Chinese Scooter Club

GuzziHero · Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:01 pm Haotian Swift review

Okay, so I'm new to scootering, but not new to biking. Ive ridden bikes over 1000cc for many years, but I just wanted to get a cheap scoot to replace my deceased Yamaha RXS100.

What I was looking for: A cheap, reliable scoot for short commuting and the occasional ride out just for jollies. Rain protection was a big advantage, and big wheels if possible, as I'm used to riding big motorbikes.

What I bought: '08 reg Haotian Swift. The bike is essentially a clone in appearance (minus small details) of a Honda Innova, the replacement for the popular C90 series of scooters. It is an odd looking device, being essentially a motorbike in layout and scooter by accident, with 17" wheels and a mid engine...but with a strange semi-automatic gearbox (no clutch) and legshields. I guess you could really call it a Scooke or a Biter or something HAHA.

Cheap. Yep. Cheaper than many 50cc Chinese scooters which really did make me think twice before buying it. But heck, I couldnt be sure I would be able to live with a small-wheeled scooter. Ive ridden at times, 2 different Vespa scooters and just didnt get along with them.

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The bike arrived yesterday. Looking at the bike it all seems in order. I bought it from Bikers in Swadlincote, a Llexeter dealers, so I expected nothing less. First impressions are...well, it aint too pretty from the front but everything makes sense and is laid out well.

What impressed me was that it has both electric AND kickstart for if the battery is low. This was handy because the driver had left the lights on in the van. He started it up...my god this is quiet! My neighbours will be pleased ;) Mag alloy wheels means no rust, there is a cover all round the chain to keep out road grime, the exhaust is shiny with a neat looking chrome 'protector' and with the removal of a few panels, everything on the engine looks easily accessible.

The clocks are nice and clear although the indicator-on lights arent so easy to see. A bit of a problem as the indicators do not have a self cancellor. Everything else is laid out well, and pretty much as you would expect. This bike has a sprung loaded manual choke that you have to hold back and a VERY light throttle grip.

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Went for a test ride today. I had a little trouble getting it to start at first and this is probably why - the sidestand is DIRE. The bike stands at almost a vertical angle and a light gust of wind will have it over...as it did when it was standing outside my garage while I was chatting to someone. Oh...great. Ive crashed it and Ive not even sat ON it. This does not bode well! I guess that might have caused the carb to drain because it was a beeyatch to start.

Apart from some scuffing to the top box, mirror, bar end and brake lever, everything is OK. Meh. At least it was easy to pick up.

Right, I got it started and sat on the seat. Its wide, its padded...its just not mega comfy. Mainly because the seat slopes forwards quite a bit - something I have always disliked about the Suzuki GS500E. But I digress. I would be OK with the seat once I got used to it, I thought.

First gear. Very very wobbly! First gear is VERY low, this gets up to 15mph very quickly and that is the limit of the gear. Yep, this thing will pull away VERY well...just get ready to shift down to second quickly.

Yes...I said that right. DOWN to go UP. Oh boy... its a reverse gearbox! This would cause me amusement (read: brown trousers) later on.

Once I was over the initial wierdness of the seat, I got on with it OK. Steering at speed results in wild weaving, so I stopped trying to be a scooterist and get back to riding it like a bike. I will say that I am massively impressed by how this bike takes potholes and bumps. It just flattens them. I went to the point of intentionally hitting manhole covers to invoke a reaction. Shake, rattle, roll...anything. Nothing. The bike just makes a mockery of bumps.

To start with, the bike really didnt want to rev out properly but of course once it was warmed up, it was much happier. By halfway through my 20 mile ride, it was able to pull 50 on the flat, and even take reasonably steep gradients in top gear. I did the running-in suggestion of giving it high revs in a gear for a few seconds, then backing off, rinse and repeat. The Swift kept happily burbling up and down the rev range.

In fact my only real issue was when I went to change up sometimes...and of course changed down. Woah! Bloody reverse 'box!

It helped if I backed off the throttle for upchanges and gave a little blip for downchanges. Nothing new there, then.

On the test ride, I did town roads, a country road, and even a stretch of dual-carriageway (even overtook a 50cc scoot!). She cruised happily at 45, although I felt like I was falling asleep a bit - the Swift just did the speed SO effortlessly, I couldnt help thinking that it could handle another 10 or even 15mph. A smaller rear cog may be in its horoscope.

