The Honda PCX / Forza / ADV150 / SH Forums

do Chinese scooters suck? are at least the engines relaible

As I understand it the scooters themselves are solid enough but if you buy one you may not be able to buy parts to fix it if it breaks. I've heard that they are often built in limited runs and, since they are usually sold online or in chain stores, there is no commitment to parts availability or service.

That said, the price is right and if you can do a little home wrenching you can ride one for a long time before you have to throw it away.

Also, don't forget the miracle of duct tape and epoxy

Johnny

the one im looking at has a gy6 engine and ugly as sin but i dont care about looks if its dependable

Chinese scooters have a bad reputation for inferior parts that break within a short time. The engine may be a gy6, but the internal parts may be made with little concern for long-term use. I have heard that those exported do not go through the same quality inspections that those used in country do.

dang guess il scratch em off my list

but we love CHI-NA

MAGA

Before I bought my PCX I had rented Chinese scooters at the weekends. I would estimate there was an occurence of some kind approx 50% of the time. On one a scooter simply died for no reason in the middle of nowhere, there were kickstarters that fell off, stands that were unusable, useless dim headlamps, amongst others. It was mainly because of these issues regardless of maker/brand that I ended up buying the PCX. I wouldn't buy a Chinese junk scooter at any price.

wow im so glad i asked found a 150 cc with gy6 engine for like 1200 to my door

They are cheap for a reason. I bought a cheap Chinese bike to use to get used to gears last year and it wasn't even 3 years old and it was terrible.
Mind due I had it for 3 months and got my money back when I sold it. It was a pretty unrefined thing.

Mel46 wrote:Chinese scooters have a bad reputation for inferior parts that break within a short time. The engine may be a gy6, but the internal parts may be made with little concern for long-term use. I have heard that those exported do not go through the same quality inspections that those used in country do.

Homie brings up a good point here.
Often the metals used are too soft for engine parts. One I had rented the battery died and I had to kick it, the kickstarter stripped the splines clean off the shaft and flopped around uselessly, could have been clamped tighter you say but the mechanic at the rental told me if they did that the threads would strip. On bodywork he told me also that the plastics are either soft or brittle and tabs broke or bent as often as releasing. I exclaimed that I'd had problems regularily with these scooters and he told me haplessly "Spare a thought for me, I can't keep up with the workload, it's all garbage" I'm leaving. LOL, despite being angry with my issues I had to feel sorry for him. Maybe they'll get better, the Japanese were junky at first, but has history as taught us not for long.

k2apache6.0 wrote:

Mel46 wrote:Chinese scooters have a bad reputation for inferior parts that break within a short time. The engine may be a gy6, but the internal parts may be made with little concern for long-term use. I have heard that those exported do not go through the same quality inspections that those used in country do.

Homie brings up a good point here.
Often the metals used are too soft for engine parts. One I had rented the battery died and I had to kick it, the kickstarter stripped the splines clean off the shaft and flopped around uselessly, could have been clamped tighter you say but the mechanic at the rental told me if they did that the threads would strip. On bodywork he told me also that the plastics are either soft or brittle and tabs broke or bent as often as releasing. I exclaimed that I'd had problems regularily with these scooters and he told me haplessly "Spare a thought for me, I can't keep up with the workload, it's all garbage" I'm leaving. LOL, despite being angry with my issues I had to feel sorry for him. Maybe they'll get better, the Japanese were junky at first, but has history as taught us not for long.

That be Mel's good points, I never have any In a few days we shall have some of these Chinese parts to dissect, weigh and compare. Wouldn't it be funny if the parts I get are the same and Honda's been getting them from CHI-NA

http://www.ebay.com/itm/370610350060?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT
http://www.ebay.com/itm/172411708747?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

Oops sorry Mel LOL,
Anyways, thanks Homie, looking forward to the comparisons. Could we have another video with the 'Whimsical' going on in the background?

Stay far far away from Chinese scooters unless it was made by a japanese company in china. There are plenty of foreign brands that are good, like Kymco, Piaggio, Vespa, Yamaha, Suzuki... Talk to some motorcycle/scooter mechanics, they should know what's good.


Gil

Suck what?

You are probably best of with some kind of pump.

Yes they suck, and they also squeeze, bang and blow.

gn2 wrote:Yes they suck, and they also squeeze, bang and blow.

Otto would be proud. Is he Chinese?

Chinese scooter quality?
When I visit Florida I chat with every scooter owner I come across. 90% of them are riding Chinese scooters, and I have yet to speak with an owner who had serious issues with the quality of their scooters. These serious scooter owners had something well above a 50cc scooter and rely on their scooter for daily transportation.

I've seen that there are a great many scooters which are not under manufacture by Kymco or SYM (which are Taiwanese based) or the big boys from Japan - and are actually pretty good scooters to own. Will they do 30,000 miles?- who knows? - only a tiny % of non SilverWing, Vespa or Burgman owners ride a scooter that long, anyway.

Do they have much resale value?
Does a used Burgman, Forza or Silverwing have much....?
Would I buy an $800 50cc "Chinese internet to your driveway" scooter??
Heck no....but there are plenty of other good Chinese scoots out there.
Fish

Before I had the PCX, I ran a Longjia 125 Chinese scooter and used it every day for 2 years on the commute. I sold it for more than I paid but I did look after it on the maintenance side of things.

I replaced stator and rectifier (about £25), steering head bearings (£20) and rear hub nut (as it came loose). This was over 2 years of every day use. The build quality isn't as good as the Honda, but I found that if you look after it, it will be generally reliable.

Most of the scooters use the same parts under different bodywork, so spares really aren't a problem as long as you order from the Internet. These bikes really suit someone who is prepared to put a little effort into maintenance, as I did find that bike shops didn't really want to know. This may mean a little Internet research to see which parts from other models will fit. When I asked the local bike shop for steering bearings, it was a flat "no, can't get them mate", but 30 minutes on the web and I had sourced some which arrived in a couple of days.

In summary they can be ok if looked after, but the quality IS lower than Honda.

I Bought my Honda vision 110i,scoot from a dealer in the uk.2 years old /4500 miles up/heated grips/matching top-box,nearly 2 years ago.Now I see some 4 years old going for more thin what I paided for it.
Just look round,would I have another one oh yes.

I have run several Chinese bikes and scooters over the past 6 years.

Here's my review of one of them.

http://www.reviewcentre.com/125s/Lexmot ... ew_1574048

More relevantly I did run a decidedly well-abused Chinese scooter with a 125 GY6 motor for a while a couple of years ago. Most of it was a Lexmoto Valencia but bits of bodywork came from other similar Chinese scooters.

Compared to most non-Chinese 125 scooters such as PCXs, SH125s etc it was slow. The cycle parts and particularly chrome was not really up to surviving British Winters in great condition, and it had the general feel of being, well, rather flimsy and on the verge of a complete meltdown.

But ... it carried on working despite that, it did indeed survive at least one Winter with me and running costs for the year (almost) I ran it were decidedly minimal. It never let me down, despite giving the impression that it would, at any moment.