So everyone loves to slag Chinese bikes.......
Discussion
So what about people that have had good experiences with them?
I've had three, two Yamasaki YM125's (first one stolen) with a Sanya SY125 between them (now owned by my brother) All have been good reliable bikes, the Sanya significantly better than the yamasaki, but more expensive, so it should be. I've noticed you seem to be able to find pleased Sanya owners quite readily, I really cant think of any reasonable complaint about mine, it was pretty nice to ride, would hold 60 - 65 easily (would run to 70 if you ate the clocks)
The basic build quality isn't great, but at the price they cost do you really expect it to be? in my experience there are common faults, all of which can be rectified when you de crate and PDI. head bearings are often too tight, valve clearances are often too tight, tyres under inflated chains too tight and occasionally cables badly routed. When you de crate the bike give it a proper check over, paying particular attention to these areas. The chrome on the fork stantions can be a little thin and soft, so if the bike is to see year round use a pair of fork gaiters are a very good idea.
The other area is corrosion, but this tends to be a complaint of plebs who ride in winter salt, then leave the bike under a tarpaulin or cover - rinse salt off regularly, and douse everything in WD40 over winter and it will be fine, it might look crap in winter, but it wont rust.
Approached with a common sense view and about 15 mins a month checking over the bike with the spanners, and they are quite capable of providing decent cheap reliable transport. Once a year at the onset of winter I pull the electrical connecters apart, and give them a squirt of WD40, and remove the earth points, clean them thoroughly and treat them to a smear of silicone grease. To be fair you should do this on any bike ridden year round.
I did 16,000 miles in about 14 months on my Sanya, an absolute minimum of 60 miles a day commuting, normally throttle to the stop at 65 mph down A roads. My Brother now owns the bike, and its still running great at four years old, and never had a moments bother. oh, its still looking as good as it did the day it came out of the crate. It still does 100 - 130 mpg too.
Doesn't sound too bad to me.......
Anyone else had similar experiences?
I've had three, two Yamasaki YM125's (first one stolen) with a Sanya SY125 between them (now owned by my brother) All have been good reliable bikes, the Sanya significantly better than the yamasaki, but more expensive, so it should be. I've noticed you seem to be able to find pleased Sanya owners quite readily, I really cant think of any reasonable complaint about mine, it was pretty nice to ride, would hold 60 - 65 easily (would run to 70 if you ate the clocks)
The basic build quality isn't great, but at the price they cost do you really expect it to be? in my experience there are common faults, all of which can be rectified when you de crate and PDI. head bearings are often too tight, valve clearances are often too tight, tyres under inflated chains too tight and occasionally cables badly routed. When you de crate the bike give it a proper check over, paying particular attention to these areas. The chrome on the fork stantions can be a little thin and soft, so if the bike is to see year round use a pair of fork gaiters are a very good idea.
The other area is corrosion, but this tends to be a complaint of plebs who ride in winter salt, then leave the bike under a tarpaulin or cover - rinse salt off regularly, and douse everything in WD40 over winter and it will be fine, it might look crap in winter, but it wont rust.
Approached with a common sense view and about 15 mins a month checking over the bike with the spanners, and they are quite capable of providing decent cheap reliable transport. Once a year at the onset of winter I pull the electrical connecters apart, and give them a squirt of WD40, and remove the earth points, clean them thoroughly and treat them to a smear of silicone grease. To be fair you should do this on any bike ridden year round.
I did 16,000 miles in about 14 months on my Sanya, an absolute minimum of 60 miles a day commuting, normally throttle to the stop at 65 mph down A roads. My Brother now owns the bike, and its still running great at four years old, and never had a moments bother. oh, its still looking as good as it did the day it came out of the crate. It still does 100 - 130 mpg too.
Doesn't sound too bad to me.......
Anyone else had similar experiences?
The japs have been hung out to dry in the small bike market - kind of.
Honda still rule the roost by a significant margin sales wise, but that is only due to the enormous number of bikes they build in China and India. No one else from Japan even make a small blip on the overall radar in the sub 150cc class. While the Chinese bikes aren't really 'excellent' they are definitely 'fit for purpose' most of the horror stories you read are due to knuckle heads thinking its a cheap piece of crap, treating it like one, the rest is a self fulfilling destiny.