So I came back home and put her to bed. Partly because the fuel was about to enter reserve. EH WHAT? 20 miles...and it has almost emptied the tank? I know I was giving it a little bit of beans, and the fuel tank is only 3.5l (maybe about 2.75l before reserve)...but heck. I am guessing (hoping) that this is because its a brand new engine and that the economy will increase dramatically, because thats about 35mpg which aint good. I know theres nothing wrong with the engine because it was wombling along nicely.

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Summary:

+ve points:
Looks OK
Handles well
Very good over rough roads
Seems to have everything to make life easier for the owner
A good scooter for people who like bikes!

-ve points
Sloping seat
Bloody reverse gearbox!
Fuel consumption (so far...this will hopefully change)

Recommendations:
A sparkplug change is in order, for reliability and possibly economy. Personally, I will be fitting a screen, and I have a top box fitted. Otherwise, all seems in order.

Pics to follow.

Spanner · Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:39 pm

Wow :shock: An excellent review there mate :icon_thumbs_up: …and very well deserved K+
We used to call them 'tea-bags' as it was always the flat cap brigade seen riding them :lol:
Mind when I tried to ride one myself I seem to remember calling it a dog at times :evil: ,
I also found that contrary to popular misbelievings; they DO wheelie. lol
like you've already found out; the ruddy gearbox is a work of art at times!

GuzziHero · Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:18 pm

Cheers for the Special K! :)

Spoke to a friend about the low economy. He mentioned that in a recent truck mag he bought, they compared 4 trucks...one of which was picked up straight from the factory. They said that it utterly sucked on fuel economy because the engine was still tight. I'm hoping that this is the case for my little swift, because I dont fancy filling up every 30 miles!

A thing to add...I'm guessing that many Chinese bikes are the same but the panels are made of very flimsy plastic. Not a problem, a bit of give helps when fitting tight panels. I was a little annoyed to find that I had to loosen the clock/headlight fairing panel to adjust the base of the mirrors.

It did teach me though to be very careful with the fairing screws - they are basically self-tapping types going into metal clips that are then secured onto delicate looking 'wings' inside the panels. I'm guessing that it wouldnt take a lot of impatience to snap one of these off.

GuzziHero · Thu Jul 03, 2008 4:56 pm

As threatened...I mean, promised:

Not that pretty...

Two...count em!...TWO whole pistons on the brake caliper! Nice rust-proof alloy wheels.

Kick me...

Cute little exhaust. Shes a lil kitty kat. She purrrrs!

Cute butt :D

Chain guard. What a dastardly clever idea!

Strannnnnge rocker pedals for the gears. I dont use the back one, its uncomfy to get to. Reverse gearbox of course...CURSE YOU, VILLAIN!!!!

Clox, litez n gayjes

Posing for the camera

Spanner · Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:00 pm

:shock: GIVI TOP BOX :shock:

What a handsome little bike, the Cub’s finally matured :wink:
Some really nice touches on it, love the twin-pot front anchor :)

Just don’t be fitting a wind screen, it’ll prompt you into smoking a pipe and entice you into wearing a flat cap.
People will talk and you’ll loose all credibility :?

Also your beloved Moto Guzzi will mysteriously start misbehaving itself; like sounding it’s horn for no apparent reason and at an unearthly hour of the morning, or through the sheer embarrassment of living in the same garage, contact it’s family…
you know their Italian? :|
You could wake up to find a severed headlamp in your shed, or worse! your poor bike at the bottom of the local cut wearing a pair of concrete tyres :icon_icon_blah:

:icon_cool_pics: Yaeh, nice bike :icon_thumbs_up:

GuzziHero · Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:23 pm

Worse yet...its sharing the garage with THREE Italians...a 1969 Vespa Primavera, a 1979 Guzzi V50/II, and the Guzzi Cali! Its a real mafia family and they dont like the triads closing in on their turf... :o

The topbox is just a £40 one that I got fitted by the dealer. Its a 26l, takes a helmet easily, and you can remove it from the base without tools. I think it suits the scooter pretty well :)

As for the flat cap... I have had odd looks from work because they know I have much bigger bikes. Fact is, theyre ALL wasted on a 2 mile hike :D

Spanner · Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:43 pm

I know what you mean, I've got a 125cc Hionioanioation custom cruiser deluxe special, sooner wear that out than the big bikes...
I have to try and book days out riding my own bikes (1988 GPX600R & 2008 ZX-6R plus a few others) then it goes and rains and you're stuck indoors again...great! :roll:

