How bad are Chinese dirt bikes?

The chinese can build to whatever quality level we want, but at $699 for a 70-90cc bike they arent putting much effort in.

A lot of local shops will not touch those engines, they just cant get parts supply often and they cant warranty a repair.

We tried a couple as cottage toys, they were considered disposable (buy four for the price of an equivalent Honda) and the theory proved itself out. But we had a parts supply......

dont do it. buy name brand 4 stroke,you will pay a 1000 bucks,ride trouble free. sell it for atleast 800.buy a chinese bike for 600. it wont run good at all. you will scrap it after 6 months.

buy a named brand bike!

deuce said:

And I'm a girl. But thanks for your imput.

Click to expand...

Ahh all makes sense now. I thought there was some triangular lovin goin on there too lol
Really nice of you to get the kid started. I wish someone had done that for me.

Got a 2006 Yamaha TTR50 for $1000 if your interested..awesome bike just lost the space to ride..

AF4iK said:

Ahh all makes sense now. I thought there was some triangular lovin goin on there too lol
Really nice of you to get the kid started. I wish someone had done that for me.

Click to expand...

Dont know why but it's a releif to know youre a girl. Guys just dont care that much lol. A tricycle from walmart was enough for my nephew.

We bought a little GIO dirt bike as a pit bike and it's been ok. It's certainly not a refined machine, but it suits its purpose and would be fine as a little starter bike for your friend's son. You can get them pretty cheap used, and parts are readily available.

I can't believe they get away with a name like this and not getting sued!
http://www.yamasakimotor.com/en/home.asp

Chinese quality is all over the place. If a name brand company sets up a factory there with good QC the products can be good. If on the other hand a marketer asks someone in China to meet a price line the manufacturing can get parted out to a dozen backyard shops with each sub assembly at risk. Aftermarket parts availability would depend on whether you can find the back alley shop where the assembly was made.

I just did a bunch of research and tried a couple pit bikes, one of which was an auto Orion, brand new. It ran pretty well and it was sufficiently quick (and very simple to ride). The other was a Pitster Pro, which I would say was fairly similar to a Japanese or Austrian bike in quality, certainly to the drum-braked KLX 110 I considered.

I'll cover the Orion since it's more typical of a Chinese manuf.

Orion 21 Auto 125

Pros:
- electric start
- suspension stiff enough for 190lb me
- disc front brake
- available with three types of transmissions
- beefy looking chassis
- nice seating position
- engine was fairly responsive
- price : $800 cdn

Cons:
- plastic was hard and brittle
- chain and sprockets looked very cheap
- paint did not seem well bonded to metal in spots
- every sticker peeling off (my KXF isn't perfect tho)
- little details, like wonky feeling throttle
- engine did not want to run, fiddled with things, ran fine?!
- fuel petcock can't be seen
- all electrics quite exposed
- different transmissions are also in different motors
- some fasteners were actually self-tapping screws
- suspension was VERY cheap/basic

For the money I think it was better than I expected and a few little upgrades and precautions would probably sort out reliability issues. But, I was more impressed by far with the Pitser Pro. At 10hp and 145lbs it was quick enough to be fun for an adult, with a more aggressive transmission choice it would be better.

Note also that there are many variations of this bike and also the other brands - three different transmissions available, suspension upgrades either in the form of "MX" versions or upgrades. Apparently the motors in most of these bikes are from two manufacturers: Zongshen or Lifan.

In terms of quality, I've read and observed that the only ones to consider are, from best to worst:

- Pitster Pro
- SSR
- Orion
- Baja (this is a very different line)
- Others...

Please note that these are all pit bikes and other than the Pitster Pro, I wouldn't think of them as durable offroad bikes that would take any real jumping. The Pitsters are priced twice what the Orions are, though. The SSRs are in between and frankly they look like a good value in most senses, particularly the 110 A1 model. I wouldn't consider anything out of the top three.

In the end, I bought a larger bike (but not much larger) in a KLX 140. It's a little bigger than the KLX 110 physically - which many pit bike are sized against - but has a disc brake, and quite a bit more power. It's quite a bit heavier than the pit bikes but that won't bother me much as I have a large trailer and a toy hauler - your milage may vary, if you have to haul the bike by truck. Even the lightest of pit bikes is around 150lbs and can't easily be lifted, though. Here's the thing though... the KLX 140 has better quality switchgear, sprockets, suspension, etc... even compared to the Pitster Pro or its sibling, the KLX 110 - and for me this was a big part of the deciding factor... how long the components will last and how painless ownership is likely to be.

If you're looking for a smaller bike, the Honda z50s are nearly indestructable, and I've seen a few of them on kijiji in southwest Ontario. Bear in mind that at 11, I was racing a MX80 which has a power:weight ratio better than my KLX, so buying him something that will get outgrown fast is a consideration... though not everyone has immediate talent for it, either.

Hope this is helpful, best I could do.

