Chinese Scooters ...are they any good?

[devmasa]

Planning to buy a 150 cc chinese/asian made scooter for the missus for the school commute. ~5 miles each way on surface streets only.Not planning to take this on the freeway ever.
Any recommendations/experiences for these scooters ?
Thanks

[fujimumu]

Honda has some nice scooters, and I'm sure their build quality is much better and more reliable than any chinese scooters you can buy.
http://powersports.honda.com/street/scooters.aspx

[ScraitT]

I have no experience with the scooters, but I have a friend who had one of the cheap chinese ATVs.

Not even a week old and hit a small hill out ridding that put the ATV approx 1-2 feet in the air (expected treatment of an offroad vehicle). Well apparently, a bolt snapped through on landing, causing the front right wheel to become disconnected and turn left, while the other front wheel remained straight. The result was an ATV flying end over end. Luckily he was unhurt.
Thing continued to break left and right after that...sometimes small things, sometimes relatively important things that could pose serious safety concerns such as the incident described above.

So in my opinion, if a chinese scooter has anywhere near that build quality, I would stay far far away for safety concerns.

My suggestion would be to search for an older used Honda or other well respected brand. It will last as long as you own it, operate normally and safely, and you'll be able to sell it afterwards. (chances are you wont be able to find a buyer for a used chinese scooter)

[Nemesis]

I don't know about their scooters but my gas powered go-ped rocks!

[SteveL]

buy an old honda much better

Steve

[Den]

I used to have one...
Well, I'm not that rich to be buying cheap manure.

Reliability was really poor as well as build quality.
I only did 1000miles on it (from brand new) before it got stolen. And during that time I came across a few reliability issues.
What I've learned whiles owning one, that:
- Nobody wants to carry out any work on them (repairs/service);
- You will find it difficult to re-selling the scooter;
- Spare parts is an issue;
- When asked what make it is you end up saying it's a "Zhiiyjning" (<-- not cool!)
Buy a known brand, really. Honda/Yamaha/Piaggio, etc.

[johnjohn]

Stay away from mainland Chinese stuff , now saying that the Taiwanese bikes are fine. You will get what you pay for.

[Racer x]

oops double post

[Racer x]

I work in a scooter/Motorcycle shop . I will say the Chinese scooters are better than before.
But you have to be careful what you mean by Chinese Scooter.

If it cost 999.99 dollars , You get what you pay for. They are Flimsily with VERY brittle plastic. The main body parts are not really available. There are a a couple web pages .Parts for Scooters.com and parts for Chinese scooters.com.They have lots of parts like IC modules and kick start levers,.So I can fix some of it.

The Taiwanese scooters like Kymco are great.Parts are readily available . We also have Piaggio Vespa and Aprilia. I like working on the Kymco much better.. Given the choice I would get a Kymco but stay away from Chinese scooters.I have never met a happy owner.

I would be careful with used these days. The carb issue with the ethanol means bad carbs if it has been sitting. But a used ruckes would be worth fixing up .
Feel free to PM me with specific brands you are interested in.

[petiteninja]

honda metropolitans and ruckus' are supposed to be incredibly reliable. the yamaha vino is great too.

i have a vespa that i love. i paid more for it than my ninja...including my mods.

[DaBlue1]

I used to have a scooter. Comfortable ride. Not very quick or fast but fun. Carbs and battery sucked though. The rubber shrinks over time, lights went after a year and the disc brakes pads wear quickly. Mine held up pretty good for what it was worth. I think because I took care of it real well and did regular maintenance, it lasted a lot longer. Belts and variators are the expensive parts you need to replace on a regular it seems. Got over 15,000 miles out of it in 3 years.

I sold it and saw it later on the back of the truck of one of the local small engine and motorcycle shops. with a busted frame. The new owner had dogged it and somehow broke the engine mount.

As far as parts there a more than a few online stores available. The dealer I bought mine from also stocked parts. At the time I bought it was about $1400 (new). It was delivered to the house fully assembled in the crate. The only thing i had to do was fill and install the battery and install the mirrors and deck mat.

The local dealers were and still are selling these cheap scooters between $2800 and $3400,Used between $1200 & 1500. They've gotten real popular where i am. One of the local lawn mower 7 small engine repair shops went from having a bunch of lawn equipment out in front of his shop to having a bunch of scooters. I guess it depends where you are whether or not shops are willing to work on scooters or not and if parts are readily available. I wouldn't buy a used one though. Overall you get what you pay for.

http://www.scootsusa.com/-c-31.html?...f39f73e88aa2d0
Mark and their customer service is great.

[kevlarorc]

Honda Cub!

Link to original page on YouTube.
do they even sell these things in America?

[Sailariel]

There are shops selling Schwinn Motor Scooters. Stay away from them--bad news.Made in China. You can't miss with Yamaha and Honda.

[Bleak21]

If you want to buy a budget scooter new, I'd go with Kymco. I see them around a lot in NYC (and have in EU as well) but I haven't known anyone who uses one personally. Or buy an old honda scooter. The dealer by me rents one with some ungodly amount of miles on it and it runs perfectly.

