OZ ATV :: The Australian ATV Forum

[travop]

i was wondering what the ATV community thinks about imported chinese ATVs that have popped up over the past few years.
are they good for the sport?
are they bad for the industry?
do they take away from quality manufacturers?
post us your thoughts

[yogie]

I would add to the poll, "possibly getting better"
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2005 KFX700
With a few bells and whistles
and the twin yoshi's
American Star A-arms, tie rods
elka stickers
Shorty Shifter
I have a Waco
rossco gave me a flexx sticker
honda thumb
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durablue stickers

[stubby]

i like to add its the old saying u get what u pay for so if it say $1000 u get a $1000 worth of quad, but have a look under the sale section u can pick yourself a bargain up a nice yamaha banshee for $5000 hence the name banshee say it all u get what u pay for so call me 0425261327.

[priesty]

I agree with the "get what you pay for" philosophy, however for a total newbie to quads or even bikes you can shell out a few bucks to "suck it & see". If the experience is to your liking, then you upgrade down the track when you realise how much more fun this would be on a decent brand name quad, if not you've only spent a couple of grand, so if it's not for you then you recoup what you can & move on.
Overall I think they're a good thing to keep the big brands on thier toes & hopefully focus more on the entry level market to develope a larger future market for the bigger bore sales.

I have owned both & there is no substitute for quality, but the chinese / Taiwanese certainly seem to learn quickly from thier mistakes & thier product is definitely getting better with each new generation, they still have a way to go though.

just my 2c.
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The term "Foolproof" seriously underestimates the ingenuity of Fools.


08 700xx

[JASE.71]

A mate from work has one called Imperial Sam 200cc. Basically its a piece of "profanity removed", no bushes in the A arms or shocks, just bolts thru pipe etc. I'd hate to try and get parts for this thing
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85 HONDA 250R
85 HONDA 125M

[fossil800R]

priesty wrote:

I agree with the "get what you pay for" philosophy, however for a total newbie to quads or even bikes you can shell out a few bucks to "suck it & see". If the experience is to your liking, then you upgrade down the track when you realise how much more fun this would be on a decent brand name quad, if not you've only spent a couple of grand, so if it's not for you then you recoup what you can & move on. Overall I think they're a good thing to keep the big brands on thier toes & hopefully focus more on the entry level market to develope a larger future market for the bigger bore sales. I have owned both & there is no substitute for quality, but the chinese / Taiwanese certainly seem to learn quickly from thier mistakes & thier product is definitely getting better with each new generation, they still have a way to go though. just my 2c.

I have to agree here as well. For a lot of Mums and Dads trying to get their kids started in this sport, forking out thousands of dollars for a quality japanese quad is not always a viable option financially when there is a doubt over long term commitment. The availability of "entry level" machines such as those from Taiwan and China makes the sport accessible to everybody. And with vast improvements made over the last couple of years it is less likely now that issues with quality and performance will discourage people from riding. Feral Kid is a prime example of this.
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[feralkid]

As Fossil said. I would really like a trx250ex or something like that but can't afford it so I bought my Atomik Raider 250cc. So far so good. We have loctited everything and the shocks and all that seem good when jumping that kind of thing. Most of the things that go wrong on them are frame wise too. Like on my little Ducar 110 that my sister now has I flogged it like crazy for 6 months riding with 300's and the motor still runs fine. The main things wrong with it were frame wise and nuts coming undone. So I would say they are alright.
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[Hulk]

dont even waist your time looking at them... Thats my 2cents worth

[HSR]

When I started working in the motorcycle industry all the same slurs and comments on build quality and longivety etc were made about JAP CRAP, by those who swore that the British, Euro`s and Americans were the only one`s with the ability to build a quality motorcycle ( don`t here that argument anymore ). Folks give the Chinese/ Thai`s / Indians / Indonesions / Koreans / Taiwanese time to perfect productivity , quality ect. and before long we will all be riding something that was made under licence or directly in factories owned by the Japanese in third world countries , you would be suprised to know exactly where your JAPANESE motorcycle comes from now.
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we do not stop racing because we grow old
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[bullet]

I tell the story of when I bought the first new model XR70 piston to come into Australia factory ordered from Honda Japan.
Back in about 1996 I was hotting up another ATC70 and ordered it as an R&D exercise just because it was a different part number.
We just had to see what it was in case it was a cool new high compression thing.
6 weeks later it turned up tripple packaged in a little Honda box for an expensive 'dealer cost' price of $27.60 (no rings or pin etc).

A few years later my mate Kev threw me a Kazuma Mamoth 90 piston.
He siad I could have it for $4.00 because he still made a good margin on that and said he'd disgust me if he told me how much they cost him.

