Chinese bikes

[canthai55]

Had my first look at a Keeway Super Motard at the market last nite. Owner spoke good English, let me take it for a ride. Must say I was impressed i.e. what you get for what you pay. Smooth, good handling, quiet. This one had 17K on it, and no reported issues. Looked like new. Low power - but I'm a nut who believes that you can't have too much !!

[ktm jeff]

The issue , as i understand , is not with "water" ingress with Hondas , but the fact their wiring loom and connectors are of poor quality and not corrosion reisstant , leading to poor connection quality and electrical problems.

[taninthai]

The issue , as i understand , is not with "water" ingress with Hondas , but the fact their wiring loom and connectors are of poor quality and not corrosion reisstant , leading to poor connection quality and electrical problems.

but but people on this forum claim Honda uses most of the same suppliers and share a lot of parts with Chinese bikes so wouldn't this imaginary problem be happening to chinese bikes too.I must just be one lucky guy as I am on my second Thai built Honda both of them been abused and ridden up rivers yet I can't seem to find any of these problems,yet it seems people that don't own Hondas seem to know all about them......jokers or trolls you decide.....555

[seedy]

One post discussing Moderation removed

[maykilceksin]

The issue , as i understand , is not with "water" ingress with Hondas , but the fact their wiring loom and connectors are of poor quality and not corrosion reisstant , leading to poor connection quality and electrical problems.

but but people on this forum claim Honda uses most of the same suppliers and share a lot of parts with Chinese bikes so wouldn't this imaginary problem be happening to chinese bikes too.I must just be one lucky guy as I am on my second Thai built Honda both of them been abused and ridden up rivers yet I can't seem to find any of these problems,yet it seems people that don't own Hondas seem to know all about them......jokers or trolls you decide.....555

exactly.

whenever i open TV bike section, i see imaginary problems about honda bikes:)

i use them, friends use them and millions use them and only some selected lucky TV members claim some strange problems here.

DELETED

plus, what you expect from a KTM fan boy to say at the end.

Edited December 17, 2015 by seedy
troll / flaming

[denkiblue555]

Had my first look at a Keeway Super Motard at the market last nite. Owner spoke good English, let me take it for a ride. Must say I was impressed i.e. what you get for what you pay. Smooth, good handling, quiet. This one had 17K on it, and no reported issues. Looked like new. Low power - but I'm a nut who believes that you can't have too much !!

Interesting feedback - what other super moto bikes have you ridden?.....just for comparison's sake.

[canthai55]

Interesting feedback - what other super moto bikes have you ridden?.....just for comparison's sake.

Here in LOS rode both the CRF amd the DTracker. Own a Tiger X-Road as a project bike. Built a YZ490 back across the pond. Where I was living the roads where very bad - broken pavement, many patches, many gravel stretches. Could not make any time on my HD so got some 17's and stuck them on the YZ. Re-geared it for more top end, and used it to go see my girlfriend at that time who lived 350km from me. Could hit those bad patches flat out and just float over them. Loved that bike - wish I could find another decent 2-stroke here. I would do it again.

[NoshowJones]

Still there Bikes are far more junk then Japanese Designs IE Honda, Yamaha....Look good in the show room but Fall apart soon after and depreciation is a Killer

Well if you take the case of currently topical Lifan, all as reported on this very forum, you will that find neither of these points are true.

All bikes working well after up to 5 years of use and around 5,000baht/year depreciation from new. Last year I was offered a 1 year old Honda CRF at B100,000 from a dealer, that is a B30,000 drop in just 12 months.

There are Chinese bike manufacturers that were crap and are now good, there are some that are still crap, but there are also Jap bikes that are now, shall we say of questionable quality. Plus things are changing rapidly, so don't be so quick to condemn a whole nation's products. Especially a nation who makes pretty much everything for the entire world.

All bikes working well after up to 5 years of use and around 5,000baht/year depreciation from new????

I had a Yamaha Fino, eighteen months old, 11000Ks, not a scratch on it, and only got about two thirds of it's value when I sold it.

[papa al]

Possum:

If you buy high and sell low, it is possible to have more depreciation,.

As you exemplify.

Edited December 18, 2015 by papa al

[ktm jeff]

If possum lost , say 15,000 Baht on the Fino , over 18 months , its still only 10K per year. A lot less than the above Honda examples that lost 30,000 in just 1 year , or the other one that lost 55,000 in just 9K KM.

[In the jungle]

I have a house not far from Union Auction in Rangsit. Their bikes are mostly finance repossessions.

Based on what I have seen there the Fino is pretty much at the bottom of the heap when it comes to resale value for bikes made by one of the big four Japanese manufacturers. Absolute bottom of the heap are carburettor Finos. They sell for loose change.

Generally the auto trans, 14 inch wheel scooters tend to shed value quicker than the 17 inch gear and auto clutch bikes.

King of the heap for retaining value is the Wave 110i.

If I were looking for that type of bike new I would buy the Wave but secondhand I would choose the Yamaha Spark as, like for like, it seems to be 25 to 30% cheaper.

[papa al]

I have a house not far from Union Auction in Rangsit. Their bikes are mostly finance repossessions.

Based on what I have seen there the Fino is pretty much at the bottom of the heap when it comes to resale value for bikes made by one of the big four Japanese manufacturers. Absolute bottom of the heap are carburettor Finos. They sell for loose change.

Generally the auto trans, 14 inch wheel scooters tend to shed value quicker than the 17 inch gear and auto clutch bikes.

King of the heap for retaining value is the Wave 110i.

If I were looking for that type of bike new I would buy the Wave but secondhand I would choose the Yamaha Spark as, like for like, it seems to be 25 to 30% cheaper.

Carburated Finos auctioned after finance repo.?

no

[taninthai]

Wow there is some real tightwads on here that count every penny,and you are talking pennies even losing 55k over 3 years is just over 300 GBP a year ,I'm sure the enjoyment the guy got from the bike in that 3 years was worth every penny.I lost 30 k in a year on my first crf wow 600gbp in a year for some of the best off roading ,I have ever done worth every penny,could probably sell the crf I bought last month for the same price I paid next year,same as bought a cbr600rr last April sold it for the same price I paid in October.

[In the jungle]

I have a house not far from Union Auction in Rangsit. Their bikes are mostly finance repossessions.

Based on what I have seen there the Fino is pretty much at the bottom of the heap when it comes to resale value for bikes made by one of the big four Japanese manufacturers. Absolute bottom of the heap are carburettor Finos. They sell for loose change.

Generally the auto trans, 14 inch wheel scooters tend to shed value quicker than the 17 inch gear and auto clutch bikes.

King of the heap for retaining value is the Wave 110i.

If I were looking for that type of bike new I would buy the Wave but secondhand I would choose the Yamaha Spark as, like for like, it seems to be 25 to 30% cheaper.

Carburated Finos auctioned after finance repo.?

no

I said mostly finance repossessions.

I would guess that 70% of the bikes auctioned are less than three years old and I can certainly recommend Union Auction for anyone looking for a mainstream bike within that age group. Provided, of course, that you are confident in assessing the condition of a bike in an auction environment.

I have no connection to Union Auction..

[ktm jeff]

taninthai , thats exactly the point i was trying to make previously , when "concern" was raised , regarding the resale value of the Benellis compared to the Hondas. I reasoned i would rather ride an exciting bike i loved , than a boring bike. Even if there was a remote possibility it could cost an extra 10K during the years of ownership. While you may have lost 30,000 a year on your Honda , compared to the above rider , who only lost 4,200 on his Lifan , you were happy to pay more for your enjoyment of riding a better bike. Thats the way i look at the bikes i like. They may cost me more , for more pleasure. I can afford that , some cant.

[kaorop]

To be honest I miss a bit the point that having a race team makes a motorcycle brand good, if we would make a list of motorcycle manufacturers who don’t have a MotoGP, Moto2 or Moto3 race team or a Motocross team we will actual get a serious list.

If you look at the line-up of most Chinese manufacturers available in Thailand you would see that they concentrate mostly on all-round commuter bikes… it would be useless to spend millions of Dollars on racing if you never going to use the information learned…

And just how did the Japanese and European bikes get so good? Obviously.

Defend them all you like, but you wont get me on one, 35 yrs of riding, racing and wrenching on bikes from Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria and Japan tells me so.

[canthai55]

And just how did the Japanese and European bikes get so good? Obviously.

Defend them all you like, but you wont get me on one, 35 yrs of riding, racing and wrenching on bikes from Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria and Japan tells me so.

Honda got its start in N. America - and probably Europe by producing and marketing C50 and C90 bikes. "You meet the nicest people on a Honda" This gave them the market, and the profits, to go into racing. I fully expect the Chinese to do the same thing. Remember when 'Made in Japan' meant shoddy ? Same thing happening now.

[AllanB]

I talked to a friend this morning who knows the French guy I used to know a few years back, who bought a Lifan 200gy about 6 years ago for 45k baht. This French guy took part in 6 Paris-Dakars in the 80s'90s so he no soft rider, what he is, is a guy who rags everything he owns, including his own heavily plated body on whatever bike he is riding, so I inquired as to whether he still had the Lifan.

"Yes" was the answer, "it still goes but it is a mess, head bearings shot and pretty rattly all round" which is the typical state of all his bikes, most of which are Japanese.

To me that says a lot about this cheap Chinese bike, that after 6 years of punishment it still runs fine without being shown any TLC in it's sorry life.

Make of that what you will, but I think the bike is tough and even if he throws it away that has cost him 7500 baht a year.

Edited December 21, 2015 by AllanB