I was looking for a similar dirt bike for my 9 yr old son. I ended up getting a Yamaha PW 80 for $500. Kick start with 3 gears and no clutch. Works great and turned out to be a great starter bike. They come up on kijiji regularly so I am told.

http://hamilton.kijiji.ca/c-cars-ve...-Great-little-Yamaha-pw-80-W0QQAdIdZ412126420

I've rarely seen the PWs come up and when they do they are often in the $1000 range. Good purchase, Red.

I had a chinese dirt bike as a pit bike for a few years. All i can say is you have to be on top of them for maintenance. I abused mine like crazy at most of the tracks around here.

It lasted for 2 seasons of abuse. Never did anything to it, except change out the oil with Motul 5100. And run seafoam through it every 3rd tank.

Bought it for $350 and sold it to some other kid for $475, 2 years later.

Wow thanks everyone for the wealth of information... I had a hard time finding any info or experiences/reviews about these brands and your responses were extremely comprehensive (particularly Shaman's, thank you!)

I was concerned with buying the kid a bike that would eventually disappoint him and I didn't want him to lose interest because of complications with a crap bike - plus explaining that I bought a bike knowing it may crap out doesn't sound very nice.

@ RetroGrouch - My friend is indeed a single mom. The father has never been around, he was a physically abusive drug addict, is over twenty thousands dollars behind in child support and is currently the father of 4 children by 3 different women. A real winner. She was 19 when she had her son and he can be credited for taking his mother off a self-destructive path of drug abuse. As a single mom she's done extremely well raising him by herself - he's a well-balanced and good kid who has no idea how good he has it and how hard it is - which is the way childhood should be.

I was very excited when he expressed interest in a dirtbike - I think its a great hobby for a kid.
It will teach him responsibility, safety, and has endless possibilities for improvement and different styles/types to look forward to. Riders generally aren't the drug/alchohol abusing types, have a sense of community/comraderie and focus their time, energy and funds towards a great hobby/sport instead of all the other trouble kids and teens can get themselves into.

I decided that as great as it would be to completely surprise him, a chinese bike may not be the best option for his first bike for all the reasons you guys have mentioned and also I don't want him to get the idea that it's ok to cheap out. I've discussed it with his mom and we agreed that we'll pitch in whatever he's willing to (kids got a lot of Xmas and bday cash saved) and go looking for a decent Japanese bike. That way he'll get a sense of ownership and the investment will (hopefully) instill a sense of responsibility towards his new hobby.

Thanks again everyone for taking the time to respond

@Sleezyray I'm glad you're relieved that I'm a girl but I think no matter your gender there's no such thing as 'caring too much' when it comes to kids or bikes

This is a little old but I just came across this after I had already bought an Electric ATV. It's not a gas ATV but it is still a chinese product. It has 1000W motor and 36V battery. Paid about $750 for it from Belmonte Bikes.

https://www.belmontebikes.com/colle...ectric-mini-atv-36v-1000w?variant=18281272641
*Note: all their prices are in USD. I had to call them to get CAD pricing since they're located in Ottawa, ON.

I was contemplating whether to buy this or go for a name-brand one. At the end of the day, I decided to go for the chinese brand as the price was so cheap that if anything did go wrong with it, it's not the end of the world. I couldn't justify paying $2-3k for an electric atv for my son. Doesn't make sense.

I haven't tried any of the name brand ones, but this ATV is amazing quality. I don't know if it's this specific one, but the quality is not bad at all. I think especially because it is not gas powered, so there isn't much to maintain with it. Just charge it, and go.

In over a months time riding it, I went around and tightened the nuts once. I used to have to do that almost every day or two on my sons old 49cc dirt bike.

I think at the end of the day, it matters whether you can justify paying a few $k for a kids bike or not. Chinese products aren't bad product, they're massively known to be bad products because they produce over 5x the amount a regular brand produces, so there are 5x the chances of receiving bad reviews.

You could buy a new cr50 and a couple years when it's out grown you could probably sell it for 85% of what you paid rather quickly.

starboy869 said:

You could buy a new cr50 and a couple years when it's out grown you could probably sell it for 85% of what you paid rather quickly.

Click to expand...

Not many people have $2-3k upfront to spend and hope to get back in a few years.
The cheaper alternative with not so bad quality product is the far better choice for most people.

There's usually a price that comes with "cheaper."
... And that is increased rate of failure, high maintenace cost, poor part availability and no dealer support.

Chinese products have a certain reputation because Chinese standards and work ethic are quite often not on par with ours.
... Bad rep is not there because there are so many of these vehicles. If there's a 5x chance of bad reviews, there's 5x chance of good reviews so your reasoning is not exactly logical.

Now, not everything is bad of course so use your own judgement. However, resale values are atrocious so you're basically throwing that $750 US out the window.

aboudie19 said:

Not many people have $2-3k upfront to spend and hope to get back in a few years.
The cheaper alternative with not so bad quality product is the far better choice for most people.

Click to expand...

3k? We're talking 50's still right? Msrp for a NEW pw50 is $1300 and a ttr50 is $1850. Buy one that's 2 years old for a few hundred less and sell it in a couple years for $200 less. Or buy a cheap Chinese one for whatever they cost and throw it in the scrap pile or if you're lucky get $300.