The Sanya really is approaching 'good' rather than just ok, for around £800 you get a punchy reliable little 125 that's genuinely good fun to ride, and even looks good.
Yamasaki (@ 4 years old and 7200km - never seen a garage in its life until last month)
Honda still rule the roost by a significant margin sales wise, but that is only due to the enormous number of bikes they build in China and India. No one else from Japan even make a small blip on the overall radar in the sub 150cc class. While the Chinese bikes aren't really 'excellent' they are definitely 'fit for purpose' most of the horror stories you read are due to knuckle heads thinking its a cheap piece of crap, treating it like one, the rest is a self fulfilling destiny.
The Sanya really is approaching 'good' rather than just ok, for around £800 you get a punchy reliable little 125 that's genuinely good fun to ride, and even looks good.
Yamasaki (@ 4 years old and 7200km - never seen a garage in its life until last month)
Edited by philoldsmobile on Monday 20th August 23:29
Nigel Worc's said:
I say this as a Guzzi fan, comparing , possibly the most unrelaible euro bikes with chinese, is a bit, well, amusing lol.
I suspect that is what he meant.
Funny thing about Ducati - if you actually speak to the owners they are not actually unreliable (they do need looking after more carefully though). I've had many jap bikes of all types as well. I suspect that is what he meant.
I had a chinese 125 once in about 2005, I can't remember the name but gy seems to ring a bell it was an enduro type thing. I bought it with my dad for about £400 in a crate from a guy who'd bought it and never built it and over the following 6 weeks or so it systematicaly fell to pieces.
-first of all the sidestand just snapped off leaving it on it's side in town.
-Then the exhaust manifold snapped off at the flange which we welded back together
-lots of fairing bolts snapped either on their own or when re-fitting fairing
-Finally the headlight fell off after a wheelie from traffic lights (ok a little bit user error that one)
so in the end we sold it for a little more than we payed for it to a bloke who's frame had snapped and wanted it for parts. This was 7 years ago though the riding school I used for my DAS rave about the lexmotos I think it is so I guess they've come a long way in that time.
-first of all the sidestand just snapped off leaving it on it's side in town.
-Then the exhaust manifold snapped off at the flange which we welded back together
-lots of fairing bolts snapped either on their own or when re-fitting fairing
-Finally the headlight fell off after a wheelie from traffic lights (ok a little bit user error that one)
so in the end we sold it for a little more than we payed for it to a bloke who's frame had snapped and wanted it for parts. This was 7 years ago though the riding school I used for my DAS rave about the lexmotos I think it is so I guess they've come a long way in that time.
Hmmm I spot a camaro on the drive, you aren't a chinese loving relative of 300bhp are you?
In all honesty I'm sure with a bit of care the chinese bikes aren't terrible but what's letting them down is parts back up, resale value and the build quality just isn't as good as the japanese bikes.
In all honesty I'm sure with a bit of care the chinese bikes aren't terrible but what's letting them down is parts back up, resale value and the build quality just isn't as good as the japanese bikes.
Yeah I had a Chinese 125, although one of the nicer ones. Did a 9-day road trip on it, here:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34...
Never had any problems.
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34...
Never had any problems.
mrdelmonti said:
In all honesty I'm sure with a bit of care the chinese bikes aren't terrible but what's letting them down is parts back up
This is the rub for me. My Father in Law has a Chinese quad bike that he uses for on-road riding to work and the odd bit of riding around the fire breaks in and around Thetford forest and it goes really well. Where he has had issues is parts. He's a mechanic by trade so knows his way around an engine and has contacts in the trade to get parts. The issue is getting them either in a timely manner (a month for a new head gasket and the build quality was terrible so it had to be sent back) if at all.
creampuff said:
Yeah I had a Chinese 125, although one of the nicer ones. Did a 9-day road trip on it, here:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34...
Never had any problems.
Holy crap, thats awesome!http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34...
Never had any problems.
Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff