Trail bikes out of China?

[FROSTY]

Been watching auctionsfor a wholebunch of Jap small trail bikes.
Ive noticed a fair few small (er) trailies out of china.
Anyone know much about these bikes?

[tri boy]

Check out marks "Mud Bog" thread in the Adv thread.
He gives them a hammering, so would be a good source of info.:msn-wink:

[boostin]

I have had a chinese pit bike for over a year. It has been given death and it still running. I have had to do the rings in it once, took about 30 mins. The worst thing is all the bolts seem to rattle lose, so either replace them or loctite them into place.

There are also different degrees of quality in the chinese bikes. There are some chinese brands, and then a whole lot of no name generic ones. There is a common theme that the brand name ones are better quality.

Cheap bike + Cheap parts = Cheap fun.

however, if you want to be doing any serious riding you might want to stick to Japanese.

[dmoney]

a mates wife rides a shineray 200 and the bloody little thing is like a tractor . we have thrashed the nuts off it to and had no probs he just does the reg service thing on it. motor just a copy of a xr 200 but this thing drags them.they cheap for a reason cause they make them by the billions but some are good for the money

[deanohit]

Yep, good cheap fun and I thash my bike senseless! Ya do have to Loctite EVERY nut and bolt. Mine has done around 4000kms of mainly highway riding at high revs and while it is rattling, it's still going. Once I get my full, will be onto a bigger bike and turn the mighty zongshen into a bucket motard!!! Yeee-haaa.
Also about the names, go Lifan, Shineray or Zongshen, all the same bike, just different names, and Zongshen is now the largest motorbike maker in China.

[cave weta]

Hi guys!
Im new here- first post!!!!
I run an adventure trail ride business on the coromandel and use Cavallo bikes
for my beginner and budget rentals. They are Zongshen made (buy enough and they brand them with whatever you wish!!)
These bikes get a hiding! they get dropped more than Paris Hiltons undies and parts are dirt cheap! for beginners they are a good bet but if you are thinking of getting into freestyle MX forget it! oh yes and do buy a bottle of loctite and do oil changes every 500km.
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x205/piranha77/P1020152.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x205/piranha77/P1020155.jpg

[MVnut]

Let's put it another way...I wouldn't let my child ride on one

[cave weta]

Let's put it another way...I wouldn't let my child ride on one:clap::clap:



With all respect where it is due.... There was once a day when the owners of Hillman Hunters and Morris Marinas said in a loud voice "no way, will those japs ever get a foothold in the car market. They will never replace the sturdy british motorcar"

I own 5 chinese bikes that get caned to death by tourists as rental bikes and the only failures I get are broken levers and bent handlebars.

[dmoney]

theres always gona be the haters of something differant or something they dont know about which is fair enough thats human nature.you do get what you pay for with anything and the better known chinese bikes are basic but also they arnt a bad ride

[Taz]

theres always gona be the haters of something differant or something they dont know about which is fair enough thats human nature.you do get what you pay for with anything and the better known chinese bikes are basic but also they arnt a bad ride

I hate that you spelt different differant!! :angry:

[325rocket]

theres always gona be the haters of something differant or something they dont know about which is fair enough thats human nature.you do get what you pay for with anything and the better known chinese bikes are basic but also they arnt a bad ride

tell me about it ........ i own a hyosung!!!

[Coyote]

Cheap bike + Cheap parts = Cheap fun.

I got a bigger kick out of riding my minimoto than a ZX10R :p

[aussie50nut]

Been watching auctionsfor a wholebunch of Jap small trail bikes.
Ive noticed a fair few small (er) trailies out of china.
Anyone know much about these bikes?

Mate for the price of them there worth it,i owned a top of the line MotoVert pro 125 straight outa china for a year.Raced it every weekend against alot of hondas and it held up just aswell.Alot of my mates had cheaper copies and they were decent.Look i spent ten grand on my honda crf 50 which was like wow when i added it all up.But for people who are not who cant or dont wanna spend that sorta cash the chinese bikes are the go.

[timmehpwr]

hey all, first time poster long time reader here :)

just bought a brand new skyteam st200 bike, had been after a cheap dirt bike to learn on for a while and finally got one! :headbang:started it up for the first time last night, runs sweet. Not sure if I have to run it in or not so will take it easy on it for a while. Will locktite it all this weekend before its first big ride

have only heard good things about them, a mate of mine has had his st200 for 3 years or so and only thing that went wrong was the rear wheel bearings blew due to lack of maintenance

[deanohit]

Awesome dude, welcome to madhouse. Theres alot to be said for the freedom you can get thrashing a cheap bike.
Are you in Blenheim mate? My old stomping ground, theres some great trails down there and not far from town.

[motorbyclist]

just my experience, but:

every experience with chinese bikes i've personally had has been bad.

every mechanic i've asked about them has never had anything good to say.

and it annoys me that they are often modelled to look exactly like the japanese ones, and some trademesellers infact sell them as japanese when any punter can clearly see the chinese brand name on the engine. - sure they may often be a copy, but they're cheap copies.


that said, for a few hundred bucks you get what you pay for really. no point in paying out thousands for a bike for your kid who turns off it or outgrows it in 6 months; same if you're just buying a learner or pit bike. provided you care for it and buy alot of loctite it's more sensible buying a $500 chinese bike than a $4000 jap/euro equivalent.

[motorbyclist]

tell me about it ........ i own a hyosung!!!

i do hear those are actually quite good, but they also cost a reasonable amount;)

[FROSTY]

Dag namb it -ok the bikes for a learner rider but -Im now questioning my decision
THANKS FOLKS--for all the fantastic advice.
After "trying on" a whole bunch of different bikes we decided on a Shineray 150 trail bike. Almost a spitting image of the late model Honda XR100 but with more grunt.
Its got kick and lekkie boot
The bike we settled on has had an owner who already did the fettling stuff with tubes and nuts n bolts n stuff
The great news is with the factory soft shock Jorjas feet are flat on the ground so she can gain confidence then upgrade the shocks.
The ONLY complaint from her--AWWW Itsthe same blue colour as the boys yamahas
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[cave weta]

hey all, first time poster long time reader here :)

just bought a brand new skyteam st200 bike, had been after a cheap dirt bike to learn on for a while and finally got one! :headbang:started it up for the first time last night, runs sweet. Not sure if I have to run it in or not so will take it easy on it for a while. Will locktite it all this weekend before its first big ride

have only heard good things about them, a mate of mine has had his st200 for 3 years or so and only thing that went wrong was the rear wheel bearings blew due to lack of maintenance

The clutch fibre plates on many chinese bikes appear a bit soft. and during the run in period shed quite a lot of material - so change your oil every 5 hours for the first 20 hours. then every 20 hours should be fine :msn-wink: