm 5' 10" I wonder if I would even fit on one of them? Please let us know how its doing. I hope these TAO bikes are better than their cheap 110 quads. I got rid of the one I bought my son, it was a pile, the front suspension was a joke, the welds looked like a blind man did it, LOL.

Still haven't started it yet. I ordered a complete Yosh exhaust from Thailand, probably a fake, and of course it doesn't fit. Supposed to be for a Grom but the angel of the exhaust port in the Hellcat engine is a little different. I found an adapter online, its basically just an angled spacer, but I think it will work. I'll find out today. Once i get the exhaust installed I'll be ready to fire it up.

So far I installed a Mukuni VM22 carb, replaced the engine bolts, replaced the swing arm bolt and the rear axle (same part) with Grom parts, replaced all the chain tensioner hardware with Grom parts, much better quality.

I went on the Taotao web site today and they list every part of the Hellcat, all nicely diagrammed, available for purchase and really cheap. It's good to know I can buy any part I might need in the future. I can replace the whole engine for $230. If I decide to keep the bike I might order an extra engine just to have it for parts.
When I get it all back together I'll make a youtube video showing what I did. I'll post a link.

I did manage to get the exhaust on, took a lil doing but I managed to get it installed. Looks and sounds really good.