How can we be so arrogant (towards the Chinese)?  By  prodigit (Read 13,135 times)

I got my new 2009 model year fuel injected Aprilia Sport City 250 manufactured in fall of 2010 with 5 miles on it for $2,999 from a local Aprilia dealer in May of 2011 when at the same time for $2,699/$2,799 I could have gotten a 2007 or 2008 Chinese 250 that had been sitting in a crate since 2007/2008 from a local dealer.

The Aprilia came with a full year parts and labor warranty from a manufacturer known to stand behind their product with factory trained technicians at their authorized dealerships across the country while the Chins es 250 came with a days parts only warranty and none of the technicians are factory trained or certified.

To me the extra $200 to $300 was well spent and made the Aprilia a much, much better value than a locally purchase Chinese scooter. It would cost more than that to convert the Chinese bike to fuel injection and you still would not have a bike that equals the Aprilia.

I found that I could not afford the Chinese bike and that the Aprilia especially when factoring in the dealer support and financing was and is very much more affordable.

Everyone seems to be hung up on MSRP which is not what most of us would pay. If you went by MSRP then most Chinese bikes are just as if not more expensive than the Vespa. For example a 150cc Znen MC_ZN150T9 according to some sites has a List or MSRP value of $4,999 which is higher than that of the 250cc Aprilia sport City and the Port Injected Vespa LX 150.

Oh PULEEEZE! It is common knowledge that the price for a Chinese 250 scoot is anywhere from $1600-$2200 TOPS! And please, enough with the $2999 already. The reality is you paid THREE GRAND for you scoot and after taxes and dealer prep more like three and a quarter or four. Even taking just the base price, your scoot ran $800 MORE than the highest end cost of the Chinese product. Did you get a good deal for your Aprilia scoot? It would seem so, and I've enjoyed reading about it many-many-many times. but that still does not alter the fact that it carries a much higher price or that for someone who is a "Wrench" the Chinese scooter just makes more economic sense.

All hype by a B&M dealer making a sales pitch. Every single item he described was pure lack of PM by a either not knowing or lack of effort by the person who owned the scooter.

I have 4 scooters 3 with alarms no battery issue and one can have a weak or dead battery even on a auto if the battery is poor quality, the vehicle is not ran much or the battery is very old. Example, I have very good quality marine batteries on my camper and boat. But I keep a solar charger on them for times of periods when I don't use them.

If his battery is dead overnight, it's a poor battery and if the scooter isn't charging it's still his lack of an easy fix.

Just like this guy who is putting on a show about these scooters if you do nothing to keep a machine maintained and PM'd it'll go down sooner or later.

Also all the hype about neglecting name brand things and it running longer? So what about the name brand scooters that even built elsewhere that have Chinese parts? Do the people who make the parts in China make better parts for them?


Also this is sad to say but about 4 weeks ago I put a new back tire on my wife's 250 because the one on it was worn out. When I removed the back swing arm I noticed the axle bearing had the seal missing on the inside and was collecting dirt, not a good thing.

This is a common 6303 size bearing, used tons of them through out my working career on various things. Went to town with the intent of buying a better non-Chinese bearing, went to Napa, Crow Burlingame, and O'reilly. Napa had three brands of this bearing and the other two had two. Guess what? It still has a Chinese bearing on it.

I'm sure there is a American made bearing but after 3 parts stores I got tired of the search.

Dangerous? Dangerous is people who buy stuff they know nothing about, don't have the willingness or attitude to learn, or want to blame other people for their lack of desire to do any of the above IMO.

JR

I got my new 2009 model year fuel injected Aprilia Sport City 250 manufactured in fall of 2010 with 5 miles on it for $2,999 from a local Aprilia dealer in May of 2011 when at the same time for $2,699/$2,799 I could have gotten a 2007 or 2008 Chinese 250 that had been sitting in a crate since 2007/2008 from a local dealer.


I bought my wife's 250A in 2009 for $1200 from Killermotorsports and picked it up on a visit see my sons in Dallas but I could have paid $99 to have it shipped over four hours away to Arkansas. Since I was going to Dallas anyway I saved the $99 and got a few goodies thrown in for the guys at Killer to boot. 6 months warranty on all parts to go with it even though I never needed any.

Scooter now has 4k on it, my wife doesn't ride as much I do, only issue was stopped up jets due to poor gas once and that's not the scooters fault. BTW it's a 07 which now makes it 6 years old still has all OEM parts, R/R, CDI, carb, variator and original belt which was a quality Gates Powerlink.

I have replaced the back swingarm bearing and the fuel pump, not because it had failed but because I just got a deal on 4 mikuins for $20 on a close out and figured what the heck change the old fuel pump when you replace the filter. The bearing had not failed but when doing a tire replacement I found it was heading in that direction so I replaced it, all part of doing some PM on a machine.

Like in anything you buy, shopping and having a friend or two saves money.

JR

I will not even begin to list the different machines I have own in my 60 years of life, nor will I even try to list the number of different machines I have worked on over the years and the 20 plus years I have been in business working on any thing that comes in the door. I do not care what you own, if it is mechanical at some time it will have a problem and be required to be fixed. Otherwise there would be a lot of people out of work. I can sit here and site only the bad things or I can site only the good things about any brand you want to talk about. There is good and bad in everything. But to say that ALL of any brand is "inferior" or "junk" or "Friends don't let friends ride Chinese scooters!" is way out in left field. Your signature alone tells me where you are coming from. So no matter what others or myself say is not going to change your mind.

Also, I have a 56 year old customer that has owned both Chinese and Japanese scooters. Now owns a 150cc Chinese scooter and prefers it over the Yamaha he owned before. He is also the person that got me to become a State Licensed Dealer and start selling new/used scooters and motorcycles instead of just working on them.

Jim

Jim, I'll bet you are leaving out part of the story. Did your 56 year old customer switch from a Vino or Zuma that was 50cc, or a Majesty that was 400cc. Maybe he likes the 150cc size better? I can't believe he would switch from a Vino or Zuma 125 and like the Chinese scooter more without the size being the major factor.

Unrelated, who is the jack off that edited my post and added the emoticons?