First large Chinese bike has arrived

[wozza]

Oh you remember then....lol. Gave me a bit of a heart attack I can tell you...lol

[Dave Weller]

The only way I would buy one is from a crate, so I could put it together myself and grease up and protect parts as necessary. The last few bikes I have brought have needed taking apart from new, nothing is greased, oiled or protected, in the style that Fred Dibnah would have carried out.

[kayz1]

If! i had the money (i aint! ) i would give it a go...........have to keep the Max though!.

Yeah so would I....lol. well I do have previous experience in purchasing cheapy Chinese.

******well I do have previous experience in Repairing cheapy Chinese tat for two mates.... ****

Lyn.

[Wolf]

looks nice but Chinese no thank you

[wozza]

They are being imported by the same importer as Quadzilla quad bikes, so I suppose thy shouldn't be too bad.

Oh and they are Taiwanese, which should help on the quality front if SYM and Kymco are anything to go by.

[SpikeOne]

Probably a bit off topic here, but this got me thinking.

Recently the memsahib wanted a geared bike instead of an auto and we looked around at various options including the Kymco range who sell 2 bikes in the UK that fitted the bill. One of which is the Pulsar 125 at £1599, which she was quite keen on. However, the dealer is 12 miles away and the local Yamaha dealer literaly just around the corner, and this became the deciding factor. She eventually decided on the Yamaha YBR125, which has pretty much the same specs as the Kymco, is almost identical in looks and has the same warrenty, but is £2499. We got a good trade in deal for the Vity, and a reduction on the OTR price by a couple of hundred, so the overall price on the day was only something like twelve hundred quid.

The thing is....When you actually analyse it, the Yamaha probably isn't as good!!!

Certainly the paint finishes are comparible, but the Kymco welds measurably better by a country mile. Some of the pressed parts in both cases had sharpish edges on them, but the Yamaha ones feel weaker. The chrome, of course, will take time to show up any failings. The Kymco engine is based on old Honda design, and as they made engine parts for Honda for years, (and may still do for all I know), by association, this may be the more robust engine of the two bikes. Whether this is true or not might not actually be important though, as Kymco do have a reputation for producing bullet proof engines anyway. Both came with alloy wheels and plastic body panels which should be maintenance free provided she doesn't drop it.

So why did she pay an extra £900?

Just in case it broke down and she had to push it! Which, when you think about it, is an bizarre criteria for buying a new bike.

[gn2]

You could have had a CBF125 for that price.
Honda are doing interest free credit on it just now:
http://www.honda.co.uk/motorcycles/offers/cbf125/

[kayz1]

And that little KTM 125 is nice looker too, tad more cash to lay out thou..but i was told by the dealer they can if bought by a full lic holder, be derestricted
and will do almost 80mph I still like my VanVan thou

[SpikeOne]

You could have had a CBF125 for that price.
Honda are doing interest free credit on it just now:
http://www.honda.co.uk/motorcycles/offers/cbf125/

Ah, but same problem. The dealer is a bit of a distance......

[Wolf]

Oh and they are Taiwanese, which should help on the quality front if SYM and Kymco are anything to go by.

where did chinese come from then