Chinese Scooter Club

scooterfanatic

Not a scooter I know, but its still a small chinese bike so I thought I write a review anyway as ive noticed a few on this site asking about them.

The bike I'm referring to in this review is the common Honda CBR125R clone that seems to be sold under a neverending amount of different names and colours. I bought mine from a company called "cypruspounds" on ebay (they have a site:- www.asiamotorcycle.co.uk) back in Dec 06, paid £875 plus £85 shipping. It arrived quickly and in good condition in a (very) heavy box braced with a steel frame and hefty wooden pallet to sit on. first impression was good, the build wasnt too bad apart from a wonky sticker on the tank the bike looked superb value for money. After riding big bikes for a while before it (2001 CBR600F and a 2001 Suzuki SV650S) the bike looked tiny and slender compared to what I was used to!

I got the bike built, (I enjoyed that part!) registered and out on the road after a few weeks. The bike seemed almost criminally slow at first till I got used to it, but after that I thoroughly enjoyed riding it and used to go out at any opportunity just to ride it. That however didnt last for long when the bike started cutting out intermittently (especially when I got below 1/4 tank) leaving me stranded a few times... After tracing the problem to a clogged tank tap I stripped the tank down and flushed it (there was loads of greyish/brown dust came out of it?). anyway, the bike rode fine for a week until the next issue lifted its' ugly head, whilst putting the bike away one night I noticed a strong smell of petrol, took the tank off and realised it was leaking from the sender unit, tried to cure it but it wouldnt be cured so I asked Cypruspounds to send a new one as it was still under warranty and it apparently was a common fault, which they duly did.

Next thing to go was the rev counter which started flicking about for a while before going completely dead, this was followed by the rectifier which decided that keeping an acceptable voltage wasn't in its job description anymore! After replacing the rectifier and rev counter I was back on the road. One day I was riding back from work and looked down briefly to see that one of the fairings was flapping in the wind!! limped home and had a look to find that 3 of the 6 fixings had completely disintegrated due probably to the vibration the good old CG unit was treating them to. Anyway I checked the others and was shocked to find that further 5 fixings on the bike were either breaking or had broken loose of their mountings. I was mad at this and asked Cypruspounds to send a full set of fairings to me which they did surprisingly quickly and without fuss.

Anyway, the troubles weren't going to cease and the next thing to give me a headache was the fuel gauge which started reading quarter of a tank when full and empty when it wasn't, the battery started leaking, rotting the paint off part of the frame in the process (possibly a symptom of the rectifier over-charging it), This was followed by the gear lever literally dropping off one morning on the way to work, upon further investigation I noticed that the circlip that was holding it on was worn and the metal sleeve that it butted up against was also looking very shabby (this is after less than 1500kms!!). The weld that held the gearlever rod onto the splined piece also gave out leaving me to attempt a make-shift pigeon s**t weld on it to hold things together! Anyway I fixed it and got back on my way and the bike performed faultlessly for the next few months, even feeling faster and perkier due the good old CG based engine loosening up a bit.

Anyway, the final straw was at 3500kms the chain snapped and the swing arm bearing looked a bit the worse for wear, making the rear wheel look lop sided from the rear and giving a decidedly ropey ride.. at this point I gave up and stripped the bike for spares.... the bike was less than 8 months old. Oh, and the new Rev counter gave up the ghost also a few days after fitting it! (nearly forgot about that bit!)

Overall, the bike was terribly unreliable but, somehow I loved it, the fact that it was so cheap and demanded so much of my attention endeared me to it somehow...

Anyway, call me crazy but I took the plunge again and bought a brand new Skyjet 125 scooter for £499 last year and its been faultless and thoroughly reliable little hack up to now with nearly 2000 Chinometers on the clock...

Scoobs :D

NoBike · Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:14 pm

Sounds like a healthy chinese quality bike. A weird thing I found on my kaisar was after I got to 40mph, the faster I went the slower the speedo said I was going.

scooterfanatic · Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:37 pm

McLovin wrote: Sounds like a healthy chinese quality bike. A weird thing I found on my kaisar was after I got to 40mph, the faster I went the slower the speedo said I was going.

mine was the opposite, it would be reasonably accurate-ish to about 35mph then it would rise like crazy, reading about 15-20mph over e.g at max speed (60-65mph) it would tell you it was doing 80mph plus. This got steadily worse till the speedo gve up altogether and bounced around like mad and gave no indication of any speeds at all!!!

The quality is there, just not on the bike!!!

Scoobs :D

Smitey86 · Tue Jul 08, 2008 12:24 pm Are these bikes any good???

Hey there, I am a new member and the reason why I have joined this forum is because I am interested in purchasing one of these Chinese machines most likely a Kaisar XTR125 from Chinese motorcycle dealers or a Yuan Rampage XGJAO from www.mypurerush.com which looks like an updated version of the Kaisar.
Anyhow I am a little unsure about these machines, especially as a lot of owners have mentioned instrument failers and bolts falling off, something else I am worried about is the metals and materials used in the bikes construction as I have seen some pictures of the older Skyjet's rusting away against the Great British climate. At the end of the day I just want a little run about, to get me from A to B that isnt going to fall to bits. And because I have no mechanical experience with bikes I would like to know what owners really think of these bikes? Are they worth the money? Are they at all reliable and which are the most reliable? The kaisar? The Skyject? This Yuan Rampage thing? or any other sports bike I havn't mentioned..... Cheers

TJ · Tue Jul 08, 2008 2:46 pm

have you considered the kinroad xt125-18?

I have the 50cc version, which is the same except for the engine, and it has never given me any trouble mechanically or structurally at all (touchwood).

It's quite a big heavy thing but it's very substantial, with thick forks and frame etc. They also do a super sports version called the xt125-19 which looks cooler, with twin exhausts and new bodywork, but presumably goes just as well.

heres the -18
http://www.chinesemotorcycledealers.co.uk/XT125-18.html

...and the -19
http://www.alibaba.com/catalog/100784288/Motorcycle.html

scooterfanatic · Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:00 pm

To be brutally honest mate, if youve got no mechanical skills or knowledge then I wouldnt bother with a chinky, they all give trouble (some more than others) and a basic knowledge of maintenance and a desire to learn is essential...!

I'd go for a second hand CG125 if you want a reliable (if rather boring) bike