Opinions on Chinese made scooters  By  iowascooterrider (Read 2,416 times)

Well, for the cost they are hard to beat, if you can wrench. They are Cheap enough to mod and tinker on. Sometimes they are a challenge, but are always fun. This is just my opinion, others may vary.

Roy

Be careful with this. My opinion of Chinese scooters means nothing nor does anyone else's. You need to compare the 2 yourself. Actually check out what everyone says too. Read the posts carefully. Alleyoop says no problems since 2009 10,000 miles on the bike and that is impressive sounding. If you break that down 10000 miles in 4 years is 2500 miles a year. I commute on mine and put on it in 10 weeks (or less) what he does in a year. When I did that commute on a Chinese scooter there were issues. Top speed on the bike was 55 give or take actual mph. But in NM we have intense wind most of the time. So some days on the way to work or the way home my real world top speed was 40. Is that the bike's fault not really it is what it is but, it meant that I had to run it wide open constantly. It didn't like that at all. It began leaking oil at 2500 miles from who knows where. I can deal with that but it meant wiping it down after every ride or dangerous slick oil nearly coating my rear tire after 4-5 rides.

The bike looked nice she was pretty really was, from 10 paces. If you looked closely though after 1 year of use the speedometer glass was yellowed, badly. A new one is $70 bucks. A new glass for my Burgman if it ever yellows badly (19,000 miles in the sun and it hasn't) is $42 and you can get just the glass so no need to have to remember the mileage on your old speedo unit or have to check the not actual mileage box on the papers when you sell it. Let's assume that I can't properly search for the parts and the glass alone is available for the Jonway for $10, if I need to replace it every 3000 miles there is no "parts saving". Additionally all the colored light plastics had faded. The windshield began yellow too. You can see on the front of the bike if you look close that they forgot the last coat of color before they shot the clear coat on the paint. No one but me knew that but I could see it... Occasionally one of the metal pieces on the bike would just give up from metal fatigue normally these were near the engine or exhaust. I fixed them but you new something was coming soon. Ditto on the plastic bits. Speedo sender went out at 1200 miles or so. I fixed it no biggie right. The brake switch on the front brake worked when it wanted too and I never got around to fixing it. The actual brakes on the bike compared to Japanese brakes are scary. They never feel good no matter what you do the fluid on mine was perfectly new and though everything was "right" when you pull on them the lever was just not right feeling. They weren't as powerful as you would think 2 discs should be on a bike that 2 dudes can pick up with out grunting (its light right?). Everything on the bike felt just ....cheap. I can't describe it any other way.

The Suzuki I replaced it with has none of the cosmetic issues and none of the random "I have reached my service limit" metal fatigue issues despite being 2 years older,and having 4 times the mileage. The speedo on the Burgman stopped working too I fixed it for nothing. Well I guess the super glue I used may have ran me about a nickel. I replaced the perfectly good looking belt at 14,500 like it said I should and yes it cost an outrageous $70 including shipping. The water pump drips about 1cc every 5 days so I got ALL the gaskets and seals in there to put on this weekend and they were an outrageous price of $58 including shipping and the oil filter I threw in to save on shipping when I need it next month. Are there expensive bits in the bike? Absolutely, this one has needed none of them in nearly 20,000 miles.

Now on to the "I like to tinker" before someone else gets there. If you like tinkering great. You can do it on either one. If you want cheap performance building fun the GY6 wins hands down, certainly. Be prepared for the build to never end though. I build things for a living, I resurrect old cars for fun. I eventually get to a point where I'm done though. I call it built. I haven't seen anyone on here get there. One poor sap managed to snap an axle(Wow??). I didn't even know that was possible. Certainly sounds dangerous. Something will certainly happen though no matter what you do.

In my opinion if you are looking for a reliable around town commuter (speeds less than 50ish) a Chinese scoot might do it. Are they fun to ride absolutely.