[n4mwd]

Chinese scooters and bikes - yuck! I looked into getting a chinese bike and the common complaints from guys that did was: 1) Can't get the state to register it; 2) Can't get parts; and 3) Axles snapping at 70 mph. You are WAY better off getting a used Japanese scooter or bike. Check out Craig's list. But given the forum we are in, I strongly suggest getting a used Ninja. I've seen them on craig's list for as low as $300 (abused 2004 model).

[headshrink]

I take it this was a rhetorical question?

Chinese stuff is cheap, period.

As far as Chinese scooters, my only direct experience is as follows:
My brother bought several of them a few years ago, with the intention to resell them. Let's just say he was left holding the bag. These things come off the ship broken (reminds me of some harbor freight crap I recently got). I tested one of them, and couldn't even get the mirror to stay in place. He sold one, and the buyer was VERY angry when they couldn't get parts for their new broken scooter, and NO local shop would work on them.

What I learned is that when it comes to Chinese scooters, you don't even get what you pay for. I just assume it has lead paint

[n4mwd]

After WWII, the Japanese adopted the 1950's US work ethic which was "Make the BEST product you can because nothing else is acceptable." A person from China told me that the current work ethic there is "Cheat the customer as much as you can get away with."

That pretty much sums up the difference between Chinese and Japanese bikes.

[backinthesaddleagain]

As Racer X stated Kymco is a quality brand. They actually build some models for the big 4 Japanese (I believe Honda and Yam) and do some assembly for BMW. I believe they also come with a 2 year warranty and have a real dealer network that can get parts and service them.

[n4mwd]

According to Racer X above, Kymco is a Taiwanese brand and not Chinese. The Chinese government would argue that fact, but to the rest of the world, Taiwan is a separate country.

To be honest, I haven't seen anything descent come out of the US either recently. I think Japan simply has the market cornered as far as high quality bikes and scooters.

As far as US bikes, there is Harley and Buell. Neither of which I would want to own. But if there were only US and Chinese bikes available, I would go US for sure.

[europachris]

Originally Posted by n4mwd

As far as US bikes, there is Harley and Buell. Neither of which I would want to own. But if there were only US and Chinese bikes available, I would go US for sure.

Well, Buell is dead (at least the old Buell). Harley killed it off last year - closed the doors and sold all the equipment, told the employees "thanks - now take a hike". Harley is, well, Harley. They had it together 10-15 years ago but became overly reliant on "the image" and selling chrome and leather to bad-ass wannabes rather than developing anything new. But, H-D is an "icon" and frankly, Harley riders want to buy a brand new 1957 motorcycle. The VRod is an overweight pig and every "sport" bike they have built has similarly been a flop. At least H-D bikes have become quite reliable over the years.

Victory is building some pretty good bikes, too. It's a shame they don't have any sportbikes, however.

[headshrink]

Originally Posted by europachris

Victory is building some pretty good bikes, too. It's a shame they don't have any sportbikes, however.

+1

[Boom King]

When I was in Vietnam, most of the motorbikes and scooters on the road were Hondas, followed by Yamaha and Suzuki. Piaggio made scooters were regarded as a luxury brand along with certain model Hondas. SYM, a company based in Taiwan was also gaining a reputation and small following as a descent scooter manufacturer and apparently was enjoying annual sales growth. I believe they had a plant in Vietnam. They won some quality and manufacturing awards and even have won some races. Availability in North America may be difficult to locate but I do think they operate in Canada at least. If you are strongly considering going with a Chinese or Taiwanese brand, check to see if SYM scooters are available where you are.

[Cedilla]

I had a Chinese scooter a few years back. It was a 2001 Manco Hornet 50. The only problems I had with it was the carbs, and the CVT tranny belt snapping at 10,000km. I put that thing through hell, I laid it down a couple of times, and took it off road and it held up pretty good. I would still pay the extra money for a Japanese bike though.

[tapdiggy]

My first motorized two-wheel machine was a chinese 50cc scooter. It was super-fun until it just wouldn't run at the end of fall (which later was attributed to tight valves), so I left it in Plasmatoast's back yard to collect snow. If I had known, I probably would have fixed it and ran it a while longer. Would have at least been good practice for maintaining the Ninja.

[ryu hayabusa]

i have owned a chinese gy6 motor in my scooter, mine the 150cc with cvt trans. it's gutless, did about 30 mph and leaked oil. the gy6 motor (ALL CHINESE MADE SCOOTERS,ATV's,PIT BIKES, and Go Karts use this engine btw.) the gy6 is a honda clone that was used in the 70's and 80's. honda stopped making them, and china bought the casts to keep making them. they are good in design (as is anything from honda) however they are poorly made in materials and the chinese have a terrible QA on the assembly line. basically it's a gamble, mine ran great, but needed oil, granted i beat that go kart to death and ramp,rolled, and risked everything, all the time. the chassis and suspension parts need what any hyosung or yerfdog needs, namely, top quality bolts replaced. they put cheap ass stuff in there, replce them with grade 8 bolts and nuts with locktite and you'll be semi safe. in short, libya is a land of complex ecnomics. lol oh wait, were talking about china...