Final Determination.... China Bikes Stink

[andzman]

Hi Everyone,

I am going to attempt to be as positive as possible....

I have a new Roketa GY-05> I like the bike but here are the problems I have encountered.

1) Speedo broke almost immediately.
2) Battery was dead when I got it.
3) Motor ticks like a son of a bitch.
4) The exhaust pipe burns the hell out of my leg. Even after putting heat shield on it.
5) Front forks bottom out on the smallest bumps. I replaced the oil with the heaviest weight available. Not much of a difference.
6) I replaced the sprockets. I followed the guide above. The guide was inaccurate. I had to buy the sprockets twice to finally get a decent set that push the bike at a decent clip.

I have visited this particular site for the past few months in hopes to find any bike that I can actually "purchase" that has a seat height greater than 31 inches and a motor that is actually faster than a Japanese 90cc....

I have finally come to the conclusion that...

BUY JAPANESE PEOPLE. STOP WASTING YOUR TIME ON THESE CHINA BIKES. THEY DO SUCK IN COMPARISON.

[shakembakem]

cant win them all oh well. I sure like my bike thought

[chinaguy]

Saying that a China Bike stinks compared to a Japanese bike is like saying a Kia stinks compared to a Mercedes Benz. Of course it does. But a Kia doesn't cost $75 - $100,000.

You can buy a chinese motorcycle for about 1/4 the price of a Jap bike. No one here thinks that the quality is the same. We all recognize that buying a china bike is a trade-off. Lower price for lesser quality.

My argument is that while the china bikes are a lot less money, they are NOT a lost less quality. Less quality for sure, but not $3,000 less. These bikes are not for everyone; they take more maintenance than a comparable Jap bike, and parts on the whole are harder to come by.

If you don't like to work on a bike and don't want to improvise when necessary, then go ahead and spend the $4,000 for some other bike. It's really that simple.

[andzman]

I understand you get what you pay for but I bought a Enduro to do the following.

1) Do some street riding. When I hit the street I am scared that the lack of accelaration is going to kill me. Anyone can put lights on a Huffy and call it a street bike.

2) Do some offroad riding. When I get on a trail I have never been able to get off the ground. Not even an inch. The front forks always bottom out.

I love working on bikes but the quality of these bikes is akin to buying a bike at the dollar store. None of these bikes should be allowed to get into the states let alone be sold. A Honda CRF50 is funner

[alonzo]

I now have over 3,000 miles on my china bike and I have had minimul problems for a bike that sost 1375 shipped to my door. I have replaced the chain and spent hours on the electrical connections making sure they are all greased.

I recently purchased a 95 klx 650r $1,500

so far I have had to,
flush the tank, flush the cooling system, flush the transmission, flushed the brakes. total cost of fluids roughly $45

I also had to change the front rotor $105 change the pads $25. go through the electronics 6 hours. front fender I need, $30. new chain $85 paint $10, temp bicycle speedo $20. trailmaster speedo I need $125. cleand carb and installed 140 main jet and replaced plug, about $8, heli coil drainplug $20 master cylinder rebuild $25

EDIT: bike bandit sent me the wrong rotor and I had to send it back parts dealers suck. edit

total cost of project when I can say I am happy with the results $1965 plus over a hundred wrenching hours.

Knowing I own a bike that is 13 years old and getting difficult to find parts for but still a jap.... pricless.

Oh yes a used jap is sooooooooo much better than a china bike :roll:

If you are gonna crap on a china bike take it to thumper talk. We are here to educate new owners on how to wrench on their machines. Chances are most of us bought a china bike because we are poor kids unable to buy 5,000 dollars worth of drz 8,000 of ktm or husky ect ect.

You have had 6 whole problems with a bike that cost less than $1,300?!?!?! Look at what I am having to do to get a jap up to trustworthy standards. 6 problems are nothing for a seasoned mechanic.

[mrhyak]

Originally Posted by andzman

I love working on bikes but the quality of these bikes is akin to buying a bike at the dollar store. None of these bikes should be allowed to get into the states let alone be sold. A Honda CRF50 is funner

I paid $500 for my 2005 Tank Trail 200 with 4miles on the odometer last year and it has performed flawless w/o any issues and mostly all trail riding in the Cascade mountains. They don't all break, but every once in awhile I guess a lemon will slip through.

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

[TeamCheap]

AHHH here it goes again.
But I just have to chime in as I love to on this subject.

andzman I'm a bit surprized at the offroading and bottoming out you have I know I to have bottomed mine out but that is with my 250-ish lbs hitting the whoops hard, I mean HARD.
On road they are a bit slow but they are only 200cc's so I dont expect a whole lot but I would expect them to stay bolted together which they didnt at first. :roll:

I/we like our china bikes, well its more of a LOVE/HATE - 50/50 kind of thing but they have had more than a few problems and some have been severe.

I now have our bikes in very decent/durable/reliable shape and some of the minor things dont bother me to much but still annoy me from time to time.