These pistons were identical parts.
I mean identical in every single machine mark and casting floor.
These things must have come of the same machine nearly one behind each other.

I never used the XR70 piston because the compression height was too low.
I grabed the little Honda box of the shelf and turned it over to see a tiny sticker saying "Made in China"

So there you go, who makes the very heart of your super reliable Honda
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Bullet #Y12. MrsB #Y18.

[cammoquad]

My son started his quad racing on a cheap chineese quad as per pic in profile We now have a Honda TRX 90 for him to race
Yes i agree you get what you pay for but as a cheap entry level is was very succesful & competitive against some very well known brands (polaris , suziki , etc)My son has won races in speedway & mx on his cheap quad

as ferelkid said the motors are very good its just the frame around them if you keep a check on bolts or loctitie them in they are fine
I have a polaris scrambler & on front it has printed made by aeon industries in tiawan for polaris industries From what i have found out alot of the smaller cc quads are made in china etc.
I think they allow parents the ability to have there children to race/ride without costing thousands of dollars & most i know including me that have started with a cheap quad have upgraded to a better quad over time
with these quads more affordable it is allowing more people to try quads & racing there for building our numbers to make our sport bigger & stronger
MY 2CENTS WORTH
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THANKS TO ALL WHO HAVE ASSISTED MY FAMILY IN THERE RACING OVER LAST FEW YEARS

[triple"A"]

bullet wrote:

I tell the story of when I bought the first new model XR70 piston to come into Australia factory ordered from Honda Japan. Back in about 1996 I was hotting up another ATC70 and ordered it as an R&D exercise just because it was a different part number. We just had to see what it was in case it was a cool new high compression thing. 6 weeks later it turned up tripple packaged in a little Honda box for an expensive 'dealer cost' price of $27.60 (no rings or pin etc). A few years later my mate Kev threw me a Kazuma Mamoth 90 piston. He siad I could have it for $4.00 because he still made a good margin on that and said he'd disgust me if he told me how much they cost him. These pistons were identical parts. I mean identical in every single machine mark and casting floor. These things must have come of the same machine nearly one behind each other. I never used the XR70 piston because the compression height was too low. I grabed the little Honda box of the shelf and turned it over to see a tiny sticker saying "Made in China" So there you go, who makes the very heart of your super reliable Honda

and further to that bullet
when we first started selling "chinese imports" we had a quad in our range that had the suzuki emblem stamped into the underside of the airbox, out of sight until you lifted the thing up on a hoist or removed the box from the frame, and a 100cc solo that had the yamaha tuning fork symbol embeded in the underside of the seat. i have kept a fuel tank from a 50cc mini bike that we replaced under warranty because the colour faded out of it, and low and behold when you hold it up to the light around where the colour faded you can see the word yamaha in what appears to be a pee wee tank. i know nothing of plastics manufacturing but it would appear that the colour fade was due to a cover up laminate type process and it was the laminate that faded exposing the logo underneath.
however , we are the first to admit, that there are varying qualities of manufacturing coming out of china and taiwan so even when buying those type of imports, you get what you pay for. if the outlet selling the product doesn't offer any warranty, chances are they know the product will fail. sellers of chinese/taiwanese product that offer to back the goods after the sale is complete, often do so because of confidence in the reliability of the product, for example the factories our products are derived from offer 3 months warranty, we extend that to 6 months and in some cases beyond. there are a few outlets doing similar, and we have found that those businesses procure their product from the same suppliers as us.

[Scooter]

I agree with Kev and the B
It is more to do with who you deal with and there's lots of Amegos selling crap.
If you buy at a price, use Loctite every where, change shocks, nuts and bolt to good quality stuff, you will get a better run out of it.
One thing I believe is that China will get better quality control but not sure when.
All the Major manufactures build bikes & quads in China/Taiwan but they dont want everyone to know that. Fact
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[froggy]

Scooter wrote:

I agree with Kev and the B and there's lots of Amegos selling crap.

litterally hey scoot

[greenhuman]

Suzuki LT 80's are made in Taiwan. It was'nt that long ago that the Japanese were only making decent pencils. Time will tell.

[bigjon]

The Taiwanese have really lifted their game. They make some good tools (Sidchrom, Kincrome, Blue Point, etc...) and are getting to be the new Japan. Taiwan have a higher paid working class which in turn produces better quality goods. China on the other hand still have a long way to go, since the workers get paid crap and quality control in certain manufacturing is still in it's infancy.

Korean cars are a good example; Hyundai when they came out were similar to these quads, but now they have a better warranty, specs and build than some Japanese or locally manufactured cars.

Would I personally buy one?.......NO!
Would I buy one for my son just starting off? Probably yes if the build, specs & price were attractive enough.
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