Chinese bikes.

[Scotsrich]

I was in the neighbouring town this morning and noticed a new bike shop had opened on the High Street.

Being nosey I popped in for a look and a chat with the owner.

He said they had a bigger shop in the borders and had just opened this as a bit of a try out.They were mostly only selling 125’s as anything above that is a completely different market.

It was filled with Chinese bikes of all shapes and descriptions and I was surprised how good most of them looked. They had retro’s, sports bikes, GS lookalikes.

1D331F7E-1B2D-40D9-BB5B-13EC64DDF6D4.jpeg (61.82 KiB) Viewed 764 times

If you ask advice from oldies like us we’d recommend the usual CB125 etc but for youngsters today these kind of bikes must be tempting.

[Yorick]

Resale seems to be the biggest problem.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

The Chinese make some good looking bikes, the quality can be very variable though.
The Chinese make parts for Japanese brand motorcycles, I suspect the Japanese have to be very fussy about quality control

[Yorick]

I was looking at a big bore kit and sports cam for Pen's 125.
About €600 from AJP.
About €120 from China.

Hmmm. Gave it a swerve.

[MrLongbeard]

The Chinese make some good looking bikes, the quality can be very variable though.
The Chinese make parts for Japanese brand motorcycles, I suspect the Japanese have to be very fussy about quality control

They put satellites into space for cripes sake.
Pay em enough and be strict on the QC and they'll make anything as well as any other country, but let 'em loose with only their own specs and QC then you're in a world of wish.com hurt, and you can say good bye to IP, copyright and trademarks too.

[wheelnut]

They put satellites into space for cripes sake.

Like the one that's just fallen out of space

[MrLongbeard]

They put satellites into space for cripes sake.

Like the one that's just fallen out of space

That's no

Spoiler

moon

satellite

[Supermofo]

From what I've read about Chinese small CC bikes in MCN they tend to be ok in the main nowadays as long as it's one of the big players. But they depreciate like a stone. Not as good as the Jap 125s but I guess if you can get one cheap enough and not lose too much money they might do a newb for the 12 months or so they might have one.

[Whysub]

A lot are trash within a year or so because they are simply not maintained. It seems most owners simply view them as disposable item.

[Mussels]

A lot are trash within a year or so because they are simply not maintained. It seems most owners simply view them as disposable item.

Probably find they can't get any spares or workshop manuals.

[The Spin Doctor]

A lot are trash within a year or so because they are simply not maintained. It seems most owners simply view them as disposable item.

Which is exactly what'll happen if you ignore basic maintenance on a KTM125.

[Bigyin]

Those Lexmoto 125's featured in the OP picture are fairly good and we see a lot come through on CBT renewals so they survive at least 2 years and actually hold their money quite well for resale value. CBF and YBR's will hold better though. I bought CBR125's for the eldest steplad that he ran for a year or 2 each and sold them for pretty much what i paid for them .....one had been badly crashed and rebuilt be me as well

They have got better over the last few years but some are still truly awful with fasteners and bolts made from cheese quality metal

[Cousin Jack]

I was looking at a big bore kit and sports cam for Pen's 125.
About €600 from AJP.
About €120 from China.

Hmmm. Gave it a swerve.

Difference is probably material.

Surface hardened steel versus cheese. You pays your money and makes your choice.

[MrLongbeard]

fasteners and bolts made from cheese quality metal

Something that can be placed at the feet of many established manufacturers too

[A_morti]

Those Lexmoto 125's featured in the OP picture

Nope
motorcyclenews.com/news/new-bikes/lexmoto-lxr-380/

[A_morti]

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/new ... o-lxr-380/
Sorry, link didn't work and I can't seem to edit the above post.

[Bigyin]

Those Lexmoto 125's featured in the OP picture

Nope
motorcyclenews.com/news/new-bikes/lexmoto-lxr-380/

They make a 125 using the exact same frame and fairings so it’s a bit bigger than usual 125’s. I have a couple of CBT pupils who bought them to get some bike time in prior to A license training

[Bigjawa]

I think Chinese bikes are going the same way of Korean cars, utterly shite at the beginning but now as good as everything else, I remember working on a 3 week old Jaliang that had blown it's bottom end to bits, the dealer brought it to the backstreet shop I was working in to see if we could shoehorn something in to fix it, we put a CG motor in it.

It's not rocket science to build a bike, hell your "Japanese" bike will be full of parts made in other countries, or the whole bike will be made in Thailand, India etc.

There's wee Lexmoto 250s that look quite good, I'd ride one.