I can turn a wrench and even fix some downright backwards construction but at this point buying another chinese bike without looking it over in EXTREME detail just wont happen.(although there are some interesting china bikes out there now-but i'm gonna be a hard sell)

I know for a fact that if I had just bought a couple of jap bikes I would have been a bit more upset when my wife decided that she can no longer ride a bike offroad so the low china bike price helped there(selling a good used jap bike isnt to hard though) but as for me I'd have been better served with a higher quality jap bike with of course its higher price.

[SpeedSouth]

Originally Posted by andzman

Hi Everyone,

I am going to attempt to be as positive as possible....

I have a new Roketa GY-05> I like the bike but here are the problems I have encountered.

1) Speedo broke almost immediately.
2) Battery was dead when I got it.
3) Motor ticks like a son of a bitch.
4) The exhaust pipe burns the hell out of my leg. Even after putting heat shield on it.
5) Front forks bottom out on the smallest bumps. I replaced the oil with the heaviest weight available. Not much of a difference.
6) I replaced the sprockets. I followed the guide above. The guide was inaccurate. I had to buy the sprockets twice to finally get a decent set that push the bike at a decent clip.

I have visited this particular site for the past few months in hopes to find any bike that I can actually "purchase" that has a seat height greater than 31 inches and a motor that is actually faster than a Japanese 90cc....

I have finally come to the conclusion that...

BUY JAPANESE PEOPLE. STOP WASTING YOUR TIME ON THESE CHINA BIKES. THEY DO SUCK IN COMPARISON.

Now you tell me....thanks. :roll:

That's it...I'm putting my Lifan up for sale and buying a Jap bike!

I should be able to get that done...sometime yesterday.
Thanks for your help!

[liverchip]

That's it for me! I'm out too! JK.
Actually I've had minimal problems with by bikes and I've pretty thoroughly thrashed both of them here in the desert.

[forchetto]

Even the most prestigious and expensive brands have all sorts of problems. Just check out Ducati dealers and owners to find out how much time they spend in the shop being fixed.

MV Agustas, Moto Guzzi's etc where the paint, chrome and electrics dropped off if there was a hint of moisture in the air.

Hugely expensive and exclusive bikes like the British Hesketh V1000 that were nothing but trouble.

Try and get spares for Aprilias and the like.

Have you owned a 1978 Honda CX500?, I did. Nothing but trouble and 50% depreciation in the first year.

A Honda CB500T? Just ask victims...

Come to think of it how long did it take for Honda to make a really reliable and durable OHC drive system?...remember the VF750?

British bikes of the 60's and 70's? Now that WAS trouble with a capital T.
Come to think of it most British bikes of any era required huge amounts of repairs and maintenance. Owners became experts from the never-ending rebuild sessions. All this from "the workshop of the world", the people that kickstarted the Industrial revolution and home to the finest engineers...

Harleys of the AMF era?...don't make me laugh!, with loving care and attention they could last for weeks!.

I've been in the motorcycle world over 34 years and could tell you horror stories. I could go on, but some of those troublesome bikes are now considered classics.

[Dragon]

China bike is for real men, men who can wrench, men who don't mind getting grease under fingernails, men who don't run from problems but tackle 'em head on.

[andzman]

Real men aren't into getting beat. If I want to buy a fixer upper I will..

[tigertamer]

Originally Posted by andzman

Real men aren't into getting beat. If I want to buy a fixer upper I will..

I believe you already did, Son!8O

Now you can lick your wounds, with the rest of us!

Caveat Emptor,
Tigertamer

[AZ200cc]

Well Chinamotoz are not for You Andzman, I understand. They can be tough and have beaten plenty before You and will beat plenty afterwards.
I can honestly say I had nothing but fun on mine, I had two issues and they were small. My speedo cable was torn off while going through some down trees and my front wheel wobbled a bit because some spokes were loose. It would do an average speed and I will say it scared me when I took it in traffic because of the lack of power. But the bike was pretty dang solid and held up well and the new owner is still riding the snot out of it. I would purchase another one if the oppurtunity presented itself and the price was right.

[dieselhead]

[quote="andzman"]Hi Everyone,


5) Front forks bottom out on the smallest bumps. I replaced the oil with the heaviest weight available. Not much of a difference.


You know, you might want to check to see if your springs have a ajustment nut in them, if not it might not be too hard to make a couple up.
On the other hand it sounds like your burned out on fixes.....
I bought 2, 200's a CRF150 knock off and my GY5. My 14 year old kid learned how to ride on that bike and loves it! sure, I replaced the engine bolts and went to a larger rear sprocket, but for the 1K as a 1st bike, I could not have made a better choice. As for the GY, Im a fus pot gunsmith with a small machine shop to back up ALL my fixes. So for a bike that is getting me back into rideing after a number of Jap bikes of long ago, Iv got this $1339 bike just about where I want it. Lowered the rear 2" and it handles great on the road!
Unfortunately, there will be people who look and hope for the ultimate steal deal, and on rare ocassion, maybe it happens, like the lottery! But what you have to figure into this bike deal is the support you can get here. Just think how you would feel if you did'nt have us to shed those tears on!!!! :wink: