Chinese Bikes

[OrangevaleFJR]

I came home last night and there was my neighbor in his driveway with a friend putting together an ATV that came in a crate. I knew they were planning to leave today for a trip to Sand Mountain in Nevada to go have an Easter camping/atv'ing kind of vacation.

Now, my neighbor has a Yamaha Warrior 350 ATV and a Polaris 400 ATV. I knew this wasn't for him, but I also knew that he wouldn't kick out 3k on a new ATV for his 10 year old son as my neighbor is a fairly accomplished mechanic and he buys used stuff and fixes it up.

Well, he got this brand new 125cc ATV for his kid, out of the crate with zero miles for $1,100! Whoa! That's about a third of a new similar Yamaha or Honda!

The brand is Jetmoto and they ripped off Honda's engine design for this motor. The ATV looks like any ATV. It has a break light, reverse gear, electric start, starts right up and purs and frankly, carried my weight with zero problems. The suspension seemed pretty tight and unforgiving and I find that Jetmoto has a suspsension upgrade for $349.

I went to the web. I read reviews and I read forum posts. Comments range from the worst POS ever to really good reviews that come from seemingly objective sources. (PR is a $ game though so who knows?).

I look further and find a Jetmoto 200cc enduro that is a clone/copy of the Honda. Inverse forks, disc brakes, 5 speed...$1,499 brand new. WHAT? $1,499 Brand New! ****...that's almost play money compared to what the big brands charge.

So...I open this up to the Forum...I am sure we'll hear everything from POS to "for the money it's a great deal if you can deal with the various shortcomings." "You get what you pay for" will probably come up too. I'll post my neighbors review after he gets back from Sand Mountain...that sure is a good place to test an ATV!

200cc Enduro Product Page

Jetmoto website

JetMoto ATV review

 

[sparky3008]

I have heard much like you ranging from POS to they do well for what you pay.

My question is this, if you have a problem with them who works on them?

Most of these bikes I see sold at Pep Boys and such places.

Plus for about the same money you can get a used "real" bike from one of the big 4 and know that you have a place to take it, can get parts and lots of support.

For a FJR owner and people on this forum who buy more with a product than just the product such as history, reliability, a company to stand behind you etc why would I want this?

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

I think that is an excellent point. There are several FJR owners that strayed from BMW because getting the BMW maintained was such a pain. Clearly, without a dealership to go to, you would have more problems with Jetmoto. Their website does have manuals, part lists and a contact email for support. Anyone have experience with their support? I would say if you aren't a gear head, you might have problems with getting this bike maintained. A product is much more than the ride itself, it is the entire experience of cost of ownership and support during ownership.

 

[sparky3008]

I think that is an excellent point. There are several FJR owners that strayed from BMW because getting the BMW maintained was such a pain. Clearly, without a dealership to go to, you would have more problems with Jetmoto. Their website does have manuals, part lists and a contact email for support. Anyone have experience with their support? I would say if you aren't a gear head, you might have problems with getting this bike maintained.

Most of the reports I have read even with a short search are about just this, support.

Do they work, for a first time kid, maybe.

Internet sales and Pep boys is not where I would buy a bike from.

Sorry I don't have better info or first hand experience but we do have to realize that the money we pay for our bikes does include this service and we all seem really serious about making sure we get good service.

With these, since you have to assemble it yourself unless you pay someone or in your case maybe your neighbor will help.

The warranty does cover wrong parts but it seems some things don't come with them.

Example one of the reports I read the chain was digging into the frame. My WR has a plastic guide on my swingarm to keep it off of the metal. I know if this ever gets damaged I had better do something quick because it will destroy the swingarm.

If this bike doesn't even come with something like this how do I expect to ride it?

 

[FNG]

Chinese Motorcycles. Lets review, shall we?

Note the engine cover, so that a 90 looks like a 250. Sneaky Chinese *******!

Riv to ride! Ride to Riv!!

You doing 50 in a 49! You be shot in morning, famiriy birred for burret!

What racerboy could resist this? Why, imagine an extended arm and nitrous! Busa, hah!!

For the Bandido in you, Chopper man!

And the vaunted Vento Thunder-breaking down as we speak....

Japanese equipment was good for laughs when the first container ship landed on these shores. Comparitively, the Chinese are a regular oriental Monty Python show. But I don't doubt in a few years they'll be a major player, barring a war breaking out.

 

[sparky3008]

I really haven't bashed the product itself. My comments are more towards the business practices themselves, support, getting them worked on, warranty etc. To me the lower prices are because you get less. You get less in what I mentioned...

To me with all the threads on this forum about support, reliability etc on major brands such as the big 4 and bmw why would you go to a brand with almost no support???

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

I sent a question to them regarding registration of the enduro. They do not register as street vehicles, green sticker only. I got an answer from the website within an hour of my question. Sales response is usually much better than support though.

 

[sparky3008]

I sent a question to them regarding registration of the enduro. They do not register as street vehicles, green sticker only. I got an answer from the website within an hour of my question. Sales response is usually much better than support though.

All with a grain of salt.

I called the big Yamaha dealer that I have bought 2 bikes from and literally thousands of dollars of parts from to order a main jet and sprocket for my wr.

The guy who took my order I had just left from ordering other parts in person and told him I would be calling with the part number because he couldn't find it.

I called, gave him the number and he said he would take care of it.

I went in 3 days later to check to see if my air filter had come in for my wr and to check to see if he did in fact put the order in (I have learned this over 16 years of buying motorcycle parts). Sure enough they weren't ordered. I was so f*g mad.

He looked at me like he had no clue what I was talking about. Then he went to check his clip board. Came back, "Sorry I must have dropped the ball". I said, "that's ok I will just order it from Twiggs."

Of course he never even offered to order them at a discount, give me something to make up for it, nothing. Do I feel like I have a good customer relation, NO!

Called twiggs, ordered it. Called back 10 minutes later, spoke with someone else to check my order status, ORDERED

So big or small you never know!!!

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

and with that grain of salt comes the need for our dealer feedback section of this forum. As many Yamaha dealers that are out there, we all know there are some good ones, some bad ones, some great ones and some crap. The quality of individuals at the customer end of things is a hard thing for motorcycle companies to have complete control of.

If you went to the owner of that shop, and he showed similar disinterest in your problem, I'd probably stay away from that dealer if possible. If he was truly concerend and takes action to fix the problem, you just did him a big favor by escalating the issue.

 

[sparky3008]

and with that grain of salt comes the need for our dealer feedback section of this forum. As many Yamaha dealers that are out there, we all know there are some good ones, some bad ones, some great ones and some crap. The quality of individuals at the customer end of things is a hard thing for motorcycle companies to have complete control of.
If you went to the owner of that shop, and he showed similar disinterest in your problem, I'd probably stay away from that dealer if possible. If he was truly concerend and takes action to fix the problem, you just did him a big favor by escalating the issue.

True and I am good friends with the Sales Manager. She would have done something for me I don't doubt it. However it is the parts guy I deal with mostly and sometimes he just really gets to me

 

[fjrchooser]

I purchased an X18 pocket rocket for my son-in-law for his birthday/Christmas gift along with my daughter since he always gets screwed with ' combo ' gifts.

Its a 2/3 scale Chinese manufactured crotch rocket , 110cc four stroke 4 speed trans with manual clutch, hydraulic disk brakes front and rear.

It is surprisingly well put together compared to similar Chinese offerings just a few years ago.

Idea was for me to get one for myself also so we could hooligan around the neighborhood together. I'm waiting a bit..

Pros: Inexpensive, cool looking, fun, peppy, reasonably durable so far.

Cons: NO REPLACEMENT PARTS, despite the internet ads stating all kinds of performance upgrade parts plus every stock part waiting in the warehouse should you need it.

Son in law dropped the bike and broke the cheap aluminum/near potmetal rearset footpeg casting. Called for replacement- unavailable. Guy could care less. I asked about some of the other perf. upgrade parts- Unavailable. Asked if any part was available he said NO. Then suggested we buy another new bike from him to use for spare parts. I suggested he KMA.

We got it welded, I fabbed replacement rear brake brackets and modded some pivot points that needed bushings to remove slop and improve durability.

Screws and hardware lack proper heat treat and strip very easily. If your a machinist you could make a very nice bike out of this by doing up some of your own bracketry and upgrading with quality metric hardware.

You sure can't count on the dealer network for aftersales support.

I'll still have one just for the fun factor but I'm waiting on a 125cc 5 speed to be offered.

 

[MrVvrroomm]

C'mon, doesn't everyone here wrench on their own machines? The dealers are the enemy. I have some pretty good experience with Chinese machines. I bought a couple of Vento 49cc scooter 2 years ago. I paid $2200 for 2 scooters delivered in boxes to my front door (driveway actually). It took me longer to tear off the packing than it did to install the mirrors, add gas/oil, fill battery & charge.

I have had a few very minor problems with one of them. I had to replace a stator. There was a 6 month parts only warranty. The guy I bought them from online sent me a new stator after warranty expired for the cost of shipping. I ended up selling that one and it's still on the road. He's done nothing to it over 2000 miles. My 15 year old son commutes to school on the other one. 3000 miles and I've changed spark plugs, added injector oil and gas. Nothing else. Oh, I put an tuned pipe (expansion chamber) on it and did a little clutching. It goes 53 mph (gps verified) on level ground. It it registered as a moped.

Vento is allegedly assembled in the USA. They all have the same Chinese-made components on them.

I bought a pair of Kymco People 150's last summer. They are made in Taiwan. They are not supposed to be sold via the internet. They have an ever expanding dealer network and all come with a 2 year FULL warranty. I have over 2000 miles on each of them. 151 cc, air-cooled, 4-stroke. 65 mph @ 75 mpg all day long.

Kymco has been making Honda scooter parts (engines, transmissions) for over 20 years. My Kymco scooters have Honda fit/finish. They also cost over $3K each. You pretty much get what you pay for when it comes to the Chinese stuff.

The Japanese reverse engineered our automobiles and have beating us at our own game. The Chinese & Koreans are doing the same thing to the Japanese now.

 

[sparky3008]

Screws and hardware lack proper heat treat and strip very easily. If your a machinist you could make a very nice bike out of this by doing up some of your own bracketry and upgrading with quality metric hardware.

I am continuing to play both sides here to not look like I am just bashing the chinese bikes even though I still say stay away.

My WR has less than 100 miles on it.

I have had the front tire off twice.

This past weekend I stripped the pinch bolts (because they are cheap junk) even though I used a torque wrench set to 17ft lbs.

I went to Lowes and bought Grade 8.8 8mmx1.5 bolts and replaced and they worked perfect.

So what I am saying is even the Jap bikes come with cheap as they can get bolts and can be better.

Every carb I have jetted I have replaced the float bowl screws with allens because they strip the phillips head out. :angry:

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

Screws and hardware lack proper heat treat and strip very easily. If your a machinist you could make a very nice bike out of this by doing up some of your own bracketry and upgrading with quality metric hardware.

I am continuing to play both sides here to not look like I am just bashing the chinese bikes even though I still say stay away.

My WR has less than 100 miles on it.

I have had the front tire off twice.

This past weekend I stripped the pinch bolts (because they are cheap junk) even though I used a torque wrench set to 17ft lbs.

I went to Lowes and bought Grade 8.8 8mmx1.5 bolts and replaced and they worked perfect.

So what I am saying is even the Jap bikes come with cheap as they can get bolts and can be better.

Every carb I have jetted I have replaced the float bowl screws with allens because they strip the phillips head out. :angry:

Do you ahve the WR450?

 

[sparky3008]

Mine is the 250.

My friends have the wr450 and crf450.

The one with the Honda rode my 250 and he loved its handling.

The 250 puts out 33hp and the 450 is in the 50's. My 250 in the trails has no problems keeping up and the 450 sometimes has too much power.