If you are looking to replace your car with something that is freeway capable and have a serious 20 mile commute or more I can't in clear conscious recommend you rely on a Chinese bike. You have heard of "Name Brand" dealers bad mouthing them for safety concerns. Those are valid concerns. You have heard people bad mouth them for fit and finish issues. Those are valid issues. Can a complete newbie get one and make it safe and reliable? Maybe. (I/we on this forum will help them do it too) The safe part is the issue with the random catastrophic metal fatigue. Yes this is a Chinese scooter forum for the most part and this will certainly bother people to say these things so lets say this too, there are apparently Chinese rides of higher quality that never have these issues. Some people run them with no issue ever. You just never know.

I have had both guys and rode them back to back, there is a HUGE difference in the quality of the ride. Don't say there isn't unless you ride them both back to back.





RIDE THEM FOR YOURSELF internet opininions are just that mostly unconfirmable anecdotal musings. What I think doesn't amount to a hill of beans. No one can confirm that I actually spent 1 year wrenching on bikes and 2 years helping to run one of the top Honda shops in the country. You can't know for sure that I have ridden literally dozens upon dozens of bikes of all displacements and most makes or that I have been commuting on 2 wheels for 20+ years I could say anything and you would just never know. I love bikes though and all my scooter friends I don't care what you ride. I have my opinion and I love my current bike. I might get another 150 someday for the perpetual "building" fun.

That being said remember:
Ride safe no matter what you ride, blessings to all of you keep the shiny side up!

Yep Kymco's by most accounts are great bikes...

I like that. If I had never bought the Chinese scooter I would not have been able to confirm that I love scooters. I always wanted one but when I tried to buy one in high school my dad made me get a bigger motorcycle. Riding the Jonway showed me what I needed to know and now I am a scootist for life. I traded the Jonway for a 1984 Ford Bronc II 4X4 for my son to drive the guy wanted $800 for it (it wasn't running) I slammed a battery in that and it runs great so my $850 scooter "experiment" was successful and I made a couple grand on the deal some how....

2009 to 2013 is 4 years not 6 but anywhos if your going to use it as replacement for a car as a daily driver going to work and back and whatever then I agree you better get something that is very reliable otherwise you may not have a job(HAHA). Mine is just a toy for me just for joy riding when the weather is nice, the trike does not go out in the rain or snow big difference from people that need something for daily transportation. Saying that if you want a toy that will not break the bank for occasional joy riding a chino ride works well. You do not see motorcycles harelys and whatnot in the winter and or when the weather is bad they also have cars or trucks to use for bad weather days. It also depends on the type of job you have, you do not see people going to work in suits riding a 2 wheeler. Some get a 2 wheeler just to get to the train station and park it there but not in bad weather.

So like CooperDeer said get a machine that matches your needs very simple. But like everything in this world everything breaks sooner or later nothing lasts forever.
Alleyoop

I had been desperately searching for an affordable scooter for years until I came across my sweet Chinese Peace Sports 50.

When I got the bike there were a number of things wrong with it, from a bad battery all the way to backwards mirrors, but with a lot of work and tlc no one is passing me on the road anymore as they were on my honda zook.

The original asking price for my chinese scooter was $900, but I was able to trade a laptop and nabi2 tablet for it, it's still worth every penny. But as others have said; you must be willing to get your hands dirty. A proper PDI will bring multiple issues to your attention right off the bat and that's a given. Many things need to be replaced, from the fuse to the gas line, and the initial repair may never end; luckily the parts are cheap.

I love Chinese scooters because they're the only kind of scooter within my price range. I had to trade up through craigslist to attain my beautiful busted up Chinese scooter, and essentially worked hard to earn it. In order to maintain the scooter properly you're going to have to cherish it as much as the typical minimum wage Chinese worker would when he or she scrounges and saves up for one.

I later found out that I had what is known as a "Secret 60", a 63cc engine disguised as a 49cc, and that's a plus you can only find in the bizarre quality of Chinese scooters.

Now if you want a total flaming of Chinese scooters you should go here:
slowkidsscootergang.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/why-not-a-chinese-scooter-theyre-cheaper-well-this-is-why/