Hello from NE Florida

[flhellcat]

I have 2 Taotao Hellcats on order. I've owned a few Chinese imports so I have reasonable expectations regarding quality and build. Hopefully they've improved somewhat over the last 10 years or so.


These machines will see light use around the neighborhood by my adultkids when they visit, my wife, and me. My primary concern is safety and reliability.


Been reading about some weak points (engine bolts, chain, axles, etc.). If someone can lend some advice or direct me to some threads that discuss these or other recommendations, I would greatly appreciate it.


Also I live close to the beach, so anything on weak points for rust and pitting would be helpful. They will be garage kept.


I will run these on ethanol free fuel. Bad experiences with ethanol in small engines.



Looking forward to getting these on the road.


Thanks.

[JerryHawk250]

Welcome aboard! Glad you could join us.

[sirmaxwell]

Originally Posted by flhellcat

I have 2 Taotao Hellcats on order. I've owned a few Chinese imports so I have reasonable expectations regarding quality and build. Hopefully they've improved somewhat over the last 10 years or so.


These machines will see light use around the neighborhood by my adultkids when they visit, my wife, and me. My primary concern is safety and reliability.


Been reading about some weak points (engine bolts, chain, axles, etc.). If someone can lend some advice or direct me to some threads that discuss these or other recommendations, I would greatly appreciate it.

Also I couldn't agree with you more on running ethanol free fuels because I have seen what it does to engines big and small if you were to leave the ethanol fueal in a tank and carbs over the winter on a boat say, the whole engine will be caked in white crap the next year and run like garbage, maybe not start, maybe need parts replaced after just one season. I will add that not everyone can easily get ethanol free all the time so for those that have to run some ethanol fuel make sure that every time you stop riding to shut off the fuel coming from your tank into the carb--ESPECIALLY if you let the bike sit for longer times because slowly fuel in the carb can evaporate--leaving behind the white gunk from ethanol--then more gas flows in from the tank to the carb and more evaporates and more gunk builds--until you can no longer start your little 50cc or 250cc since the pilot jets are like size 30 and barely has an opening to begin with before getting gunked up.

SO remember --Turn off the fuel tap petcock between your tank and carb whenever you stop riding! AND if storing the bike for I don't know say more than a few days or more than a week then maybe turn the petcock tap shut before you turn the bike off and run the bike until you run the carb out of gas like you would empty your carb completely when storing for the winter to prevent buildup of the gasoline gunk. I have found that ethanol free gas also evaporates and leaves some gummy gunk just not nearly as much or as bad as even 15% or less ethanol gas


Also I live close to the beach, so anything on weak points for rust and pitting would be helpful. They will be garage kept.


I will run these on ethanol free fuel. Bad experiences with ethanol in small engines.



Looking forward to getting these on the road.


Thanks.

Welcome aboard! I would like to see how your Cats turned out--I like how they look and originally I almost ordered them over the Vader because of the looks and I had found a Hellcat a month or two ago just over $1,000 delivered with a senior discont and 4% off money order but I hesitated and prices that I saw went up. I just paid $1200 for my Vader including all fees delivery etc from KronikRacing.com. I'm curious if you don't mind telling what did you pay per bike? and Where did you order from?

As for tips on these...I personally have only had experience with a couple tao taos--a 150cc and a 50cc with many other scooter brand parts cobbled onto one of them including a different brand engine...I found on them ONE weak pointwas welds that took stress near the swingarm and also was stressed when putting it up on the kickstand started breaking when the frame was about 6-10 years old(hard to remember exactly how old sinc ethat bike was made up of like 5 different brands/years!!) SO I guess ONE way to combat the rust and all that before it happens is strip your bike down and clean it then put sown several layers of primer and sealer then acouple coats of the color you want then a topcoat sealer/clearcoat or 3 and you should be set from rust for quite awhile IF you dont damage the paint, i.e. scraping it, dropping the bike, rocks getting kicked up from traffic hitting the paint. Then repeat that process of painting once a decade and you MIGHT have it last close to as long as a Honda frame. I wish I knew what specific brands of paint to use.

I have also heard powdercoating works miracles for weatherproofing and someone just got their CT70 done by a pro for around a couple j=hundred bucks or less. A lot of smaller shops are making their own powdercoating closets because I guess it isn't all that hard if you're in the vehicle business and yields great rewards so maybe you can find someone to help you for a hundred as a favor or more likely upwards of $150 to powdercoat the frame and fenders.--Then you could possibly last deacdes with proper care and occasional painting.

Other than different types of cleaning periodically like sandblasting or otherwise getting rid of any dirt or rust that has accumulated before recoating with paints at least once every 10 years I would also keep an eye out for any weak spots that look to be under high stress or just look at all the welds in general and look out for early signs of cracks so that maybe you can catch something like your swingarm breaking off BEFORE it happens on the road doing 50mph!!

Also personally I try not to ride in the rain because it does a number on many bikes metals and electric/electronic systems not to mention I don't care for riding in anything more than a light sprinkle as we all know even mild rain can become blinding when driving at speed, especially without eye protection!

Good luck though, it must be pretty hard on the bikes around the salt and sands around the ocean. The only thing I can think of as worse other than adding rain to salty air/salty humidity is if you also lived where it snows and ride thru that. I live in new england and I didn't really take the bike out in snow as a rule but I'm sure it did see a couple dustings of snow plus the lingering salty chemicals they use to melt the snow up here which really does a great job at rotting not only bike frames but many car frames wayyyy before their time1

[kirbo7106]

Welcome to the forum!

The nice thing about the Hellcat is that it is based on the Honda Grom. The chain and sprockets would be one of the first things I would replace. The salt air will eat up cheap metal parts. I would pay attention to the swing arm. You can find people selling factory Grom swing arms or buy an aluminum one.

Other than that, keep the bikes washed and lubed.

Where did you purchase your Hellcats from?

Enjoy the Ride!

[flhellcat]

I purchased them from familygokarts.com and took delivery yesterday. $2200 + delivered for both.



They arrived yesterday in good condition and I spend the majority of today on assembly and some tweaking. Both went together well. I think generally the build quality is pretty good for the money. Issues thus far are both have the defective speedo which doesn't set to miles/hr and one isn't making a spark at the plug.



I have inquires into familygokarts for MSO and the issues above. I see a poster on this forum is not very pleased with them, but so far I have to say they did good job getting the bikes to me quickly and keeping me informed of status. I hope it continues.


I knew what I was getting into buying these. Being 1/3rd the price of a Grom I expect some hiccups and really don't mind the tinkering.



Thanks for the input. I'll post status as it changes.

[flhellcat]

Spark issue was a pin not complete seated in a connector. I guess I go over all of them.


Also found fuel line coming from tank was pinched at the tank outlet restricting flow. It has to do a 180 degree turn in a tight area.

[goat67]

Welcome!