I've got an orange retro scooter that I butchered, 125 became just short of 180cc with a gas flowed head,
30mm re-jetted carb & flowed manifold with K&N type filter, twin-shot exhaust, and better Cdi, plug & coil. .
Then for the tranny; a goo faster variator and clutch.
It’ll do around 75mph on the flat, maybe even faster; only with some other daft bugger riding it, get’s a little hairy and the brake fade is worrying :shock:

Why do this to a scooter you ask?
Why not! The parts were quite cheap and available.
0 – 50 embarrasses a lot of riders, it’ll get there in sparrows fart time :twisted:

GuzziHero · Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:51 pm

The Swift is pretty nippy. I'm wondering if itll be safe to try soup (Supe-Unleaded) in it. Maybe not till I've run it in a bit more though!

To be honest, Ive given up the race for speed! The FZR1000 didnt handle 2nd gear till I was doing 40, and 2nd was good for 95mph. Too darn much :D

It is very funny though how when I had the FZR, other bikers would nod or wave...now I'm on the Guzzi or worse yet, the Swift, Ive suddenly become the Invisible Man!

I'm making it a sport when I'm on the Swift to nod to other bikers and see their reactions as they try to work out if I'm on a scooter or a bike...and then work out how they should react. Its quite funny to see the aborted half-nods and such HAHA

Spanner · Thu Jul 03, 2008 9:24 pm

Super unleaded? Steady on!
you'll be bolting one of these onto it next

Yeah going fast isn’t all its cracked up to be these days, the ZX6 can go into three figures in second…handy that eh :roll:

As for being acknowledged? I found the same thing whenever I rode my Geely Roadster (150cc maxi-scoot) quite a few riders ignored me…
even a few of my so called mates till they got used to seeing me out riding it

GuzziHero · Sat Jul 05, 2008 4:25 pm

New report...

Well, it blew an indicator bulb after 3 days of use. I'm utterly stunned to find that its 12v! That means it might have a headlight worth a damn :D

Seems to take a few mins to warm up. When I throttle on, it stalls at low revs. If I can break through that area its OK. It has improved over the last few days though, so Ill see how it goes. I have a little bit of a commute to do tomorrow to an airsoft game. 15 miles, so Ill take the Swift rather than the Guzzi for that distance.

Main thing to report though is that while I bought the Swift as a humdrum blahhh bike just for work...I love riding it :D The gearbox is a bit of a challenge but I'm getting into the swing of things with that and it is such a bloody hoot to ride in town! You only really use 2nd and 3rd in town anyway.

I'm mega glad I got this instead of a 50cc scooter. I'm not sure a 50cc would get my fat weight about as well as the Swift does.

Edit:
Oh...the fuel thing. Seems the tank was a lot emptier than I thought. I topped it up the other day, the fuel gauge is off the top of the FULL mark, and hasnt dropped since :D That bodes well for economy.

Things to sort:
Busted dash light bulb (its a chore to get to). 50 mile oil change (soon). Steering head is slightly offline to the wheel. Ill wait till I get a manual before I do that.

r_torrijos2007 · Sat Jul 05, 2008 8:17 pm nice review

Hi ya, I'm just new in these forum..but I bet it is the best one
Kudos...

GuzziHero · Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:11 pm

Yeh, the style is slightly different. The essentials should be the same, though.

It is surprisingly nippy around town, and good fun, although the gearbox takes some planning and thought to use! Maybe it will bed in a little but it often likes to miss changes.

Where in West Midlands are you? I can possibly find you a dealer near to you so you can have a look.

r_torrijos2007 · Sun Jul 06, 2008 7:37 am swift

hi,I'm from Birmingham,West Midlands
Do know a dealer narby
Thank you

timpo1981 · Mon Jul 07, 2008 11:03 pm

Thanks for the review guzzi :D Have a K+ I really want one of these now!! Unfortunately I am still waiting for my Baotians V5 to come through so I can sell it! I have found a dealer in York that will sell me the swift 110cc version for £650 OTR!! :D

hopefully I won't have to wait too long to get one!! :roll:

GuzziHero · Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:47 pm

Update:
Dash bulb started working today. Yippee!

I topped the fuel tank up yesterday as it was nearly in reserve. Full to just above reserve = 51 miles. Topped up with 2.45l. Thats 102mpg if I added it up right :)