Chinese Scooters

Metal Bass God

New member
I have a lesson learned,

DON'T EVER buy any bike made in China and most parts of Asia. Some Asian nations are better then others but none compare to the big name brands like Honda, BMW, Suzuki, Yamaha Etc.

When I decided I wanted to get a scooter I heard the bad reviews on made in China bikes. I observed all sorts of made in China bikes around town around 2009. I figured if they were working for those people they should work for me. Well they were going for about 5,000 and the new Hondas were almost 9,000 so I could not justify the name brand. Big mistake

The Made in China scooter got to me and had an issue right away. With in a two weeks it was not running right. Called on my extended warranty and was basically told it must have been something I did to it. There was great customer service right there. It was shipped out from Penn. State. Make a long story short I put hundreds of dollars into it before selling it 5 years later for $950.00 Probably about 2,000 dollars. It broke down twice each summer. Rubber failed, did not start in the beginning it was a shorting wire found by chance by a mechanic. Place that sold it to me only covered the engine and related parts. Would not refund me when I realized that the Engine was the only reliable part of the bike. I basically bought an extended warranty I could not use. Sold the bike,

Bought a used Honda from a trade in at the local shop. Was just in with no price tag. I paid almost 3200.00 for it. Looked very well cared for. I thought it was brand new till I took a second look at it. Un known to the shop or myself when I bought it it had an oil leak that did not show up for three weeks and it was nothing I did as it sat in my yard while I rode the other one trying to sell it. The shop fixed it free as they though the issue was minor but there was more to it and had to bring it back in. That one ran me 500.00 dollars. Then with the belt drive replacement at 16,000 miles and new tires I have well over 1000.00 into it.

Adding some Math,

$5,000 Chinese bike and repairs of about 2,000

3,000 Honda silvering and Aprox. 1,200 in repairs and replacements

totals about 11,000 MRSP on my new BMW.....


Don't be dumb like I was. I don't see any of those Chinese bikes but maybe two out of two dozen I used to see back in 2009 still on the road. Not even the one I sold.
 

JaimeC

New member
Kymco is "Taiwanese" but they have a lot of work done on the mainland. They have a pretty solid product; so much so that BMW contracted them to build the engines for the "C" scooters. But yeah, watch out for those "fly-by-night" Chinese scooters you see being sold for ridiculously low prices.
 

Sparkrn

Member
I always thought that was the case on the Chinese stuff and stayed away from them. Most of the time you really do get what you pay for.
 

C650KCsport

New member
Good advice.

I tell people time and time again to stay away from the Chinese bikes. Next thing you know they are having one drop shipped to their homes.

When they break down they inevitably come to me and ask me where they can get it fixed. I send them to a shop that will work on them. Unfortunately, to get it running, the shop will have to put in hundreds of $$$ on a scoot that only cost $699 to begin with.
 

TwoPort

Member
My brother had a few. One of them was quite nice. But we think of them as disposable. As was said, nothing standard, no dealer network.
 

JaimeC

New member
The cheap-shit Chinese made engine in my C650GT turned out to be the weak link. $4,000 worth of damage, two years out of warranty.
 

Thom Davis

Member
I had one that was supposed to be built in the same factory that Honda made them before they discontinued the bike (Helix). I bought it used and rode it for a few years. But at only 250cc and light weight, it was too light to be comfortable with 20 mph gusts across a local bridge. Also, no local shop would work on it--seems to be a conspiracy that no bike shops will work on Chinese scoots. So I sold it and got a BMW C600 Sport. I enjoy the beemer more, but find that BMW reliability isn't that great and the company gouges on parts (for example, a brake lever cost $100 and new tires (originals wore out in only 6K miles) were $500). Dunno what to say, both ends of the spectrum have reliability issues. Neighbor down the street has an Aprilia that stopped working after 300 miles...hate to stop riding, but also hate unreliable recreation vehicles.
 

exavid

Member
I've had good service from my '13 GT. It's on it's third set of tires at 12,000 miles but I do ride it in a sprightly manner. Reliability has been very good after a couple recalls were done at no cost to me. I plan on keeping this bike until I hang up my helmet for the last time. I'm very lucky in having an excellent BMW dealer nearby, they do good work, and charge much the same for work as the Honda shop here.
I've also had good luck with Honda Silverwings, I've had two that were fine little machines though not quite in the GT's performance class. Two of my friends have been riding the Honda SWs both with quite a few trouble free miles on them.
 

Skutorr

Active member
The cheap-shit Chinese made engine in my C650GT turned out to be the weak link. $4,000 worth of damage, two years out of warranty.

My brother just sent me a link to a Spanish review of a Honda NC 700. After 50,000km they did compression and leakdown tests...perfect. Then they took the ENTIRE BIKE APART. No measurable wear whatsoever.

https://thewikihow.com/video_YfytBIJc3_w

All that for about half the price of the BMW. Japanese quality and reputation VS The Lonchin Lottery :cool:
 

Thom Davis

Member
It isn't a Chinese engine.

Yah, Taiwan's KYMCO company makes the engine-but to BMWs specs (supposedly). In fact, the KYMCO Xciting 500Ri is a similar bike to the C650 sport with just a little smaller displacement (and half the cost).
 

Skutorr

Active member
Yah, Taiwan's KYMCO company makes the engine-but to BMWs specs (supposedly). In fact, the KYMCO Xciting 500Ri is a similar bike to the C650 sport with just a little smaller displacement (and half the cost).

Two Things:

1.)The BMW 650 scooter engine is STILL built in the LONCIN factory in mainland China, along with ALL BMW engines 650cc and under. They are even moving production of their BIG engines over there.

2.)The engine in the Xciting 500Ri is (was) a SINGLE CYLINDER built in-house in Taiwan by Kymco, replaced in their product line with a completely new 400 motor.

Nothing as cheaply made as the BMW 650 is in ANY of KYMCO's own big scoots. They are BULLETPROOF, with super-reliable SOHC 4 valve engines where you adjust the valve rocker arms just like in a Toyota 22R engine. Easy, reliable and live forever...:cool:

(Oh, and when the KYMCO AK 550 came out in Spain, it outsold the BMW 650's, Tmax 530's and Silverwing 600's COMBINED...at almost 3,000 Euro LESS...)
 
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock
No Thanks